Muslim response to Wilders

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This article was first Published on January 20, 2008 at – :

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/01/muslim-response-to-wilders-on-quraan.html

“Geert Wilders, Dutch conservative lawmaker, has made a ten-minute film exposing the horrific passages of the Koran. Per AP Wilders refers to the selected verses as “fascist.’” http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/29496.html

First of all, as a Muslim, I want to thank Geert Wilders for making this documentary, the verses, as he has quoted certainly sound fascist. These verses have not only been misquoted for millennia, but were mis-translated with the intent of maligning Islam in the middle ages to protect the European kings and their kingdoms. My gratitude to Wilders comes from the fact that he is putting it on the spot light, so we have an opportunity to discuss and clarify them, hopefully for ever. Otherwise a whole lot of people would have believed in the wrong thing. Thank you my friend.

Prophet Muhammad was pelted with stones by a bunch of miscreants, he was bleeding, and his associates and angel Gabriel were requesting him to give permission to go get the bad boys, the Prophet said no, instead he asked them to pray with him that God gave goodwill and a good sense to the misled miscreants.

Following the model of Prophet of forgiveness and the belief that there is good in every human soul, we have to relentlessly stoke the goodness in humans. I ask fellow humans in general and fellow Muslims in particular to pray for Geert Wilders’ safety and well being.

Mr. Wilders, I have personally prayed for your safety and well being and request our Imams to do the same across the world. The report expressed that “You do not fear being slain, claiming 24-hour protection.” Again, I admire you for your courage and conviction and request you to consider another aspect of the equation that nearly 1.5 billion Muslims believe.

Note to the Muslim Leadership:

As Muslims leaders, we have a responsibility to prevent mis-haps. To be a Muslim is to be a peace maker; one who constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for co-existence and world peace – God wants his creation to be in peace and harmony, and that is the chief purpose of religion. Islam is indeed peace.

Geert Wilder’s is going to show a 10 minute documentary on the 25th – the hell may freeze over and all of us will be scrambling to defend…. if our Imams can address this in the Friday Sermons, and urge Muslims to follow the model Prophet has created, we can avoid a big mishap and turn this upcoming nightmare into a peace building effort. I request all Imams to call their counterparts around the globe to win this propaganda war with love and kindness and it is an opportunity God has provided to become leaders. If you like, please circulate.

A Prelude to Qur’aan Translations:

When the European Kings were threatened by the invading Arab armies in early part of the millennia, to safeguard and protect their Kingdoms, they gave birth to the idea of Islamophobia and their strategy was:

1. To label the Invading Kings as Muslim, as that was one of the ways to get their subjects to fight.

2. To mis-translate the Qur’aan to create a permanent wedge between the two communities

3. To paint the religion negatively and as a Mohammedan cult.

4. To reinforce this strategy they roped in the Pope to issue a fatwa approving crusades.

Their Blueprint worked well for them and the Arab Kings were pushed back and defeated. It is important to note that a majority of the kings were thieves and robbers, whose only purpose in life was to invade and annex the neighboring territories, loot their wealth, destroy their cultures and come back home stronger and erect a statue of themselves as Heroes. Very few of them wanted to spread their faith for the purpose of spreading piety and goodwill. Their goal was to control the resources and the people; in the process they destroyed civilizations, no different than today’s Neocons.

The Neocons of middle ages were exceptionally successful in steering public opinion against Islam via the translations. The foundation they laid at that time has become the basis for building baseless theories against Islam. The kings happened to be Muslims that they were against, instead their propaganda turned against all Muslims and Islam.

Dahlia Sabry is researching on the effects of this work and reports that ” it was found out that translating the meanings of the holy Qur’aan offered an opportunity to distort and misinterpret its meanings. This played a crucial role in framing a negative and an inaccurate image of Islam. The problem can be ascribed mostly to translations by non-Muslims, however, also partially to translations by Muslims.”

Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete (English: “Law of Mahomet the pseudo-prophet”) was the first translation of the Qur’aan into Latin by Robert of Ketton in 1142. Peter the Venerable persuaded Robert to join a team he was creating to translate Arabic works into Latin in hopes of aiding the religious conversion of Muslims to Christianity. It was the standard translation for Europeans from its release until the 18th century. This translation is loaded with inaccuracies.

Another Latin translation by Ludovicus Marracci was published in 1698. It was supplemented with quotes from Qur’an commentaries “carefully juxtaposed and sufficiently garbled so as to portray Islam in the worst possible light” (Colin Turner,1997 p. xii). The title of the introductory volume of such translation was A Refutation of the Qur’an.

Such translations formed the foundation for a number of subsequent translations into English, French, Italian, German, etc. The first English translation was that of Alexander Ross published in 1649. In his introduction, Ross says “I thought good to bring it to their colours, that so viewing thine enemies in their full body, thou must the better prepare to encounter … his Alcoran” (p. A3).

Similarly, H. Reckendorf (1857) says in his Hebrew translation of the Qur’an, “I can now stop writing and ask God’s pardon for the sin I committed when I profaned our sacred language and transferred to it the talk of lies and falsehood” (as cited in Abdul Aal, January 29, 2006, p. 78).

In 1734, George Sale’s translation came out based on Marracci’s earlier notorious work. In 1861, J. M. Rodwell’s work provided a further example of a writer “gunning for Islam” (Turner, 1997, p. xii).

That was the story of Neocons who shamelessly wore the Christian label, similar inaccurate and brazen translations were made by Muslims as well. The Noble Qur’an, also informally known as the Hilali-Khan translation was published in early 1900’s and is despicable. http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/Quraan/Not-like-Jews-and-Christians.asp

Religions emerged to allay individual fears and bring a balance in one’s life and peace for the society. It is obvious that the Kings of the past have raped the religion to their own advantage and we must not give them the religious label. Their purpose was simply expansion, exertion and oppression and religion did not figure in the conquests, they were far from it.

It is time for us to strip the wrongs people have ascribed to religion, every religion, and get to know the truth. I am amazed neither the Universities, nor the responsible Governments have under taken research project to dismantle the false castles of hate from the past. It is time now, and we have begun this process.

Further Geert Wilders adds “When taking the Koran seriously as divine revelation, a superficial review of the Koran’s extremist verses is not what meshes with democracies.”

All the fourteen verses quoted below have one theme in common “Punishment” for those who do not follow the rules. Mr. Geert may understand this better, if he were to look at it from an universal perspective and not as Islam V. Christianity issue.

One can find ‘punitive’ verses in every holy book. However, the critical element overlooked is the most powerful and dominant aspect of the creator; Qur’aan 1:1 “In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace.” This verse is repeated 113 times in Qur’aan, more than any other verse.

For societies to function on equilibrium there must be law and order. When there is justice in a society, peace is a natural outcome. The Criminal and Civil laws are designed to bring net-peace to the society. For every violation of a rule, punishment is determined. If there were no punishment, then crimes go un-checked creating chaos in the society.

From a common man’s perspective, the word ‘painful doom’ appears to be cruelty coming from a kind God. Well, then what should hold any one from murdering and butchering the other. If you are a good guy who holds the temptations to steal someone else’s hard earned goods, and the bad guys steal with no consequences to it, then every one may resort to stealing. What will happen to a society when every one is stealing, lying or cheating? No one would trust and everyone is frightened of the other.

Imagine the nightmare in America, if we were to remove the punishment aspect from the United States Constitution, civil and criminal laws.

Religions emerged to allay individual fears and bring a balance in one’s life and peace for the society. It is time for us to strip the wrongs people have ascribed to religion, indeed every religion, and find the truth for ourselves. I cannot believe that the Universities and responsible Governments have not undertaken the research to dismantle the false castles of hate from the past.

We have undertaken the work to fix 60 misrepresented verses, hopefully to mitigate the conflicts and nurture goodwill for co-existence, as citizens of the world, you and I, every one included, have the responsibility to watch for the trouble makers whose business is manufacturing enemies and cashing in on fears of ordinary people.

14 Quran verses continued at: http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/Quraan/Muslim-response-to-Geert-Wilders-using-Prophet-Muhammads-Model.asp

Jews were turned into Apes

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This article was first Published on January 21, 2008 at – :

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/01/jews-who-were-turned-into-apes.html

Last night I received an email that listed “Top 10 verses Muslims wish were never revealed”. Item number 5 was this. “Qur’an 2:65 mentions that Jews who broke the Sabbath were turned into Apes.” claiming that Islamic God is anti-Semitic. I will post every one of the 10 items and hope to wrap it up by the end of this month.

As a Muslim, it offends me to read this title, and I certainly understand the pain the Jews must feel when they read this quotation. Every one is busy with their lives, rightfully so and consume the sound bites dished out to them without even wondering the veracity of it. We have seen that everywhere, facts simply don’t matter to our administration even when a Million lives have been annihilated based on wrong facts. Who has the time to find the truth?

9/11 has given a boon to writers around the globe and Islam bashing yields guaranteed returns. There is a percentage of population who are hunkering down to devour any thing anti-Islam and the hawks know where to dive for their fish. You can write anything anti-Islam and people will donate the money. Look it up, every website that writes hate asks for money. It is precisely this ganging up for making money that turned me towards finding the truth several years ago and now, this year, 2008, I have made a commitment to address those 60 or some verses that are routinely misquoted as a part of the propaganda.

I understood the concept of Pluralism. It has been around for thousands of years in India and one of the greatest Kings of India, rightly called Akbar the great, was perhaps the first one in the world to sponsor such an effort. I learned from Bhagvad Gita a verse, that has become a part of my system “finding the truth is one’s own responsibility”. I have written quite extensively on it, but for now I will get back to the verse above.

“Qur’an 2:65 mentions that Jews who broke the Sabbath were turned into Apes.”

I clicked on the link provided just for 2:65 –it took me to the University of Southern California’s website http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/002.qmt.html#002.065

I looked for that sentence, it was not there. By giving the link, people are duped into believing that what is said is authentic. This is not the only one, there are at least 60 of them that are in the propaganda machine.

Islamicity is where I go to check any verse in Qur’aan, it is an authentic Islamic website. You can go to the Qur’aan search and plug in the verse number and out comes the verse in Arabic, followed by transliteration and the English translation by Mohammad Asad, a respected scholar.

The first item to check was the translation by Hilali Khan, the only one who adds words that aren’t there. To my amazement the word Jew was not plugged in his version of the translation either. The Arabic which I can read, does not say that either.

Religions emerged to allay individual fears and bring a balance in one’s life and peace for the society. It is time for us to strip the wrongs people have ascribed to religion, indeed every religion, and find the truth for ourselves. I cannot believe that the Universities and responsible Governments have not undertaken the research to dismantle the false castles of hate from the past.

In the interest of peace and co-existence, it is time for all of us to get together and find the truth. If these hate mongers can spend their time and monies in promoting peace, we would be better off. I have begun a page at www.WorldMuslimCongress.com – on the panel Qur’aan-information to capture every verse that is maligned.. On some, I will go indepth, at least I am going to quote what is out there in the books. I was amazed this website had the gall to point to the right verse number, but misquote the verse.

God bless us all – here is the info.

Propaganda Verse : Qur’an 2:65 mentions that Jews who broke the Sabbath were turned into Apes.

Here is the real verse with seventeen translations.

Al-Baqara (The Cow) 2:65 ولقد علمتم الذين اعتدوا منكم في السبت فقلنا لهم كونوا قردة خاسئين

2:65 for you are well aware of those from among you who profaned the Sabbath, whereupon We said unto them, “Be as apes despicable!”

al-Baqarah 002:065

Transliteration

Walaqad AAalimtumu allatheena iAAtadaw minkum fee alssabti faqulna lahum koonoo qiradatan khasi-eena

Literal: And you had known those who transgressed/violated from you in the Saturday/Sabbath, so We said to them: “Be lowly/ousted out monkeys/apes .”

Yusuf Ali: And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them: “Be ye apes, despised and rejected.”

Pickthal: And ye know of those of you who broke the Sabbath, how We said unto them: Be ye apes, despised and hated!

Arberry: And well you know there were those among you that transgressed the Sabbath, and We said to them, ‘Be you apes, miserably slinking!’

Shakir : And certainly you have known those among you who exceeded the limits of the Sabbath, so We said to them: Be (as) apes, despised and hated.

Sarwar : You certainly knew about those among you who were transgressors on the Sabbath. We commanded them, “Become detested apes,”

Khalifa : You have known about those among you who desecrated the Sabbath. We said to them, “Be you as despicable as apes.”

Hilali/Khan : And indeed you knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath (i.e. Saturday). We said to them: “Be you monkeys, despised and rejected.”

H/K/Saheeh :And you had already known about those who transgressed among you concerning the sabbath, and We said to them, “Be apes, despised.”

Malik: You very well know the story of those of you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath; We ordered them: “Be detested apes”.[65]

QXP :And you are well aware of those of you who broke the Sabbath, whereupon We said unto them, “Be as apes despicable!”

Maulana Ali: And indeed you know those among you who violated the Sabbath, so We said to them: Be (as) apes, despised and hated.

Free Minds: You have come to know who it was amongst you that transgressed the Sabbath, We said to them: “Be despicable apes!”

Qaribullah: You have surely known of those amongst you who transgressed the Sabbath. We said to them: ‘Be apes, despised! ‘

George Sale: Moreover ye know what befall those of your nation who transgressed on the sabbath day; we said unto them, be ye changed into apes, driven away from the society of men.

JM Rodwell: Ye know too those of you who transgressed on the Sabbath, and to whom we said, “Be changed into scouted apes:”

Asad: for you are well aware of those from among you who profaned the Sabbath, whereupon We said unto them, “Be as apes despicable!” –

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Send your comments to: WMCArchives@Gmail.com

In the subject line, please write: Jews who were turned into Apes

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The World Muslim Congress is driven by the Qur’an, Al-Hujurat, Surah 49:13: “O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. The noblest of you, in sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Allah Knows and is Aware.” Our Mission is to work for a world of co-existence through inclusiveness and participation. As a member of diverse family of faiths, our efforts will be directed towards justice and equity to attain peace for the humankind with a firm grounding in commonly held values. No one should have advantages at the cost of others. Such benefits are temporary and deleterious to lasting peace. We believe what is good for Muslims has got to be good for the world, and vice versa, to sustain it. Indeed we aspire to promote goodwill amongst people of different affiliations, regardless of their faith, gender, race, nationality, culture or any other uniqueness blessed by the creator. www.WorldMuslimCongress.com

Neocon bait from Dutch

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This article was first Published on Friday, January 25, 2008 at – :

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/01/neocon-bait-from-netherlands-on-quraan.html

Neocon bait from the Netherlands on Qur’aan
Mike Ghouse, January 20, 2008

http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/Quraan/Neocon-bait-from-Netherlands-on-Quraan.asp

The old Banker of Great Britain had written laws on how to get rid of bad torn up currency; he called it Gresham’s law – which states “Good money will chase bad money out of circulation”.

Muslims can learn from this law – the only way to kill a bad idea is to float good ideas on the market. I am writing this is in response to a ten minutes documentary made by Geert Wilders; a Dutch lawmaker, and it is billed as “a ten-minute film exposing the horrific passages of the Koran.” This is expected to be aired on January 25th. All hell may freeze over and may this day pass without any incidence.

First of all, the horrific pages they are referring to are misunderstood verse, rather mistranslated verses. It is our duty to produce answers for this error and produce equally good documentaries to present the truth. We must avoid the temptation to preach or teach, but simply present it as information for people to review. Let people make up their own minds.

The moderates, who make up the majority of any people, should not expect the hard core Neocons to read this documentation or even see a documentary should it be made. Neither their counterparts, the Muslim Neocons will see their documentary either. Both are trouble makers, their duel is messing the peace loving majority of Muslims, Christians and others. We need to speak up.

The movie is produced with the evil intention of maligning Islam and agitating Muslims. It is going to test the mettle of Muslims. Let’s not fall prey to this bait. Indeed, let’s thank these guys for making a big deal about it, as it gives us the opportunity to present the truth in the open market, at least some will see it. If we do nothing positive about this event, shame on us.

Here are a few opening thoughts that we can enrich and modify to make it work in the best interests of humanity and peace.

1. The Imams can deliver sermons asking people to follow the Prophet’s example, where he prayed for those who pelted stones at him. Truth is far more important than the job and the people will always support the truth. Let the few who scream, keep screaming, it is time to discipline those cranky babies.

2. The goodness has to spread faster than badness and our Imams can bring about this change in a short period of time, but it is the responsibility of each Muslim.

3. Our Imams ought to take a personal interest in making at least 5 calls to the imams they know overseas and let that multiply. I do know that every Imam in America and Perhaps Canada is a peace maker, but we cannot say that about some of the Europeans and others.

4. Our Imams can turn the tide around and become the peace makers; i.e., mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill.

5. The Mosque administrators can distribute fliers and constantly talk to those few, just those few extremists whose head does not comprehend peace.

6. It is in our interest and interests of the world of Islam to put the extremists behind bars. That is what Islam is about, peace making.

7. It is rather shameful to be in a position of defending, let’s fix our rascals and get out of our defensive mode.

8. May Allah give us the guts to take firm stand against extremism?

9. May Allah drain the fear of rocking the boat and embolden us to speak out the truth.

10. May Allah drain the fear of them bad boys, in reality they are chicken crap, and we can stop them by simply speaking up. Quote the Qur’aan to shut them up. Qur’aan does not support them.

11. Produce documentaries showing the truth with the intention of gaining the viewers to consider another version, rather than preaching or missionizing (Dawa) as it would be counter productive.

12. Lastly, each one of us needs to monitor any kind of extremism. All it takes is one idiot to make the lives of 1.5 Billion Muslims miserable. We should do our struggle to contain these elements that would be our good deed.

Please share this message with other Muslims. Every day those ugly Neocons are bombarding the airwaves with their propaganda, and our Neocons are giving a life to them. A majority of the general public does not believe those liars, but each passing day, they are gaining believers.

You and I need to do our share of goodness, and that is to check the growth of extremists’ thoughts, actions and words. We cannot expect peace, unless we are prompters of it.

*The word Neocon is used to represent extremists in all faiths, cultures and races.

We have begun the process of addressing those verses at Qur’aan-information tab at http://www.worldmuslimcongress.com/ . Insha Allah, the 14 misrepresented verses addressed in the documentary will also be explained under the title “Geert Wilders misunderstands Qur’aan” on this website.

Jazak Allah Khair
Speak up, silent no more®

Mike Ghouse

http://www.worldmuslimcongress.com/
Good for Muslim and Good for the world.

Wife beating Morale 4:34

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This article was first Published on Sunday, January 27, 2008 at – : http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/01/wife-beating-morale-434.html

Surah 4:34 The (Wife) Beatings Will Continue ’til Morale Improves
Principles of human dignity are timeless and universal, you say? Well, maybe, but consider the complexity of the therapist’s task when a traditional Muslim husband and his not-so-traditional (Westernized) Muslim wife arrive in the office for marriage counseling and conciliation.

Bassam A. Abed and Syed E. Ahmad’s Discipline as a Means to Marital Reconciliation: the Husband’s Graduated Response to His Wife’s Disobedience Under Islamic Law explores “the Islamic legal perspective on wife beating specifically and wife discipline in general.”

Abed and Ahmad, law students at Michigan State University, dispute the suggestion that wife beating is an accepted doctrine of Islam, although they posit a notion of permissible, rightly motivated, non-abusive physical discipline as a means of restoring proper marriage relations. It is a very difficult concept for us Westerners to accept.

With robust immigration from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, these situations will appear more and more often in the suites of Western therapists. How should it be handled?

By asserting our egalitarian values and expressing outrage at their violation, do we run the risk of driving Muslims out of therapeutic counseling? Do we want to throw the baby out with the bath water? (For example, there is a strong commitment to alternative dispute resolution in surah 4:35, which outlines a system of arbitration.)

Do we want marriage therapy to be the exclusive preserve of native-born and Westernized immigrant couples? Do we have anything to offer a Muslim couple whose marriage is in crisis?

These are not rhetorical questions. I would like to know the answers.

Abed’s and Ahmad’s article is on the Cienfuegos blog at http://gimmetruth.wordpress.com/2006/06/04/discipline-as-a-means-to-marital-reconciliation/. It’s long, but profitable reading for therapists in multicultural communities, and the Therapeutic Family Law practitioners who refer clients to them.
POSTED BY B. JAMES STINSON AT 4:06 PM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
LABELS: ISLAM, MARITAL RECONCILIATION, MUSLIMS, WIFE BEATING
Thursday, January 24, 2008
District of Columbia’s Pilot Program Grapples with Fatherlessness
Here is the brief article about the District of Columbia’s new Fathering Court pilot program, taken from the DC Bar’s website:

District of Columbia Superior Court, Office of Attorney General Collaborate to Form New Fathering Court

The family court of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia has partnered with the D.C. Office of the Attorney General and other D.C. government agencies to create a new entity, the Fathering Court. This program, currently in the pilot phase, will help recently incarcerated fathers get the help they need to support their families through services such as drug treatment, parenting classes, and job training.

The Fathering Court will help an initial class of 45 noncustodial fathers become responsible for their children through a combination of needs assessment, case management, and linkage to community resources. Resources for Fathering Court participants include mandatory fathering classes, employment training, and family and parental educational classes. Participants also must maintain sobriety, which will be enforced through mandatory drug testing. An individual case manager and the Fathering Court program manager will monitor each participant’s progress.

“The Fathering Court is a unique effort to help fathers returning from prison become better parents—financially and emotionally—to their children,” said Family Court Presiding Judge Anita Josey-Herring. “[W]e will be able to help them find gainful employment, slowly increase the amount of child support they owe, and to develop meaningful relationships with their children. Custodial parents will get the child support they are due, fathers will have a chance to meet their support requirements, and the relationship between parent and child will be about more than just money.”

D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer agreed.

“Parents coming out of prison have many strikes against them, and this program is designed to give them a fighting chance to be a parent to their child or children,” she said.

Magistrate Judge Milton Lee, who will preside over Fathering Court cases, added that he looked forward to the challenge that this new program represents.

“Judges who hear child support cases can grow weary of excuses, just as those returning from prison can grow weary of job application rejections, and custodial parents can grow weary of not receiving court-ordered child support. And the children living without the benefit of appropriate financial and emotional support from both parents are the ones who suffer most,” he said. “We know that children benefit from having both parents involved in their lives.”

Some agencies supporting the Fathering Court include the Bureau of Prisons, Child Support Services Division, Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, Fatherhood Initiative of the Department of Human Services, and D.C. Office of the Attorney General. —J.R.
POSTED BY B. JAMES STINSON AT 7:38 PM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
LABELS: CHILD SUPPORT, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, EX-OFFENDERS, FATHERING COURT, FATHERLESSNESS
Virginia Holeman’s reconciliation study
Here is Virginia Holeman’s description of her study on marital reconciliation, taken from the Campaign for Forgiveness Research website:

Marital Reconciliation: A Qualitative Study

Unlike forgiveness, the formal study of reconciliation is in its embryonic stage. I undertook an exploratory study of marital reconciliation to (1) develop a grounded theory of reconciliation, (2) to identify factors salient to reconciliation, and (3) to generate ideas for research and counseling.

This study used multiple case, in-depth, phenomenological interviewing to gain an understanding of marital reconciliation and the meaning that partners individually and conjointly attributed to that experience. A purposive sample of twelve couples (N=12) was obtained through referrals by clergy or clinicians.

Each couple completed three ninety-minute, audio taped interviews. The first two interviews were individual to allow participants to discuss the flow of events from the viewpoint of either the injured party or the transgressor. The final interview was conjoint and focused extensively on how the couple rebuilt their relationship.

Interview data were coded using The Ethnograph v.5.0. A grounded theory of reconciliation developed from the themes and trends that emerged from interview analyses. Triangulation was achieved by participant-observation, analysis of narrative data, and comparing study conclusions with psychological and theological literatures on forgiveness and reconciliation.

I define reconciliation as active commitment to the restoration of justice and trustworthiness by both injured party and transgressor so that their relationship may be transformed.

I employ the metaphor of preparation for wilderness trekking as an organizational scaffold for the eight themes that emerged. This metaphor avoids as much as possible a linear interpretation (i.e., steps) of the themes.

The eight “essential items” for trekking through the wilderness of reconciliation include the following: commitment to a transcendent spirituality, commitment to reconcile, the role of community or witnesses to reconciliation, individual maturation, forgiveness, repentance, rebuilding truth and trustworthiness, and the emergence of a new story about their relationship.
POSTED BY B. JAMES STINSON AT 5:51 PM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
LABELS: MARITAL RECONCILIATION, RESEARCH
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Grant from State Supreme Court Underwrites Experiment to Serve Families in Crisis
The Indiana Supreme Court’s Division of State Court Administration has distributed about $1.8 million since 1999 to support Family Court projects in 22 counties, according to the Evansville Courier. The cautiously paced experimentation will penetrate Southwestern Indiana this year in the form of a $30,000 grant to urban Vanderburgh County (Evansville) for a two-year pilot project to assist pro se families.

The Courier’s Kate Braser writes that the object of the Vanderburgh County project, modeled on a Lake County program, is to coordinate multiple cases involving the same family, to avoid inconsistent orders and promote more informed decision making among judges assigned to domestic cases.

According to Superior Court Judge Mary M. Lloyd, the project’s lead judge, it’s not unusual for one family to be simultaneously involved in a juvenile case, a protective order and another legal issue. “Hopefully now the case before us will be able to be better addressed,” she told the Courier.

Part of the grant will fund a part-time employee to track and organize local Family Court cases. That employee will pull all the cases for a referred family, then brief the judge assigned to the case as to other ongoing legal issues the family faces, Lloyd said.

Pro bono attorneys from the local bar will assist pro se litigants referred by the clerk’s office. The Evansville Bar Association boasts unusually robust pro bono participation. A recent Courier article identified several attorneys who donated 50 hours or more during 2007.

Volunteer Lawyer Program district administrator Scott Wylie told the Courier that the grant will also allow the court to arrange for family counseling in certain cases. A small pool of money will be set aside for mediation services.

“There are many cases where the adversarial system doesn’t serve the family as well as allowing everyone to sit down with a mediator,” Wylie said. “Often it is a very stressful and sad time, and if you can have a third-party mediator sit down and help, many families can often come up with their own solutions.”

The grantees hope the Family Court project will serve 100 families within the first year.

“This is another example of (Indiana Chief Justice and Family Court project founder Randall Shepard) trying to provide access to the courts for every person in Indiana,” Wylie said.

“So many families are having to go through the entire court system without benefit of counsel. This is designed to help those people, so that they can get their forms and pleadings done in a way that will allow them to actually receive the child support or custody orders that they need and also ensure the judges have the information they need to make the best decision for that family.”
POSTED BY B. JAMES STINSON AT 12:00 AM 1 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
LABELS: COURT REFORM, EVANSVILLE, FAMILY COURT, GRANT, INDIANA, INDIANA SUPREME COURT, LAKE COUNTY, PRO BONO, PRO SE, RANDALL SHEPARD, VANDERBURGH COUNTY, VOLUNTEER
Monday, January 21, 2008
For Happily Married Women, Hand Holding is Physiologically Powerful
Neuroscientist James Coan, PhD, reports that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans confirm that happily married women are calmed in stressful situations by holding hands with their husbands.

Coan and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin and University of Virginia studied 16 happily married couples in their early 30s, on average. They were identified as happily married by a 151-point survey instrument. Any couple scoring 100 or more was defined as happily married. The couples selected for the research averaged about 126 points.

The wives wore electrodes on their ankles and the couples watched screens that warned them when a mild electric shock was coming or assured them that they weren’t due for a shock. When the wives knew they were due for a shock, their brain scans showed activity in brain areas that handle threats.

The fMRI operators scanned the wives’ brains and found that when the wives held their husbands’ hand their brain scans looked calmer, during the same threat, than when they weren’t holding hands.

While holding a stranger’s hand, the wives’ brain scans were less calm than while holding their husbands’ hand, but calmer than while not holding anyone’s hand.

This generally accorded with the wives’ self-reported stress and unpleasantness. The wives reported that they felt physically calmer while holding anyone’s hand, but that only holding their husband’s hand made the tests less unpleasant.

All of the couples in the study were happily married. But those whose marital quality rated higher (by the numerical scheme) than the others experienced the greatest benefits: the effect of spousal handholding under threat was greater in stronger relationships.

Doan and his colleagues caution that the findings may not apply to couples in less happy relationships, as the cut-off score for eligibility to participate in this experiment was 100. Struggling couples and couples in crisis were not invited to participate, and husbands were not tested or scanned.
POSTED BY B. JAMES STINSON AT 8:20 AM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
LABELS: HAND-HOLDING, MARRIAGE, RESEARCH
Just the Facts, Ma’am (litigation humor)
A woman appeared in court pro se and told the judge she wanted a divorce. The judge looked through his stack of files, found none for the woman, gave his clerk a dirty look but, being up for re-election, settled down to try and accomodate the woman.

“Do you have any grounds?” the judge asked.

“Yes, your honor, about two acres.” she replied.

The judge cleared his throat, paused, and tried again. “That’s not what I mean, ma’am. Look, do you have, um, a grudge?”

“No sir, we just park in the driveway.”

The judge shot a mean stare at his bailiff, who quickly regained his composure.

“What are we dealing with here? Is your husband a philanderer?”

“No sir, he’s a barber.”

The clerk and the bailiff watched the judge clench and release his fists on his lap and noticed that a vein on his forehead had begun to pulsate.

“Does your husband beat you up?”

“Oh no, your honor. I always wake up before him.”

“O.K., lady, just tell me why you want a divorce.”

“Because,” she admitted, “we just don’t seem to be able to communicate.”
POSTED BY B. JAMES STINSON AT 7:27 AM 0 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST
LABELS: DIVORCE COURT, HUMOR, PRO SE
Friday, January 18, 2008
Advance Notice and Call for Papers
Family Violence and Specialist Courts — National and International Perspectives
22-23 May 2008
Canberra, ACT Australia

Conference Overview
Specialised court procedures and specialised family violence courts are developing rapidly in Australia. In many jurisdictions, these developments are paralleled by other specialisations such as Drug Courts, Indigenous Courts and Mental Health Courts.In Canada, the UK, and the USA specialised family violence court initiatives have been extensively implemented.
This national conference will be an opportunity to hear critical reflections from overseas and national speakers, and will provide an occasion for Australian judicial officers, administrators, victim advocates, prosecutors, policy makers and law reform advocates to share perspectives on the specialised jurisdictions, on what constitutes ‘success’ and visions for the future.

Conference Keynote Speaker: His Honour, Raymond E. Wyant, Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Manitoba, Canada.

Call for Papers
The conference organisers invite you to submit an abstract for a paper or workshop to be presented at the conference. Abstracts should be between 250-200 words and be submitted by 29 February 2008.

We are particularly interested in papers that reflect critically on some of the practice and legal challenges inherent in specialised developments, the role of specialised justice courts or justice initiatives within the history of reform in relation to domestic & family violence, the ways in which the specialised initiatives do or do not respond to the interests of victims and/or offenders, and those projects or initiatives that are informed by research and evaluation.

Muslim Service Flag hoisted

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This article was first Published on Monday, January 28, 2008 at – :http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/01/muslim-service-flag-hoisted.html

2008 Humanitarian Award Recognizes Dr. Basheer Ahmed’s Accomplishments

Another Muslim hoists a proud community service flag in the Dallas/ Fort Worth Metroplex. The more goodthings we can do, in our service to mankind, the more respect we will earn in the society. I am pleased to share this momentous occasion at the Tarrant County Medical Society’s Annual dinner event on Friday, January 25th, 2008 in Fort Worth.

Dr. Basheer Ahmed was recently honored with the 2008 Humanitarian Award from the Tarrant County Medical Society, an organization representing more than 3000 physicians in the local area. The Humanitarian Award honors a physician for exceptional volunteer service above and beyond the scope of a medical practice. The award ceremony took place on January 25, at the Fort Worth Club. The ceremony was started with a convocation by Imam Moujahed Bakhach of Fort Worth.

In addition to his expertise as a psychiatrist, M. Basheer Ahmed, M.D., is a fundraiser, community mental health advocate, and social activist. Over the past 15 years, he has served as Chairman of the Board and Executive Director for the Muslim Community Center for Human Services located in Fort Worth. This organization offers a free medical clinic with a special emphasis on understanding the Muslim community, free counseling services, a free domestic violence hotline, health fairs, and other services to those in need.

A native of Hyderabad, India, Ahmed, immigrated to the United States in 1968. Prior to this, he obtained his medical degree from Dow Medical College in Karuchi, Pakistan, and completed postgraduate psychiatric studies at Glasgow University in Scotland. He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry. He is also a distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

In addition to his educational and philanthropic accomplishments, Ahmed has held faculty positions at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, NY; Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio; and was professor of Psychiatry at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas. In 1985, Ahmed established a private practice in Fort Worth, Texas.

Ahmed is past president of the Islamic Medical Association of North America and past president of the Islamic Association of Tarrant County.

The meeting was attended by the executive committee of the Tarrant County Medical Society, past recipients of Humanitarian Award, the members of the Medical Society, the board members of MCC for Human Services, volunteer physicians of Al Shifa Clinic, and many supporters of MCC projects.

Board Members of the Muslim Community Services who attended the event.

Mistakes a few Muslims make

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This article was first Published on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at – : http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/01/mistakes-few-muslims-make.html

The following articles (listed below) disingeniously compare Christianity with Islam , presenting Christianity in a negative way. I am posting here to share another point of view knowing well that these kind of articles are not important to an overwhelming majority of Muslims, these issues are not in their day to day life nor do they care. These articles are not part of any majority of people regardless of their faith. They focus on their family and work and being good human beings.

These articles, just as the ones bent on Islam bashing are the domain of the Neocons, i.e., those who are bent on creating chaos. These Necons are in every faith; be it Christiandom, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam or others.

Please think about this, and if it makes sense to you, speak out against any articles by any group that prey on deriding others, that is contrary to what their faith advoactes – peace, harmony and co-existence.


1. First of all, I want to affirm that I am a Muslim and practicing Islam works for me and the values of Islam run in my veins. Just as it is natural for a Christian, Hindu or Sikh to follow his or her faith, my faith is natural to me.

2. Religion came into being to bring peace to an individual within, and what surrounds him or her; life and matter. It is God’s creation to keep the world and his diverse creation in some order or equilibrium.

3. Religion is simply faith – believing in God, Angels, Prophets, Heavens, Hell and the Day of reckoning etc. Each faith has its own list to complete that particular faith.

4. What one believes is how one is conditioned (Faith by birth) and how one feels comfortable with the ideas and subscribes to it (Faith by conversion).

5. It is hard to imagine the following scenario; During the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia or war torn Iraq or any other conflict – many a children were rendered homeless and thank God, there were good people around the globe whose kindness allowed them to adopt those children. Imagine a family with 5 kids, all their relatives were wiped out and each one of the kids was adopted when they were from one to five in age… by a Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist and a Jewish family.

6. Let’s say you are the Muslim kid who was adopted and your brothers or sisters are following other faiths. Do you believe that your siblings; who were raised as a Hindu, Christian, Jew or Buddhist will not believe in what they were raised? Would they not claim that their belief is the right one? As you claim yours is the right one? Who is right?

7. What is the difference then? Is it what we are conditioned to believe? You can experiment with your own kids and you can witness the result twenty years from now. Religion is faith, what you believe.

8. A majority of Muslims, like majority of any religious group is not in the business of selling religion like a product; putting down competition to sell their own. Religion is not for sale and it does not have to be sold by putting other faiths down. If you enjoy the fruits of peace and happiness that your faith gives you, share it with others, and if they can feel the same, let them make that call. If you do the mud slinging, you are inviting mudslinging back and that is not religion in any form or shape.

9. The following two articles are not only flawed in comparisons but downright breeders of conflict. Your faith does not strengthen by creating low points for other faiths. You ask the believers, they see it in a different way.

This perhaps is the reason God has cautioned us so many times ” to you is your faith as mine is to me”; If he had chosen, all of us would have followed the same faith, he would have made us all exactly 6′ tall, 200 pounds, blue skin color…. and Mount Everest and Mt. St Helens and all other mountains would have been 30,000′ tall, 10 Miles wide… and all oceans to go from 1 foot to 7 miles deep at the same distance…

But God chose to make us all different, let’s honor God’s wish. He said I want to see all of you get along with all the uniqueness I have endowed you with, look at the planets, stars and universe, each one has its own space and trajectory, you need to figure it out to live in peace.

Qur’an, Al-Hujurat, Surah 49:13: “O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. The noblest of you, in sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Allah Knows and is Aware.”

Please think about this, and if it makes sense to you, avoid circulating these articles and instead work on creating peace.

Qur’aan – 109:6 “Unto you, your moral law, and unto me, mine.”

To be a Muslim is to be a peace maker; one who constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for harmonious co-existence and world peace – God wants his creation to be in peace that is the chief purpose of religion.

As Muslims we should not resort to this disgusting activity, we are the ones who are hit every day with Quranic verses misquoted to denigrate the faith that we believe in, and we should not be doing the same to others, no matter how much they hit us below the belt. Our goodness should not be dependent on how others treat us.

Jazak Allah Khair

Mike Ghouse
www.WorldMuslimCongress.com

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Video: Swami Laxmi Acharya’s understanding of Islam

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by Mike Ghouse

You will be amazed to learn that many non-Muslims have really understood the essence and purpose of Islam, Here is the story of Swami Laxmi Acharya.

The story of Swami Laxmi Acharya is similar to my account. He wrote an anti-Islamic book based on how Islam was represented to him, and before I became a Muslim around the late ’90s, I had questioned everything about Islam. As a young man, I had walked away from Islam based on erroneous translations of a few verses from the Quran and certainly some bad hadiths.  

Acharya sought to find the truth, so did I. I was propelled by reading a verse from the Bhagavad Gita that challenged me that finding the truth was my responsibility, and the Bible had said, the truth brings relief and peace.

Acharya bought the Hindi translation of the Quran and found the truth – the Quran is the book of guidance, and he is on a mission to correct the misunderstandings. Whereas, I chose to empty everything I knew about Islam as a child growing up. Even if an Imam says this is “Islam,” I would not blindly believe in it. I had to find the truth on my own.  

Acharya said Islam means making a regular human to a good citizen. That was what I wrote in the chapter Essence of Islam in the book American Muslim Agenda.

Both the Acharya and I are on the mission to correct the misunderstandings. Islam and the Quran are pure wisdom to create a better world for every human being. 

My first suggestion to most Muslims out there is to open their minds to criticism of the Quran, Allah, Prophet, and Islam. Instead of getting angry, cursing the other and blaming the world, find the truth, you will find wisdom in the Quran. Indeed, all the Prophet had said in his last sermon was to stick to the Quran, and you cannot go wrong. For 150 years after the death of the Prophet, there was no other book other than the Quran. That is all we need. 

By the way, please go to the site, www.IslamAwakened.com, it presents every verse with 50 plus translations, see how different and similar they are. It is your responsibility to find the essence of Islam. At this time, I will suggest sticking to Muhammad Asad and Laleh Bakhtiar’s translations to get the Quran’s full wisdom. 

After you become a confident Muslim, you can study the secondary literature that includes hadiths, tafseers, seerah, and other books; you will see how these books do not fully represent the Quran’s values. 

Please check out two brand new chapters in the book American Muslim Agenda, never been written in the Islamic literature, Islam’s essence, and the 12 Islamic Values to pair with Islam’s five pillars. 

By the way, I don’t have a degree in Islam from Al-Azhar or any Islamic university. I have Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) last suggestion to read and understand the book. He never said to go to Al-Azhar or some Imam to learn about Islam. 

Insha Allah, I will do a workshop, as I have done before (http://quraanconference.blogspot.com/ ), to understand the essence of Islam and God’s wisdom for all of us, yes, all of his creation to live in harmony and securely. 

Please visit the YouTube Channel “Essence of Islam”
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS2UwFN1Wvo-Zy-04uQrZ_w/videos

We just started this channel, and each video posted is a collection of talks by Muslims and non-Muslims with a focus on Essence of Islam.

Mike Ghouse, Author, American Muslim Agenda. 

Sharia Law: Not in America

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This article was first Published on 07/22/2010 12:51 pm at – : https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sharia-law-not-in-america_b_653250

Sharia in its simplest form is a how-to manual based on the Qur’an and the Hadith (Prophet Muhammad’s sayings). It is a human effort to understand the concept of justice enshrined in the Qur’an for day-to-day living.

After the death of Muhammad and the first four Caliphs, there was a leadership vacuum that needed to be filled so that someone could clarify new issues that came up on a daily basis. The scholars of the time met the challenge and created a body of knowledge as supplementary guidance and established the standards of moral conduct. Sharia laws were designed to be free from misapplications and regret-free decision-making processes.

From a layperson’s point of view, Sharia is divided into a personal and a public function. The personal Sharia is about the relationship between an individual and the creator, whereas the public Sharia is about the relationship between the individual and society.

The personal Sharia deals with beneficial actions that should be performed by individuals, such as prayers, fasting, pilgrimage, Hajj, and Zakat (tithe, or charity). It is indeed a guide for individual Muslims to observe and follow their faith.

The public Sharia deals with the community affairs involving more than one individual, such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adultery, theft, conversion, apostates and inheritance.

The intent of the Sharia laws was to construct a complete justice system with fairness to all members of society. Peace and a sense of security are the products of justice in a given society. The violations of justice and the rule of law are found in every faith, culture and political system, to varying degrees. In this respect no community is free of blame and no one can cast the first stone against another community.

However, like all laws, the Sharia for public application needs a serious revision to reflect the changing needs of society. The values enshrined in the Qur’an are dynamic, and because Sharia laws are derived from the Qur’an, they must reflect the dynamic applicability of the book. In modern times, the contentious issues that have most often recurred stem from treatment of divorce, women’s rights, inheritance, theft, adultery and apostasy.

Even here in America, laws originally framed with the intention of ensuring liberty and justice for all were misapplied for over a century after they were written, resulting in a serious denial of rights to women and slaves. It is only in the last 75 years that we are tuning ourselves to the intent of our constitution. A woman is no longer considered a chattel, and slavery has become an outlawed practice. As of right now the rights of individuals with different sexual orientations are at the center of the debates as much as accepting a woman president in our country. In terms of capital punishment we are still evolving; we are behind Europe and we remain as antiquated as Saudi Arabia in putting people to death.

But even as we speak today there is yet another speculative issue that has been brought up: the issue of application of Sharia laws here in our country. This contentious debate is largely a product of the media and many fearful neoconservatives. As an American Muslim who has widely traveled throughout this country, I can strongly affirm that no group of American Muslims has called for the application of Sharia laws in America. Although a few individuals may have expressed their support for compliance with the laws here in our country, they have nevertheless remained avid supporters of the laws and freedoms of the United States.

The Sharia industry has been built with strong fortifications, to the point that many Muslims are led to believe that Sharia law is divine. In this way the application of Sharia throughout history can be comparable to the business protection plans used by defense, tax preparers and other industries, where the involved matters are made so complicated that they are needed by the society.

Islam teaches each individual to be accountable for his or her actions. We do not need a Sharia industry, and Islam certainly does not have clerical establishment built into it, nor is there a need for one.

We can retain the private Sharia and let go of the public Sharia; the civil laws of our nation provide ample justice, and we don’t need a duplicate system. Sharia law was never considered divine to begin with. Hence, there is no need to even dream about it.

American Muslims have placed their trust in the American justice system and will continue to oppose Sharia laws as they are currently applied in many places across the globe. I will be one of the first ones, if not the first one, to stand up against it. The Muslim majority in America is happy with the American system and does not want to have Sharia law here in America.

This may be bad news for the likes of Bridgette Gabriel, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, John Hagee and a host of other right-wingers, who thrive on selling hate and painting chaotic scenarios. It will hurt their sales and affect their cash flow. They cannot dupe Americans with unsubstantiated and statistically insignificant claims. Americans are trained to see another point of view and to be non-judgmental.

However, I urge the passionate neocons to become ambassadors of peace in mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill. It will not make them as much money, but they will be able to sleep in peace. We all need to work for a safe and prosperous America with a focus on social cohesion and removing the division and wedges between us.

As a Muslim I stand against Sharia for public consumption and assure the neocons, the fearful and the gullible that we are Americans and the law of the land is our law. There is no substitute for it.

Muslims Pro-Act Against Quran Burning

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This article was first Published on 09/08/2010 05:07 pm at – : https://www.huffpost.com/entry/muslims-proact-against-qu_b_705571

The world will watch Terry Jones, senior pastor at Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, burn the Quran on his church grounds on September 11, 2010. Obviously this incendiary act is intended to provoke a reaction from Muslims.

The actions of a few Muslims would be as representative of Islam as the actions of Pastor Jones are of Christianity. There will be some among Muslims who will mirror Pastor Jones, but the majority of Muslims would act the same way as the Christian or other majorities in other faiths: they will do nothing.

However, “silent no more, speak up” is the new paradigm among Muslims. They have had enough of the blame for 9/11 placed on them while the true criminal is at large. Muslims want Osama Bin Laden caught and punished as much as, if not more than, the families of the victims of the 9/11 do. While bigotry is emanating from only a minuscule percentage of Americans against fellow Americans, the majority of Americans have not felt the need to stop others from treating fellow Americans with suspicion and blame for things they have no part in it.

The issue can be framed in two questions.

1) What is God going to do as Pastor Jones burns the Quran?

The simple answer is “Nothing!”

Muslims do not own the Quran; it is a book of guidance for those who choose to be guided. Indeed, the Quran starts with the words, “All praise is due to God alone, the Sustainer of all the worlds” (1:2), and ends with addressing humanity as a whole again: “I seek refuge with the Sustainer of men” (114:1).

It is understood that God, the cause behind creation of life and matter, belongs to all of us. No one owns him, and no group has exclusive favors with him over the other.

God knows everything we do, and neither Osama Bin Laden nor Pastor Jones will go scot-free; every one of us has to account for ourselves in our solitude and again on the day of reckoning.

Quran 14:4 states:

And never have we sent forth any apostle otherwise than [with a message] in his own people’s tongue (language), so that he might make [the truth] clear unto them; but God lets go astray him that wills [to go astray], and guides him that wills [to be guided] — for He alone is almighty, truly wise.

God is not going to do a thing; he has blessed us with free will and encourages and guides us to do good and holds us responsible when we fail.

2) What are Muslims going to do about it?

They will pray for the well-being of the pastor.

That is what Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did when the miscreants pelted rocks at him: instead of getting even with them, he asked his associates to join him and pray for their well-being. The Angel Gabriel offered to help go after those rascals, but the Prophet said no to him and instead prayed for their goodwill. He believed that there is goodness in every human soul and that we have to appeal to it. He chose the nonviolent way of goodwill and nurturing.

Most Muslims will follow the beautiful example of the Prophet; it is one of the peace models he presented for the world to follow, just as most Christians would follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and not burn the Quran. There will be fringe elements among Muslims who will mirror Pastor Jones, but you can count them to be no more than 1/100th of 1 percent of the population.

Quran 14:12 reads, “And how could we not place our trust in God, seeing that it is he who has shown us the path which we are to follow? Hence, we shall certainly bear with patience whatever hurt you may do us: for, all who have trust [in His existence] must place their trust in God.”

Let Pastor Jones burn the Quran if he so chooses. However, we request that he read the right translations and understand the verses in their right context. There are at least 18 decent translations against the two he may have read and bases his judgment upon. We will be happy to sit with him and clarify anything he may have misunderstood.

What does it take to build orderly societies? What does it take for you, me and others to feel safe and live in peace? Can we follow Jesus and remove the fears and bring peace to all?

The Quran says: “O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. The noblest of you, in sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Allah Knows and is Aware” (49:13).

We have to consciously create institutions and systems that will become a catalyst to a positive change and bring about cohesive functioning of the society. It is our duty to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. As an individual, I cannot be safe if the people around me aren’t; it is in my interest to seek peace for all of us.

We have a monumental task to repair the world, and we will do our part in working towards a world of coexistence, one person at a time. We are committed, and now help us God. Amen.

This post was co-written with Imam Zia Shaikh, the resident scholar of the Islamic Center of Irving, Texas and a Hafiz-e- Quraan. Mike Ghouse is a speaker on Islam and religious pluralism, offering pluralistic solutions to the media and the public on the issues of the day. His work is expressed in 22 blogs and tree websites listed at www.MikeGhouse.net.

Are Your Charitable Contributions Charitable?

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This article was first Published on 01/05/2011 08:26 pm  at – : https://www.huffpost.com/entry/are-your-charitable-contr_b_802043

You probably have received dozens of requests for donations this month, and most of them are genuinely charitable causes uplifting folks who are down and relieving the needs of indigent, uninsured, jobless, orphaned, abused, disadvantaged, depressed or helpless fellow beings and animals.

Every religion has emphasized the need to give to insure the spiritual balance of the haves with the have-nots. Thanks to the IRS, such donations are tax deductible, encouraging charity and stretching the value of your giving.

However, there are a few organizations that cannot be called charitable in any sense of the word, although they have secured the tax deductible status 501(c)3 from IRS. These organizations are using your funds to aggressively pitch one American against the other, and that is not an act of charity.

They know fear sells and they also know that when people are frightened they are vulnerable and are eager to accept any one as their savior.

Their tactic is simple: find mole hills, make mountains of out of them and cash in the fears. They highlight the statistically insignificant news items and at the end of each such note, they invariably ask you to open your checkbook. They will frighten the day lights out of you with phrases like “imminent danger,” “they will destroy America,” “if we don’t stop them now” and a whole lot more that you may have already read but did not question.

They want you to believe that they are your saviors and shamefully many an American write them the checks. Why do you want to give to some one who wants to continue to excite you with hatred or fear of the other?

If these organizations spend their time in building bridges to mitigate conflicts and nurture good will, your donation is worth it and that would be charity. Ask them, if they are mitigating the conflict or aggravating it. As a society, we need to look into all those organizations that are working to pitch ill-will and hatred between any two groups of Americans and possibly strip them of their status. I am hoping to write the bill and present it to the congress.

A Chinese proverb suggests, “If you want to get rid of your enemy for good, make him your friend, then enemy no more.” Mother Teresa said, “If you want to make peace, go talk with your enemies, you don’t talk with your friends to make peace.” To that I add: “You will not be safe if you are threatening others, and your safety hinges on the safety of others around you.” The idea applies not only to individuals but the nations as well.

What could be the litmus test to determine which organization is worth donating to? Read their appeal; it is a dead give away.

If it generates fear of the future instead of hope; it is to protect “their” group against the manufactured enemy; it is to protect the American way of life (really?); it is to out-do their perceived enemy.

Let your dollars be invested in organizations that are determined to build bridges and not aggravate conflicts. Please donate to those organizations that are working to build bridges for a safe America and safe world for every one, not just them. Let your investment be made where peace is the result instead of conflict mongering. We all need to live safely and peacefully and let us become contributors a safe America by donating to the right organizations.

Let your donation do some good to the humanity.