Malala, we stand with you and your commitment to education.

Children, women and men joined in this evening in support
of Malala, to stand up for what Malala stood; education. It was the right thing
to do.

More pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157631756527127/show/

The event was organized by Jawed Siddiqi at Subzi Mandi place,
 the purpose was to stand in support of
Malala Yousafzai and send a message to Pakistan that extremism is condemned
across the world. 

The program appropriately commenced with the famous poem
of Dr. Iqbal – A child’s prayer, one of the most beautiful poems I grew up with.
It was sung by Sister Zohra Chisti, and all of us joined the chorus.

Lab pe aati hai dua ban kay tamana meri
Zindagi sham’a key surat ho Khudaya meri.

My wishes become my supplication,
Let my life  be the light  to the world, dear God.

Dur dunya ka maray dam say andheera ho
jaye!
Har jagah meray chamaknay say ujala ho jaye!

May the world’s darkness
disappear through the life of mine!May every place light up with the sparkling light of mine!

Ho maray dam
say younhi meray watan key zeenat
Jis tarah phool say hoti hai chaman ki zenat.

May my homeland through me attain elegance
As the garden through flowers attains elegance.

Full poem at (randomly picked video):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBzXqfwqgjo

I am a volunteer, and I don’t remember the names of every
one that spoke, if I missed your name, please add it in the comment section below.

Thanks to Krishna and Manohar of Desi
Plaza TV for capturing this event on their video, and it will be uploaded at http://www.desiplaza.us/
you can check them out at http://www.facebook.com/desiplaza.us . in a
day or two.

Roha, Esha, Shahina and Maha were among the teenage girls
who spoke, they had a message to Malala to get well and continue with her
commitment to education.  Dr. Tasnim Agha
spoke eloquently about the need for education and our support.

Sajjad Azhar’s message was perfect and precise, indeed an inclusive message, and he concluded with good
parting remarks as well.  Brother Muhammad
Suleman led a short prayer and blessings. There were two other speakers who
extolled the value of goodness taught by the prophet, one of them emphasized the first
word of Quraan- to read and understand. Naeem Sakhia capped the event very well, Malala
brings a transition in the society, extremism will end and a new culture of
education and acceptance will begin.

Jawed Siddiqi offered help to further her education.  

I shared my thoughts as well

Evil exists because
good people do nothing about it. If you let a bully get by, he thinks he has
your permission. How dare can one get?

The extremist was intolerant and did not
believe education for women,  and shot at the girl because she dared to go to
school.  A woman should never be deprived
of education, it should be a crime if any one discourages, makes it difficult
and prevents girls from getting an education. 

Had that guy’s mother been educated, he would not have behaved this way, It is the female under-education that has
brought backwardness to people in the subcontinent in general and Pakistan in
particular The only one who can uplift a child is mother, and the mother can
change the nations if she has the wherewithal of education.

I was at a book launch today, and the conversation rolled on to Malala, and it was a delight to see one of them speak up – he said, the entire nation of Pakistan is condemning the extremist. The positive word gets around. This is the reason more and more people need to spread the good word, so the world knows that Muslims are the first ones to condemn terrorism. 

We need to condemn the acts of the
extremism, rather than condemn the extremists, as Jesus had said. We need to
pray for their well being following in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh). We need to dialogue with them and weed out the root cause, rather than becoming confrontational and have them dig in their heels.  Mother Teresa’s wisdom cannot be lost, if you
want to make peace, go talk with the enemies.

This event sends a message to the
extremists that the world is not with them, the more events like this happen,
the greater the momentum it builds.

Don’t forget to attend another event organized by John
Hammond of FunAsia on Sunday at 8:00 PM FunAsia’s address is 1210 E. Belt line
Rd. Richardson, TX 75081.  

 MikeGhouse
is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic
solutions on issues of the day. He is a professional
speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism,
politics, civic affairs, Islam,
India,
Israel, peace and justice. Mike is a
frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a
commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas
Faith Column at Dallas Morning News and regularly at Huffington
post, and several other periodicals across the world. The blog www.TheGhousediary.com
is updated daily.