Ramadan day 15 Irving Masjid

I simply cannot believe it is
the 15th Iftaar of Ramadan of 1433.

The Islamic Center of
Irving aka Irving Masjid is in the centre of the Dallas/ Fort Worth Metroplex
with great freeway access from both sides of the Metroplex. It’s a fairly
diverse congregation with large Subcontinentian (India, Pakistan, and
Bangladesh) congregants.

Dr. Imam Zia Shaikh is the
resident scholar, author and Imam of the center. Without being biased towards
other Imams, he is my favorite Imam in the area, he is one of the few Imams who
understands interfaith relations and is active in it. He and I have authored two
articles1, and have appeared in one TV2 Interview. He just
wrote a book titled Silencing the Critics which is worth reading (link below to
buy from Amazon). You can read more about him at the Masjid Website.

Imam Zia Shaikh has attended at least 15 of the many interfaith events
we organize, and he was the master of ceremonies (Compeer) in two of our events
– www.Unitydayusa.com and www.holocaustandGenocides.com
both designed to promote understanding between people of different traditions.
He was the lead Imam at the www.QuraanConference.com.

Imam Zia, as he is popularly
known as, is a humble, gentle and a kind man. He has a pleasant approach towards
finding solutions. He reasons with you rather than saying this is the way, an
unusual Imam who makes a fan out of you. In one of our first meetings some
eight years ago, he called on me to discuss my take on Islam that some had
questioned, we had a healthy discussion and we saw each other’s point of view
and concluded the conversation with more respect for each other, at least on my
part.

At the Iftaar, he said
something simple but powerful “This Ramadan, if we can take the idea that we
don’t need much, and can live with little”. It was in reference to a Dallas area
Pastor who is observing fasting. The Imam shared what the Pastor is writing in
his blog about Ramadan, “During the prostration, it is a total submission” to
God. More about the Pastor at: http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/2012/08/dallas-pastor-observing-ramadan.html

Inside the sanctuary, there
was a senior gentleman giving a talk about Ramadan to a group of people – this
is a missionary group called Tablighi Jamaat, one of the other persons met me
after the prayers, he said, two couples are visiting from Saudi Arabia on a
mission to talk about Islam.

The missionaries whether they are Mormons,
Evangelists or the Jaamatis (Muslims), they all sound alike, using similar
language and too eager to sell their religion. If you had experience with phone
solicitation calls, you would see through this. Those guys memorize the whole
spill and are eager to get it out of their system, when you interrupt them, they
are lost, and instead of responding to your question they resume their spill. I
don’t know their success rate, but in sales, they say if you hit enough numbers,
someone will buy it.

Imam Zia is sensitive about
the needs of Ramadan, he recites short chapters during the Qiyam (standing
position – check on the left panel of this blog for various positions) and same
goes in Tashahhud – so the people who have fasted can get to the food quickly.
I am sure most people appreciate that. I see the differences in sensitivities
of each Imam.

There is a huge tent outside
the mosque for Iftaar dinner, it was boxed dinner. While in the line, I got to
speak with a few people, one of them has moved from Connecticut and was excited
about the arrangements made here. He was asked by his friends back home to take
the video and send it to them; he said he has not done that. Instead he will
share this site. www.RamadanDaily.com
.

Please share the practice of your mosque in whatever city you live in.

I must emphasize this, the
volunteers are handing the food in the most hygienic form, thus far, I have
not seen any mishandling of food; all wear gloves and serve the food. Glad to
know it has become a culture in the mosques.

In Big D, that is Dallas,
every now and then we see women wearing full Burqa, it is not common but it
exists. I saw a lady walking from the Mosque to the tent this evening completely
covered. A month ago, in the course Islam 101 at Plano Masjid, one of the ladies
on the panel was completely covered with a small slit cut for her eyes to see.
In Carrollton I saw a lady driving on George Bush freeway. That is three in
three years of the 60,000 some Muslims in the area.

FRIDAY
PRAYERS

I should have known better,
but we learn something new every day. There is a beautiful Mosque ( I thought)
in Frisco, way back when I was managing a home building subdivision in Frisco
(1998) this Mosque was under construction and I wondered if Qibla is
incorporated into the Mosque as it seemed circular. Today, I decided to go for
Juma prayers, as I go to different Mosques on Fridays. The place was all locked
up, I hung around until 2:00 PM and left, it was too late to go the other Mosque
in Frisco. The sign in front of the gate said, “school of Islamic Sufism.” The
building, the gardens and the entry gate is magnificent.” Insha Allah, I will go
back there one of these days. There was also a place called Tauheed Center in
Frisco that was closed most of the times, someone said, that it was an Iranian
Christian congregation. I have not verified
that.

Tomorrow, Insha Allah, I will
be at Ahmadiyya Mosque and on Sunday at the Dawoodi Bohra
Mosque.

Mike Ghouse is committed to
building a cohesive America with participation from every community. Please
visit www.AmericaTogetherfoundation.com

Jazak Allah Khair

Please
mark your calendar for the Unity Day USA, a positive event that brings all
Americans Together to rededicate our pledge for a peaceful, prosperous and
secure America. We are a part of America and we need to feel and live it. If
you liked some of the article, you will like the description of Unity Day USA
at www.UnityDayUSA.com

Imam
Zia’s book; Silencing the Critics http://www.amazon.com/Islam-Silencing-discussion-frequently-misunderstood/dp/1470150409/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344050893&sr=8-1&keywords=imam+zia+sheikh

Co-Authored by Imam Zia
and Mike Ghouse – http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/2008/01/muslim-response-to-wilders.html

TV
Appearance – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nB_c5qHlj0

A
few other Articles to read if you have the time:

http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/2012/07/happy-ramadan-what-does-god-really-want.html

Are Muslims a part of the
American society?
http://nabsites.net/demo/are-muslims-part-of-american-story/