Ramadan day 16 Ahmadiyya Mosque

This is the
3rd year of visiting different Mosques and places of worship for
Iftaar during the month of Ramadan. Among the prominent ones are Masjid Al-Aqsa
and Bait-ul-Muqaddas in Jerusalem, Fox News Studios, Unitarian and Family
Federation of Churches in Dallas, and Lufthansa Airlines over the
Atlantic.

As a
member of diverse family of faiths, our efforts will be directed towards
“knowing each other as guided by Quraan to attain peace for the humankind with a
firm grounding in commonly held values. Insha Allah, next year, we
will work on doing Iftaar at a Synagogue, Baptist Church and Catholic Church and
possibly places of worship of different faiths. Hindu teachings call it
Vasudaiva Kutumbukum, we are all one large family under the blue
dome.

Throughout the month of
Ramadan, I am on a journey to grasp, understand and share the meaning of Taqwa
from different perspectives. One of the elements of Taqwa is to feel like, as
Carl Sagan said, “a pale blue dot” against the vastness of universe. In 1990 the Voyager-I took the picture of Planet Earth
from a distance of 3.7 billion miles from Earth in 1990. It was humility
of first order, the Planet Earth was merely a speck , a Pale Blue Dot (.12 pixel
in size) against
the endless vastness of space. This ought to make us appreciate the greatness of
the creator, and truly say, Allahu Akbar!

Remember the words of
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)? He had said, when I die, bury me in an unmarked grave!
This is an example of humility! Also known as Taqwa! He was the Prophet and
did not have an ounce of arrogance; his life was an example for us to consider
living as a good citizen. Indeed, every prophet exemplifies the simplicity of
life. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) wanted us to recognize we are merely a speck in
the expanse of this great Aalameen.

At the Ahmadiyya Mosque,
after the Maghrib Prayers, I was given a moment to share my thoughts, and I
focused on Taqwa; it is to get closer to God, he is closer to us than our
Jugular vein, meaning he is fully aware of everything we do, he is part of our
consciousness, yet we have complete free will.

When we are in tune with
him, we would be acquiring his sifaats (qualities as we humans understand) like
kindness, mercifulness, generosity and just and unbiased. Getting closer to God
simply means having those qualities in us. For our Vedantic friends reading
this item, the act is known as God conscious, and for most others it is
spirituality or Kabalistic experience for our Jewish friends and mysticism for
Sufis. These are different expressions of the same experience; being in tune
with God; Taqwa.

In one of the stories, King Solomon asks God to give him
all the powers God has, and in particular, he wanted to be Ar-Razzāq, the provider. God says No, and
Solomon begs.

God says, you really have to be above pettiness to be
Ar-Razzaq; Solomon comes back with try me! Then God says, ok I will give you a
day. The next day, God calls Solomon onto the carpet and laughs at him. I told
you, you cannot be Ar-Razzaq.

Solomon
argues, what do you mean God, I was a great Ar-Razzaq, to which God says,
Solomon, nothing doing, you goofed up, there is a man dying of hunger, why the
hell did you withheld the food from him? Solomon, the smart Alec shoots back,
“ha ha ha, you did not know that, did you? He was a disobedient Man! God says,
I told you so Solomon, you have to rise above pettiness to be the provider, I am
taking back my role, and your Taqwa meter is at zero.

Can we be in tune
with God? It’s tough, but we can try and that is what Taqwa is all about. In our
times, women like Mother Teresa has achieved the highest degree of Taqwa, men
like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King have achieved that. Of course, we
know many a Muslims have achieved that. Have you? Of course, I have not either,
and I am trying. If we are unjust towards a person we don’t like, our Taqwa
gets smashed to smithereens! Where do we stand on this one?

Now to answer
your question what is the point in referencing Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi,
Carl Sagan and others. It is because Taqwa is a universal aspiration, and it is
open to every human being regardless of the religion one follows.

Islam is a universal faith, and if others cannot relate with its
concepts, then it cannot be universal. This blog is being read all over the
world, hence the narration, so people of other faiths can relate with the Taqwa
values.

A
few Mosques do the education (dars) prior to fasting, Ahmadiyya Mosque is one
such place and other one in Dallas is the WD Muhammad Mosques. Insha Allah, I
will let you know about the Bohra Masjid next week.

The teacher was
giving a dars at the Mosque, typical of most places of worship; his focus was on
Shirk (dilution of God’s dominion) by followers of other religions where they
focus on the messenger rather than the message.

At
8:24 the announcement was made that it was time for the Iftaar, and everyone was
served the Khajoors (dates). Each mosque has its own unique methodology in
breaking the fast. The Madinah Masjid seems to have one of the most well
directed process, the Imam leads all the supplications and no one can be lost
in this mosque.

The Maghrib Prayers were observed in the same
manner as the Sunni Irving, Richardson or Plano Mosques. The Imam kept the
recitation short to be easy on the ones observing fast! There is no Imam per
say at this Ahmadiyya Mosque, the president of the Association led the prayers,
and in most smaller Mosques of all denominations, any one can lead the
prayers, not
necessarily, but usually the seniors are asked to do that. However, the bigger
Mosques have full time professional Imams. When I was teenager, I led
the kids prayers.

The traditions from breaking the fast to the Maghrib
prayers and dinner are identical with the Sunni tradition that is followed in
most of the Mosques in Dallas / Fort Worth area, and I grew up with the same
rituals in Bangalore. Another part of the Taqwa in the realm of humility is NOT
to have the arrogance to believe other traditions to be of lesser value. Each
time you consider others tradition is of lesser value than yours, your Taqwa
meter resets itself to Zero.

The
Ahmadiyya Muslims have taken one of the largest service to the nation
initiatives; blood donations. Last year they collected about 12000 units to
save lives, this year they are targeting 12,000 units and hope to collect more.
On September 11, they are doing the blood drive at Dallas City Hall. They are
looking for additional locations. If you wish to join them, please do so.

Their Chicken Curry for Iftaar dinner was
delicious, my Uncle use to cook the best Chicken Curry in the world and this
curry was a close match, and I enjoyed it on a conversation with two seniors
visiting from Lahore, Pakistan, and two seniors from Dallas. Good people doing
good things.

This Mosque has also adopted the “Alma Road” stretching from
Plano City into Allen, meaning the volunteers will put in their time and effort
to keep the road clean. The City has placed a few signs along the road
recognizing their service.

We appreciate their contributions in making
our communities better.

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

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

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/