Ramadan day 17 Shia Momin Center

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Each mosque and each tradition is
uniquely different. Insha Allah, I will do my best to keep that uniqueness
intact, however, it is not easy to write different things each day for the whole
month. If you wish to get a complete essence of this journey in Ramadan, you
have to glance at the other days.

Click on picture to enlarge –
other pictures in the link

Today’s destination is the Shia Masjid in
the city of Irving called Momin Center, in case you are wondering what Momin
stands for, here it is: Metroplex
Organization of Muslims in North-Texas. Please remember, it is a name, and not
necessarily the organization of Muslims. That’s how we name things in the USA,
all private entities.
Click on picture to enlarge –
other pictures in the link

The articles at this site are being
published (translated versions) and read in several nations across the world,
here is the statistics for today’s views: USA 6800, Russia 2530, India 1070, UK
880, Pakistan 553, Qatar 530, Germany 389, Canada 330, Saudi Arabia 190,
Australia 181… 32% form Internet explorer, 28% through Chrome, 16% from Fire
Fox, 11% from Safari and…

Russia has thrown me off completely with
their numbers, but no China today, indeed we have had views from Tibet as well.
There may be a correlation here; I was invited to speak on Pluralism in Islam
in Tataristan, Russia, but I could not go, their budget did not pick up the
airfare, it makes sense why so many Russians are viewing this site, indeed, the
statistic is similar with World Muslim Congress.org. It was the same story with
Indonesia, did not get to go to speak on Islamophobia. If they pay for the
airfare, I will go and present the papers on various aspects of Islam,
particularly on Pluralism in Islam.

One of the first things I
do when I visit a Mosque is check on Quraan translations; One
Hilali Khan’s translation is
fraught with deliberate errors. Thank God, that is out of circulation now, but
millions of copies are out there in the hands of public doing the damage – it is
a sensitive issue, and part of the reason
for Islamophobia. The Quraan I picked to read was published in Saudi
Arabia, the translation of Quraan 1-7 was done up well. Picture in the link.

Got to meet with the
Dr. Mustafa Zaidi, president of the center and Mr. Sohel Sachak, VP, Insha
Allah, I will send them a formal invitation to join us at the Unity Day event
with as many members of the center as they can on September 11, 2012 – by the
way, our purpose is to bring all Americans together for a common purpose, to
know each other and build a cohesive America. It is a positive step forward.
More about it at www.UnitydayUSA.com

Click on picture to enlarge –
other pictures in the link

Maulana Raza
Usmani is a visiting scholar. In the last three years I have been going to this
Mosque, it is a common practice to bring scholars to give dars, education. There
is one on Tuesday night prior to Iftaar, if someone wants to go.

The
Maulana explained the difference in Iftaar procedure well. Unlike the Sunnis and
Ahmadiyya who do the Iftaar on the call for Maghrib (dusk) prayers, the Shias do
it after the prayers. He said, they do break the fast on the call, but wait to
eat after the supplication at the end of the prayers, they believe that
supplication is more powerful after the Dua (supplication). However, on the
call, one of the gentleman who knew me, asked me to go with my Iftaar and I did
along with a few others. They had an additional item – Lassi, the yogurt shake,
and that was delicious. I remembered back home in Bangalore, this was a common
thing to serve in the Mosques. I cannot believe, I don’t remember its
name.

The Shias do the Maghrib and Isha prayer back to back, the Isha is
2 units, as the Imam’s during Ramadan are usually visiting Imams. Most people do
the balance 2 on Isha after the prayers. No Taraweeh prayers in Shia Mosques, it
is a Sunni tradition initiated by Hazrat Umar.

The ritual prayer outlines
are the same, but with a few differences in the process. During the Qiyaam
(i.e., the standing position), the hands are dropped to the sides, I made an
effort to do that, but did not feel home with it, so I did what I am used to;
place my hands on my stomach folded together. The feeling was almost like the
feeling when you don’t wear seat belt while driving. There is nothing wrong or
right about either method, it is simply what you are used to.

Lifting of forefinger as a witness is a
Sunni practice while reciting Ashadu anna Muhammadur Rasool Allah in the
Tashahhud position and not a Shia practice.

Sunni prayers are
concluded with a physical turn of the head to the right and then to the left
with a Salaam Aliakum o Rahmatullah, while the Shias conclude it with the words
alone in the middle of the recitation.

If I were to score on the quality of carpet,
this mosque scores 8 out of 10, and the Plano Mosque would score low, the Masjid
e Aqsa perhaps scores 10 out of 10, and Aqsa is one of the cleanest Mosques I
have been to, it was incredibly clean!

One of the purposes
of writing the Ramadan notes is, for us to see that each method is beautiful,
and learn to drop the arrogance of wronging others. It’s not easy, but good
things are not easy anyways.

The language we need to develop in
expressing the difference is that of respect and not in terms of better or not
better, but appreciation of the uniqueness. Do we forget that Allah constantly
reminds as that the best among you is the one who knows the other, it means
acknowledging the difference and living with it. At the Ahmadiyya Mosque, I
added in my little talk, that Allah does not shower favors one over the other,
he has not signed a deal behind others backs for us to be arrogant. The least
liked person by God is an arrogant one.

May Allah help us all to learn to describe
the otherness of others as genuinely as we can and with utmost respect. One of
the greatest values of Islam is equality and it must reflect in our actions and
words. No one should be looked down or up, shame on us if we do. You might want
to consider reflecting on the wisdom of conducting a civil dialogue as describe
in Sura Kafirun (http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/2008/07/sura-kafirun-un-believers.html)

Had a short
discussion with the Maulana, and was amazed at the way he described Ayatul
Kursi, and what does it mean to be in Jahilya box and how to get out of it. and
the first statement Prophet Muhammad made at Masjid-e-Nabwi about maintaining
relationships.
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


Please visit
www.RamadanDaily.com for a record since
2010.

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.comis
updated daily.


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