Congratulations to Brussels for hosting the Parliament of Worlds Religions event in 2014.

Congratulations to Brussels  

PRESS RELEASE

March 21, 2011, Dallas, Texas

We congratulate the Brussels team headed by Miguel Mesquita da Cunha, Chairman of the 2014 Bid Steering Committee for the tireless work they have put in behalf of Belgians and the Europeans to secure the 2014 bid to host the Parliament of the Worlds Religions.

In behalf of the Foundation for Pluralism and the World Muslim congress, two of the many supporters of the bid for hosting the 2014 event in Dallas, Mike Ghouse, president of the organizations announced,

“We the people of Dallas gracefully acknowledge and honor the decision of the board of trustees of the Parliament of World’s religion for their choice of Brussels to host the 2014 event. Indeed, Brussels will significantly contribute towards the goals of the Parliament; to facilitate an open dialogue among religions, nurture values of co-existence, and encourage cohesion and seek pluralism for people of the world. “

Now, it is our turn to join the Brussels team in making this event successful for the people of world aspiring to create the kingdom of heaven on this beautiful planet, where we can hope and pray that the next seven generations and beyond can live without the apprehension of the other and freely practice their faith and culture.   

You can count on our support any way we can.

Mike Ghouse, President
Foundation for Pluralism
World Muslim Congress

Dallas, Texas
# # #

REFERENCES:
Articles and pictures by the Foundation for Pluralism, World Muslim Congress and Memnosyne Foundation.  I am pleased to share a few of the many references.  

1.      The Theme of Parliament 2014

http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2010/07/parliament-of-worlds-religions-summit.html

2.      Defending the need for Parliament in Dallas Morning News – Mike aggressively defends criticism.

http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/07/texas-faith-dallas-and-the-201.html

3.      Religious Discourse and the Parliament

http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2010/05/religious-discourse-and-parliament-of.html

4.      2014 Dallas bid to seek the Parliament in Dallas
http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2010/04/dallas-2014-parliament-of-worlds.html

5.      Mike Ghouse to speak at the Parliament of World’s Religions

http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2009/11/mike-ghouse-to-speak-at-parliament-of.html

6.      Angie Buchanan and Mike Ghouse on NPR

http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2009/12/national-public-radio.html

7.      Dalai Lama and worlds religions 

http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2010/12/dalai-lama-and-worlds-religions.html

8.      Notes about the Parliament - http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2009/12/note-about-parliament-event.html

9.      Summary of the Parliament visit

http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2009/12/parliament-of-world-religions-15.html

10. Pictures: Parliament’s Chicago visit

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157624107988176/

Slide show: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157624107988176/show/

11. June 5, 2010 Meeting

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157624217148394/

12. Parliament event in Melbourne

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157622903144129/show/

13. Dinner event at Fun Asia – sponsored by Fun Asia

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=464318&id=851280248

14. Meeting at Madeleine Restaurant in May 2010

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=429662&id=851280248

15. Official announcement by the Parliament

http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/news/index.php/2011/03/brussels-to-host-the-parliament-of-the-worlds-religions-in-2014/

We have had a few more dinner meetings held in Dallas and few more pictures, which I may publish later on due to specific requests from our friends not to publish their pictures for the public.

# # #

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer and is committed to building a cohesive America through the Foundation for Pluralism championing the idea of co-existence through respecting and accepting the otherness of other, and World Muslim Congress committed to nurturing the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam.

Mike is available to speak on Pluralism, Islam and building cohesive societies at your work, place of worship, school, seminars or conferences.  He is a media commentator offering pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. Mike's work is reflected at three websites & twenty two Blogs listed at http://www.MikeGhouse.net/

http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/
http://www.worldmuslimcongress.com/
www.AmericatogetherFoundation.com

Mike Ghouse,

2665 Villa Creek Dr, Suite 206, Dallas, TX 75234

Texas Faith: What to make of Rep. Peter King's hearings

Texas Faith - What to make of Rep. Peter King's hearings into Muslim American radicalization?
Sam Hodges, Dallas Morning News

Rep. Peter King, R-New York, last week held the first of a series of hearings into what he describes as Muslim American radicalization. He says he wants to do everything he can to prevent a recurrence of the 9-11 attacks. He has faced criticism from Muslims and others for singling out Islam. But at least one Muslim commentator welcomed the hearings as a chance for educating about the faith and addressing head on the fears many Americans have about it.

We asked our Texas Faith panelists for their reaction to the whole idea of King's hearings. Then we asked: Whether or not you support them, what advice would you give to make such hearings as responsible and constructive as possible?

Here's what they said
Ten panelists have shared their opinion, here is mine and all of them are at:

http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/texas-faith-what-to-make-of-re.html#

MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas

We should be concerned about the hearings and pray that Mr. King would be honest, sincere and fair. We hope he will not destroy the fabric of our nation and pit one American against the other.

King's hearings are reflective of sheer political desperation. The right-wing Republicans rode in with a thumping majority in mid-term elections, and now their goal is to win the Senate and the White House. These hearing are to augment that process.

They do not have an honest reason to win in 2012, so they manufacture "Sharia", "Caliphate" and other devils. They frighten the crap out of constipated men and women and guarantee them that they will defend their rights and keep the bogeymen out. In reality nothing really will change; no one gets hired or sees the prosperity. We hope that Americans will not be duped into believing there has been a win against the imaginary enemy.

I trust our systems and the moral goodness of our nation. If Mr. King takes the wrong step, the American people will not put up with it. They have turned around Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars; supported Roe V. Wade, civil rights, gender equality and laws against discrimination, including anti-Semitism. We will continue to guard America from anyone tearing its fabric.

Acknowledging that "some of our own" are a security threat to our nation is the right thing to do. Muslims have nothing to fear and nothing to worry about; let the man fall flat on his face if he resorts to untruths. What if he turns out to be honest and finds guys like Shehzad? Then we owe him gratitude - not just Muslims, but the whole nation.

Rightfully, Muslims do not want to legitimize this kind of singling out; neither should anyone. But given the ride the right wingers are cherishing in Oklahoma, Tennessee and elsewhere, Muslim must welcome this and take this as a God-sent opportunity for America in general and Muslims in particular to clear the mine fields.

It is our duty to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting peace in a society, and it is our responsibility to seek the source of such hate and work to mitigate and find lasting solutions.

If nothing else comes from the hearings, one thing is for sure. Muslims are not a monolithic lot. Four Muslims in America have welcomed the hearings: Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, Dr. Akbar Ahmed, Ms. Asra Nomani and me. It is not an easy thing, but thank God Muslims have made it easy for us. The American values of democracy flow through their veins; they appreciate the freedom and value the differences, and have learned to respect the otherness of others. We thank God for this opportunity to put the doubts and nagging behind for good so we can continue to participate in and contribute towards the well-being of America, our homeland.

# # #

Mike Ghouse is president of Americans Together and Muslims Together Foundations and is committed to building cohesive societies offering pluralistic solution on issues of the day. He will speak at your work place, place of worship or seminars and conferences on the subjects of pluralism, cohesive societies, Islam, interfaith, India and Peace; he is a speaker thinker and a writer on the topics.  His work is indexed in 4 websites and 27 Blogs at http://www.mikeghouse.net/

Radicalism and the Rehabilitation experiment

Treat the cause, not the symptoms

This is one of the most powerful experiments that the media has failed to highlight; we have worked this successfully when Pastor Roberts called Quraan an evil book written by a false prophet. We held the Quraan conference run by ten non-Muslim clergy to go through the verses claimed to be evil resulting in surprises. Details are at www.QuraanConference.com

Mike Ghouse

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/mar/02/worlddispatch.yemen

A Yemeni judge is pioneering a religious re-education programme for Islamic militant prisoners and claims a 90% success rate, writes Brian Whitaker

• Brian Whitaker
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 March 2004 10.43 GMT
• Article history

An icy wind was blowing in the streets of Westminster and there were flakes of snow in the air, but the hotel was warm inside. With its wood panelling and comfy armchairs, the lobby resembled something between a gentleman's club and a country mansion: the essence of Englishness.

Enter the incongruous figure of Judge Hamoud Abdulhamid al-Hitar, dressed in a long black robe, a ceremonial dagger at his waist and a copy of the Guardian under his arm.
A judge in the high court of Yemen, he had been invited to London by the British government because the Foreign Office, the attorney general and the Metropolitan police, not to mention several Muslim organisations, all wanted to know about his unusual method of fighting terrorism - by theological dialogue.
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the Yemeni authorities, under considerable pressure from the United States, rounded up several hundred suspected troublemakers and kept them in jail without trial. Many, the authorities readily admit, had not committed any crime but were known as sympathisers - if not active supporters - of Osama bin Laden.
The approach pioneered by Judge Hitar, who is also chairman of the Yemeni Human Rights Organisation, is to "re-educate" and release them, subject to guarantees of good behaviour. The success rate in re-education is about 90%, according to Judge Hitar, and more than 100 have been freed so far.
The basic idea is very simple: that Islamic militants are not fundamentally bad people but have mistaken views of Islam that can be corrected through religious argument based on the Koran and the teachings of the prophet (the Sunna). If they can be genuinely convinced of their error, they will not commit criminal acts and - perhaps more importantly - will not encourage others to do so either.
"It's similar to the work of a doctor," Judge Hitar said. "We diagnose and we treat it."
The theological dialogue committee, which Judge Hitar chairs, was set up in September 2002 to hold discussions with returnees from Afghanistan and "youths holding extreme theological ideologies contradictory to the unanimity of Islamic scholars". (Since the Yemeni justice system is based on Islamic law, judges are well qualified to deal with the religious issues.)
"We chose a group of these young people, and picked the most extreme and the best educated," Judge Hitar said. "They asked why we had come. We said it was to carry out a dialogue and our number one point of reference would be the Koran and the Sunna. "We told them: 'If YOU are right we will follow you, but if WE are right you should follow us'.
"We set out an agenda by finding out what problems they suffered from and what [religious] authorities they depended on." Two particular attitudes among the militants soon came to the fore: a belief that they could kill non-Muslims in the name of jihad, and a belief that Yemen's political system was contrary to Islam.
"They considered Yemen as a non-Islamic state," he said. "They said the government is not governing according to God's book and is pro-western. Some of them were not aware of the treaties and agreements between Yemen and other countries. Some thought it was acceptable to shed the blood of non-Muslims anywhere on earth."
The secret of the dialogue's apparent success is that it confronts such views in Islamic terms, citing the Koran and other authorities that the militants respect. It makes use, for example of the constitution of Madina, established in the prophet's time, which protected the rights of Jews and other non-Muslims.
Yemen's international relations, Judge Hitar explained, are based on agreements and governed by the United Nations - arrangements which are fully compatible with the Koran and the Sunna.
"UN signatories are in a state of peace with one another, and it is not permissible to attack citizens from other UN members. [Non-Muslim] people visiting Yemen have a visa, so it is not permissible to attack them or force them to convert to Islam."
Those who accept the re-education are asked to sign a statement condemning violence, committing themselves to obey the law and dissociating themselves from al-Qaida or any armed group. They must also agree to respect the rights of non-Muslims and promise not to attack the interests of friendly states.
But are these changes of heart genuine, or are the militants simply grabbing a "get-out-of-jail-free" card? That is a question Judge Hitar is often asked.
"These young people are not going to be convinced easily," he answered. "They don't agree just to get out of jail. One of them said 'I am prepared to stay for 20 years in jail to prove that I have changed.'"
Those released are kept under surveillance, and Judge Hitar emphasises that suspects who have been charged with actual crimes have to be brought before the courts.
"Dialogue is for everyone but release is for the innocent," he said. The principle of dialogue, he believes, is one that can be used to deal with Islamic militancy far beyond Yemen, even in Britain which he describes as "the capital of religious tolerance".
"With total confidence I think this method can be applied in the UK," he said. "There are British Muslims who have the ability [to conduct dialogues] and we are prepared to train them further. We are ready to co-operate with them and train them in Yemen or in Britain."
It was time for Judge Hitar to leave. The BBC's Arabic Service were eager to interview him, and later he would be meeting Muslims in Birmingham. Preparing to step out, once again, into the British winter, he held up a ballpoint pen and waved goodbye with it.
"The pen is stronger than the stick," he said.

# # #

What a Rabbi Learns from Muhammad

There is an actual verse in Quraan, where God tells to treat no prophet above the other, it was to prevent arrgance among people, feeling and treating people on an equal footing is a strong Islamic value

Mike Ghouse

Interfaith Religious Education - Article Ref: IC1103-4558
IslamiCity* -

I first studied Islam when I was a student at UCLA almost 50 years ago, Then again while I was in Rabbinical school. Over the years I continued to read the Qur'an and other Islamic books. I read these books as the Prophet taught his followers in a Hadith "not as a believer, and not as a disbeliever". What does that mean? The Qur'an, of course, is sacred scripture for Muslims. A disciple of Muhammad named Abu Huraira relates, "The people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. Allah's Apostle said (to the Muslims). "Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them, but say, 'We believe in Allah, and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you.' " Following Muhammad's teaching I too neither believe nor disbelieve in the Qur'an. If I believed in the Qur'an I would be a member of the Muslim Ummah (community). But I cannot disbelieve in the Qur'an because I believe that Muhammad is a prophet and I respect the Qur'an as a kindred revelation, to a kindred people, in a kindred language. In fact, the people, the language and the theology are closer to my own people, language and theology than that of any other on earth.

I would like to begin by sharing my understanding of several Ahadith that have taught me about my own religion. My understanding is reflected in my application (gloss) of each insight from my perspective as a Liberal/Reform Rabbi. They are all from Bukhari: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Religion is very easy and whoever overburdens himself in his religion will not be able to continue in that way. So you should not be extremists, but try to be near to perfection and receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded. (Volume 1, Book 2, Number 38)

Gloss: The statement against becoming extremists needs to be taught in every house of prayer in the world. This applies of course, to political extremists as well as religious extremists who always prefer the stricter path to the more lenient way. For example, both Islam and Judaism teach the importance of sacred slaughter of meat, and the avoidance of certain animals for food. In Islam the rules are simpler and fewer than in Orthodox Judaism. Most Liberal/Reform Rabbis regard the increasingly restrictive developments in kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), especially for Passover, as a counterproductive, overburdening of the people. The expansion of restrictions on Shabbat activities over many centuries is also seen by most Liberal/Reform Rabbis as a counterproductive, overburdening of the joy of Shabbat. Muhammad wisely differentiates between extremism and striving to be near perfect (no one is perfect) which involves a rejection of extremism. Just trying hard to do well will be rewarded.

Narrated 'Aisha and Ibn' Abbas: On his deathbed Allah's Apostle put a sheet over his-face and when he felt hot, he would remove it from his face. When in that state (of putting and removing the sheet) he said, "May Allah's Curse be on Jews and Christians for they build places of worship at the graves of their prophets." He intended to warn (Muslims) from what they (i.e. Jews and Christians) had done. (Volume 4, Book 56, Number 660)

Gloss: Allah's apostle strongly opposed any diversion of reverence or worship to anyone other than God. Christians, and even Jews, had started worshiping at the graves of holy men, saints and prophets. Although they claimed to be only worshiping God, their feeling that prayer was better or more effective at such sites was cursed by Muhammad. In later centuries, Muslims also began worshiping at the tombs of holy men and building places of worship near their graves. Liberal/Reform Rabbis would agree that such activity at grave sites should be condemned and could be seen as a curse. Allah's apostle must also have realized that even the Muslim community would also produce people whose piety would lead to such errors for a Hadith on the same page says,

Narrated Abu Said: The Prophet said: "You will follow the wrong ways of your predecessors so completely and literally that if they should go into the hole of an animal, you too will go there." We said, "O Allah's Apostle! Do you mean the Jews and the Christians?" He replied, "Who else?" (Volume 4, Book 56, # 662)

Gloss: Muhammad criticized the failings of many in the Jewish and Christian communities (as did the prophets of Israel) but he realized that people are human, and most do not seem to learn from the failings of others. He hoped that Muslims would retain their original purity, but he foresaw that with time and power; corruption, decay and falsification were inevitable. Allah's apostle would certainly attack the false tradition of female genital mutilation in Africa today as sharply as he attacked female infanticide in Arabia in his day. It is a shame that many Muslim leaders in Africa today do not aggressively condemn it. But then, most Jewish leaders in the west do not aggressively condemn the Orthodox for not allowing Jewish woman to divorce their husbands. We all have to do a better job.

Abu Huraira related: Two men, a Muslim and a Jew, abused each other. The Muslim said , "By Him Who gave superiority to Muhammad over all the people." At that, the Jew said, "By Him Who gave superiority to Moses over all the people." The Muslim became furious at that and slapped the Jew in the face. The Jew went to Allah's Apostle and informed him of what had happened between him and the Muslim. Allah's Apostle said, "Don't give me superiority over Moses, for people will fall unconscious on the Day of Resurrection and I will be the first to gain consciousness, and behold! Moses will be there holding the side of Allah's Throne. I will not know whether Moses was among those people who became unconscious and then has regained consciousness before me, or was among those exempted by Allah from falling unconscious." (Volume 8, Book 76, #524)

Gloss: Allah's messenger is so well known for his sense of justice that a Jew can appeal to him even in a conflict with a Muslim who has attacked a Jew. It is only natural for Jews to think that Moses is the best, and for Muslims to think that Muhammad is the best. Muhammad rebukes the Muslim, telling him not to claim that Muhammad is superior to Moses because even on the day of Resurrection, Muhammad himself will not know their relative merit, for although Muhammad will be the first to be revived, Moses will already be standing there holding the side of God's throne. Muhammad teaches us that comparisons of religious superiority are wrong, for no one in this world, and perhaps even in the world to come, will know who is the best. 

Most Americans that I have spoken are amazed to hear such liberal and flexible statements coming from a religion that they think is ridged and fanatical. But the politicized Islam that has captured so much attention in the Muslim world today is the outgrowth of two recent factors. One is an anti-western reaction and scapegoating due to the great upheavals occurring in all modernizing societies in the 20th and 21th centuries. This reaction is inflamed as the result of several previous centuries of socio-economic decline that took place in the Middle East. Also Judaism and Christianity have already had reforming movements that took generations to bare fruit.. Islam is just starting the process of revival and reform. The Prophet had predicted that over the centuries Muslims would also become more rigid and orthodox, just as the Jews and Christian had. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported Allah's Messenger as saying: You will tread the same path as was trodden by those before you, inch by inch and step by step, so much so that if they had entered into the hole of a lizard, you would follow them in this also. We said: Do you mean Jews and Christians? He said: Who else?" Muhammad was wise enough to realize that even his own ummah was subject to the circumstances of history.

Nevertheless as a Reform Rabbi, I realize that in many ways Muhammad showed seventh century Jews in Arabia how to reform Orthodox Judaism to bring it back to the simpler rules of the Torah..

Unlike Orthodox Rabbis, Liberal/Reform Rabbis accept the doctrine of nullification - which teaches that one verse in scripture can nullify another, and that rulings can be changed due to changed circumstances. Muhammad provides an excellent example of this principle in the following account. The Prophet originally told women not to visit graveyards, but toward the end of his life, he said to them: "I had told you not to visit graves; now I am telling you to visit them." The reason was that Arabian women used to wail at graves. The Prophet wanted this practice to be stopped. Therefore, he banned women from visiting graves to start with. After sometime, when Muslim women were better aware of how Islam wants them to behave in different situations, he allowed them such visits. In fact, the Prophet encourages visiting graveyards because such a visit reminds the visitor of his or her own death and the fact that they would have to stand in front of God when their actions are reckoned to determine their reward or punishment. Scholars like Ibn Qudamah, of the Hanbali school of law, make it clear that since this is the purpose of visiting graveyards, both men and women need such visits.

Another important teaching of the Qur'an is that God chose not to create human beings as one nation or with only one religion so that each religion could compete with the others in order to see which religion produces the highest percentage of moral and loving people. As it is written in the Koran [5.48] "For every one of you did We appoint a law and a way. If Allah had pleased He would have made you one people, but (He didn't) that He might test you in what He gave you. Therefore compete with one another to hasten to virtuous deeds; for all return to Allah, so He will let you know (after Judgement Day) that in which you differed." This is a wonderful further development of the teaching of the Biblical prophet Micah (4:5) that in the end of days-the Messianic Age "All people will walk, each in the name of their own God, and we shall walk in the name of the Lord our God forever."

There is no conflict, nor can there be any conflict, between Judaism and Islam. The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is a territorial dispute. There are people who would like to make this territorial dispute into a religious one in order to rally support for their side. We must resist this. I believe that the Koran itself predicts the return of the Jewish people to the Land God gave to the descendants of Abraham and his two sons. I believe the reference in the Koran to the land of Israel in Sura V, where God says to Moses and to the Jewish people: "O my people, enter the Holy Land which God has decreed for you", Koran [5:21].  More important for us today is the statement "WE SAID TO THE ISRAELITES AFTER HIM "DWELL SECURELY IN THE LAND OF PROMISE (THE PROMISED LAND) BUT WHEN THE SECOND OF THE WARNINGS COME TO PASS WE GATHER YOU TOGETHER IN A MINGLED CROWD BANI ISRAIL, Koran [17:104]. This refers to the return of Jews to the Land of Israel that is part of the great upheavals that proceed the age of the final judgment. The age we live in. The mingled crowd refers to both the Palestinians and the Israelis who will share the Promised Land together.

Neither side can claim it has the only right to the land or that its view is the only true one for as we have learned from the Hadith narrated Abu Huraira:The Prophet himself taught that even in the world to come it will not be clear if Moses or Muhammad is the supreme Prophet. Each is supreme for his own faithful community. A Muslim is one who submits to the will of Allah and believes that Allah has sent many different prophets to the many peoples of the world. As a Liberal/ Reform Rabbi I believe that Muhammad was the Prophet sent to the Arab people. I believe that the Qur'an is as true for Muslims as the Torah is true for Jews. Indeed, I love the Hadith Narrated by Abu Huraira that says, "The people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. Allah's Apostle said (to the Muslims). "Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them, but say, 'We believe in Allah, and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you.' " Following Muhammad's teaching I repeat that I too neither believe nor disbelieve in the Koran. I do respect the Koran very much as a kindred revelation to a kindred people in a kindred language. In fact, the people, language and theology are closer to my own people, language and theology than that of any other on earth. The strong support that the Qur'an gives to religious pluralism is a lesson that is sorely needed by the religious fundamentalists of all religions in the world today. As a well known Hadith says, "Prophets are brothers, sons of one father by co-wives. Their mothers are different but their religion is one." (Bukhari and Muslim).

*****

Rabbi Allen S. Maller is a former Liberal/Reform Rabbi. He retired a few years ago after 39 years as Rabbi of Temple Akiba in Culver City, Ca.

The birth of the Muslim Brotherhood

The Ottoman Empire's collapse allowed Western inroads in the Middle East, and the Muslim Brothers arose in response.

Egyptians organized by the Muslim Brotherhood demonstrate outside Abdine Palace in Cairo, shouting that Egypt must be "evacuated by blood," and "Down with America," Aug. 22, 1947. (AP Photo)

latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-winter-muslim-brotherhood-20110314,0,1415367.story

Op-Ed

To understand the Muslim Brotherhood, and to assess its role today in a shifting Middle East, it is necessary to first examine the forces that led to the organization's birth. And that takes us back to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

The Ottoman Empire had been, before World War I, the strongest and most visible face of Islam in the world. At its height in the 16th and 17th centuries, it controlled a vast swath of territory that extended from southeastern Europe into Asia and northern Africa. Its territory was greatly diminished by the 20th century, but it was the empire's alliance with Germany in the war that led to its final destruction.

In the aftermath of the war, the remains of the Ottoman Empire were partitioned by the victors, which gave the Western powers far more influence in the Middle East and created enormous tension in Islamic populations.

In Turkey, Mustafa Kemal (later given the last name Ataturk, or father of the Turks) eventually ascended to power. The hero of Gallipoli, who blunted and then defeated the British-French invasion at the straits of the Dardanelles in 1915, Kemal was also the man who thwarted Western plans to partition Turkey into imperial holdings and who rallied the Turkish army to defeat a Greek invasion. The result was a Turkified nation, one in which religion was separated from power. Ataturk's Turkey was committed under his leadership to joining the Western world — in language, in dress, in its commitment to development and to military power. And in this project, Ataturk by and large succeeded. Turkey today is his greatest achievement.

But Ataturk's insistence on a largely secular government also sparked a counter-movement of Muslims who wished to save Islam from the polluting contact with the West. In Egypt, this led to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt, a constitutional monarchy from 1922 and a member of the League of Nations from 1937, was unable to establish a stable political system, in part because of the continuing presence of British forces controlling the Suez Canal and heavily influencing the Egyptian government. Among the Egyptians concerned about creeping Westernization was Hassan Banna, the son of a watch repairman, who as a 13-year-old in 1919 had taken part in nationalist riots demanding self-determination for Egyptians. When that push failed, he became increasingly concerned about the deleterious moral and political consequences of Westernization. The decline of Islamic civilization, he held, could be reversed only by a return to the faith.

To this end, in Ismailia in 1928 Banna helped organize a band of teachers and activists known as the Muslim Brothers. Though its origins lay in a broader Islamic reform movement, the aim of the Muslim Brotherhood was to make the Koran the sole or primary reference point ordering the life of Muslims in their daily lives, in their families, their villages and towns, and their nations. He was a preacher and a grass-roots activist, speaking wherever he could, in mosques and coffeehouses alike.

The group's work was charitable and educational, but its members also flew the flag of a return to Islamic roots, purged of contact with other traditions. The group harnessed widespread resentment at the heavy presence of British troops and the ostentatious wealth of the expatriate community, there to run the Suez Canal. This Muslim anti-colonial message found a receptive audience and soon had created a mass organization dangerous to British domination and the Egyptian monarchy alike.

In the early 1940s, some members of the Muslim Brotherhood formed armed groups, linked to a number of violent incidents. The group's membership rose to 500,000. In 1948, Banna called for volunteers to fight in Palestine. The Egyptian government moved to break up the movement, arresting hundreds of its members. That move was unsuccessful, triggering the assassination of the Egyptian prime minister by a Muslim Brother in December 1948. Three months later Banna was shot too and died of his wounds, which, according to some sources, were deliberately left untreated in the hospital, on orders of the government. But his legacy was not so easy to eradicate.

The Muslim Brothers arose in response to the unraveling of British control of the Middle East before 1948. The same crisis also shaped Palestine itself. The parallel and contradictory British commitments to nationalist movements of the Arabs and to nationalist movements of the Jews set up an explosive mix that has yet to be defused.

In Galilee, eight young Zionists — including the one-armed Joseph Trumpeldor — died in an encounter with Shiite Muslims in March 1920. These eight gave their name to the town of Kiryat Shemona, a war memorial in its own right. In April 1920, five Jews and four Arabs died and hundreds were wounded in riots in the Old City of Jerusalem. In May 1921, 48 Arabs and 45 Jews, including the great Hebrew writer Yosef Haim Brenner, were killed in riots in Jaffa. The pattern of bloodshed in the modern Middle East was set in stone and suffering then and there.

When giants collapse, Tacitus said, take cover. An ailing giant it may have been, but Ottoman Turkey was a giant nonetheless. Its collapse led both to an expansion of imperial power on the winners' side in the war, and to an ongoing war against the West's manipulation of the region in its own economic and strategic interests.

Now, nearly a century later, we see the same forces arrayed in the same chronic, bloody struggle, with no end in sight. If you think the explosive forces of World War I are the stuff of ancient history, think again.

Jay Winter is a professor of history at Yale University and the author, with Blaine Baggett, of "The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century."

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Muslims condemn the Murders of Fogel Family in Israel

In behalf of Muslims and the World Muslim Congress, I condemn the malicious rejoice by some Palestinians over the cold blooded murder of the Fogel family in Israel.

A few exchanges on the net prompted me to add the following;

Bad people are among all of us without exception, acknowledging bad Muslims, bad Indians,  bad Israelis, bad Palestinians, bad Jews or bad Americans is the right thing to do, denying takes away the credibility of information.

The shameless score keeping must be understood to break they cycle of violence.  The shameless rejoice by a few Palestinians is not acceptable, and I sincerely hope, Netanyahu will not bomb the entire Gaza strip to avenge this and then they will fire the rockets... it is to the advantage of the powerful to break the cycle of revenge.   

A friend wrote, "Jewish Israelis do not do that too Muslims" and I wish that were the case. I asked him to look up Jerusalem post, Haaretz and the writings of Jewish humanitarians to find a different story.

I humbly request the right wing Jewish Americans and the right wing Muslim Americans not to start a campaign of hate and counter hate, but instead break this cycle.  Both sides can dig up trash and throw at each other, for what? So they can do more of it?

I ask the shameless Media vultures not to feed on these hateful incidents and talk for a whole week until they find another corpse; their food.  

Mike Ghouse is the founder of America Together foundation and Islam Together Foundation and is committed to building cohesive societies offering pluralistic solution on the issues of the day.  His work is indexed in 4 websites and 21 Blogs at http://www.mikeghouse.net/

Muslims welcome hearings by Congressman Peter R. King

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2011/03/muslims-welcome-hearings-by-congressman.html

Mike Ghouse, president of the World Muslim Congress welcomes the initiative by Congressman Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security to hold the hearings on Islamic radicalism.

It is our duty to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting the peace in a society and it is our responsibility to seek the source of such hate and work to mitigate it.

Indeed, the last few attempts to mess with our nation’s security has come from men flaunting the Muslim label, and as Muslim Americans, it becomes our individual and collective responsibility to participate in ensuring the safety of every American, and we welcome the hearings. We hope it will lead us to find the sources and causes of such erratic behavior, and perhaps point out areas of concerns to be addressed and find lasting solutions.

We have to identify the criminals who are individually accountable for their actions, and need to punish them expediently according to the law.  As a civil society, we must also resist the temptation to blame their family, nation and religion, and not fall for and legitimize their attempts to hide under a religious label for their evil acts. The use of phrases such as Islamic Radicalism is oxymoronic and must be avoided to uphold our civility.

As Americans together and Muslims together, we are planning to organize conferences and workshops on terrorism, anti-Semitism, Sharia, Quran, GLBT, racial profiling, Islamophobia and other issues which pit one American against another. We hope to separate realities from myths to help find solutions.

Mike Ghouse is the founder of America Together foundation, committed to building cohesive societies offering pluralistic solution on the issues of the day.  His work is indexed in 4 websites and 21 Blogs at http://www.mikeghouse.net/

Fareed Zakaria, Nick Kristof & Mike Ghouse on Uprisings

Those who watch and read multiple sources of news and information are fairly similar and accurate in their assessment of the situation in the Middle East, except those who just watch American News media, forget about the Fox news watchers.

In the last few weeks, I found similarities in the takes of Nick Kristof, Fareed Zakaria and myself.  Between Kristof and me, four articles have a similar take and one has an identical paragraph that I wrote on 25^th and he wrote the same on 26^th.

NICK KRISTOFF & MIKE GHOUSE

Nick Kristoff wrote in “unfit for democracy”  

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html?inline=nyt-per 

A crude stereotype lingers that some people — Arabs, Chinese and Africans — are incompatible with democracy.

Moreover, this line of thinking seems to me insulting to the unfree world.

Look, there’ll be bumps ahead. It took Americans six years after the Revolutionary War to elect a president, and we almost came apart at the seams again in the 1860s. When Eastern Europe became democratic after the 1989 revolutions, Poland and the Czech Republic adjusted well, but Romania and Albania endured chaos for years.

The record is that after some missteps, countries usually pull through. Education, wealth, international connections and civil society institutions help. And, on balance, Egypt, Libya and Bahrain are better positioned today for democracy than Mongolia or Indonesia seemed in the 1990s — and Mongolia and Indonesia today are successes.

In the 21st century, there’s no realistic alternative to siding with people power.

Mike Ghouse writes “Trusting people to manage their own affairs”.

On February 25^th I wrote:  “Lets support the people movement, after the initial turmoil everything will come together, we must resist the temptation to believe that they cannot handle their affairs; every human and every nation is capable of managing their affairs when each person is free to choose and free to think.” http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/02/raping-al-qaeda.html

And again on on 25^th I wrote, “With the uprising in the Middle East, no doubt there will be chaos, but people can handle their own affairs, and out of that chaos will emerge a fledgling governance of the people by the people for the people.  It is sheer arrogance to believe that they cannot, they said the same thing about India, Indonesia and several other nations.” http://ghousetweets.blogspot.com/2011/02/trusting-people-to-manage-their-own.html

FAREED ZAKARIA & MIKE GHOUSE

On February 27, Fareed Zakaria said it eloquently

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/02/27/exp.fareed.zakaria.unrest.thetake.cnn?hpt=C2

Mike Ghouse has echoed the same thoughts thrice, spoken on Hannity Show, Dallas Fox TV, A Radio Station in Portland and Dallas Morning News.

February 14 http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/02/fox-hannity-spencer-bolton-and-ghouse.html

It is a fulfillment of the aspiration of people for their sovereignty; it is the beginning of the freedom, liberty and justice for the people of Egypt.

This is the first time in history that Muslims have chosen non-violence as their path to bring about a change and those attitudes must be encouraged. Do we really mean we support democracy? If we do, the time is now.

February 8, Dallas Morning news - http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/02/obama-throws-me-off-compeletely.html

We must admire them for giving life to one of the most civilized forms of a political change; non-violence. It is a new experience for the Arab world and due encouragement will pave the way for others with similar aspirations.

February 1, http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/02/egypt-positive-change-in-making.html

I am moved by watching the "non-violent" peaceful revolution coming out of Egypt, this is a major paradigm change for Muslims.

Feb 11, Fox Tv - http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/02/11/egyptian-celebrations-planned-in-downtown-dallas-frisco/ and http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/02/egypt-freedom-at-last.html  It's one of the most beautiful days of my life; seeing a people get their freedom though non-violence and peaceful means.

I wrote on January 28, 2011

http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/01/egypt-making-lemonade-out-of-lemon.html

Obama understands that equity is sustainable than inequities we have been wrong many times, and I hope this time we will get it right and I trust Obama will do the right thing.

Mubarak will wither away and anything we (U.S.) can do to show support for the aspiration of people will do two things: firm up the people to people peace agreement and prevent the opportunity for brotherhood to take advantage of this.

# # #

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker, writer, activist and a futurist. He manages the Foundation for Pluralism championing the idea of co-existence through respecting and accepting the otherness of other and is committed to nurturing the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam through the World Muslim Congress.

Mike is available to speak on Pluralism, Islam, Civil Societies, and Peace & Justice at your work place, place of worship, school, seminars or conferences.  He is a media commentator offering pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. 

Mike's work is reflected at three websites & twenty two Blogs listed at http://www.MikeGhouse.net/

Messing with American Democracy

One of the dangers of democracy writes Professor Lev Grinberg is that, “it provides a formal opportunity for the majority to force their will on the minority. “

Indeed the Osama Bin Laden formula has been activated in America, though he never represented main stream Muslims yet his actions ascribed his wrong doing on to them.  Here comes, David Yerushalmi, an Arizona-based white supremacist who does not represent the main stream Americans, yet his actions are going to be slapped on the White Majority.  Are we ready to accept this?

The evil man has called for a war on Islam and is behind the racist legislation in Tennessee, once the seat of racism in America. He has opened new expressions for bigots as they have been shut out from their deeply seated Anti-Semitic attitudes.

These attitudes pitch one American against the other and that is not good for America, it will take the country from the path of cohesion to division.

Mike Ghouse is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day - www.MikeGhouse.net

Salman Rushdie & Mike Ghouse on Uprising

Salman Rushdie makes a lot of senese in his talk,

I urge Muslims to look at this independently and not be biased

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCeQVFNrtTs

I had a similar take on the issue on the site. 

Advise to Obama

http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/02/obama-throws-me-off-compeletely.html

Raping AlQaeda

http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/02/raping-al-qaeda.html