My life mission is to open people’s hearts and minds towards each other. I believe the descriptions of paradise or heaven in each faith carry the same essence – a conflictless, tension-free living. One feels safe and secure like a baby in a mother’s lap. How do we achieve that here on the earth? We have laid down a blueprint for such a society at the home page our website www.CenterforPluralism.com including what we have accomplished.
A part of that education is learning about each other, and understanding the essence of each faith. As a part of our work, we put out a summary of each religious leader from Moses, Krishna, Jesus, Mohamed, Rama, Zarathustra, Nanak, Bahaullah, Confucius, Buddha, Mahavira, and several others. I have been writing about these civic personalities in how their work, preaching, and teaching contributes towards creating a better world for all humanity.
Here is a short talk I gave about Prophet Muhammad at the home of one of the honored members of the DMV Muslim Community – Dr. Ishrat Hussain. I usually do a full speech on the topic for about 20-30 minutes.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
Wama arsalnaka illa rahmatan lilAAalameena
We have sent you ˹O Prophet˺ only as a mercy for the whole world.
What is the whole world? It is the life, life of every living being, and everything that we can see and visualize. God says, the prophet is a blessing to the entire universe that we know and will know.
What about God? Isn’t he the creator of the same Aalameen (Universe)?
So, if we follow God’s wisdom, it behooves us to follow Muhammad’s knowledge, all-inclusive wisdom– for the entire Aalameen.
What does that make us? Mukhlooqul Aalameen (humans for the good of the universe). Our role is to restore goodness for the entire humanity. We should be the conflict mitigators and goodwill nurturers.
Muhammad’s words, actions, and wisdom bring Justice and goodwill to everything in the universe. When People feel justice in their daily life, they feel safe, and when people feel secure about who they are, they are at peace. That is what we have to be, to make people feel secure about their race, religion, ethnicity, culture and whatever uniqueness they have.
Take the example of Aswad – the black stone in the wall of the Kaaba. I will cut the story short, as every one of you knows it.
A dozen leaders of the tribe were fighting among themselves as to who is privileged to place the stone back in the wall.
They came to Muhammad – the man who was known as Amin – someone who will be just, fair, and trustworthy in his dealings with the other. They did not expect anything but Justice… and they got it.
Muhammad could have very well placed the stone in the wall and end their conflict. But, being the mercy to humanity, he saw the need to mitigate their conflict and nurture goodwill.
Now imagine this – 12 leaders stand around the Sheet of cloth, and Muhammad asked them to lift it together.
What’s going through their minds? Were they ready to kill each other for the right to lift that stone? Now they are looking at each other… what’s happening? They are in this together, sharing the privilege, happily lifting the cloth. What’s happening to their conflict? It is fading, and what else is happening? The nurturance of goodwill. Do they respect Muhammad More? Do they trust him more? AlhamduLillah, they do!
I was blessed to be the Amin at the Hindu Temple in Dallas, where two groups got into fist fighting – and they asked me to be a conflict mitigator and a goodwill nurturer. I played that role again when Pastor Jones was going to burn 3000 copies of the n in Mulberry, Florida. If we get the funding, we are looking to make a short movie, highlighting what an Amin means?
Is it possible that a Muslim man with a beard is sitting in the airport and a beautiful woman is sitting nearby – she is sick of all the men staring at her and she comes to this man – and says, can I sit by you? I feel secure around a Muslim man? Is this possible? Can we achieve that?
What does it take to be the Amin? We have to earn the trust of all humanity – Jews, Hindus, and everyone – and be good to them.
Given the situation, a few of us tend to be angry at Hindus for their goal to rid of Muslims and Christians from India. But that is wrong, Hindus are our friends, a few bad guys are difficult, we all have to find solutions.
How did Muhammad deal with bad guys? When the pelted stoned at him, he prayed for them, didn’t he? When the lady threw trash on him, he went to inquire about wellbeing… That is what it takes to be Amin.
His vision for women was liberating. His idea of an ideal civil society was for a single woman to travel from Madinah to Damascus and back unharmed, unharassed. That is the vision of a civil society he had.
His mercy extends to everything that you can see, think and visualize. He was the first women’s liberator. 1400 years ago, he said women can own their own business and property and they can initiate and end a marriage out of their free will, at that time, and even 100 years ago, women were considered men’s property and they did not even vote in America, let alone own the property.
He was also called Amin – the full meaning of the word is someone whom fellow beings can trust, and feel secure around him, his ideas and his wisdom. He believed in free will, did not believe in compelling anyone to believe in anything against his or her will.
Mike Ghouse is a thinker, author, speaker, newsmaker, and an interfaith wedding officiant. His new book American Muslim Agenda is available on Amazon, coming up are books on Human Rights and Pluralism. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His information is linked-in.