Mike Ghouse is human and this is how he deals with it!

Hunger Pangsr
By Day Four of Ramadan (the fasting month for Muslims) Mike was feeling exhausted and hungry from noon onward.

HOW TO DEAL WITH HUNGER
The solution: pray for hungry children and people around the world in Congo, Haiti, Somalia and Burma.

Mike Ghouse: “The tragedy of Rohingi people in Burma shatters me… it is the identical humility that the Vietnamese suffered, and Darfurians and Palestinians are enduring.”

REAL RESPONSIBILITY
Mike Ghouse: “A sense of responsibility grips me and the only possible thing I can do is pray for them, and through fasting, in my own way, I express solidarity with them, and empathize with them. Taqwa (spirituality) in simple terms is being in tune with the creation, created and the creator. We feel helpless, yet we feel part of the whole universe.”

HUMAN HOLOCAUST
Mike Ghouse: My biggest reference point is always Holocaust, the world did nothing while people were sent to gas chambers, and mercilessly shot into the ditches… the looks in their eyes was so overwhelming.

Friends turned their faces away from them; a sheer betrayal of humanity. That is one of the most dominating scenes in my life, when I hear the word helplessness, that is the scene for me."

GOODWILL GENERATION
Ramadan for Mike Ghouse is a month of connecting with humanity, a month of feeling empathy for others and a month of goodwill generation.

SENDING PEACE AND BLESSINGS
Mike broke the fast at Madinah Masjid in Texas, USA on Day Four. After the formal obligatory congregational prayers, most mosques conclude the prayers at the last act of the ritual - that is sending peace and blessings to the right and to the left with the head turning in both directions. In Madinah Masjid, the Imam goes for the duwa (supplication) after the end of the prayers, a common practice in the Indian Subcontinent (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh).

The Imam also keeps the recitations short; the prayers are supposed to be short during Ramadan. There are the Taraweeh Prayers - special nightly prayers during Ramadan, where one chapter of the Quraan is completed each night in 29 to 30 days.

RAMADAN PURPOSE
The purpose of Ramadan is to make you embrace the whole world. This is why Mike visits different mosques during Ramadan – to open the mind and be respectful of other traditions.

DAYS ONE TO FOUR OF MIKE GHOUSE'S RAMADAN

· DAY 1, EXPERIENCE RAMDAN AT CARROLTON MOSQUE URL: http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/2012/07/ramadan-day-1-carrollton-mosque.html

· DAY 2, EXPERIENCE RAMDAN AT RICHARDSON MOSQUE http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/2012/07/ramadan-day-2-richardson-mosque.html

· DAY 3, EXPERIENCE RAMDAN AT PLANO MOSQUE http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/2012/07/ramadan-day-3-plano-mosque.html

· DAY 4, EXPERIENCE RAMDAN AT MADINAH MASJID http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/2012/07/ramadan-day-4-madinah-masjid.html

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MIKE GHOUSE

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on the topics of Pluralism, Coexistence, politics, interfaith, Islam and cohesive societies. He is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.