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 Quran 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 Vasudeva 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.
Categories: Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Americas, United States