New Literature for a New Era

“One reason why the world understands so little about Islam is that Muslims don’t tell – and Non-Muslims don’t ask. So, between Muslim silence and non-Muslim indifference, Islam remains a stranger to much of the world, which will be fine if all of us, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, did not have to pay such a heavy price for our ignorance and or our indifference.” (Dr. Pasha)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:17 — 13.8MB)

A very different radio program is attracting the attention of Muslims and non-Muslims alike around the world. It is fresh; it is exciting; and it is all that you wished you had in a radio program but never quite got it before.

Featured in this program:

• Science and the Qur’an
• Approaching the Qur’an
• Judgement Day
• Desecration of the Qur’an
• Value of human life
• Message of Ramadan
• World Day of God

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:45 — 18.2MB)

A very different radio program is attracting the attention of Muslims and non-Muslims alike around the world. It is fresh; it is exciting; and it is all that you wished you had in a radio program but never quite got it before.

Featured in this program:

• Giving salaams
• The concept of blessing
• Purity of heart
• Reaching Allah
• God’s love and mercy in the Qur’an
• Are all Muslims as well as Christians and believers of God brainwashed?
• World Day of Fasting 2010

“Between a mindless electorate, a mendacious political elite and a mercenary media, one wonders who is minding the store we call home, sweet home. And who is looking after the interests of the people – the American People, or just about any People Anywhere.” (Dr. Pasha)

“I have this feeling that the terrible condition of Muslims in Afghanistan – the poverty, the illiteracy, the social backwardness, and the rest – never quite caught the imagination of the self-styled Good Muslims of this world till the Soviets came calling, and the CIA got upset, and gave them some guns and money, and told them to start shooting up the Communist “Kuffar.”

Islamic Pulpits around the world called Mimbars then lit up like so many Christmas trees and the Jihad canary never quite stopped singing. Islamic Puppets never danced more merrily than when they danced under the thumbs of their new mostly Non-Islamic Puppeteers.” (Dr. Pasha)

“I have this feeling that the terrible condition of Muslims in Afghanistan – the poverty, the illiteracy, the social backwardness, and the rest – never quite caught the imagination of the self-styled Good Muslims of this world till the Soviets came calling, and the CIA got upset, and gave them some guns and money, and told them to start shooting up the Communist “Kuffar.”

Islamic Pulpits around the world called Mimbars then lit up like so many Christmas trees and the Jihad canary never quite stopped singing. Islamic Puppets never danced more merrily than when they danced under the thumbs of their new mostly Non-Islamic Puppeteers.” (Dr. Pasha)

“When I hear Muslims call their scholars “Your Eminence!” my heart, just like Wordsworth’s, leaps with joy and wants to dance with the daffodils. In sheer exuberance I whisper to myself: “Finally, dear heart! That blessed day is upon us! It can’t be long now before we have an Islamic Pope and are able to call him Holy Father and kiss his ring.”

“And then,” I tell myself, “our troubles will disappear. Our state of disorganization and demoralization and illiteracy and universal political bondage and tutelage will end. Our public treasuries will no longer be plundered in broad daylight by generations of military and hereditary thugs and dictators with Muslim names and alleged Muslim parentage. And everything will be hunky-dory with Islam and Muslims – and the world will love us.”” (Dr. Pasha)

“Those who are so boisterous about condemning female illiteracy in a primitive place like Afghanistan, how loud do you think they have ever been in condemning male illiteracy in that society? Or in a similar Muslim society elsewhere?

I don’t know, but I have a feeling that not more than five or 10 percent of the people in Afghanistan really know how to read or write – women or men; male or female. And, evidently, no one gives – what is it that people don’t give? A “hoot” maybe?” (Dr. Pasha)

“Every right thinking person should be shocked and horrified at the terrible reality of female servitude in Afghanistan. But so also should every right thinking person be shocked and horrified at the equally terrible state of male bondage, abuse and exploitation that is rife throughout the killing fields of Afghanistan – and many other places around the world.” (Dr. Pasha)

“At a time, during the so-called Dark Ages, when much of Europe subjected the Jews to all kinds of persecution, including systematic pogroms – generally a form of officially sanctioned, aided or condoned organized violence, terror and mass killings – there was one place in Europe that provided them safe haven for nearly 500 years.

That place was Muslim Spain – a slice of European reality that much of history cleverly conceals under the exotic title of Moorish Spain.” (Dr. Pasha)

“For over 600 years, the Jews were in the dock on the False Charge of Christ Killing. They would remain there for another 1300 years in many parts of Europe, subject to all kinds of persecution and abuse, including repetitive pogroms – generally a form of officially sanctioned, aided or condoned organized violence, terror and mass killings.

But in early 7^th Century, there appeared a man in Arabia claiming to be God’s messenger on earth, who set the Jews free from this false burden.

That man brought a book claiming to be God’s word in human hands. That book – and that man – in one decisive declaration exonerated the Jews from centuries of the False Charge of Christ Killing. “Absolutely, positively, they did not kill him,” declared that book that this man brought that he said was from God.

“Wa maa qataloohu yaqueenaa!” are the original words in the original Arabic text of that book.

Muslims never went to the Jews to collect for this epochal favour they did to them. Not even a word of gratitude or thanks did they ask for or receive. No one offered them any tokens of gratitude or appreciation. In fact, everyone forgot all about it.” (Dr. Pasha)

“I suspect some Muslims think they have an iron-clad alibi in life. They feel they can do any foolish thing they want, and when things don’t turn out right, they can always blame it on God. And don’t think it is only the Muslims who do that.” (Dr. Pasha)

“The Encyclopedia Britannica says that Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, was the most successful man in history. If it is true that the Encyclopedia Britannica does make that claim, wouldn’t you expect the world to stampede to find out what the facts were, based on which such a venerable source of human knowledge as the Encyclopedia Britannica would make such a sweeping and superlative statement?

And what the secret was to the success of this man? Was it his message? Was it his method? Was it his character? Was it his political and military achievement? Was it his personal and family life? Was it his relationship with his “followers” whom he insisted on calling his “Friends and Companions” – Ashaab?

Just what was it about him that gave him this unsurpassed level of success in all of human history?

To me it simply does not make any sense that the world would read something as profound, powerful and earth-shaking as that, in as respected a compendium of human knowledge as the Encyclopedia Britannica, and merely shrug its shoulders and move on. And not lift a little finger to personally verify that statement and find out more about it – and to learn more about this man: Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.

I find it hard to believe.” (Dr. Pasha)

“It is the day after Lailatul Qad’r, Ramadan, 1431/2010. The news media today produced two photographs, almost side by side. One, of four little children, perhaps between the ages of one and two, lying on their back, covered by flies, in a refugee tent in violence-wracked, flood-ravaged Pakistan, seemingly abandoned by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

The other photo, claiming to be that of three million evidently better-off Muslims, bent on garnering 1000-months-worth of instant reward, on this Lailatul Qad’r 1431/2010 night, in what the caption called “Holy Mosques.”

I couldn’t decide which of the two pictures was more poignant to me or which one racked and seared my soul more. For the better part of the day, I have been trying to shut my eyes tight and make those images go away. But I don’t seem to be able to.

And if you ask me, that is the real Hallowed Ground – where those four little children lay infested with flies and fighting off death. And that is where God is that night – with those four little children, fighting off death, with their bodies prey to invasion and occupation by a million flies.” (Dr. Pasha)

“Here is what I say to the tourists of the world. To those with wanderlust in their hearts. And to all those in search of the wonders and thrills of this world – this is what I have to say to all of them: Ladies & Gentlemen, You have not lived if you have not seen a video or at least a photograph of one of these two things:

1. Muslims doing their Ramadan Friday Prayers at the Kaaba in Makkah.
2. And Muslims going round and round the Kaaba during Hajj – doing what they call Tawaaf.

There is nothing you will ever see in this world that can even come close to matching either one of those two sights. They are not just two of the greatest wonders of the world, they are actually two of the greatest living miracles, each one of them – right before your eyes, right in your hands – that anyone can see with their own naked eye.” (Dr. Pasha)

“The place where you have your home, business and workplace; and the people in whose midst you live, work and play; and your family and the families of your colleagues and friends and the friends of your children live, work and play.

When it comes to defending and protecting them against enemies and perils of all kinds, both foreign and domestic, will you put your name down to be among the first in the list of volunteers to do so, or will you go hide in a hole and expect others to do it for you, while you cop a mock medical or other alibi of some kind?

And does it make a difference where you live, whether it is India, Arabia, America, Europe, Russia, Indonesia or Malaysia? And does it make the slightest difference what their race or religion is?

I know where a True Muslim’s name would be. I know where my name would be, even though I am centuries and eons and galaxies away from being a true Muslim.

And I know where my late father’s name would be, Allah bless him, who was as true a Muslim as any I may have ever seen. And I know where the names of my boys would be.

They would all be right up there at the top of that list. And they have always been.

All of us – me, my father and my boys – would be the first to defend our home, our neighbours and our friends and family, whether that is in America, India or somewhere else. For, that to us is what life is all about. And that to us is what Islam is all about.” (Dr. Pasha)

“The most blessed month of Ramadan is designed to completely reshape human life and character. During the blessed month of Ramadan, our habits of eating, drinking, sleeping, conjugal intimacy, all undergo profound transformation.

After day-long deprivation of food, drink and sex, Ramadan imposes upon the Believers long hours of night prayers, chants, meditations and Qur’an reading. Lying and cheating, quarrelling and fighting, gossip and backbiting, always anathema to Islam, are now treated as absolute abominations.

And this goes on day after day and night after night for one whole month.

And for all of this time, the only one who really monitors your thought, speech and behaviour closely is you and your God. No one else does or can. A more comprehensive or rigorous regime for the complete reshaping of the human body, mind, soul and spirit is hard to imagine.

It would be hardly surprising if at the end of the month of Ramadan a human being emerges with a completely new and vigorous attitude to life and its challenges – and with a brand new character to successfully deal with them.

There is no better system on earth for creating character or for reforming and redirecting human life. And that is exactly what the Qur’an says Siyaam or Fasting came into this world to do: To teach us Taqwa, the highest form of character, rooted in the fear and love of God and in the love and service of humanity. To make new human beings out of us.

A Taqwa-based character, when fully and properly formed, makes it possible for human beings to do their duty, and to do the right thing, at all times and in all situations, regardless of whether they are in a public place or in the privacy of their home.

It teaches human beings how to hold themselves accountable before God, and before their own conscience right here in this world, for their actions as well as for the outcomes and consequences they intended or expected from their actions.

Because their character has now been perfectly recalibrated and their spirit has now been fully charged and reinvigorated by the month-long physical, mental and spiritual drill of Ramadan during which God himself presided over their character training and over their physical and spiritual rejuvenation and remaking.” (Dr. Pasha)

I ask not if you are Muslim or non-Muslim. Nor do I ask if you are man, woman or child. Nor do I wish to inquire from what nationality, race, region or ethnicity you are. And I have no desire to know your politics, or your personal views on any topic, or your ideology or any other identifying marker or distinguishing feature you may possess.

I take you the way you are and the way you come: A Human Being – pure and simple. One of God’s children, as they say.

“In case non-Muslims, or even some Muslims, were wondering what Ramadan is or was all about, here is a simple way of looking at it. Ramadan is fasting during the day and reading the Qur’an and praying during the night: Day after Day; and Night after Night. For one whole month.

It is one of the major pillars of what people call Islamic Shariah or Law, ordained by God in Heaven for People on Earth: for Muslims; for Jews; for Christians; and for all other followers of the Prophets and the Scriptures.

And it is a living miracle that anyone anywhere practices it today the way Muslims do. Anyone anywhere can see this supreme miracle of our time with their own eyes.” (Dr. Pasha)

“It is Eid today. Muslims around the world are celebrating, as they should. Happy Eid Everyone!

But I am in tears today, which I am trying to hide from my family – and from my extended family of man, as they say.

Because I cry for the victims of earthquakes – in Haiti and elsewhere.

And for the victims of tsunamis and Katrina, who, after all this time, are yet to be made whole.

And I cry for the victims of floods in Pakistan. All 21 million of them according to the United Nations.

And I cry for the nameless, countless victims of the endless “wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan. All the wounded, the dead and the dying. All the widows and the orphans.

Their screams, groans, moans and sobs fill my ears and burn my brain. Are they not people, I ask myself. Are those little ones not children, I ask.

In response, my tears gush in bigger torrents.

And I cry with shame for a humanity that would not cry for them. Or would scale its tears to their names and identities; their race and religion; their ethnicity and nationality; and to the fine technicalities of their own geopolitics and so-called national interests..

But it is Eid. Everybody is happy. As they should be.

Merry Eid Everybody!” (Dr. Pasha)

“There are those who say, “Time, time, time … If we had more time, we would have done this; we would have done that; and we would have done something else,” they say. “If we had time,” they say, “We would have taken care of a lot of things that we didn’t have time to take care of.”

I say to them, your problem is not time, for, you had all the time you were supposed to have in the Divine Calculus. Your problem is that you wasted all the time God gave you, however much it was.

And now you are doing the same with whatever time you have been allocated right now: squandering and wasting it. And on top of that, you are spending part or all of that time doing something worse: second-guessing and blaming God Almighty.

So, I would say to them: “Ladies & Gentlemen: Your problem is sense, as in common sense – and not time. So get on with your life and do the best you can and stop blaming God.”” (Dr. Pasha)