New Literature for a New Era

“We are all more than our body. We also — all of us — possess a soul.

The body is where the soul resides, to the extent a statement like that is intelligible to anyone.

We nourish our body with food and drink. And we titillate it with all kinds of delectables, from sweets to fruits and all things delicious and pleasurable.

Food for the soul is turning to God. For, it was God who breathed in Adam’s body his spirit when he fashioned him with his two hands.

So, the soul has a perpetual hankering for God — for its maker and master. And it will not find real peace or satisfaction with anyone or anything else.

And the way to delight and nourish the soul is remembrance of God, whether it is through chanting of words — Dhikrullah — or through contemplation and meditation: Tafakkur and Tadabbur.

A hungry and tormented soul then finds peace and joy. And then it returns to God well pleased with itself and with all else. In a state of perfect contentment.

It is then welcome by God in the abode of everlasting delight and ecstasy, in the most exalted and honored company of God’s Elect.

Yaa ayyatuhannafsul mutmainnah, irji’ee ilaa rabbiki raadiyatam mardiyyah. Fadkhulee fi ‘ibaadee, wadkhulee jannatee!” (Dr. Pasha) 

“When Allah gives us something — and he gives us all kinds of amazing things all the time — isn’t it time to ask: What are we giving back to Allah?” (Dr. Pasha)

“To the children of the good people who have decided to work for Allah, here is something I want to say to them: Work hard to move your own lives and this work forward.

Do not use this work as a means of personal advancement in life in any form or fashion.

Do not use any part or aspect of this work as a business or an element in a career path.

And also, try to adhere to the teachings of Allah’s Deen to the extent you can and to the best of your ability.

And try not to play games with Allah’s Deen at any time and in any form or fashion. For, you have no chance of winning.

Your parents are good people. They gave you the best they could.

And they worked very hard to put you on Allah’s path.

But Allah has put your life and your destiny in your own hands. And not in your parents’ hands.

That means you will have to make your own choices. And you will have to make your own decisions.

And I hope and pray you make the right ones.

Allah bless you.” (Dr. Pasha)

“To love and to hate is part of human nature.

As a result, all of us love and hate something or someone. And we do that in one form or another and at one point of our life or another.

Those who are driven entirely by their own base needs and emotions, they love and hate for narrow personal and selfish reasons.

But those that are blessed and favored by God, they love and hate for broader and more enlightened reasons.

They love and hate for the sake of God.

That means they use their basic human emotions of love and hate as an instrument of loving God and serving all of humanity and all of God’s creation.

As a result, they love all – and hate none. For, love is their dominant emotion.

But when they see God’s laws being disrespected, and when they see God’s most basic commandments being violated, and when they see all kinds of atrocities and injustices being perpetrated on their fellow human beings, or on God’s broader creation in any form or fashion, they often tend to react not only in sorrow and pain, but also in anger and with indignation.

But theirs is a righteous wrath.

And it is not unlike God’s own wrath and indignation when he beholds humans violating his laws and commandments on earth: knowingly, willfully and persistently.

And when he sees human beings commit all kinds of blatant wrongs and oppressions against one another – something the Qur’an repeatedly refers to as Zulm, a term that sadly is not a part of English vocabulary.

So, the wrath of these good people against Zulm, in that context, is a reflection on earth of divine displeasure in Heaven.

And those who do not feel this righteous wrath and indignation, at any time and with regard to any issue, are often the ones whose hearts have gone dead.

They are people who have not allowed themselves to rise above the lowest level of human existence.

In fact, they are like animals, if not worse, as the Qur’an puts it.

They proceed from the narrowest focus and motives of personal greed, ambition and selfishness.

But what the good people in their state of righteous wrath and divinely inspired indignation do not do is take the law of the land – any law of any land – in their own hands as it were.

Nor do they use their righteous rage to perpetrate any atrocity or terrible deed of their own (Zulm) on the guilty.

But instead they set about systematically working to wipe out all injustices from the face of the earth.

And they do so by embarking upon a totally focused mission of inviting humanity to God and to his Book, the Qur’an, and to his prophet, Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.

And they do that using the best and the finest possible means and methods of human communication and outreach ever devised.

Such blessed individuals are God’s reflection on earth. They are God’s elect.

And they are God’s chosen and favored people in every age and place. ” (Dr. Pasha)

But why not?

You have had questions.

And you have been looking.

Should we say for quite some time?

And you never quite got the answers that would go to your heart, answers that will give you real satisfaction.

I mean answers that will bring real joy and comfort to you.

And all this time, you have been looking and looking and looking.

You have done your research and your reading. And you have even done your talking to people.

All of that is as it should be. That is what we are supposed to do as human beings: look and search and ask questions.

That is what Islam teaches us to do. In fact, that is what Islam is all about: Asking questions and looking for answers. [...]

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“Islam says Muslims must be clean. But how clean is clean?

It is fair to say that Islam wrote the last word on cleanliness. Bathe and wash your dead thoroughly, says Islam, before you bury them.

Muslims refer to this last bath as Ghusl Janaazah: Burial Bath.

The entire Muslim community is held responsible for making sure that no Muslim dead, male or female, is buried without Ghusl Janaazah.

Islam refers to the entire concept of cleanliness as Tahaarat.

You can consider it the overall and the big state of physical cleanliness.

And most certainly cleanliness is also one of Islam’s very first teachings.

Before all else, Muslims must perform Salaat or prayers five times a day. And every time they do that, they must be in a state of physical purity or cleanliness.

Islam calls it Wudu.

And you can consider Wudu the smaller and more compact state of personal and physical cleanliness – mini-Tahaarah as it were.

That is what Allah says in the Qur’an about how to touch, hold or handle the Qur’an.

“No one that is not cleansed and purified shall touch the Qur’an!” the Qur’an declares.

Islamic culture generally holds this teaching to mean two things:

1. A general state of overall physical purity – bodily purity – that is realized through intentional or purposeful and “ritual” bathing or what is called Ghusl in Islam.
2. Maintaining intact a general condition of Wudu or “ritual” ablution or washing up.

So, one must have Ghusl, and one must have Wudu, before one can touch or handle the Qur’an.

That is the Islamic law. Islamic Shari’ah if you will.

And everyone knows that and everyone agrees with that.

That means one must be in a state of physical cleanliness while touching the Qur’an. No question about that.

But I ask myself another question: Is there, also, such a thing as a state of mental and spiritual purity or cleanliness that goes along with that required state of physical cleanliness?

For example, are we supposed to leave all “evil” thoughts and intentions behind when we approach the Qur’an?

Are we supposed to cleanse ourselves from all ideas about using the Qur’an, for example, for personal glory and benefit, and for political and social advantage?

And somehow using the Qur’an for the purpose of promoting self-interest? Using the Qur’an, for example, to promote one’s business or commercial goals?

Or to hurt, insult, attack or take advantage of someone?

So, must we then also, while handling the Qur’an, try to cleanse and purify our mind and our soul from all lower and baser level instincts and motives?

Is it, then, fair to say that as we approach the Qur’an, it is not our body and our clothes alone that must be clean, but it is also our mind and our soul that must be clean?

I am just asking a question. That is all I am doing.

Seems to me it is a question worth asking.” (Dr. Pasha)

“Every Muslim worries about Wudu, or physical purity or Tahaarah, when they are about to touch or handle the Qur’an?

And they must.

But how many of us worry about our mental state of purity and cleanliness as we are about to touch or handle the Qur’an?

Does anyone think it is a question worth asking?

And then we complain the Qur’an does not open up to us or talk to us!” (Dr. Pasha)

All over the world, Muslims know what Salaat is. Urdu and Farsi folks call it Namaaz. English speakers call it “prayers”. But, Salaat is more – much, much more – than prayer as the world understands and uses that expression.

What is salaah then? All you need to do is ask any Muslim in any part of the world. And they will tell you the full miraculous story. [...]

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Translating any text from any language into another language is one of the most difficult if not impossible things anyone can attempt or contemplate.

Long time ago, I wrote a “professional” paper which I presented to a professional conference in which I showed how close to impossible that task was. [...]

“Here is a small secret about the world.

When an element of truth comes before people — Kalimatu Haqq as the Hadith calls it — some people leap to embrace it.

They are the ones whose hearts and minds have been opened by Allah’s mercy and blessings.

Some others, however, look at truth and ask: How can they fit it into their own agendas and scheme of things.

Those are the ones who, rather than submit themselves to truth, try to submit truth to their own needs, agendas, plans, goals, ambitions, purposes and situations.

These two groups of people are fairly evident to those who have eyes to see.

Wallahu Baseerum Bil’Ibaad — Allah is fully aware of what people are up to!” (Dr. Pasha)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:03 — 12.8MB)

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