December 08, 2007
Pasha Hour International: Live from America!
Section: WRITINGS | 101 reads
PASHA HOUR INTERNATIONAL:
LIVE FROM AMERICA!
Dr. Pasha
Welcome to another edition of PASHA HOUR INTERNATIONAL: LIVE FROM AMERICA! A Program about Islam, Muslims and the World – Unlike Any. To listen to Pasha Hour International go to www.IslamicSolutions.Com and click on Pasha Hour International on the menu to the left
ALL THE NAMES PEOPLE USED TO CALL US
And those of you, in the media or anywhere else, for whatever reasons, want to call us “Mawzlems,” go ahead and say it.
Those of you who want to call our Deen “Izlam,” go ahead and say it.
Beat up on Islam and Muslims all you want. Distort the name. Distort the pronunciation. Distort the meaning and content. Call us all the names you want.
That has been our history. We have no complaints. But when you are done badmouthing us and twisting and distorting everything about us, do sit down for a second or two and listen to what we have to say.
Make some kind of an effort to find out who we really are and what we stand for. I am not saying you don’t know right now, but make an effort. You never know.
There was a time, people used to call us “Mohammedans.” Their logic was everybody worships their own man. Christians worship Christ, Buddhists maybe worship Buddha and so on.
And these fellows, who believe in Mohammed, must be worshipping him. So let us call them “Mohammedans.” That is how the logic went.
Some folks even called us “Mohametans.”
IT IS GOD ALMIGHTY WHO GAVE US THE NAME MUSLIMS
So there was a time when television people used to say “Mawzlems” and “Izlam.” Then they hired some instant “experts” – drive-by experts I call them – to look into it. Nowadays you can get these drive-by Islam experts dime a dozen.
Finally folks learned to say Islam and Muslims.
Our situation is that we did not happen to pick the name Muslims by ourselves. It was not decided upon by a committee. It is Allah, God Almighty, who actually named us Muslims.
You may not believe it, but that is what the Qur’an says.
Huwas sammaakumul Muslimeen, is how the Qur’an puts it.
Paraphrase: He named you Muslims.
Huwa – he. Who’s he now? I would say God, for that is what the context seems to suggest.
Or maybe Abraham, if you read the context somewhat differently.
I am speaking to all of you now – Jews, Christians, Hindus, Atheists, even the Muslims. That is who came up with this name: Muslims. God himself, I mean. Anybody got a problem with that name, take it up with God.
MUSLIMS ARE ON THEIR PATH TO PARADISE
Are the Muslims going to Jannah – Paradise I mean?
Absolutely!
Once you die believing and saying La Ilaaha Illallah! – No god but God – then surely you are on your way to Jannat, Paradise that is.
And if you add to that Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, is God’s prophet; and if you die believing that firmly in your heart, then surely and absolutely you will enter paradise sooner or later.
And nothing and no one can stop you.
But the question is what about the status of Muslims in this world?
The problem is that the Muslims themselves are as clueless as the rest of humanity about Islam and Muslims.
CLUELESS MUSLIMS
Some of us Muslims might have read all kinds of books on Islam and worked with all kinds of Imams, leaders or Sheikhs, some white and some black, and some of them decked out in all kinds of fancy clothes and costumes.
But in spite of all that stuff, many of you my dear, beloved, respected, honored Muslims, sometimes are as pathetically, heartbreakingly, agonizingly clueless as the rest of humanity. You yourself know so little about Islam and Muslims.
You seem to know so little about who you really are and what your Deen really is.
Sometimes the sheer wealth of Islam seems to overwhelm you. It is a bit like that little fellow who found himself in the Ali Baba cave and didn’t know what to do. So you are in this granddaddy of all Ali Baba’s caves. You don’t know where to look.
There isn’t anybody telling you these things in a clear and coherent fashion. Fellows are giving you little nuggets on how to wash your hands; how to tie your turbans; what the women should be doing; how long your pajamas should be and all sorts of other stuff, some of it real, some of it fanciful.
But no one is giving you the real thing.
MUSLIMS AND THE REAL PERSPECTIVE ON ISLAM
But you, my dear Muslims, often seem to miss the real story about Islam and Muslims in the midst of all this confusion of detail.
And when someone dares to bring it up with you, you pretend to be too busy with other things. It just does not come to you naturally to pay attention to some of these serious questions that get raised.
Yes, you are supposed to go to Paradise but that is not the issue now. Your responsibility now is to make this world a better place when you leave it.
You are born into this world and you live here and you die here, however you die, but you are supposed to leave it better than you found it. That is what God Almighty created you for.
And that’s Islam for you in a nutshell.
If that is what you are doing, I am tempted to say Hallelujah. Or Alhamdu lillah, if that is what you want me to say. But the tragedy is many of you don’t even know what Alhamdu lillah means.
ISLAM BASHING FEEDS A LOT OF MOUTHS
We talk about Islam and Muslims. We beat up on Muslims. Nowadays everyone and their cat and dog seem to be in the game of Islam and Muslim bashing.
And that seems to feed a lot of mouths and put bread on the table for a lot of folks.
So much so that you turn off even a traditional critic of the Muslims like me. Some of these attacks have been so egregious and outlandish that I now find myself in the position of having to defend the Muslims, even though I would be happier pointing out their shortcomings to them, as I have been doing for so long in the past.
And right now this is what I have to say to the Muslims: You Muslims may be clueless about a lot of things in this world, but you are not all that bad. You are not half as bad as some of these drive-by mercenaries say you are.
Next Article: A New Year’s Resolution
Previous Article: “Mutual Aggression”: Human Nature and the Need for Divine Guidance
Home | Writings | Audio | Quote of the Day
Related:
- Loving Your Land – That Is Islam!
- This Baqr Eid, a Wish, a Prayer [Quote of the Day - 317]
- [My Log - 1] Talking Gender Neutrality – with Liars-Liars-Pants-on-Fires
- Faith Does Not Coincide with Coercion [Quote of the Day - 250]
- Propaganda against Islam – and Muslims [Quote of the Day - 249]
- Islam Is About Environment [Quote of the Day - 246]
- (2) Pasha Hour International: Live from America!
- Payaam-e-Maghrib = Payaam-e-Mashriq = Payaam-e-Qur’an?
- If It Is Extreme, It Is Not Islam!
- Internal Boundaries
- Truth Is a Public Trust that Belongs to “The People” [Quote of the Day – 131]
- Four Fly-Infested Children on a Very, Very Special Night Called Lailatul Qad’r [Quote of the Day – 148]
- Female vs. Male Illiteracy and Education – in Afghanistan or Anywhere Else [Quote of the Day - 160]
- How Rare Is the Authentic Voice of Truth in Defence of Islam [Quote of the Day – 166]
- Truth Has Had Some Great Advocates and Champions [Quote of the Day – 173]
- Shakespeare: And Yet, Conscience Doth Make Cowards of Us All [Quote of the Day – 175]
- Before You Die for Allah, Learn to Live for Allah [Quote of the Day – 179]
- Heavenly Virgins Come with a Sky-High Price [Quote of the Day - 223]
- Messenger Is the Message [Quote of the Day – 232]
- Hitting the Nail on the Head: Dr Pasha on Islam [Quote of the Day – 242]
Home | Writings | Audio | Quote of the Day
