January 21, 2001
REACH OUT, MUSLIMS! How to change the world, One thing at a time
Section: WRITINGS | 193 reads
REACH OUT,
MUSLIMS!
How to change the world, One thing at a time
Dr. Pasha
© 2001 Syed Husain Pasha
REACH OUT, MUSLIMS!
Before anything or anyone,
Muslims!
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Reach out unto your own selves!
Take some time.
Make an effort.
And look deep into your mind,
And into the depths of your soul.
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Probe,
Search,
Ponder,
And ask:
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Who am I?
And then ask:
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What do I want?
What am I doing?
Where am I going?
What am I getting?
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And what price am I paying for it?
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What price?
In my body?
And in my mind?
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And in my soul and spirit?
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And in my wealth and property?
And in terms of my family and friends?
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In terms of all those I love,
And those who love me?
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What price?
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In terms of my overall well-being?
And the well being of those around me?
Those near and dear to me?
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And in terms of success and happiness?
Moral and material?
Worldly and spiritual?
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For me and my loved ones,
And for all the others in my life?
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What price am I paying?
What price, indeed?
*******
Then,
Muslims!
Ask yourselves:
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Is this what I really want from life?
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For me,
For my family?
And for my friends?
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For all those whom I love,
And for all those who love me?
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Is this what I really want from life?
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For my community and my society?
The community that nurtured me?
The community that is my home and shelter?
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And the society that shaped me and serves me?
And in whose institutions I am so deeply embedded?
For humanity of which I am an indivisible part?
And for the world in which I live and operate?
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Ask!
Dear Muslims,
Ask!
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Over and over:
Is this what life is all about?
Ask:
What is all this worth?
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Is this what my own life is worth?
Is this what my role in life is all about?
And is this what I really want from life?
Is this the most and the best that life can give me?
And what I can ask or receive from it?
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Ask!
Dear Muslims!
Am I selling myself short?
Could I do better?
Could I do more?
Could I walk a fuller, nobler walk?
A walk of greater reward for me,
Both in this world and the next?
On a path dearer to God and more fulfilling for me?
And of greater service to my fellow humans?
*******
Then,
Muslims!
Reach out to God!
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That is right,
Reach out to God!
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Reach out in fear and in awe,
Reach out in humility and in hope,
Reach out in love and in obedience.
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For,
God is merciful and compassionate,
Loving and generous,
Kind and forgiving.
Beyond bounds and imagination,
Beyond count and calculation.
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For, he is Rahman,
And he is Raheem.
Most loving and merciful,
And even more merciful and loving.
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But don’t forget,
God is also God of wrath and vengeance,
And of punishment and retribution.
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All this, Muslims, means one simple thing:
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Along with everything else you do,
Find time,
Find the energy,
And find the inclination and the urgency,
And find the spark in your heart,
And the drive in your mind,
To reach out to God’s word on earth.
***************
Reach out to Qur’an!
Muslims!
Al Qur’an!
The Book!
Unlike any other book in the world!
Or unlike anything else!
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Read the Qur’an! At least once a day.
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Even if it is just one Aayah a day.
An Aayah,
One little passage!
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For,
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When it comes to reading the Qur’an,
Even the individual letters count.
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It is not just soorahs and aayahs,
Not just passages and words,
But every single letter counts,
When it comes to reading the Qur’an,
And when Allah wants to measure out his bounty and reward.
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That is what the Prophet said.
Each letter in its own right.
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It is not Alif-Laam-Meem all together.
But Alif, he said, counts as a separate unit,
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And Laam, he said, counts as a separate unit,
And Meem, he said, counts as a separate unit.
*******
Aayah!
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A passage from the Qur’an!
A sentence, is it?
Or a clause?
Or a phrase?
Or even a letter or two?
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An aayah!
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A “verse” it certainly is not!
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Don’t call it a verse,
Dear Muslims!
It is not a verse,
It is an “aayah.”
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The Bible may contain verses,
The Qur’an does not!
The Qur’an contains aayaat.
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“It is not the musing of a poet,” says the Qur’an.
And we turn around and say it is “verse”?
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How dare we?
Indeed, how dare we?
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So, it is not a “verse.”
It is an aayah!
It is a sign,
A sign divine,
And eternal.
And clear,
And powerful.
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A sign indeed it is.
And a marvel.
A sign divine and powerful,
And clear and convincing.
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And a miracle,
Each individual aayah!
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A miraculous and marvelous sign!
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A sign,
About what it is,
And from what fountainhead it sprang.
A fountainhead of boundless mercy and compassion,
Of power and wisdom.
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A sign it is,
Of the wonderful purposes it seeks,
Of the amazing worlds it opens up.
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It is a marker on the road.
It is the needle of the compass.
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It points the way to success,
And to happiness.
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And it warns of the way to failure,
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And to eternal sorrow and pain.
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It is a marker,
Which tells you about who and what you are;
Whence you came;
And whither you are bound.
And to whom and what you shall return.
And how.
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It is a sign divine,
A marker powerful and profound,
Of what the true nature of this world is,
And what its final end and destiny will be.
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It tells of the goals one should pursue in this world.
And it tells of the hazards and pitfalls one should beware.
*******
It is a marker,
A pointer.
It is an aayah!
A script really,
Of your role in this world.
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A charter and proclamation, as it were,
Of your rights and dues,
And a master list, as it were,
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Of your obligations and duties.
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It tells of the goals and ends you should pursue,
And of the methods you should follow,
In the pursuit of your rights,
As well as in the discharge of your duties.
******
That is what the Qur’an is,
And that is what an aayat of the Qur’an is.
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The Qur’an is not poetry,
An aayah is not a verse.
It is the truth.
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It is Haq!
Al-Haq!
The Truth!
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From the source of all truth,
Al-Haq!
God, Almighty!
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That is what it really is.
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Truth.
The Truth.
Clear,
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Luminous,
Lustrous,
Eternal,
Everlasting,
Truth!
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It is not verse,
It is not poetry,
It is a formula for success.
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Unerring,
Profound,
Complete,
Clear,
Tested,
Proven.
********
A marker and a guide,
A signpost and a road map,
And a tower of light,
And source of support,
And help!
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On life’s complex and dimly lit pathways,
And it’s many intersections and crossroads.
And its many many diversions and traps.
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A beacon of light.
A source of energy and power.
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That is what the Qur’an is.
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And it is much, much more.
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It is a breathtaking confluence of sight and sound,
Action and movement.
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It is an object of unsurpassed beauty.
In language and meaning,
In style and impact.
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And it is a cure,
For all that ails the human heart.
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And it is a cure,
A panacea!
For society’s many ills.
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So, Muslim!
Read the Qur’an!
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Reach out to the Qur’an.
Read the Qur’an every day,
Even if it is one aayah a day!
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Read the Qur’an in Arabic,
Muslims!
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For, that is the real thing.
The Qur’an in Arabic.
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The Qur’an was revealed in Arabic!
In crystal clear Arabic!
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So reach out to the Qur’an in its own language,
Read the Qur’an in the language in which it came,
The language in which God chose to reveal it.
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The language in which it was in its original home,
The Lowh Mafooz,
The well-guarded tablet.
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The language in which the angel Jibra’eel brought it!
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So, read the Qur’an in the original,
The way it was,
It is,
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And it will be,
For ever and ever!
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In its full divine and Arabic glory!
******
But, also, Muslims!
Read the translation of the Qur’an, if you must,
Or if you need to.
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Read it in any language.
But read it is what you must.
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For, Qur’an means To Read!
It means Reading.
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And there is no other book on the face of this earth,
Nor has ever been,
Nor shall ever be,
That was, is, or will be read,
Or recited,
More than the Qur’an.
******
And then,
Muslims!
Reflect on the meaning of what you read.
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And on its implications.
And its real-life uses and applications.
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For yourself.
And for everyone and everything else in this world.
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For,
Reading is not the only purpose of the Qur’an,
Reflection is.
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Trying to understand the Qur’an,
That is what the Qur’an wants us to do.
Tadabbur, the Qur’an calls it.
And tafakkur, the Qur’an says it is!
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And the Qur’an is quite vehement on this issue.
Quite particular and forceful.
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“Do they not reflect,” thunders the Qur’an, “on the Qur’an?
Or do they have padlocks on their hearts?”
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