Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim!
In the Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Most Merciful!
DR. PASHA'S ISLAMIC SOLUTIONS
E-GROUP LETTERS
#5
www.IslamicSolutions.Com
Rabiul Thani 20, 1426/May 28, 2005
From the United States of America
Contents:
Assalamu alaikum!
A miracle!
That is what it is!
A miracle from God Almighty, pure and simple – in our frail, mortal, incapable, undeserving, unsteady, uncaring human hands.
This matchless, priceless, fathomless, timeless divine greeting of Assalamu Alaikum!
This piece of Paradise – right here on earth!
This immortal fresh breath of eternal life from across the vast expanse of death and oblivion – right here on this side of the grave, while earthly life is still in bloom!
It is a gift from God Almighty – God of Salaam – to the people of Salaam.
To his creation, which he has filled with Salaam, as he says in the Qur’an:
Rahmatee Wasi’at Kulla Shai’.
A Gift from God
So, this Salaam is a gift from God Almighty:
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To those who are smart enough to submit;
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To those who are nice enough to care;
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To those who are humble enough to seek;
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To those who are fortunate enough to find;
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To those who are clean and pure enough to understand;
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To those who are courageous and confident enough to accept and embrace;
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To those who are honest and open enough to admit and own up.
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To those who have consciously and deliberately chosen the message and the path of Salaam.
A Miracle? How?
Life is full of miracles!
Every breath is a miracle!
Every grain of sand, every particle of dust is a miracle. Every leaf, every flower, every fruit is a miracle.
Every step we take is a miracle. Every heartbeat in our body is a miracle.
Every time we think a thought or utter a word, a miracle occurs.
Every time we laugh or cry, a miracle comes into being.
We are nothing but an ongoing parade of miracles.
What is a Miracle?
And what is a miracle?
I don’t mean a “miracle” in terms of the technicalities of “religious” or other definitions, but purely in terms of the practicalities of everyday life.
A miracle to me means an event that is most unlikely to occur in the ordinary course of life.
Or, stated somewhat differently, it is an event whose occurrence in this world is least probable – least likely or most unpredictable.
It is an event that runs contrary to all expectations and predictions – an event the chances of whose happening in the real world are minimal.
That is what the essence of a miracle is to me in real life, regardless of the name by which you choose to call it from your own “religious” or scientific or some other vantage point.
And that is what this amazing phenomenon of Salaam turns out to be, no matter how you look at it.
It turns out to be a miracle, pure and simple and nothing but.
Not the Product of a Human Mind
That is why, I say, no human mind could have conceived or invented it – this greeting of Salaam. This very concept of Salaam.
That is why Islam offers it – as a gift from God. And that is why no one else has it.
If others had it – given to them by God through other prophets – they lost it.
It simply atrophied and disintegrated through disuse and distortion over the eons and the millennia.
And it was never woven into the practical fabric of their daily, hourly life as it was in the case of Islam – starting out with the very name: Islam.
Islam: A System Designed by God to Run the Universe
That is because Islam is a system designed by God to run human life on earth.
It is also the same system that God uses to run the entire universe up above – and all around. As such, it cannot be a shoddy, capricious, illogical or unscientific system.
And most certainly it cannot be a cult to be owned and run by those without knowledge or understanding.
To be able to operate the entire universe and keep it running as it does, it needs to be perfectly workable and scientific system. And to the extent we can study and understand it, it needs to be open to logic and empirical investigation.
Balance, harmony and reciprocity have to be among the chief characteristics of such a system. And that means peace and absence of conflict. In other words Salaam, Salaam, Salaam, no matter how you look at it.
Salaaman Salaamaa!
That means nothing but Salaam can run the universe, up above and all around, successfully and harmoniously. And nothing but Salaam can run human life, right here on earth, successfully and harmoniously.
Same God, Same Message: Salaam
And it is the same system that the same God Almighty gave to the whole world at one time or another, through one prophet or another.
This system of Islam!
So, the sun and the moon are Muslims, because they follow the divine system of Islam – submission to God Almighty and his laws: they follow the path of Salaam. They follow the pathways of peace, if you will:Subulassalaam.
So will we also be Muslims if we also submit to God Almighty and follow the laws he sent down through his prophets, Allah bless them, for our guidance:Salaam.
That would make us Muslims – those who submit. That would make us of those who follow the pathways of peace: Subulassalaam.
What an expression and what a concept: Subulassalaam – pathways of peace. What or who but the Qur’an (5:16) could come up with a concept like that, with an expression like that?
And it would give us in return – our single-minded pursuit of divine pleasure would give us (5:16) – something very, very special: It will give us Salaam.
And, in my book, that makes us all Salaamists – if we submit to Allah that is.
For, Salaam is the ultimate outcome, right here in this world as well as in the next world, of human beings submitting to God Almighty – both as individuals and as collectivities, cultures and societies.
That means you do the submitting, out comes the Salaam – regardless of whether you are an individual, society or culture.
What Does It Mean?
That means it makes us of:
- Those who have been blessed by God Almighty with the supreme gift of Salaam;
- Those who believe firmly and totally in the message as well as the methodology of Salaam;
- Those who run and manage their lives in practice based on the method and mechanisms of Salaam;
- Those who actively teach and preach this wonderful message of Salaam to the world;
- And, ultimately, those who, even when accosted and challenged by foolishness and arrogance in their efforts to share the message of Salaam with others, persist on the path of Salaam!
As the Qur’an says:
Wa Idhaa Khaatabahumul Jaahiloona
Qaaloo Salaamaa!
Paraphrase:
And when ignorant, foolish people approach, accost and
address them, and want to pick a quarrel with them, they
simply say: “Salaam!”
What a model for positive human behavior!
Salaamist
The question is: Are you, then, a Salaamist? How much of a Salaamist are you?
That means are you willing to play an active role in defining your own identity based on the principles, message, methodology and culture of Salaam.
Or are you going to just sit around and let others define you, define Islam and define Muslims as associates, correlates, supporters, advocates and practitioners of mindless terror, senseless violence and global mayhem?
That means how well did you internalize this amazing message of Salaambetween my last E-Letter and now?
And how many people did you share that message with? How many people did you buttonhole and how many people did you explain the meaning, message and intricacies of Salaam to since we last met?
Afshu-ing Some Salaam
In other words, how much of “Afshus-Salaam!” did you do?
If you did nothing, and if you have no intention of doing anything in future, then don’t complain if the world slaps you around, and if God Almighty imposes upon you the punishment of humiliation and helplessness.
For, that is God Almighty’s law: Flout Allah’s commands as a pattern of behavior; be willfully and chronically derelict in your duty to him; turn your back on the imperatives of the day; and Allah reduces us to a state of disgrace and lowliness.
And life, the way God Almighty designed it for us human beings, is not about sitting around and complaining. It is about doing something about what is wrong. It is about fixing what is broken.
And that is what I am doing – trying to fix this sadly broken situation between Islam, Muslims and the world.
So, let us stop being shy, coy or stubborn and let us get out there andAfshu some serious Salaam.
And then let us get ready to rejoice in the miracles of Allah that surround us and will continue evermore to surround us from all sides.
Like, for example, the miracle of Allah’s lovely, wonderful, beautiful and most amazing names.
Al-Asmaa’ul Husnaa, as the Qur’an calls them.
Nothing but Rough Drafts
Du’a: And while you are at it, please do not forget me, my parents, teachers and my ancestors in your Du’as.
Forgiveness: And do please find within you the generosity and compassion to forgive me if I have in any way offended you; or said something I should not have said; or said it in a way I should not have.
Drafts: And, also, do bear in mind that our manuscripts are mostly drafts in need of further research and revision, which we are often unable to undertake or complete due to time and resource constraints.
Transliteration: Also, a word about the spelling of Arabic words in English – it is my own. But I am not always consistent. For lack of time and effort, I should say.
But it was in the early 1970s, I should say, that I started this method to teach Arabic to native English speakers – using double vowels, for example: aa, ee and so on. But considerations of visual elegance and constraints sometimes get in the way, and I am not able to be consistent.
Therefore, don’t let transliterational discrepancies distract you from being able to focus on the writing and the message.
To Write Back: Please use the email address: DrSyedPasha [at] AOL [dot] com
Website: You can access this E-Letter, the E-Letters before this one as well as other writings and audiotapes by visiting: www.IslamicSolutions.Com. (Don’t forget “Solutions” is plural with an “S” at the end.)
Please check out the archives and the library while you are there.
May Allah be with you!
Where and in the way you want him to be!
Allahu Akbar!
Wassalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah!
Yours Respectfully,
Dr. Pasha
END
© 2006 Syed Husain Pasha
Dr. Pasha is an educator and scholar of exceptional
talent, training and experience. He can be reached at DrSyedPasha [at]
AOL [dot] com or www.IslamicSolutions.com.
