“Preempting” Pasha Hour International:
A Program about Islam, Muslims and the World — Unlike Any!
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)
We pay for Pasha Hour International, Live From America: A Program about Islam, Muslims and the World — Unlike Any!
Not to listen to it, but to do it live on the air.
We pay the Studio for the weekly one-hour slot of air time.
When I say “we,” I mean those wonderful people who do. May Allah reward them for their generosity and give Barakat in their wealth.
And we pay for a whole year at a time — in advance. And we sign a binding contract with the Studio.
And yet the Studio sees fit to cancel our program from time to time, often at short notice. Reasons vary.
Sometimes it is a sports event that needs to get on the air on priority basis. Sometimes it is the government who wants to talk to the citizens urgently.
And sometimes for some other reason.
And they call this arbitrary and unilateral cancellation of our prepaid program “preempting.”
What a word, Preempting!
Once, on the air, I pointed that out.
I said that the expression “Preempting” was a colonial legacy and it must go. I argued that the time had come for us to free our language — the English Language — from its colonial past.
And give it a new character and direction for the future.
For, Colonialism has ended, at least formally; at least in some important ways; at least in some places in the world; at least for some people of the world; and even though the nefarious and the most terrible and disastrous consequences of Colonization linger and can be seen everywhere.
I hope the message got through to all the right quarters, both inside and outside the Studio. For, our people have a tendency to dutifully follow the Colonial language and legacy that most likely the Studio or anyone else may have initiated.
And I hope the message also reached our readers and listeners. For, what else is Pasha Hour International there for, if not to submit some very clear and important ideas for the consideration of our listeners and readers?
Even though we have consistently and assiduously avoided calling Pasha Hour International an “educational” program – at least that is what I recall – over these past 10 or maybe 15 years.
And my description of myself has always been: “I know nothing and I am nothing!”
And that message was presented with the greatest love and greatest respect for all. For, those are core Islamic values.
But at the same time, that message was also conveyed with considerable clarity and firmness. For, those are also among Islam’s cherished values.
Here, let me restate that message one more time:
Colonialism has ended;
Colonial Legacy in language and culture must be abandoned and replaced by a more independent and self-respecting language and culture;
The English Language has now become our own proud possession and it is no longer “Her Majesty the Queen’s Prerogative”;
The English Language must now be shorn and cleaned of its Colonial roots, accretions and biases;
The English Language must now be made to fit our needs and circumstances and serve of our own purposes and goals;
The expression “preempting,” I believe, was part of a nefarious and insufferable Colonial Legacy;
Therefore, a free and independent world must now send the word “preempting,” and all its other corrupt and crooked cousins, packing to where they all came from: Her Majesty the Queen.
And to the tombs of former Colonial conquerors, saints, masters and prophets from Cornwallis to Macaulay to Disraeli to Kipling to all the others;
This was the same Mr. Macaulay, or Lord Macaulay as he was then known, who had once remarked, I think, something to the effect:
“All the historical information in all Sanskrit books is nothing compared to the most trivial material used at preparatory schools in England.”
So, to continue the story of Pasha Hour International, sometimes the Studio cancels our program – for a variety of reasons – whenever it wishes to. And sometimes – on the rarest of occasions really – we find ourselves compelled to do it at our end, because, for whatever inescapable personal reasons and circumstances, we simply are not able to go on the air live at that particular time slot: Tuesday 8-9 PM.
And, to say the least, that could be heart-rending and soul-wrenching for some if not for many of us. That is because for many of us Pasha Hour International has become a sort of an anchor of our life.
And because, as God Almighty’s world marches on, to meet its lord and master, and as a benighted humanity, with a hapless and clueless Muslim Ummah (Muslim Nation) in tow, lurches from crisis to crisis, and from one gut-wrenching tragedy to another, there is so much to say, and so much to talk about, and such little time to say it all in.
That is right!
The world is on its way to meet its Maker.
Not just that, so are all affairs and events and activities in that world hurtling inexorably toward God, Almighty Allah, even as they unfold as per a most perfectly choreographed calculus right here on earth.
If you are wondering what on earth I am talking about, just read your Qur’an. The Qur’an knows.
Did you all know that there is an Aayat in the Qur’an that says: A-laa Ilallahi Taseerul Umoor?
Read that Aayat Kareemah – and reflect on it – and you may know.
Did you say “translation”? Well, you know I don’t do “translation.”
So, there is none. No “translation”!
Did anyone then say “paraphrase”? Because, I do from time to time do attempt “paraphrasing” an Aayat.
So, did you say “paraphrase”? Sorry, I don’t have one.
Not now. Not today!
Maybe some other day, should Allah decide there should be one.
In the meantime, read and recite the following Aayat Kareemah and ponder it:
A-laa Ilallahi Taseerul Umoor!
Who knows what Almighty Allah will make you see?
What generous gifts he will give you and what bounties he will confer upon you.
END
