Dr. Pasha on Islam,
Muslims and the World
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time)
www.IslamicSolutions.Com
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Two Kinds of Muslims
The past several decades, I have seen two kinds of Muslims.
Among all the other kinds of Muslims I have seen.
In America and elsewhere.
Those who spend their lives -- and attendant resources -- to build Islam.
Islam, mind you, not Muslims. For, at times, actually more often than we realize, there are clear lines of demarcation between the two: Islam and Muslims.
And those other kind of Muslims who spend -- shall we say use? -- Islam to build their own lives and fortunes.
The first category of Muslims is very thinly populated.
As for the second, it seems to be bursting at the seams.
And then Muslims run around complaining why things are the way they are for them -- and for the world.
Can you imagine what a different world we would have today if only Muslims had managed to reverse this equation?
Or if Muslims would make up their minds to do it even now, at this late stage in their life.
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Looking for Resources?
Time was when, like all the rest of us in the West, America in particular, I also used to wonder about resources.
Like everyone else engaged in the so-called Islamic work of one kind or another, I too used to mumble the usual formula: What can we accomplish without resources? And where will the resources come from?
And then it hit me. The reality of Hijrat.
It began to dawn on me how, God Almighty, when he was about to start the count down for a new era of Islam on earth, he did so by stripping the Muslims of Makkah practically of every "resource" in their possession and making them march into the wilderness toward Madinah more or less empty handed.
Everything they owned in Makkah -- their homes, their properties, their wealth, their native land -- they were forced to leave behind. They set out with nothing but God on their lips and the thought of a new life of freedom and faith on their mind.
It was then that the divine bell tolled and the Muslim calendar began to roll.
That is why they call it the Hijri Calendar! The first day of that calendar was the day when God took away from Muslims all the usual "resources" of this world and gave them in return the only thing that really mattered: his unfailing love.
Who but God himself could have said it so beautifully!
Wa Man Yatawakkal Alallahi Fa-huwa Hasbuh!
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A Question about Zakat
Just think about all the money Muslims owe in Zakat -- the 2.5 percent annual levy that God has imposed on their savings.
Zakat is a powerful and unique system of social and economic justice, as well as personal and societal purification, that God has placed in the hands of the Muslims.
No, no, no. I am not asking if Muslims give Zakat. I am not asking how many of them do -- and how much.
I am only asking where does their Zakat money go and how does it actually get spent?
"Good question," wouldn't you say?
All the Muslim organizations that so hungrily and single-mindedly chase after Muslim Zakat, throughout America and UK -- a new Muslim cult would you say? -- just how do they spend that Zakat money?
What do they do with it? Does anyone know?
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Be Safe! That Is Islam!
There are all kinds of people who talk about safety. Theirs and other people's. So does Islam.
But also, at the same time, Islam does something serious and meaningful about it. Islam gives people a formula that they can recite, at all times of day and night, and that will give them the protection and safety that they need.
And that formula consists of God's own pure and unfailing words.
It is called Aayatul Kursi, and it is in the Qur'an, which is 255th Aayat of Surah 2, Surah Al-Baqarah.
And it begins with the words "Allahu Laa Ilaaha Illaa Huw..." (2:255).
Keep reading it, Allah will protect you from all harm.
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Transparency in Working for Allah: Being Seen to Be Doing So.
That Is Islam!
Those who say they are "Working for Allah!" must internalize the following divine monitoring system on earth:
Islam means working for Allah. That is what Islam means and the Qur'an seems to suggest that very strongly and very clearly.
As a result, those individuals and groups -- those who claim they are Working for Allah -- are not doing anyone any favors. They are just doing what they were put on this earth to do: To Work for Allah!
Illaa Li-Ya'abudoon (51:56)
But there is a small "catch" that seems to go with it. And the Qur'an is quite direct about it.
Quli'amaloo, says the Qur'an in Surah Tawubah, Aayat 105.
Meaning:
Go ahead and do the things you have to do. In other words, plain and simple: "Work!"
But then the Qur'an adds: Go ahead and work, "For, God shall see your work."
Fa-Sa-yarallahu Amalakum! (9:105)
After that, the Qur'an says:
And so shall Allah's Rasul, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.
Meaning:
Work, so along with Allah, Allah's Rasul, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, can also see your work.
The story does not end there, but goes on to induct the Muslims -- The Believers: Al-Mu'minoon -- as part of this divine monitoring system of human behavior on earth.
As an integral part of this unfailing divine arrangement to monitor and supervise human action in this world.
Wal-Mu'minoon, says the Qur'an, "and the Believers."
The Believers also shall and must be able to see and check your work.
