Telling the Whole World about Islam
Is the First Requirement of Islam!
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time.
Trying to Take the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And Which One Does Not?)
To be a Muslim is to tell the world about Islam. There are no two ways about it.
But the tragedy is most Muslims don't know this simple detail about Islam. They think Islam is just Fasting, Praying, Hajj and so on.
And then they turn their attention to all kinds of EXTRA things, like EXTRA prayers; EXTRA fasting; EXTRA Hajj. So that they can be even better Muslims than they are. So that they can have even more houses, even bigger houses, in Paradise.
And by doing all this EXTRA stuff, they feel great about themselves. Wow, what a nice, super-pious person I am, most of them think. Some of them even tend to look down on those they may think are less pious and less devoted to prayers and worship than them.
But they don't realize that these super-pious Muslims may actually be missing the train, the train of Islam.
Right in front of everybody's eyes, the condition of Muslims in the world goes from bad to worse. And the world of Allah lurches from one serious problem to another even-more-serious problem.
And the Muslims -- especially the Good Muslims -- deal with this predicament by doing even more EXTRA prayers, fasting, hajj and everything else.
What nobody tells them, and what the Muslims don't realize themselves, is that Muslims, in general, are missing a central requirement of Islam. And that is: To Tell Others about Islam.
For, To Be a Muslim Is to Tell and Invite the Whole World to Islam.
So, Muslims do everything except this. They neither tell others about Islam. Nor do they invite others to Islam.
Go read Hadith Jibraeel. It is a Hadith in which a total stranger comes to Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, sits down very close to him and says: Tell me about Islam.
The first thing Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, says is this, and I am broadly paraphrasing the words of the Hadith here:
"Islam is first and foremost telling the whole world that there is no God but Allah,
And Muhammad is the Rasul of Allah."
The stranger says:
"Correct. You are right. That is the truth."
Now, the critical word here is a derivative from the expression Sha-haadah.
And that means "To Witness."
And it means: "To Bear Testimony." "To Provide Testimony." "To Provide Evidence."
And that basically means "Telling Others." "Letting Others Know."
It means: "Proclaim to the Whole World."
And that means explaining the Message of La Ilaha Illallah, Muhammad Rasulullah, to the whole world. And invite the whole world to embrace that message.
But English-speaking Muslims turned Islam into a Theological System, just like Christianity and Judaism. They called Islam a Religion. And they adopted the Religious Terminology and Language of Christianity and Judaism to speak about Islam.
The result was a disaster.
And one of the worst things that happened was that the English-speaking world, both Muslim and non-Muslim, began to think that Islam was just another "Religion," just like Christianity and Judaism, to be presided over by a Priest or a Pundit, on a particular day, in a particular place.
The English language, the way the English spoke it, was a pretty convoluted thing in and of itself. Then add all kinds of theological Mumbo-Jumbo to it, the whole thing becomes hard to navigate.
The result is that the whole purpose of using language to bring clarity to ideas was lost.
God Bless the Americans! Make no mistake. Like Thomas Jefferson, "I too tremble for America when I think God is Just and His Justice cannot sleep for ever."
Of course Jefferson was wrong in saying that Sleep, or Delay of any kind, has anything to do with God or God's Justice. But poor man, Jefferson, that is all he knew. He didn't know better.
Even though, in a never-ending search for Truth, Haqq that is, Jefferson rejected the Christian-Jewish Bible, and wrote his own Bible as it were, taking from the Christian Bible what he thought were the true facts attributable to the Historic Jesus Christ, Alaihis Salam, and more or less rejecting everything else.
I think that book is called Jefferson's Bible.
If Jefferson had read the Qur'an -- George Sale's Translation of the Qur'an in the Library of Congress in Washington DC right now -- that he had in his possession a bit more carefully, he would have realized that Sleep is not something you can logically or factually attribute to God.
Laa Ta'khudhu-hoo Sinatun wa Laa Nawum.
And Jefferson was a fiercely and implacably logical man in much of what he thought, said and did.
Nor does it really make sense to say that things suffer from "Delay" at God's end. It is not only not true, the Qur'an will tell you, but it is also utter nonsense. It is totally foolish to think that you have a God in charge of this world whose clock runs late and needs repair.
Or whose computer slows down from time to time and requires maintenance.
Jefferson, deep thinker that he was, if only he had thought a bit more deeply, he would have realized that all delay was coming at the Human End of things, and not at God's side of things.
So, when I say God Bless the Americans, or God Bless America, I am not unaware of the million shortcomings and problems America suffers from. I am only too keenly aware of them.
But I am hoping that, even a sinner like me, when I say God Bless America, and God Bless the Americans, God's Mercy, which is infinite and boundless, will somehow envelope America and Americans and help to turn things around. And help to steer America and Americans toward a path of greater proximity to Justice and Truth.
For, God's Mercy (Rahmah) is infinite, boundless and available to all.
Rahmatee Wasi'at Kulla Shayi'.
