Freedom's March

~A dedication to the brave oppressed souls of Bahrain~

By the morning

And the ten nights

A glittering castle has its end in sight

Built in flesh

Carved in bone

Attired in rubies of blood

A pristine lake in the backyard

Built by damming of truth

A wave of freedom

And the puppet tangles his string

The dam has broken, the river will flow

Give us liberty, or give us death!

The garden of martyrdom has its flowers in bloom

Imprisoned bodies, untied minds are congregating at the roundabout

Sunshine and fireworks come watch the show

Free yourself from oppression!

                                                      Ummah, tighten your belt          

The caliphs are losing their grip

Brother, clear your diary

Freedom is marching to town

Spring

Strive,

Feel the heat,

Take the challenge.

Hope,

Take a leap,

Live on faith.

Cry,

Cool the heart,

With your tears.

Flee,

From the self,

Let it die.

Awake,

Open your eye,

Look in the mirror.

Proclaim,

To the world,

Bounties from the Lord.

Love,

For your brother,

As yourself.

Fear,

No one man,

Just your sin.

Fly,

Soar to the sky,

Prostrate your head.

Fight,

The great jihad,

Know yourself.

Scorch,

In summer’s heat,

Your earthly load.

Rejoice

In the Lord

Spring has come.

The Anatomy of Sin

Sin starts as an eyelid

      Blotting out conscience’s light

Sin grows like a limb

      Bringing all forbidden to reach

Sin is blood

      Permeating every vein

Sin is fat

      Insulating against the truth

Sin is flesh

      Taking a solid form

Sin is bone

      Supporting a wayward cause

Sin is the tooth

      Biting the lip in regret

Sin is a finger

      Pointing, blaming and accusing

Sin is a coma

      Shutting the mind to reason

Sin is the heart pulsing

      One beat leading to the next

Sin is the tongue

      Tasting and craving for more

Sin is tooth decay

      Eating away leaving a cavity

Sin is sensitive skin

      Renewed in the heat of the flame

[... [Qur'an 4:56] Those who reject our Signs, We shall soon cast into the Fire: as often as their skins are roasted through, We shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the penalty: for Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.  ...]

Heavenly Breeze

Listen

A flute from the garden

A call from beyond

Awake

The time of the lovers is here

For the reunion with the only One

Supplicate

And seek the unending life

Raise your hands and close your eyes to the world

Forsake

The glitter that isn’t gold

The attraction that will fast fade

Remember

Only through humility will you rise

And strike the open enemy right in his face

Strive

The struggle never ends

Till certainty lays you on its earthy bed

Accept

The challenge you took on that day

It made you, of creation, the best

Invited

Your call to the heavenly abode

Till then scorn the world and its plastic array

Rejoice

In the end, reunion is soon

Forever abide in bliss from the Lord.

Lost Friend

Lonesomeness conquered me

The prison stifling, its allure fading

I sought the one who would nurture me

Guide me, inspire me, set me free

Thus began the quest for Thee

The one whose name I whispered

When I turned at night

Who would cause me tears

And chase my fears

I drank the sea of your love from the book

Till I was drowned

Tossed upon its waves and storms

Still seeking

Landing on the shore

Now I knew I could hold no more

I begged at the door to the city its key

Through the books and ink I sought to be free

All my journey all my quest

Seeking you, torn apart

And I began to wonder

Who took me on my travel

And was my ark in the sea

Who sheltered me

Upon the shore

And took me through the valley

I felt a light, growing stronger

I had plunged the darkness seeking day

Till I could go no longer

Now to realize my light

My friend

Had held my hand

All the way.

The Idols Will Fall Again

The noble grandfather taught a new way

Reminding the teachings of prophets of yore

Calling to one God and truth

Kill not, nor steal

And honor your women folk

With Khaleel upon his shoulder

Brought the gods tumbling down

Destroying racism he raised Bilal to make the call

For posterity, his last wish, hold to the weighty two

Which hand in hand will guide

Lead you to the heavenly pond

But for gold and fame and the glittering crown

To heaven’s seven winds the teachings are thrown

The brother and the Hasanayn

Through Sajjad, Baqir, Sadiq and al Kadhim

Then Ridha, Taqi, Naqi and Askariyy

Toiled to keep alive his sublime way

Now once again vice has become virtue

The steadfast far and few

The ummah calls for its promised master

And waits, with bated breath

Fervently supplicating for him

The son of noble ancestry

The sun behind the clouds

To revive the religion anew

And bring the idols crashing down.

'Coz You are You

I am running away

Escaping the heat and fray

Round and round

I cannot accept Your ground

Every nook every corner

I meet another sojourner

Where have you been they ask

Where have I not I task

What did you find they query

What did I lose I worry

At last I can fight no more

Again, I am humbled at Your door

For a moment I hesitate

Will my worst fears precipitate

If you turn me away

I have not another way

A crack, a light from beyond

And then I know what I have found

Though I have sinned through and through

My comfort, my rest is that You are You.

Wages of Sin

Sinning and scorning

Abandoning the way

Staining the vessel

Shaping the clay

Vile and aggression

Rejoicing in devil’s play

Frozen and broken

Chipping the rock heart away

Till there is nothing

Partaking in the bounties

Blind to Divine array

Autumn comes, leaves begin to fall

Collect your grain

Harvest is headed your way

An empty basket

A heart of lead

Time to face the furnace

The heat I may sway

But now I realize

The torment

Is Your keeping me away.

Stained

On a bright white sheet

A spot

Slowly growing

Invading every grain

Erasing every memory

Hardening, turning to stone

Then come the tears

Pouring like rain

Slowly melted

Gently softened

The rock is mud again

Now the struggle begins

To keep away the stain

Dust to Dust

Childhood is moments

Crawling past

Joyously kick up the dust and

Before it settles

You are grown

Lifetime flying

Years whirring by like telephone posts

Now born next married

Blink an eye

Parents and worried

So soon, you are waiting

Watching slowly

In the sun’s rays a dust speck

Kicked in your childhood

Now flying down

Life has come full circle

Dust is now dust.

The Secret Garden

For the select few, open upon invitation

The garden of peace, a place of contemplation

I shall give you the map, chart your destination.

The night is dark, beds are warm

The believers awake, silently to mourn

The separation, pain, length of this sojourn.

A heavenly light shines upon their deeds

Carefully planted, pure and noble seeds

With patience and humility they grow like reeds.

Through divine submission and hearts that bleed

Steadfast and willing, fulfilling the creed

Forsaking all, for His mercy they plead.

Slowly and surely the flowers bloom

Dispelling despair, chasing all gloom

All this cultivated from a corner of your room.

Hear one hear all, for thought make this food

All who awake are promised maqaam al Mahmood

Everlasting, eternal in Jannat al Khulood.

Nature's Rendezvous

The subtle hints of your presence are driving me insane

You have formed an imprint on my senses

It is you I see when I gaze upon creation

The radiant aura of your face gracing every flower

The sunrise pales in comparison with your glory

Is the sweet scented rose a pointer in your direction, a hint you have been here?

Every tide that comes in catches my attention, perhaps it carries news from you

On the misty mountaintop I grasp and reach for a shadow

Only to touch air and get disappointed

Again, our rendezvous hasn’t happened

How I envy the wind, it blows everywhere

It has tousled your hair

I pause to watch a tulip unfold

Held by the moment, which lasts an eternity

Only to realize there is no note in it, no clue

The bubbling brook goes its way and I follow

Today, if I listen close enough

Perhaps I will hear your whisper

I dip my hands into its coolness and drink from the spring of your love

The refreshment brings me to tears

The salty warmth of my tears reminds me of you

When will we drink at the fountain of your knowledge?

How am I to bear this?

To be surrounded by you, yet separated from you

The lone call of the nightingale rouses me

What makes him sing? Does he too suffer my plight?

I cannot bear this anymore

I open the glorious book

There too I find you
“Say! Truth has come and falsehood vanquished!”

My Lord! What am I to do?

I turn another page, and look at it again

You have answered my query

“Surely God is with the patient!”

I can finally understand

The clues now make sense

I have seen you, felt you, and heard you, smelt you all around

Nature is His way of keeping my senses alive to your approach

Indeed, how can I not see you in nature

When your family is the cause of its creation?

And that is why I can go on

Reunion is soon

Fourteen Pieces

I walk in the garden of the beloved

Smelling the flowers as I go

I come to the Khitaam, glowing in the beauty of his green bright dome

One whiff of its fragrance and I was borne

To Madinah, to every wanderer a home

I have reached my end, resolved, here I will stay

A voice from afar, a call from the brother of Rasool

To the Ameer, the zawj of Batool

My heart is broken, and I leave with a piece

For without the Habib I cannot be at peace

Before I arrive, a glow, a musk, a spark

The jewel of Kufa, to Najaf the adornment, the mark

At the door I am breathless

At last I have arrived

For once in my life I feel I am needless

Yet just before I can set my roots

A heartbreaking call from Madina breaks my shoots

To Zahrah to Hawraa

To the noble son Hassan

Pieces of my heart I leave amongst the flowers of Baqee

To the holy meadow I must go

Where the rose of martyrdom got its perfume and its glow

On the sacred ground I bow and I grow

From the thirsty ‘Abbas to Husayn the Shaheed

A cry from afar

Sukayna wants her Abaa

The ‘attar of haunting Damascus draws me near

At the hands of the noble daughter I lose my fear

To the land of the stranger

I will let my heart wander

Only to arrive and realize this is home

The Persian tulip has my heart attached to Mashad’s dome

Back and forth

From Ghadeer to Khurasaan, Kadhmayn to Jamkaraan

Have I any heart left to carry in my zamaan

Just then as I wonder I hear fajr’s adhaan

To open my eyes in the face of the awaited of the Ka’abah

The radiant flower of Zahrah

And enshrouded in a piece of the noble leafy turban

All fourteen pieces of my heart now awaken.

Prostration

By this act, angels earned their salvation

And through refusal of it, Satan secured eternal damnation

Dust meets dust and the ego is brought to the ground

King and child, master and soldier

All for a moment, held in the same position

Seeking redemption, minimizing the sense of separation

From You we are and

To You is our return

Thirty four times a day, reminding ourselves

Yet when we arise, we reach for the glittering array

Year in, year out, the ritual becomes habit

From dust we are

Occupied by the dunya we crave and reach out

To the dust we return everyday

Until realization dawns, and reality sets in

Dust realizes its place and remains

Longing, yearning, hoping

Abandoning all, to seek One

Till finally blessed, forehead on dust

The prostrate servant comes face to face with his Master

And is drowned in the ocean of love

No matter where the eye looks

Now, dust will remember only dust.

IF

If You have forgiven my kind before me, then forgive me my Lord; and

If You have been merciful to one like me, then have mercy upon me my Master; or

If You have accepted a weak one before, then accept me as another my Hope; and

If You have saved a lost one before, then save me from myself my Savior; or

If You have given hope to a forlorn soul before, then give it to me my Protector; and

If You’ve nurtured one oblivious and ungrateful for Your bounties before, then nurture me and bless me with gratitude and acknowledgment of Thee; but

If You have turned away from a constant sinner before, please do not turn away from me O Everlasting face; or

If You have assured a wretched one of the fire before, please keep me away from it my Redeemer; and

If You have distanced yourself from one who distanced themselves from you; please bring me closer to You O He who is closer to me

Than my jugular vein; then

If You have realized the hope and reliance this miserable servant has for Your grace,

Be gracious to him, and keep him close, O the most worthy!