by Nadia Khan
Once there was a painter who could beautifully draw
He would import on the canvas the images that he saw
He would draw the glorious sun dissolving into the sky
But he would paint in such a way as it was a lie
It was the sun he would show, that would dissolve the sky
Or else why would the sky be red while the sun retained its dye?
He would draw the autumn trees trembling under their death
But it looked as if the autumn had blown in them new breaths
Why else would they be colored in rainbow-akin leaves?
Had they not been celebrating for the new life they were to receive?
He would draw the glorious kingdom of moon and the stars
But to him, it was the simple night that made them what they are?
Had it not been for the jet-black stage drawn by the night
How could the nightly courtiers dance before tip-toed the light?
At last the empathetic painter held an exhibition
And entitled his work of arts “The Mother Nature’s evolution”
People came from far and wide to see his master-pieces
Each of them provoked a thought stranger to most novices
But one day a visitor came and stealthily replaced the title
There was a big noise soon which nobody could stifle
The painter’s anger knew no bounds when he beheld the caption:
“Accidents in the studio room led to astounding creations”
He went up to the faulty visitor who had changed the title
Trembling with maddening rage, he thus spoke to his rival
"How could this abominable thought in your empty head linger?
That these marvelous creations were a slip of my fingers?
All these crafty specimens are a devotion of my hands and eyes
Does not this immaculate beauty bring you any surprise?”
The visitor replied: “You call me an empty head but look at your demise
At least mine is not a heavy head without having any eyes
For if you had any real eyes, you could never have slipped
There is a God behind every curtain, how could you have missed?
You boldly accredit His hand’s work to Mother Nature
But if your work is seen as accidents, you become of ghastly stature
You can see craftiness in these lifeless imitations
But can’t you smell the Divine breath in All of His creations?
Soon comes the day when He would bring you back to life
But alas! you will wake up with extinguished eyes
When you’d lament as to why you are blind
He is going to ask instead, “What in the world with your eyes did ye find?
All that ye could do with your eyes was blindly draw
Ye stumbled inexcusably though obviously ye saw
I gave ye the sight but wanted ye to gain insight
But ironically your blindness showed ye the way to night
Ah! Woe be unto ye, why couldn’t you see the light?
When I gave ye the eyes to struggle for the right
My Divinity at work, ye and your brush could not fathom
Hence on this Day of Judgment, Thou’d be at the bottom!
Amongst those stumbled, amongst those wanton!
Amongst the neglected, amongst the forgotten!””
Inspired by Surah Ta'ha
of and relating to...
May we obey Allah in everything we do and know that "Not even a leaf falls but He knows it".
Posted by: Arif at December 7, 2003 01:16 AMAsamalikom. Wow this was something that can really make an atheist think. I suggest you forward this poem to an atheist website. Good job!
Posted by: Navigator a.k.a Humayun at December 7, 2003 01:38 PMSlaleikooooooooooooo,
MashaAllah, very nice.
May we not be
Amongst those stumbled, amongst those wanton!
Amongst the neglected, amongst the forgotten!
Ameen.
.... Mind blowing, really!!!
Beautiful, Nadia, that's all that comes to mind about your work. You're really talented, Masha Allah, keep using it in Allah's way. I look forward to reading your poems every week ...
Posted by: Saima at December 7, 2003 06:23 PMJazakumullah khair everyone. Your comments are really encouraging for a novice in poetry :)
Posted by: Nadia at December 7, 2003 08:30 PMsalamualikum
I think the ayas that the sister was commenting about are, "But whosoever turns away from My message, for him is a narrowed life, and We shall resurrect him blind on the Day of Judgement. He will say 'O my Lord, why have You resurrected me blind, while I had sight (before)?' (Allah) will say 'Thus you disregarded Our signs when they came to you, and thus this day you will be disregarded.'"(20:124-127).
Subahanallah, I was reading these same ayas and thought to myself, O Allah, please do not do this to anybody in the Ummah of your beloved Prophet, please dont lead us astray! Then I came to the realization of the world that we live in today, people strictly following mathahib; when you tell them that this is not from the Sunnah, they say so what, Abu Hanifa did it! I wonder at these people, I realy do...
walaikum asalam wa rahmatullah
Posted by: Amr bin Muhamed Gharib at December 8, 2003 02:05 PMAs-salamu 'Alaikum,
If anyone wants to comment on the latter part of 'Amr's comment please e-mail him - don't start a discussion here.
For now we should contemplate on this excellent poem and encourage the sister to write more of these inshallah.
walhamdulillahi rabbil 'alamin
May Allah (swt) grant us all hidaya. Ameen
Asalamlikom. Tanweer, Alhamdulilah, Allah has granted you much Hikma.
Posted by: Navigatro a.k.a Humayun at December 8, 2003 06:20 PMThank you sister for the calming words. I enjoyed the verses of the trees.
"But it looked as if the autumn had blown in them new breaths
Why else would they be colored in rainbow-akin leaves?
Had they not been celebrating for the new life they were to receive?"
Brothers...Alhamdullillah muslims are as good at resolving dipsutes as we are at creating them. Praise is done publicly, criticism is done privately. That's the only way were going to keep ourselves(or make ourselves) an Ummah. That's my two cents.