by Rami Mahmoud Elsawah
Allah help me,
I cannot survive without your Rahma
My wudu is all that is keeping me alive.
I want to leave this life and everything in it.
I cannot stand humankind.
We are fighting and killing and glorifying war
Our mothers and sons are suffering
Our pain continues to grow.
I keep trying to write peace
But I hear the sounds and the cries,
Of the people who are suffering
Right before our very eyes.
No wonder we are doomed
No wonder we are so fickle and weak,
We leave the people to suffer
We frown at those who are dying.
I want to beat you with my hands
So you can have mercy enter your hearts.
And so instead I fight you with my words
For your blood is forbidden from my harm.
You are the Muslims who do not care to do good
Or spread compassion in the world
you would rather spend all yor time
In mere squander and fight.
You kill each other psychologically
Blame your daughters for bad looks
Force your sons to become doctors
Try to buy Jannah with your checkbooks.
You give money in the thousands
Without ever seeing where it goes.
And yet when the beggar comes asking
You tell him to get a job and go home.
You turn a blind eye to the suffering,
I have seen this with my very own eyes.
I hate you for all that you’ve done to me,
For making me write about the bad things of the world
For making me think twice about giving
To the helpless and the poor.
You prevent others from giving
By saying "he’s lying…he’s not poor"
Would it really have been a difference to me…
A half a dollar or maybe more
For the thought that I may have saved a life
Or fed a man with no home
What good is giving charity
When the giving has become easy.
What good is writing about beauty
When you keep taking it from the world.
I long to leave everything
And take to Medina and retire
Leave the world and everything in it
I have no other desire.
Except for the paradise
In the gardens of Eden,
With good people
And with palaces,
And those who will never speak harshly.
..And so for that I must fight
Even though I hate it so much.
Today I fight Kaafirs and Muslims
May Allah have rahma on your souls.
Insha Allah you will see the depths of anger I hold
You Muslims who care nothing for suffering
Who have turned a peaceful man angry.
Who make dhulm in this world.
I cannot survive without my wudu
I must say Bismillah and cool the fire.
For the anger burns deep inside me
From the injustices we keep looking aside.
You do nothing to stop pain
To stop the suffering that you cause.
Dhulm happens so often and yet nobody notices
The longing to make people happy
Is something everyone has forgotten.
It is only a very few
Who will love their brothers and spread Salaams
Make peace between parties
Clean out their hearts
And say “Subhanna Allah…Azza wa Jell”
Every generation says the same thing:
“Times were much better back then”
But it is only your hearts that have changed
For it was given to us pure by the Creator of Men.
The blind man can see nothing
As the darkened heart can only see grey,
I see a world full of beauty
Which you will never take away.
Peace is begging me to write him
But I must turn him away
Until I can vanquish Dhulm from the earth
Or Allah takes my burden away.
My heart would be dead now if it wasn’t for the Almighty
It must survive on his Rahma
And he is our only supply.
Masha'Allah, very well written.
"You prevent others from giving
By saying "he’s lying…he’s not poor""
I thought this was just prevalent in Pakistan. I saw it happen almost every time this past summer.
"I long to leave everything
And take to Medina and retire
Leave the world and everything in it
I have no other desire."
You and me both brother. I'd rather live in Mecca though :) .
on June 4, 2004 12:14 PMI love the concept of wudu and how it cools the fires that might consume you. Excellent mashaAllah.
on June 4, 2004 1:36 PMOnline Registration is now available at http://www.gibraltarinitiative.org
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Gibraltar Educational Initiative (NJ) presents
A One Day Intensive Program
Foundations of Our Tradition: Qur'an and Sunna
with
Shaykh Jamal Zahabi
Dr. Samir al Nass
Ustadh Walead Muhammad
Ustadh Abdullah Ali
Saturday, June 5, 2004
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Masjid al Aman, 496 Red Hill Rd., Middletown, NJ
(Directions at: http://www.islamicsocietyofmonmouthcounty.org/pages/914315/index.htm)
Insha’Allah, this intensive will explore the nature of the Muslim’s relationship with the Qur’an and the Prophetic Traditions, touching on such topics as the miraculous nature of the Book of Allah, Ulum al Qur’an, the authoritative nature of the Prophetic sunnah, and the practical application of these divine sources in modern times.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About the Instructors:
* Shaykh Jamal Zahabi
Shaykh Jamal began his studies of Islam in Syria at the age of 12. Since then, he has studied in several places in the Muslim world including at al Azhar, and at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University in Saudi Arabia. His teachers include Shaykh Abd al Fattah Abu Ghuddah, Shaykh Abdul Razzak al Halabi, and Shaykh Ibrahim al Ya'qoubi, and others. He is currently the Imam of Masjid al Aman.
* Dr. Samir al Nass
Dr. Samir hails from Damascus. In addition to his
completing studies in medicine in Damascus and the US, he has studied the sciences of Islam under many great scholars of Sham and Saudi Arabia. He holds many ijazas (licences to teach) in the different modes of recitation of the Qur'an, as well as ijazas in fiqh (juriprudence), hadith, and 'aqidah (theology). Some of his many teachers include Shaykh Muhammad Sukr, Shaykh Ahmad Mustafa, Shaykh Abu Yusr ibn 'Abidin, and Shaykh Adeeb al Kallas.
* Ustadh Walead Muhammad
Ustadh Walead has recently returned to the United States after studying Arabic and various Islamic Sciences for several years in Damascus and Cairo. He earned a degree from Al-Azhar University and studied with several different teachers including Shaykh Bakri Al-Tarabishi, Ustadh Ali Hamidullah, Shaykh Kurayyim Rajih, Shaykh Ahmad Taha Rayyan, and Shaykh Ali Jumua. He currently serves as the Muslim Chaplain at Rutgers.
* Ustadh Abdullah Ali
Abdullah Ali is from Philadelphia, PA where he studied Arabic and Islam under a number of teachers. The most prominent of them are Ustadh Anwar Muhaimin and Dr. Khalid Blankinship. He continued his studies overseas in Fez, Morocco. Ustadh Abdullah completed a four-year degree program at the University of Al-Qarawiyyin, Faculty of Shariah. He recently returned to the US and is presently serving as the Imam/Prison Chaplain at the SCI Chester State Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Registration is $25, and includes lunch as well as web access to the audio recordings from the program insha'allah. Course fees help us to provide future programming, however, no one will be turned away due to lack of funds.
Pre-registration is strongly requested. To register, please send an email with your name, address, phone number and email address to info@gibraltarintiative.org.
Payment will be collected on site the day of the program insha’Allah
MashaAllah Rami, you continue to astound.
I agree with retiring/chilling in Medina, taking amny many trips to Mecca, but living in Medina is the way to go :)
And what's with you peeplz and your "I'm gonna use Hidaya to promote my events I like" shenanigans.
There'd better be a worthy column posted by someone on Saturday!
peace, gotta go watch Harry Potter.