Monday, November 26, 2012

Death

It is the ultimate reality.

We all know we'll die one day, yet how effortlessly we forget it!

We do not know if we'll live tomorrow, yet how meticulously we plan months ahead and how beautifully do we dream of the years to come!

Thursday, November 22, 2012

I Grieve


I Grieve

I lifted my head
Once more
Only to see
The sun had set,
The trees had slept,
And they’d all gone home

I grieve.

The sky that was clear
is now covered with fog.
My path, I no longer see.
Why try…when it’s all so gray?

I grieve.


Today I grieve
For what’s been lost.
My forgotten people,
still on their knees
before a snow god in spring

I grieve.

They’ve forgotten that prayer
And to whom they should call.
The Essence replaced
by mundane ritual,
empty symbols.
Their hearts… so tired,
jaded and worn

I grieve.

We are a people
defeated…but not conquered.

And somehow
I feel my blood return.
I will stand.
I will try.
And from beyond my grief,
I will see…


There are a people you can’t enslave.
A loyalty…you can’t buy.
For a land may be occupied…
but never a soul.


From beyond my tears
I’ll understand…
Today my people weep.
But tomorrow…Death will die,
as their tears give birth to a land
where…“on them shall be no fear
nor shall they grieve” (2:262).

Monday, November 19, 2012

Act Now!!!

Is the world going to sit still and watch what's going to happen to Gaza and Palestine??

 
Do something now, before it's too late! People are not simply dying over there, they are being butchered mercilessly!

 Including little kids, even small babies! When is the world going to open its eyes against this injustice to humanity? When will the UN put an end to Israel's atrocities against the very people whose homeland they have encroached and made their own? 

When will the Jews realise that people of Palestine are not the ones to pay for the crime of Nazis? Arabs did not torture Jews or gas them from concentration camps! Dachau, Belsen and Auschwitz were not designed and executed by Palestinians! They are human beings, just like the Jews persecuted by Hitler! Palestinians have as much right to live as anyone else in the world!!!

So act now, Humanity! Wake up, open your eyes! Ask yourself whether this is fair, ask yourself where's justice in all these! 

Don't act as if you can't see these tears!

How can you shut your eyes to this father's grief?

Join your hands in solidarity with the people of Palestine! Lend a hand, wipe a tear or at least say a prayer for peace!  

Thursday, November 1, 2012

The Rain in my Heart

It has been a wonderful day.. Thank you, Allah, for letting us have beautiful days even as people in other parts of the world are suffering from hurricanes and floods.

We had a bit of rain, the kind that comes and goes. There was a cool breeze and even a little fog. There was something special about it all... As I was walking up the stairs to my class (ours is an old college set amidst a lot of trees), I felt this urge to capture that one moment in a glass case and bury it in a wet spot in my heart so that it will be alive for as long as I live. I think it was partly due to the tiny yellow leaves and red manchadi (that is to say, redbead or coral-wood) seeds lying around, their beauty enhanced many fold by the rain..  Patches of sky reflected in the clear puddles on the path also captivated me.

I felt this almost intolerable urge to walk on to the sky- how wonderful it would be if one could simply take a  walk in the sky, just like that!

I wanted to be the rain, falling slowly and rhythmically into the yearning earth, wetting its depths and filling many hearts..

I wanted to be like the breeze that gently blew my hair through my scarf and entered my heart.

I wanted to simply walk like that through the same path, over and over again, with people I love.

And knowing it to be utterly impossible, I wanted that moment to never end.

It has stopped raining now, but not in my heart. For me, it still rains, rhythmically,  soothingly, cooling my insides, making me yearn for the innumerable moments from my past that I cherish, making me wish if I were a child again, if only to have another rain bath from the terrace of my grandmother's house..

But then, such is life. It will all be true, but only in my heart where it still rains... 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Love

Whom do you love the most in the world?
Your mother? father? siblings?
Your husband/wife? Your kids?
A friend? A relative? A neighbour?
A football player? A film star?

No matter whom you love the most, know the fact that the one who loves you the most is Allah, your Creator. He is the only One who loves you all the time. Others, human beings as they are, get caught up in their own affairs and tend to forget you, even if for a few seconds. But Allah never forgets. He never stops watching over you, and caring for you. He never stops loving you.

Allah the Almighty says in the Holy Qur'an:

2:165


Translation from Sahih International
"And [yet], among the people are those who take other than Allah as equals [to Him]. They love them as they [should] love Allah . But those who believe are stronger in love for Allah . And if only they who have wronged would consider [that] when they see the punishment, [they will be certain] that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment."

So this Eid ul adha, learn to love Allah the most, as true believers do. You can love your parents, your spouse, your kids, but love Allah a bit more than you love them all, because He gave you life in the first place. Praise Him, as He gave you your family and friends. Love Him every moment of your existence, and you will see how easy it is to follow His commands. Love Him dearly, and He will ensure a place for you in His paradise. 

Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar
Laa ilaaha illallahu Allahu Akbar
Allahu Akbar wa lillahil Hamd...

Monday, October 22, 2012

Never Lose Hope

... for you never know what God has in store for you.


Maybe there is, just round the corner, what you have always been hoping for.

Maybe next moment holds a great surprise.

Maybe tomorrow, your problems will be solved.







Because this moment, someone loves you very, very much. As He does always. Your Creator.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

A Matter of Time

Do not be disheartened,
Oh (the most) unexpected visitor!
By my seeming indifference.
It is only a matter of time,
My heart whispers,
Till you win me over.

Though too small for your ring,
And your great surprise,
I have a heart
Strong enough
To stand the tides of your love.

Have patience
Till, drop by drop,
This shower makes
My whole heart wet.

I assure you,
It is only
A matter of time.

Friday, September 21, 2012

When you are a Palestinian


A poem by Shadi Abdul-Kareem

When you are a Palestinian 
You would need daily practice of hiding tears 
And swallowing huge chunk of wishes 
 Overflowing from your reality

 In front of which you stand flabbergasted 
Wondering who’d find the genie’s lamp 
That would bring back your olive tree, 
the straw tray and the sea fragrance? 
When you are a Palestinian 
You wouldn’t dare to broaden your smile 
The ghosts of Alaqsa would encircle you 
And the blood of Saladin which runs in your veins 
Would remind you whenever you attempt to smile 
That your smile is a betrayal… punishable by history 

When you are a Palestinian 
You cannot dream solo 
There is always someone with you 
Rather taking control 
And whilst others dream of wealth, power, wife, children 
Your dream is 
A nap beneath an orange tree in Haifa 
A cup of coffee by the shore of Tabareya 
A prayer that rises up to heaven
 Following the footsteps of the beloved 

When you are a Palestinian 
You’d live in a state of unceasing absence of normal life
 No wakefulness… no sleep 
No work… no rest 
No awareness… no unconsciousness 
Without the remembrance of Palestine;

How was Palestine!
What became of Palestine!
And what will happen to Palestine?
When you are a Palestinian 
You would live a stranger in your homeland 
And a stranger outside your homeland 
 You would provoke all kinds of feelings
You’d be an instigator of pity, some times 
An instigator of sadness, some times 
An instigator of curiosity, some times 
An instigator of admiration, many times 

When you are a Palestinian 
You’d work tirelessly 
Promoting a redundant commodity 
Called DIGNITY
No longer in circulation 
Since new dictionaries of morality have been invented 
When you are a Palestinian 
 You will unavoidably get an illness called melancholy 
You will infect all those who know you
 And those who gaze at the caged tears in your eyes 
And those who’d listen to the howl of mosques, churches and stones in your voice 
When you are a Palestinian 
You would enjoy an extraordinary memory 
You’d remember the number of sand grains under the sea
 The voice of every muezzin 
The laughter of every child 
You’d remember the colour of dawn 
The flavour of sleep
 The scent of rain 
You’d also remember those black nights 
The voices of their monsters and their moves 
You would remember the smell of death mixed with gunfire 
You’d remember the wailing of widows
 And the moaning of little girls 
You’d remember your footsteps towards the oblivion 
Every tear, and over which soil granule it fell 

When you are a Palestinian 
You’d discover the value of numbers 
You’d fall in love with them 
Or hate them 
A strong bond will anchor you 
Since your name became a number 
Your history, a number 
Your home address, a number 
Your lost-family members, a number 
Those who died, who imprisoned, who were torn to pieces… numbers 
The days you squandered -or squandered by- in refugee camps… a number 
Your dreams and failed prophecies of the day of your return… a number
 You’d appreciate indeed the value of numbers 
You’d be filled with gratitude to those who invented numbers 
Otherwise your life would’ve been lifeless, and numberless 

When you are a Palestinian 
You’d live in chronic yearning to a past you never knew 
And to future you would never know

When you are a Palestinian 
Words of love would not matter to you 
Nor the stock market
 Nor festival celebrations here and there
 It would not matter to you if nights became endless 
Or if days disappeared forever
 It would not matter to you if the year is twelve months 
Or twelve watermelons 
It would not matter to you if people ascended to the moon 
Or if the moon descended to them 
It would not matter to you if a party loses the election and another wins 
It would not matter to you if a country is triumphant and another defeated 
All what matters to you is that PALESTINE WAS STOLEN
And IT MUST BE OBTAINED BACK 


When you are a Palestinian 
You would abruptly stop talking
 And leave the story unfinished 
The poem without an ending 
As most likely the ideas in your head would become overcrowded 
So much so that they’d run over each other 
And you’d have to stop writing or talking immediately 
To attend the funeral of those thoughts which have been squashed 
And died before even being born 

Therefore
I will cut short my speech 
Leave to give my condolences in exile
 Where thoughts pass away 
Because they refuse to survive 
Without a HOMELAND