Beyond
I wanted to write a poem
Of You
That does not
Include me
But my first word here was
I and I
Want to say I’m sorry
But that’s also about me
You Oh Lord
Are beyond words
Anyway
Even the prettiest
Are shabby
Compared to Your Heart
Of love
Even words that sound
The same
As their meaning –
Scrumptious, Graceful
Sweetheart –
Are clumsy and ugly
Compared to
Your name
Words as fragrant
As their flowers –
Carnations, violets,
Goldenrods,
Dahlias –
Wither as weeds
When Your warmth
Radiates as midday
From the pages of Your Book
A poem of You
Needs only one word
Or ninety-nine
And it is finished
The Voyage of a Scholar
On the day that paper clips and files
And memos snowed upon a city
I opened an unfamiliar book
To see what had brought that storm
Each night I brushed back dreams
By turning pages of profundity
To learn what had placed death
In the eyes of passport photos
The heavens opened for
Forty days within my mind
And soul in a Noah’s flood of
Confusing certainties
The willing dead were absent in
Every word but my forty days
Left greater questions buoyant
And curiosity unvanquished
I sailed twenty times
In seven years through
Surah seas of calm swells
Pushed by winds of conscience
Twenty times I charted their
Depths – truly Pacific –
Before I knew that I
Knew nothing
When tranquil winds lifted
La ilaha illallah I heard a soft
Muhammadur Rasulullah
Slip without thought from my lips
A book read twenty times asked
When I would embrace its truth
And in a small stillness I replied
Now oh Lord, Now
Arab Spring
Hands clenched, passions wrenched
Hearts ablaze, these days of rage
Shouts in the air, pauses for prayer
Streets, squares, mosques, theirs
Hearts freed, knees bleed,
Proud, aloud, unbowed crowd
Freedom sought, its shape unthought
Unknown ideal, substance not real
Grass is greener, democracy leaner
Cigarette smoking, despots choking
Forgotten youth and unseen truth
Confused eyes, fleeing spies, sons’ lies
Streets, squares, no longer theirs
Ranting, railing, panting, flailing
Heads full of pain, nothing to gain
Power grasping, compromise asking
Opportunity lost, everything cost
Posterity crushing and the end fast rushing
Your Book
I read your words and hear whispered reminders
As my tired eyes struggle across dots and black curves
While I ponder and wonder and stare holding my chin
As wisdom tries to sneak inside crowds of thoughts on life
I read your words and hear my slow breathing, deep
And know that on that day it will cease and I’ll sleep
And then blink inside your sun-drenched calmness
As I step forward to hear your thoughts on my life
I read your words and feel the tug of sad conscience
And know whom I’ve let down, helped and annoyed
When you wanted more and sigh I gave so little
And wasted time as I walked too quickly through life
I closed my eyes darkly and called back your words
And slid them silently from my tongue into my room
Where they’ll circle and swarm close to my pillow
As I ask for their meaning and the warmth of their life
I spoke your words quietly to friends and strangers
With the force of a hurricane, unnoticed, so soft
While I knew that the wind would tug later at thoughts
And poke hearts with gentle fingers on the hand of life
All in All
Great whales’ hearts thud
Allah … Allah
Eight times
Each grey
Minute
The hummingbird calls
Faster, much faster
The name in
A whir of
Acclamation
Knuckly stiff fingers
Count misbaha beads
In resin while
The mind strokes
Each for a second
A baby’s colic cry
And a mother’s
Soft shushing
Hold a meaning
Understood
The aches of the
Lonely and penitent
Are never felt
By only
One
In everything lives
The memory of
An echo of that
First word
“Be”
Florida Pastor
Tool, cruel, mistaken fool, grabs for fame, causes shame
Christ would cringe, this done in his name
Flames winning, Shaytan grinning, charred mess, success
Promise spoken, entirely broken, failed a single test
Eyes blind, blackened mind, should’ve read the book
A tiny pyre, the world’s ire, three minutes all that it took
Wanted, gained, anger blamed on Muslims always hated
Love missing, wisdom dismissing, happy with Muslims baited
Anger unbound, fists pound, Shaytan fanning the flames
Control left behind, grief in mind, anger pulsing in veins
Streets swollen, crowds emboldened, victims caught in rage
The irony is, the book forbids this, hatred not on a page
Message ignored, calmness abhorred, playing into his hands
World worse for that man’s curse, tension sadly expands
One copy alight, one billion alright, their power even greater
God’s mighty word, always heard, untouched by one Muslim hater
Zuhr Prayer in Peterborough
Long John Silver
With eyes aged like stars
In my mosque, on a crutch
Subhana Rabbiyal A’alah
I whisper past bent knees
He has one and sits in God’s sight
On a chair wearing purity
And whispers too and smiles
Not at me or others but at the One
Who took his leg and gave him a prop
Bright-eyed adventurer watching
The horizon searching for land
Where rivers flow beneath
And upon its white shore of sand
He’ll leave footprints as he strides
Long John Silver
With diamonds that see
In my mosque, on a crutch
Rabbana Lakal Hamd
He responds in a mind full of gold
Beneath God’s words in a dome
While light stretches to reach his cheek
And strokes it with a mother’s love
As I echo three words and smile
Not at him or others but at the One
Who gave him more than he lost
White haired voyager gazing eyes closed
A journey stopping without ending
When he sinks upon young knees
And scoops living water from the source
Thank You
Eyes squinted at the sun for the merest moment
It remained emblazoned inside closed lids
For longer than the squint then faded
When I turned away
Prayers climbed to You from a plaintive heart
You Oh Allah shone down upon me brighter
Radiance greater and without fading
When I rose from my knees
Eyes without a blink gazed up at a cool moon
My thoughts rose and brushed its ice-white face
And You Oh Allah returned warm answers
When I asked what all things mean
Anxieties sailed out beyond the ocean’s only line
You Oh Allah raised a breeze to fill the sails
And You sent me comfort on lapping waves
Whenever life caused deeper footprints
That City that Day
I saw fear in Leicester
Sons and fathers whispering
Sentries standing guard
Mosques and shops
Empty inside crowded outside
I saw suspicion in Leicester
Waiting eyes watching
Looking for the arrival
Sighing with resignation
Minds chanting prayers
I saw calmness in Leicester
Brothers as bars on a steel rail
Older steadying younger
Wisdom with beards
Jaws clenched and no fists
I saw democracy in Leicester
Permissiveness in uniform
Reluctant toleration
Authority manifest
Allowing to limits not beyond
I saw hatred in Leicester
Empty eyes and open mouths
Knuckles and noise in grunts
Herded and cornered and held
Braying and jubilant in losing
I saw Old England in Leicester
The red and white of the nation
Their hollow emptiness
Protest and pride without point
The English Defence League
I drove home from Leicester
Weighing so much more
Mind’s eyes staring at stupidity
Memory blocking strangers’ curses
To hear the quietness of brothers
The Six at Thawr
The first said Oh Allah
My labour is for You
You honour me
You ask me to weave
Silken concealment
Silver sun-gleaming
Eight working together
Let it please You
You chose a dot a spot
And not an armour-clad army
The lovers said Oh Allah
We create life for you
Encased white in ovals
In a hand-shaped house
Twigs knitted within clefts
He said I brought them
She, I plaited them
Let our love please You
You chose two small who coo
And not a shield wall of angels
The fourth said Oh Allah
Let not our cleft shadow
Form an unwanted tomb
Deafen the ears of hate
To my frozen breath
Or gulping swallow
Send us an army of angels
To defend the Wise
And let me join them
With courage in Your service
The fifth said Oh Allah
You fill our cave of two
And are the Third
Soothe my beloved
Who first said yes
Touch him with calm
They are deaf who listen
And blind who watch
There is no work for warriors
We need no angels
You are All
Wounded at Uhud
That scar red-iron-seared to seal and heal
Lip face and pride torn ripped split by a rock
A random pick in a war of shouts and sand
To fit the hand of the blind in mind who bent
Wanting hate sent to that leader then bleeder
It rests still mean unseen by eyes except God’s
Who reclaimed the red that stained it a while
That plunging meteor of shame gravity-called
Guided by the hisser from a strong arm of hate
It knocked the Great from his feet in Arabian heat
To earth flat with a groan clothed heavy in mail
Circles linked as if sewn shielding the worthy
Above the Great a friend lay cushion-pinned
To save the Chosen and a better place win
The Prophet’s death filled the sky shouted high
Turned the foe’s slaying to braying and staying
And a sigh-yawning mouth of fleeting time
A moment teeth broken to rise from sore dirt
Falling from ringed shirt with surprise as he climbed
The hill of confusion which rang with the gloating
Of claims that the future was shaken then slain
Yet the Prophet knew through the dust of a daze
That truth dawning would blaze justice one day
When the living scarred smile that they saw
Proclaimed God was a shield sword and more
Transfixed
Such beauty so close
Fluttered and
Fascinated
A butterfly
Impossible to catch
Yet if Allah willed
She would alight
Upon his arm
If Allah willed
For what should he pray?
The Calling of Musa
Shade-searching exile alone thronged by thoughts
Deep as a well while the sheep lost and found
Lapped at a sparkle on the ground’s burned crust
Leather unstrapped so that his dust-covered feet
Could holy ground meet as miracles danced
On each fingering branch untouched by the heat
That crackled in flames beneath the mile-wide wrist
Of an arid rock fist holding wild emptiness
Then the growling roar of a whispered caress
Said Go with your heart like the tree’s radiant glow
Show with lustrous right hand and a staff slithering
That the kohl-eyed scarab king who sin-hiding
Smears sun-frightened arms with animal fat and
Rests with fears sat on the footstool of slaves
Must now use his ankh to unlock as a key
Those who loved Allah and sought to be saved
The True Wealth
Oh Great Lord grant me treasure
I pray insha’Allah for a parchment
Unrolled lambskin tattered and dull
Inked now faintly with an island unknown
A map of a far-flung forgotten speck
A fleck of sand on a blue glass floor
I know the mark to find: the X
Oh I will risk and struggle and hunger
To reach that lost and empty atoll
The lure of that wealth enticing me
I will pace the ground counting steps
Chest tight and mind full and swollen
With a craving for what I’ll have to dig
To reach deep where it lies in ancient clay
In an arched chest held tight by rust
And a lock forgotten by its long-lost key
Oh Great Lord end my years of poverty
I pray insha’Allah for a transformed life
Enriched by the contents of that box
Make me wealthy with its glinting bounty
I feel greedy for it but want to share
Let me spread fortune to those like me
Who have seldom held a single piece
Give my arms strength sufficient
To lever ajar that unearthed casket
To plunge my fingers into the wealth
That I crave and You hid but let me find
Through driving desire and a brow of sweat
A strongbox full only of my heart’s desire:
Not coins or jewels or gold or silver but
Wisdom wisdom wisdom wisdom
Today’s World
What will you think when you learn
That I have been bowing low like
Those who pulled down the brothers?
What will you think when you learn
That with hands by ears each day
I whisper the phrase of the cockpit?
What will you think when you learn
That I discover truth in the book
Found in lost luggage?
What will you think when you learn
That I have chosen the same faith
As the one in the cave?
How will you know
That I would never let my elbows
Touch theirs on the floor?
How will you know
That I have reclaimed the words
Stolen by the devil in the pilot seat?
How will you know
That I read the same book
But cannot see the same words?
How will you know
That I would not share his path
Or enter the wasted air of his cave?
You know My Life
My petrol tank’s half empty
I know it, keep looking
Monitoring the gauge
Often, aware, acutely
Snaking roads winding
Crawling mountain passes
Straining, that noisiest gear
First, revving, pulling, working
Often lost and u-turning
Detours annoying, consuming
Too many times, with time wasted
My satnav in glovebox sat
But used? Seldom bothered,
Knew better (that’s me, though)
You had pumped my fuel: full!
You were clear with directions,
Gave me your satnav, that gift
A map of roads, a great book
You watch me driving (too slowly?)
To your chosen location knowing
What I don’t and find
Anxiety-aching, vehicle ageing:
When my tank will run dry
And my engine will die
Ironies
You ride on a train
And create sideways glances
In a beard they see an outsider
Dark
I pray in a mosque
Full of sideways glances
In a shaven jaw they see an outsider
Fair
Nothing to fear?
Bit unfair?
I think of the Prophet
A little oil in the lamp
Bronze, Aladdin-esque
Light wisps and whispers
As it swims from its prison
Up golden blue an inch rich
And blinks and shrinks the room
Creates a curved darkness
That hides walls upon which
Your words hang on nails
In letters I cannot read
At least not well yet
Still better than He
Who recited in shakes
When lampless light spoke
And broke solitude’s hold
And said that the Almighty
Had a goal a role for that great soul
To breathe truth upon those
Who had blocked their ears
Walked astray without fears
And the cave world-sized small
The heart bigger still the birth
Of the mankind-wide Call to
Forget wealth self and to bow
Face paper-flat down and in awe
On the floor while the soul
To Him soars with adoration full
Not for Himself
Blistering chipped woodworker’s fingers
Grip a chisel while his mallet-tapping
Heart pushes spirit-filled meek purity
Through stretched veins work-swollen
And raised on skin which the sun esteems
With glistening sweat salt-silver drops and
Grips God’s Musa-bellowed words oh far
Tighter and with eyes of sad happiness
Welcoming the God-gratitude of the
Poor and poorly, guileless and guilty
Sweet steel words highly honed
Slide from his lips between prayers to
Sharply shave away seven peeling slivers
From the worm-rotten wood of a Deen
Stolen, ruined and chewed for so long
By those spitting out God’s truth
Bitter to their tasteless tongues
Others – the faithful few true –
Saw the builder’s blunt words
As a sword whetstone-sharpened
Along edges twinned to the point and
High swung sun-lustrous in battle
Against the hiss-whisperers who lingered
Hidden in shadows behind those doors
Which open from thoughts unto words
Thus a trust in The One swelled in the few
Their ears hearing “Of Him” never “Of Me”
Over and always the message no other
From the one working wood with miracles
And knuckle-cut bleeding and weeping
The fasting praying whip-wielding man
Who kicked over tables enmity-making
And said with heart, mind, soul and strength
Love the Lord your God with all those and more
Chosen One
You never felt snow tighten your skin with a sting
You never searched for the shore from the crest of a wave
You never grinned at the gait of a penguin
You never saw a whale’s grey fluke sink after rising
You never breathed in coffee’s warm rich aroma
You never heard the clearing of a smoker’s throat
You never saw headlights peer through dawn fog
You never smiled at an American accent
You never waited in a queue at the bank
You never cringed at the words of a driving instructor
You never sat and failed a biology test
You never kicked a football across the road
You never changed batteries in a tv remote
You never emptied a lawn-mower’s grasscatcher
You never rushed to catch a bus then missed it
Yet exulted He chose you
Praise and glory to Him
Picked you from this world
And for it
The last in the line
The path straight to follow
To Him high above all
Alhamdulillah!