Because Heaven is Ahead

When conversations become shorter
And roads become longer,
You must keep on walking
Because Heaven is ahead!

Worries will leave you,
Earth will swallow you,
You must forgive yourself
Because Heaven is ahead!

Until the stars shine
Misunderstandings will thrive.
Prepare for the Day they are put out
Because Heaven is ahead!

Silence will never leave you,
Let it be your friend thereon.
You will reach Home one day
Because Heaven is ahead!

Live to be free, die not aggrieved.
Live to be happy, die not unkind.
Thank the Lord for each breath
Because Heaven is ahead!

Live to smile, live to give.
Live to worship the Maker of sunrise.
Share the Grace and Love dispensed
For without, there's no Heaven ahead.


Photo by Forty Two.

The Bismillah Rhyme (2005, Excerpt)

Bismillah! The buds now burst into hues unimaginable;
Flowery nerves fattening up by the blessing of our Lord.
Wondrous things to perform; not on stage, not on stand
But in nooks of cooler sand; the plant now whorls
Into our worlds, waltzing to the poet's carts - Shakespeare carts -
We're all poets at the heart - lug them up the dusty path.
The clouds must hold our pain till we've reached home!
To the sun's veil we cling, slipping to the evening again.

Bismillah! What better rhyme can I offer than this?
In all things of nature, God's signs are seen.
In dark, in murk, in light, in grace, in every space
That you hold to yourself from me and the rest.
But we dwell together in this Earth as brothers and sisters...
Here's a rose for the sweetest, the pious and mildest
That sprang from the soil of a poet's heart.
I might as well repeat the round: we're all poets at the heart.

Bismillah! Come child, sit with me and pray
For your mother, father, brother, sister and friend
Who love you more than you hope they do!
They kneel in humility and pray for you
Every day, when you step into the impulsive world
Raise that head that springs from you and look,
Look at all those things around, and roll your eyes round and round
At sky, at sea, at grass, at bee (don't go very near the bee)!


Photo by Taylor Miles

His is the Universe and Everything in It

His is the bluebottle flower and His is the sea-down turtle. And I’m just a quiet letter in the whirling wheel of Creation.

O how the world is filled with the sermons of the Lord, taught through the human tongue of the prophets, His limitless transcending mortal bounds. None can know but what He permits, and He has permitted all that man can imagine. How the unbeliever’s heart pounds in the worship of the Lord, thus how unbelievable the denial. From the moment of the first arrow of reason airborne, man is in awe of the rolling wave of existence!

O Lord, I know that every worm that shall mine out of me crumbs and every mossy shower that shall entomb will answer Thy Way. Never leave me to the crowds for now.

By Thy leave I’m a servant humbled by knowledge, each bolt of Revelation lowering me until I dwell in Nothingness and nothing still.

By Thy leave I’m a servant with a book; may I earn it in my right hand. Will not the arrogant grieve, those who scoff at the barefooted water-carriers?

O Lord, man’s love for Thou is edifying, and all the rest is of the self. By Thy leave, may my path be built upon the former.

Yet Thou grant portions of near solace between us. O but if we looked beside: that's all to be found. Thou art the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace. In the Daybreak and in the Mantled Hours, in Thy remembrance, my being (the littlest letter Thou willed to be) doth abide.


Photo by Christopher Thomas

Islam Tonight (Ramadan Mubarak)

All of them lie in sleep
Except her, for whom it is Islam tonight.
Sitting so pure and demure
With the Qur’an on her palms.

All of them lie in sleep
When the stars are in the eyes to keep.
A naughty storm in the dark;
Not long, angels chase it away.

All of them lie in sleep.
She declares her faith in her heart.
Allah hears and comforts her.
Tears come to her very eyes.

All of them lie in sleep.
Sister Fatima rises and kneels.
She is now among the believers
Whom Allah guided to His path.

I Am Sorry

If I am wrong or regret a deed
I can tell it from my heart's plea.
As I write, I am stricken
By a worthless sense of mission.
I was not sure, how could I know
The path I walked was far too low?
If I have grieved a single soul
In any silly wayward role
I come to you, full of apology.
Not in the charming verse of mythology.
But simple like a child I hold
The decency that I erstwhile sold.

Sometimes

Sometimes when I’m sitting alone
And my heart talks to the silence
Inside, I wish I was in Cairo
Or I could stand in Palestine
If mother were beside me
I would just need you to tell me
I used to be happy
But when they pushed me down
And asked my God's name
Nobody came to raise me
I just lived everyday in silence
I was looking for a home
The word danced out
Crept through the apartheid
And I saw you

Sometimes when I don’t hear from you
For more than what I can bear
I think I’m an orphan child
No where to go
And if I told you
That I wish mother were beside me
I don’t know what you would think
I thought I would fall into an early grave
If I remained in that state
I chose you in this maddening world
And when my tears rolled
I wish you were close
I think I’ll be making my life
Beyond the sea, and when I receive
I’ll come to see you in Cairo

Fate

Let me be a man of wisdom
And investigate the issues of fate
What is the fate of the onlooker?
That Time has yet to decide
But the Omnipotent One
Has decreed our path
Time is a sense of Man
Fate is concealed in the mists
Of which God alone has the knowledge

The Discovery in the Dark

- My Path to Realization -

From beneath the phantom’s veil
The clouds passes and bursts
Dew of the morning is dried
When the yawning of the sun
Is repressed and cloven
Lead us, Allah, from darkness to light
Lead these lambs to green pastures

But now I’ve to walk on this path
When I discovered the Word in the dark
Lo! It lay in my heart under serene armour
The Qur’an is what’s in the wind
That inspires those who think
Not a mortal rhyme in a time
All that is extended by mankind isn’t true
How I wooed the flowers and friends
To please them despite my solitude!

When the world screeched on my back
I had to leave the heartbreaking past
I prayed in the dark, holding the spirit within
To my bosom; teardrops in my eyes
My voice was Silence of the meek
Still a child, and wild in the feet
I first read on the Greek Myths
And puzzled saints who thought they knew
But all their philosophy on life and death
Could not seduce a young critical mind
Of mine for I was simply on the hunt for Truth

Born into this universe of subliminal beauty
How painless it is to love Allah
And how agonizing to be shut into a trap
Of pleasures and bars and criss-cross guitars

When I’m clothed in silk
And pushed into darkness:
This is the trap
When I’m slumbering on flowers
And down pours the rain:
This is the trap
When I taste the honey
And it stings my heart:
This is the trap

As I sat in the blue, bitter and unhappy
About the things I related to you
I opened this book that had the Mark of Heaven
Ah, the words of Allah, no vanguard or saint
But the Lord of the Worlds, Who fashioned
The busy consciousness within me
Do I have to declare this love of Faith?
Yes, as the unspoken universe unfolds before me
Gently dragging me out of the dark

Mother of the Heart

I was walking down the garden path
When insecurity knocked in my heart
Workman’s hands grinding the door
And I sat on the heath watching them dance
The flowers gamboled in the breeze
And tossed their heads about
But no ray of sunshine visited me
All the hills I ever climbed
Were hidden in the spirals of yonder
When in the twilight I saw an ambassador
Allah hath sent down me a mother
But I still shook when the wind blew
And it crossed my heart through
Like a spear of love in the route
I would walk mother to the valley
Where she could gather all the flowers
But I read in my dream she hated flowers
In the blackness of the night, I set forth
Under the eyes of the shining stars
To dispose the flowers in the river
I heard mother’s voice on a hill
And she told me to bring home the flowers
That she would still love me
And not to follow dreams unseeingly
I rested on a rock and tears rose in my eyes
If only mother knew how much I loved her
That I would walk into ten thousand valleys
And bring to her all the flowers

The Devil's Wine

I am not that well
And I might die soon...
Often treading the darkness
So strange this night
The Devil’s wine is keeping me low
An athirst for sin, however wasteful
Take me home in a whirlwind
Dim the flight of yesternight
That spoilt a mother’s child
I am going to be up for Peace
None of Lucifer’s resources
Beginning of a realization
The Curtain is drawn
My spirit grows
The bony Oars of Time
Will push me nearer the Lord
And bring me life

Home Lies in the Heart

As mother sits in the chair and watches
The fat motes frisking on the window-sill
A fresh teardrop leaves her cheek
And the sun is growing by the Hour
Eating the shadows in the souk
The children scream at the butcher shop
The cow’s eyes are still unsure
The sands blow against the pyramid
But nothing is more enigmatic to Cairo
Than mother’s tears for her child
A sweet child she raised on her own
To which country shall the child go
May Allah always keep her nigh
And may her world be filled with bliss
Yes, mother knows that the ships don’t sail
If they’re anchored in her heart
Don’t they know where home lies
It’s a tender garden deep indoors!
It’s a playhouse where the children play
Even if they go away…nay
The dings of the bells remain!
The sun sets and the buildings disgorge men
The adhan lifts the melancholy from her heart
Kneeling on the prayer-rug, mother sways
To every line, beside which the Qur’an lays
Later, she raises her head to see her child
Grown up, ready to take the road to South Africa
What happy adventures to unfold!
And mother skips like a child herself
Clasping her daughter in her arms
Sighing as the memories tumble
But they are there for us to remember
They are figments of time to reach for
Sketches in the grotto of the heart
And the planets move together in love
Heralding a new phase, a social evolution
Not to fear because it’s of the seasons!
The mild will never have to part
As home lies deep in the heart
Where dreams grow out like vines
And encircle, sprawl and sing
To the chimes of a gentle pious soul
And mother doesn’t have to shed tears
But smile as the breeze blows in her heart

The Question for Man

A mansion and pleasures
Await me
Satan has promised me
The crowd is swelling
Where I am
The laughter of the djinn
Dethrones my power
Children of Adam have chosen
Allah is with my brother
At whom I scoffed
When the earth closes in upon me
Satan flees
We will be brought to account
Unless we repent
Be gone, Satan!
Will you protect me
From the scourge?
Have you taught me to be free
Of the crackling wood?
In Allah alone I put my trust
To Allah I shall return
Allah is my Creator