Welcome O Pain! I have no choice but to embrace you!

“Happy is the man who avoids hardship, but how fine is the man who is afflicted and shows endurance?”- Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

Welcome O Pain!  I have no choice but to embrace you!

As slow as the rising sun,
Creeping underneath my bed sheets,
It has come to awaken.

My eyelids open to the crack of light.
My mind recollects the tragic reality.
And I weep.

I weep and embrace this pain,
This incessant friend, this…
Reality I cannot run from!

In open arms I hug and squeeze this pain.
I cry into its fierce, unyielding body.
I accept it for it has been willed to me.

I cry at gems I have seen and lost.
At good memories that have died.
At transience.

I long for perfection, I had hoped…
That this gem would finally…
Be mine!

But no, they keep coming and going.
Parting like the autumn leaves from its tree.
And now I have cried up a sea.

Why do you tease me so?
Why do you rip my heart out,
And laugh in my face?

Why do you present to me?
What I can never have…
The Impossible.

I hold onto pain so tightly
For it is my only companion
Tonight.

And like a good parent,
Pain will slowly let loose…
Its reprimanding grip.

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Universe

Why settle for the world, when you can have the Universe?
Rise above the burdensome and break its hefty curse!

If you’re not screaming His name, how can I be fine?
How can I reside with one so dull and out of line?

Teach your blood to race and yearn to see His face…
Close your eyes and meditate in every natural place.

Let the words of your language fall into proper lines,
Pass the pen to your soul and let it sing its signs.

Wine of this world is transient, a dull and lifeless fling,
Divine wine is eternal: an endless ride on pleasure’s wing.

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Safe

We think we are safe when we have no pain.
When our lives are free from psychological strain.
And from material things we endlessly gain.
Mindless talk that accumulate in brain.

The only safety exists after we’ve been lain.
Into the earth with our deeds free from stain.
And knowledge of a blissful home we attain.
Our hearts overflowed with love in His name.

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“Don’t You Worry Child!” Swedish House Mafia

There was a time
I used to look into my father’s eyes.
In a happy home
I was a king, I had a gold throne.
Those days are gone,
Now the memory’s on the wall.
I hear the songs
From the places where I was born.

Upon the hill across the blue lake,
That’s where I had my first heartbreak.
I still remember how it all changed.
My father said,
“Don’t you worry, don’t you worry, child.
See heaven’s got a plan for you.
Don’t you worry, don’t you worry now.”

“Don’t you worry, don’t you worry, child.
See heaven’s got a plan for you.
Don’t you worry, don’t you worry now.”

There was a time
I met a girl of a different kind.
We ruled the world,
I thought I’d never lose her out of sight.
We were so young, I think of her now and then.
I still hear the songs reminding me of a friend.

Upon the hill across the blue lake,
That’s where I had my first heartbreak.
I still remember how it all changed.
My father said,
“Don’t you worry, don’t you worry, child.
See heaven’s got a plan for you.
Don’t you worry, don’t you worry now.”

Heaven’s got a plan for you.

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Appreciation of Great Works

I walked into the Columbia MSA Prayer Room to hear a bunch of students laughing softly and discussing the wit, humor, and academic prowess of Abdul Hakim Murad’s book, “Contentions”. I literally closed my eyes and relished the moment. My heart felt an ease and joy I hadn’t experienced in a while. Never have I encountered such students who are aware and can properly appreciate great works and their authors.

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God Bless Your Soul

God has created
So much beauty in your soul.
Your sincerity is a light
That has dug through the blackness
Of my heart.

Your ihsaan has revived
What was dying in mine.
O beautiful outward and in!
Bless your soul.

I could write a thousand lines of poetry.
And it still wouldn’t be enough.
To fully explain how much beauty
I see emanating from you.

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Suffering and Patience

“In the intricate paths of life when difficulties and hardships confront a man, and the darkness of difficulty and suffering becomes long, it is patience only that acts like a light for a Muslim, that keeps him safe from wandering here and there, and saves him from the muddy marsh of disappointment, desperation and frustration.”
-Imam al-Ghazalli

“Your preoccupation with this world: eating, drinking, seeking more and more to eat, to have, to enjoy: your slavery at the hands of your flesh and your ego have made you inattentive to everything else. Only when the bird of the soul flies free from the cage of the flesh will this dream evaporate, and you will find yourself alone with your deeds. Then you will see that single companion whom you hug and press to your chest. Is it something warm and friendly, or is it full of snakes and scorpions and poisonous thorns? Then you will know what you presumed to be good was Hell, and what you thought was suffering was Paradise.”
-Al Jami’ The gatherer

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Graduation once again.

I knew it was bound to come. I don’t know if I am ready to enter the real world yet again. I love the comforts of the classroom setting, where endless hope is a luxury. I am scared to approach a world filled with uncertainty.  I guess this is where the true test of Tawwakul comes into play.

May God help all the graduates find pathways that are right for them, ameen.

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Two Lifetimes for American Women:

“The median life expectancy for a woman in Afghanistan is 40 years, compared to 80 years in America. So women in America are living two lives. What are you going to do with your second life?” ~ Ingrid Mattson

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Sing baby Sing!

`Umar ibn al-Khattab, may God be well-pleased with him, was approached one day by some people who complained, “We have an imam who, after praying the `asr prayer with us, began to sing!” `Umar went with them and asked the man to recite to him what he had sang to them. He said: ‘My heart, every time I scold it, returns to pleasures
that fatigue me.
I never see it occupied except with empty pastimes
all the time, harming me.
My evil companion, what childishness is this?
Life has passed and you still play?
My youth has gone and left me
before I ever put it to its right use!
My soul! You and your lusts are nothing.
Fear Allah. Fear Him. Fear Him!

`Umar repeated the last verse over and over, weeping. Then he said, “Whoever among you must sing, let him sing such things.”

Narrated by the hafiz Ibn al-Sam`ani as cited in Kanz al-`mmal
(8944).

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