WHAT IS ON THE MENU FOR SAHOOR?

WHAT IS ON THE MENU FOR SAHOOR?

Fried eggs sizzling, paratha from tandoor?

Buttered paratha in the shape of the full moon?

Paratha filled with succulent Aloo?

Now that would be so absolutely cool!

In Ramadan I just appreciate the food!

WHAT IS ON THE MENU FOR IFTAAR?

Biryani made with chicken and piyaar?

Mango milkshake, my wife is such a star!

Homemade samosa and pakora!

So spicy they would tantalise a Gora!

In Ramadan the food is best by far!

WHAT WILL BE MY WORSHIP FOR TARAWEE?

Speeding through rakats in such a hurry?

Coz I’m feeling bloated from the curry?

Head and heart pulsating in a flurry?

I need to sleep, Allah, I am so sorry!

In Ramadan, take your time, no need to worry!

WHAT WILL THEY GAIN TONIGHT?” The angels surveyed.

“Nice suhoor? So, they feel strong at day?”

“Light Iftar, so they feel light to pray?”

“Recite Quran, to clear the disarray?”

“Staying up to perform Qiyam Al Layl?”

“In Ramadan, the nafs can fade away…”

“There’s no fear or grief from these pure days…” 

Sincerity: Inspired by Surah Ikhlas, Chapter 112, Al Quran

Pull your choler through the mud

Collar Beelzebub

Numb your Id

Benumb shrew blood

Succumb through and through to the One True Flood

Notes:

The intention of this piece is to highlight the absolute wonder and majesty of Surah Ikhlas vis a vis the limitations of human endeavour (ie- my own). I also love the sounds and aural qualities of Surah Ikhlas, and I guess I am trying to capture some of the sublime sounds of it within the English language.

Choler- formal- anger

Beelzebub- ancient synonym for the Devil

Id- from Freud’s theories about the subconscious- the Id refers to the hidden desires and obsessions within human consciousness

Shrew- refers to a rebellious personality

Wa La Nablu Wanna Kum

In appreciation of verse 155, Sura Baqarah, Al Quran Al Hakeem

I’d heard this verse

Many times before

But I fell in the world’s momentum  

And now I’m drawn,

Like a looping moth

To the light of

Wa La Nablu Wanna Kum

I’d heard this verse

So deep and terse

But I swayed in a sea of fevers

But now I am swept

Like a floating wreck

To the shores of

Wa la Nablu Wanna Kum

I’d heard this verse

With a heart immersed

In the dread of the world’s hysteria

But now the only thing to panic-buy

Is the key for

Wa la Nablu Wanna Kum

I’d heard this verse

In the Friday prayers

While my mind viewed conspiracy theories

But now the fake news

Needs to be rebuked

With the truth of

Wa la Nablu Wanna Kum

I’d heard this verse

In the universe

Of talks and the deen intensives

But now all the notes

And inspiring quotes

Need to act on

Wa la Nablu Wanna Kum

I’d heard this verse

When things were worse

For the poor folk mired in outbreaks

But now the vaccine

For my uncertainties

Is the pledge of

Wa la Nablu Wanna Kum

COVID 19 BY NOVID 77

Dear COVID,

I’m NOVID

And I’m older by 42

I’ve seen the SARS

Mad Cow disease

And AIDS and Avian flu

Bird flu, Man-flu, Ebola

I’ve seen them on the news

And now you’re here, Corona crown

Pandemic so epically 

Epidemic of our media age

Behaving untypically

Scourge of men and stock markets

Endemic to the earth

A pulsing strain of pathogens

You’re spreading round your worth!

Soon you may encounter me

Coughing through NOVID then

Coasting through my veins and blood

We’d meet and start to blend

COVID could imbue NOVID

Then I would be your host

Conflated with an acronym

Not such a thing to boast!

Now name-calls in registers

Could make me squirm in shame

People may remember you

When they gaze at my name

I guess if I spread ill like you

They’ll see COVID in NOVID then

I guess if I harass the weak

COVID in NOVID then

Your name could blight me, permanently

No cheer would my name give

Thoughts of dire suffering

By saying just: NOVID

But if I learn the art of love

Like Tiresias transcend

If I spread verse and elegies

OVID in NOVID then!

But If I learn to weather storms

Like Ulysses and his men

If I ride waves of discontent

OVID in NOVID then!

So COVID 19 here you are

With NOVID 77

Perhaps there’s poetic justice

Perhaps there is a blessing

Perhaps through you I’ll know myself

And wash hands for 20 seconds!

By Novid Shaid

Intermandias

For Shelley

I met a traveller from a digital land

Who said: “Two vast and wireless screens and phones,

Stand in some memories. Near them, on discarded toilet rolls,

Spread out, a printed message lies, with fonts

So micro soft, and typefaces for command prompts,

Tell that its printer well that software read  

Which yet survive, stamped on these paper sheets,

The ink that stained them and lines that smudged

And on the strips of rolls, it can be read:

‘My name is Intermandias,

Look on my works, ye ancients, and despair!’

Nothing online remains. Round the decay

Of this obsolete tech, boundless and rich  

The lone and loving souls stretch far away.”

The Walls- Short Story

Adam and Hira had just turned twenty, when they realised, they were in prison. Now they could see four monumental walls topped with barbed wire to the north, south, east and west. Now they could make out the prison officer uniforms on men and women they had not noticed before. Now they could see other prisoners around them, looking and behaving much like themselves. Fear and anguish grew chains around their hands and ankles; the couple struggled to move as the realisation took hold of them; their breaths quickened and sweat trickled on their heads. How on earth did they not realise this before? Why were they prisoners? What had they done wrong? As far as they knew, they had lived an average life in an average town, following the law of the land, most of the time, and keeping out of trouble. Yet now they found themselves languishing behind towering walls and barbed wire.

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Muslim Imperatives

Smile endearingly like Al Mustafa

Brighter than an iridescent star

Rise celestially like Isa

Transcending corporeal fever

Conjure mystic snakes like Musa

Which devour the pull of Lucifer

Teach insightful lessons like Al Khidr

Slay the evil imp lurking within

Endure your quandaries like Ibrahim

Scorched by worldly fires but still serene

Supplicate with tears like Maryam

Ask for blessings of miraculous sums

Love your companions like Adam

Appreciate your sir or your madam

Show true patience like Asiya

With pharaonic souls and behaviour

Search for holy water like Hajar

Traverse the mounts of genuine manners

Rest like the seven sleepers of the cave

Hibernate from tendencies depraved

Convey your trusts faithfully like Jibril

Honour your receiver and reveal

Stand for truth like Abu Bakr As Siddiq

Stern with the arrogant; kind with the weak

Rule dependants like Umar ibn Al Khattab

Mediate fairly avoiding harm

Read Quran like Uthman Ibn Affan

Whether in safety or in enemy hands

Strive against deception like Imam Ali

Rip off the gates of inner hypocrisy

Believe sincerely like Khadija

Stay with the truth when most waver

Learn by heart like Lady Aisha

Capture wisdom like an early riser

Abstain from vanity like Fatima

Be in the world like a traveller

Worship the Only One like Al Hasan

Before light appears on the horizon

Campaign and move onwards like Al Husain

Before the tyrants, struggle unafraid

Safeguard texts and secrets like dear Hafsa,

As the Quran was entrusted to her

Unify like Bilal Al Habashi

Crush your sins under boulders of unity

Travel like Salman Al Farisi

Gaining untold wisdom endlessly

Persevere and strive like Sumayya

Sacrifice your soul for divine favour

Nurture nature like Abu Hurayra

Be the cats and animals’ saviour

Serve leaders like Anas Bin Malik

Make your service glisten like magic

Love the poor like Uwais Al Qarani

Share your blessings even in poverty

Lead the masses like Umar ibn Abdul Aziz

Treat the rich and poor impartially

Purge your thick self, like Abu Hanifa,

Understand the rulings of the ether

Cherish Medina like Imam Malik

Dismount your horse and feel his dynamic

Efface your self, like Imam Ash Shafi

Even in genius show humility

Cling unflinchingly, like Ahmed Ibn Hanbal

To your creed and your principles

See your faults like Imam Jafar As Saddiq

Let not your lineage make you lethargic

Flee from worldlings like Mulay Idris

Whether in the west or in the east

Reject, like Imam Hasan Al Basri,

The vain glories of this world and history

Eulogise like Rabia Al Adawiyya

Reject the idols that people revere

Recite janaza prayers like Al Bistami

Upon the world’s commotions and tsunamis

Roam for God, like Dhun Nun Al Misri

Searching unceasingly for divine mysteries

Relinquish, like Ibrahim Ibn Adham,

Your earthly throne and mass media bedlam

Walk on earth like Bishr Al Hafi

Waken your sleeping soul like caffeine

Watch your soul like Zubda and Mughda

Make love and service your inner dogma

Join the schools like Imam Al Junayd

See the names and essences unveil

Hide your worship, like Bahlul Majnun

Don’t fret if people think you are a fool

Deny your selfish self, like Lubaba,

Resist the urge to swagger and blabber

Love the next world like Mu’mina

Transcend the aim for fame and villas

Burn your ships like Tariq Bin Ziyad

Face your inner fears, making a stand

Experiment with life, like Imam Al Razi

Test the chemicals of life’s safari

Aim for excellence like Fakhru Din Al Razi

Purify your faith from heresies

Contemplate deeply, like Ibn Rushd,

The signs and symbols of Godhood

Study humankind like Ibn Khaldun

Learn from Bedouins and urban fools

Journey through the earth like Ibn Battuta

See with your own eyes, not with computers

Rise with merit like Lubna of Cordoba

From slavery to exquisite culture

Humble your intellect like Imam Ghazali

Discipline your soul before life’s finale

Conquer the deserts like Hazrat Jilani

Prevail over the world’s spell, uncanny

Accompany sages like Ibn Al Arabi

Absorb their state and spirits’ clarity

Proselytise like Muhyidin Chisti

Dispel misconceptions, dim and misty

Serve the sick and poor like Daata Saab

By contemplating all in true love’s garbs

Love your friends like Rumi and Shams Tabriz

Let true friendship cure this life’s malaise

Open heaven’s doors like Baba Fareed

By paying with your soul the gnostic fees

Persist and resist like Ertugul Ghazi

Never bowing before the enemy

Conquer your psyche like Al Faatih

Make these victories in constanti

Sail the seas like Imam Ash Shadhili

Against the winds of hidden idolatry

Pray with your secret like Naqshabandi

Gaze into your heart’s profundity

Forgive and be gracious like Salahudin

Those close to you or even your enemies

Share your riches like Mansa Musa

Be generous whilst in your cruiser

Facilitate like Fatima Fehri

Fund the arts, learning and poetry

Flourish superbly like Fakhr Un Nisa

Flow and curl like a master calligrapher

Dress yourself like Imam An Nawawi

Just one suit of utter simplicity

Rouse your ruh like Jani Begum

Ride your elephant; fight for the heavens

Project-manage like Mihrimah Sultan

Build structures steeped in excellence and charm

Compose couplets like Imam Busayri

Praising the chosen one visionary

Send prayers and peace like Imam Al Jazuli

Make salawat your soul and duty

Purify intentions like Imam Haddad

Relish intention’s sky like a nomad

Design structures like Mimar Sinan

Instil a sense of awe across the lands

Direct your sultanate like Uthman Dan Fodio

Make law and spirit your guiding glow

Silence your self like Ma Laichi

Like Khufiyya release your inner chi

See Rasul Allah like Ahmed Tijani

Wade through his tremendous valley

Invoke peace like Al Arabi Ad Darqawi

With all the jealous ones and their armies

Send salaams like Imam Ahmed Rida Khan

Stand and sing of Al Mustafa’s great charms

Say Allah like Shaykh Ahmed Al Alawi

Until you see the Only Reality

Fight invaders like Tipu Sultan

Make your enemies shiver with alarm

Battle imperialists like Imam Shamil

Purge the empire of your cruel will

Protect the vulnerable like Al Jazairi

Those of faith or other minorities

Tame your lion like Ahmadu Bamba

Just for the truth invoke your anger

Leave this world like Omar Al Mukhtar

Facing death like a warrior

Fight to the end, like Izz ad-Din al-Qassam

Against your flaws and armies of Shaytaan

Strive and learn and stand like Malcolm X

Make erudition’s light your guiding flex

Study Al Quran like Marmaduke Pickthall

Let the verses settle and enthral

Face your foes like Muhammad Ali

Float like a butterfly; sting like a bee

Perfect your khudi like Allamah Iqbal

Sharpen your spirit’s edge with the kalimah

Surmount afflictions like Fatimah Yashrutiyya

Despite poor health, keep your works sincere

Know your degrees like Al Shabrawi

Rise through the seven souls sincerely

Stand firm in faith like the people of Ghazza

Repel the hounds of hell with soul and izza

Disappear through the One and Only One

Say His name, until your self has gone.