.

“So long as they don’t take the yam from my savouring mouth.” Niyi Osundare

.

They firebombed the tomb of Al Rifai

All that remained was mounds of rubbles in piles,

But what business is it to me and to my ilk?

As long as they’ve purged the bida and shirk.

.

They drove out the Yazidis and Christians

Chased them out in their thousands and millions

But what business is it to me and to my ilk?

As long as they have purged the bida and shirk.

.

They blocked the roads and set up their own courts

Banning all sinful goods and useless sports

But what business is it to me and to my ilk?

As long as they have purged the bida and shirk.

.

They censured and pursued any woman or girl

Without niqaab, their face bare to the world,

But what business is it to me and to my ilk,

As long as they have purged the bida and shirk.

.

But one day they knocked upon my door

Grabbing me and dragging me to the floor

Demanding me to give to them my life

One of them fancied my only daughter for a second wife.

And when they took her from me and my ilk,

I found that in them lived a subtle hidden shirk.