Category: Poetry

• List of all poetry

  • A person of few words (4/20/1993)
  • Abdicate (3/26/2011)
  • Acceptance (5/20/2010)
  • Activity in Qabr (5/19/2020)
  • After Death (8/10/2016)
  • Agenda (On great granddad) (12/13/2006)
  • Alienation (5/22/2010)
  • Allah – the  Light of heaven and earth (5/20/2019)
  • Allah’s Design. (2/14/2023)
  • Allah’s Mercy (9/19/2010)
  • Amazing Grace (2/6/2023)
  • Angels hearken (12/14/2007)
  • Angels of Death (10/21/2009)
  • Anti Brands (6/19/2023)
  • Anticipation (6/7/2013)
  • Anticipation of Ramadhan (8/15/2023)
  • Appeasement (8/19/2023)
  • Arsenal of Love (7/7/2021)
  • As my G’daughter grows (6/7/2022)
  • Autumn leaves, Fall trees (9/6/2017)
  • Backup plan (1/21/2021)
  • Bailouts  (8/15/2023)
  • Baton of life (8/15/2023)
  • Being right (8/14/2023)
  • Black holes as incinerators (8/13/2023)
  • Blessings (9/6/2017)
  • Blessings in Adversity (8/22/2017)
  • Bridge (9/6/2017)
  • Bring out (11/8/2022)
  • Bureaucracy (8/19/2017)
  • Call for condolences (5/7/2013)
  • Carbon footprints (8/22/2017)
  • Careless talk (12/25/2016)
  • Chill pill (8/14/2023)
  • Choice (8/15/2023)
  • Class of No Ego (9/7/2017)
  • Clear the cobwebs (8/15/2023)
  • Clutching at straws (9/1/2017)
  • Comatose (9/1/2017)
  • Comparison (8/13/2023)
  • Complainers (8/13/2023)
  • Connecting the dots (8/14/2023)
  • Converting moments (8/15/2023)
  • Counting the Cost (8/31/2017)
  • Crisis (9/1/2017)
  • Crossroads or deadends (5/15/2020)
  • Curved balls (10/3/2023)
  • Deep gratitude (8/14/2023)
  • Defining Moments and Divine Decree (8/16/2017)
  • Defying Perceptions (9/2/2017)
  • Destination Death (8/30/2017)
  • Destination Qabr (5/19/2020)
  • Detach with dignity (8/14/2023)
  • Different brand (7/10/2023)
  • Distress (8/14/2023)
  • Drama Queens (8/14/2023)
  • Drenched in Taqwa (9/7/2017)
  • Duas for happiness (8/13/2023)
  • Ducks in a Row (8/13/2023)
  • Dunya affairs (5/19/2020)
  • Dunya for Akhirah (9/6/2017)
  • Dunya stuff (10/31/2023)
  • Embrace death (7/10/2023)
  • End of the road (11/14/2023)
  • Entitlement (8/14/2023)
  • Establish Crediblity (8/15/2023)
  • Excellence – Best use of Time (9/6/2017)
  • Expressions  (8/15/2023)
  • Expressions of love (8/22/2023)
  • Faultlines (5/15/2020)
  • Feel (8/15/2023)
  • Fifteen years on (8/14/2023)
  • Fundraising (9/7/2017)
  • Gatheredness (8/17/2017)
  • Generic on the shelf (11/1/2022)
  • Genie in the lamp (8/15/2023)
  • Gift of Life (5/13/2020)
  • Giving meaning (9/6/2017)
  • Going the extra mile (8/14/2023)
  • Grace and mercy (8/13/2023)
  • Gratitude for guidance (8/14/2023)
  • Guantanamo Bay (9/7/2017)
  • Heartbeat (5/13/2020)
  • Heaven’s Waiting (9/7/2017)
  • His Pleasure (8/13/2023)
  • Home can be heaven (8/14/2023)
  • Humbling Moments (9/7/2017)
  • I wonder (5/13/2020)
  • Ideas converge (8/15/2023)
  • Imagine Imagine (9/6/2017)
  • Immersed in gratitude (8/14/2023)
  • In the Depth of the Ocean (9/7/2017)
  • In touch (8/14/2023)
  • Inner eye (8/14/2023)
  • Insight (7/23/2022)
  • Insight (7/23/2022)
  • Intentions (9/20/2023)
  • Judgment Mode (9/7/2017)
  • Lamp posts (8/15/2023)
  • Lean on the Deen (5/15/2020)
  • Life (3/27/2019)
  • Life carries on (5/13/2020)
  • Life carries on (4/5/2020)
  • Life of low maintenance (5/15/2020)
  • Lines in the face (8/14/2023)
  • List of all poetry (5/5/2024)
  • Lockdown (5/13/2020)
  • Love of Qur’an and its teachers (8/29/2017)
  • Magnifying glass (8/29/2017)
  • Maker & Shaker (9/7/2017)
  • Mankind – Created with free will (8/15/2023)
  • Marginalised (8/15/2023)
  • May I find it in me (12/16/2023)
  • Memory Loss (9/6/2017)
  • Mercy always there (10/14/2023)
  • Mercy of silence (5/15/2020)
  • Microchipping (5/13/2020)
  • Million Moments of Gratitude (8/28/2017)
  • Mind the Soul (5/19/2020)
  • Miracles (8/22/2017)
  • Money matters (8/15/2023)
  • Muslim Joys (9/6/2017)
  • My Dad (10/31/2023)
  • Nazm of Maulana Muhammad Hussain Faqir 1900s (4/6/2024)
  • Night of Power (8/15/2023)
  • Obsidian coloured eyes (8/14/2023)
  • Old Age (9/4/2017)
  • On al’ Imran (8/15/2023)
  • On Surah Hashr (8/15/2023)
  • On Surah Saff (8/15/2023)
  • On Surah Yusuf (6/28/2015)
  • Oppressors oppress (10/14/2023)
  • Our Smiling Prince (5/7/2022)
  • Parallel universe (5/15/2020)
  • Paraphernalia (8/14/2023)
  • Penumbra (1/25/2001)
  • Perfection (9/7/2017)
  • Points to ponder  (8/15/2023)
  • Poorest of the Poor (9/1/2017)
  • Putting out fires (8/14/2023)
  • Qalb e Saleem (9/1/2017)
  • Rajab (8/14/2023)
  • Ramadhan (5/13/2020)
  • Random acts of kindness (8/28/2017)
  • Reach out (8/14/2023)
  • Reality check (8/15/2023)
  • Rendered Redundant (5/4/2020)
  • Reverse Gear (5/13/2020)
  • Ride (9/7/2017)
  • Rizq Rahmah (5/13/2020)
  • Rosebush (9/1/2017)
  • Ruh and Nafs (9/4/2017)
  • Sabr (9/7/2017)
  • scenes of Zil’zalaha (8/15/2023)
  • Secrets of the universe (5/17/2020)
  • Selective listening (8/15/2023)
  • Senior citizen (8/14/2023)
  • Shadows (8/14/2023)
  • Shadows of Disbelief (9/7/2017)
  • Shaheed (5/5/2024)
  • Shortcuts (9/6/2017)
  • Shukr no Kufr (5/15/2020)
  • Silent SubhanAllah (5/13/2020)
  • Silver Lining (8/28/2017)
  • Simple humble soul (8/14/2023)
  • Social Distancing (5/13/2020)
  • Social Media (9/4/2017)
  • Sorrow (9/7/2017)
  • Sounds of the Universe (9/7/2017)
  • Special Soul (8/14/2023)
  • Steps closer to Death (5/15/2020)
  • Stories (9/7/2017)
  • Striving (9/7/2017)
  • Sweet solace of salaah (9/1/2017)
  • The Empty nest syndrome (8/14/2023)
  • The Face (5/13/2020)
  • The fast track (11/12/2023)
  • The fast track (11/12/2023)
  • The inner eye (5/19/2020)
  • The Irony of life (4/5/2020)
  • The Irony of Life (7/22/2020)
  • The Party (9/6/2017)
  • The Pendulum (5/15/2020)
  • The Shaheed (10/10/2023)
  • To die in peace (11/7/2023)
  • Transit (9/6/2017)
  • Trepidation (8/14/2023)
  • Under the Radar (4/17/2020)
  • Unheard (7/20/2023)
  • Uniquely gifted (10/23/2016)
  • Verse in the Qur’an (9/4/2017)
  • Warm in the womb (8/15/2023)
  • Warzones (10/23/2023)
  • Web of Deceit (9/7/2017)
  • When oh when (8/15/2023)
  • Who’s  in charge (8/14/2023)
  • Winds of mercy (1/4/2024)
  • WMD (12/12/2023)
  • Writing on the wall (5/15/2020)
  • Wudhu (9/4/2017)
  • Year 2024 (1/1/2024)

  May 5, 2024

  ---

• Shaheed

  The Shaheed

  Blessed are the shaheed
  Ultimately they succeed
  Blessed are the innocent
  In face of the virulent

  Oppressors bear the guilt
  One day the balance will tilt
  The homes will be rebuilt
  Everything confiscated in conflict

  Know barakah rains
  Where oppression reigns
  In every calamity refrain
  Need to stay sane

  No panic no grief
  Full trust and belief
  With Allah is the relief
  Dunya is brief

  Commentaries and talk show
  All so artificial and shallow
  They thinking they’re haloed
  In fake justice they wallow

  The shaheeds win
  Oppressors steeped in sin
  When judgment will begin
  They’ll end in hell’s bin

  Don’t cry over the shaheed
  Mothers’ be proud indeed
  You are the ones who feed
  Iman for them to succeed

  Blessed are the shaheed…

  10.10 23

  Post Fajr

  May 5, 2024

  ---

• Nazm of Maulana Muhammad Hussain Faqir 1900s

  April 6, 2024

  ---

• Winds of mercy

  Winds of mercy

  Winds of mercy always blow
  Who’s sails catch the flow
  Winds of mercy on the go
  We’re unaware, don’t know

  How to see mercy in all things
  The barakah calamity brings
  It’s the response that determines
  The Ever mercy that underpins

  Winds of mercy ever present
  We’re unmindful, absent
  Unless from each altercation
  There’s some growth, education

  When we experience in life
  Especially as husband and wife
  Egos prone to simmering strife
  Seething to surmount walls with a knife

  Winds of mercy are not felt
  Until the hearts soften and melt
  And anger abates
  Recovering from shaytan’s bait

  Winds of mercy not perceived
  With expectations, aggrieved
  Far from facts n reality
  Causes a sap in vitality

  Takes a bird’s eye view
  To see things through
  Beyond the havoc, topsy-turvy
  To feel the Winds of mercy

  4.1.24 Johannesburg
  21 jamadul akhir 1445
  Post fajr

  January 4, 2024

  ---

• Year 2024

  Ya Rabb
  Comes another year
  What it brings is unclear
  What is there to fear
  Where do we go from here

  Ya Rabb
  As years roll by
  To who do we say goodbye
  How much to cry
  How much to rue and wry

  Ya Rabb
  Which year is my last
  When – my sell by date past
  Look back in joy or aghast
  Over the years that flew so fast

  Ya Rabb
  Collect brownie points
  Nafls for my joints
  Please You appoint
  As mumins us anoint🤲

  Ya Rabb 
  We yearn your pleasure
  That’s the ultimate treasure
  Free from peer pressure
  Use for goodness our leisure

  Ya Rabb
  Let us live as long as it’s good
  Behave and do as we should
  Be those who truly understood
  My Deen protected under a hood

  Ya Rabb
  As the years roll by
  Let the time fly
  May I not be at loss or cry
  May I truly intend to try

  Ya Rabb
  Earn your pleasure
  In all my leisure
  Not succumb to pressure
  Iman truly treasure
  🤲

  0015 hrs
  1.1.24
  18 jamadul akhir 1445

  January 1, 2024

  ---

• May I find it in me

  May I find it in me… 

  May I find in me to be glad 

  May I find in me to not be sad

  May I find it in me to not feel bad

  May I find it in me to trust Allah 

  His Mercy encompasses all

  No matter how many fall 

  We count the martyrs, appalled 

  The enemy it really galls

  The hope that never diminishes

  The faith that’s ever flourishes

  Firm resolve will always be

  Ultimate victory for all to see

  It will all add up individually 

  When I find in me

  To be one of them

  When I find it in me

  To be rid of all phlegm

  When I find in me

  From hypocrisy a shield

  Even while far from the battle field 

  To negativity learn not to yield 

  When I don’t shop till I drop 

  Eat my fill before I stop 

  When I’m not hooked on brands

  Hooked on being grand

  Where’s my expression of care

  For the oppressed, how they fare 

  Demonstrate, under loudspeaker blare 

  For a while be seen to frown n glare 

  May I find it in me to pray 

  Truly keep shaytan at bay

  24/7 not to go astray

  Curtail luxury living day by day

  Ya Allah 

  When will I find it in me

  The pain of the oppressed 

  That causes lifestyle changes 

  To live the  sunnah way 

  16 December 23

  2 jamadul akhir 1445

  Jhb

  December 16, 2023

  ---

• WMD

  WMD

  Weapons of mass destructuon

  Virus for mass destruction 

  Words for mass destruction

  Lies for mass destruction 

  Media for mass destruction 

  The pen of mass destruction 

  Twisting words, manipulation

  False perceptions 

  Blackmail of emotions

  The oppressor bleats oppression

  Tables turn, repression

  From holocaust to genocide aggression

  History of mass destruction 

  Pharoah the archetype

  For tyrants of all types

  Iman always strong

  In the mujahid’s heart

  The Quranic ayat belong 

  Amazing the state of a mumin

  Victory in their land

  Or they be of the shaheed band

  Sabr and shukr

  Mumin’s only options

  In face of  kufr 

  WMD’s ultimate defeat 

  By Allah’s decree

  Or through mujahid feat

  Hope is eternal

  Yaqeen ingrained 

  Through the kalima’s refrain

  12.12.23 Jhb

  28 Jamad ul Ulaa 1445

  December 12, 2023

  ---

• End of the road

  End of the road

  At the end of the road
  Will be happy to off load

  Round the bend
  Happy for the end

  Having run the race
  At my own pace

  Beyond the finish line
  To a future sublime

  Hoping for an end
  After which we ascend

  Freed from dunya’s oppression
  Praying for Rasul’s ﷺ intercession

  Happy to be
  From this dunya free

  Hoping for an end
  That is a Godsend

  Be pleasing to Allah
  Pleased with his jannah

  Praying at the end of the road
  In Allah’s mercy we’ll enfold

  Isha
  28 Rabi ul akhir 1445
  14.11.23 Johannesburg

  November 14, 2023

  ---

• The fast track

  The fast track

  When I travel
  I always think
  When I’m in transit
  It’s like being in barzakh

  Luggage sent forth
  Hands free and easy
  When off the flight
  Like out of the qabr

  Race to immigration desk
  Find the fast track
  Side step the crowd
  Rewarded for shukr n sabr

  Fast track to gather
  at the fountain of Kauther
  Restored with the drink
  By Rasulullah ﷺ remain

  Be given the VIP voucher
  Stamped for pulsirat crossing
  On fast track like lightening
  Loved ones encounter

  From hurdles saved
  A gold pass to wave
  Head for Heavens gates
  Nothing to rue, by Allah’s grace

  That’s how I pray
  I’m up on judgment day
  Send deeds by luggage loads
  To earn the fast track code

  Post asr Johannesburg
  12.11.23
  27 Rabi ul akhir 1445

  November 12, 2023

  ---

• The fast track

  The fast track

  When I travel
  I always think
  When I’m in transit
  It’s like being in barzakh

  Luggage sent forth
  Hands free and easy
  When off the flight
  Like out of the qabr

  Race to immigration desk
  Find the fast track
  Side step the crowd
  Rewarded for shukr n sabr

  Fast track to gather
  at the fountain of Kauther
  Restored with the drink
  By Rasulullah ﷺ remain

  Be given the VIP voucher
  Stamped for pulsirat crossing
  On fast track like lightening
  Loved ones encounter

  From hurdles saved
  A gold pass to wave
  Head for Heavens gates
  Nothing to rue, by Allah’s grace

  That’s how I pray
  I’m up on judgment day
  Send deeds by luggage loads
  To earn the fast track code

  Post asr Johannesburg
  12.11.23
  27 Rabi ul akhir 1445

  November 12, 2023

  ---

• To die in peace

  To die in peace

  Deep desire to die in peace
  Allah always try to please
  No malice in the heart
  At the moment of depart

  To die in peace
  What a wonderful release
  Loved ones around
  Ready to go underground

  To die in peace 
  Know who’s there to receive 
  Loved ones on the other side
  No worries what we leave behind 

  To die in peace 
  My ruh, angels gently ease
  Time to say goodbye 
  Be ready to fly

  To die in peace
  Cause no one grief
  Be the tranquil soul
  The ultimate goal

  To die in peace 
  Promise Allah keeps
  In sabr n shukr here
  Then no need to fear 

  Pre fajr Johannesburg 
  22 Rabi ul akhir1445,
  7 November 2023

  November 7, 2023

  ---

• Dunya stuff

  Dunya stuff

  It’s never enough 

  So flimsy and vain

  Amidst all the pain 

  What holds water

  Amidst the slaughter 

  Oppressor the oppressed?

  Don’t see the distress?

  Don’t see what matters

  It’s all hollow,  will shatter

  Where are we, what values matter?

  Just chatter, there to flatter?

  What legacy to uphold

  What sunnah to unfold 

  Dunya stuff 

  Soon snuffed 

  Gaza bombed, let it be

  Highway to heaven free

  Honour dunya stuff 

  Wasted, all a bluff 

  Eyes blind

  All in the mind

  What holds water

  Is hearts matter

  Deeds one accrues

  That the Almighty approves

  You can get tough 

  With dunya stuff 

  15 Rabi ul akhir 1445

  31.10.23

  Johannesburg

  October 31, 2023

  ---

• My Dad

  My Dad

  My dad gone
  30 years on

  He was so integral in our lives
  Then no more, time flies

  My dad wore many a hat
  Was a sportsman, knew how to bat

  Skill of keeping people together
  Even if they were of different feather

  Many a story we heard from him
  1947 when times were grim

  A true team player
  Always with a care

  Challenges he had
  Moments to be sad

  Yet always cheerful
  Upbeat and grateful

  His goodness lives on
  Long after he’s gone

  The Masjid built
  Despite many a conflict

  Enduring legacy he leaves
  Those he touched with his deeds

  Endless memories
  Unite us in our reveries

  31.10.23
  Johannesburg

  October 31, 2023

  ---

• Warzones

  Warzones

  Warzones can be
  Seen globally or locally
  In the home, in the head
  Fighting over what was said

  In the organs and blood
  Causing constriction
  Cells in affliction
  And tsunamis and floods

  It’s all stress
  If we aren’t at rest
  Upheavals or at peace
  If angst we decrease

  Salaamti and salaam
  Needed to stay calm
  To make it to akhirah
  To gain ultimate falaah

  To meet the oppressed
  They are truly blessed
  Homes bombed, made shaheed
  From this mess freed

  Know amidst chaos of warzones
  The mumin’s soul Allah owns
  It’s all under Divine decree
  We counter the killing spree

  Know warzones are created
  By military industry and perpetuated
  Military industry complex maintain
  All for their economic gain

  Counter oppression in cyberspace
  The algorithm changes place
  Of narratives on warzones 
  On kids throwing stones

  Know in the unseen
  There’s angels team
  Constant traffic upwards
  Accompanying the shuhadah

  Fragrant smells unfurl
  While there’s stench on earth
  Of destruction untold
  Justice will unfold

  It’s data collection time
  Of perpetuating crime
  To weigh on scales
  When their power fails

  Opportunity
  To strengthen iman
  Know who’s in control
  In peacetime n warzones

  Isha, 23 October 2023 Johannesburg

  October 23, 2023

  ---

• Oppressors oppress

  Oppressors oppress

  Oppressors oppress
  Downtrodden in distress
  Of might and clout
  They have no doubt

  Pray for the oppressor
  Pray for the oppressed
  Danger with worldly might
  Forget how to be right

  Lose sight of wisdom
  Revel in their fiefdom
  Lose focus of humanity
  Act like the almighty

  Time will come
  Oppressors made dumb
  Limbs given voice
  Tongues numbed

  Complete accountability
  For all to witness n see
  Justice will prevail
  True Might be unveiled

  14.10.23 post fajr
  28 Rabi ul awwal 1445
  Johannesburg

  October 14, 2023

  ---

• Mercy always there

  Mercy always there

  Latent mercy always there
  When things seems unfair
  In crisis difficult to navigate
  The oppression suffocates

  Redirect the lens
  See how the Merciful plans
  To strengthens iman
  Uplifts the best band

  With endless resilence
  Committed perseverance
  For us a moment of clarity
  With renewed sincerity

  Move away from distractions
  Focus on enduring actions
  No despondency
  Despite insolvency

  
  14.10.23 post fajr
  28 Rabi ul Awwal 1445
  Johannesburg

  October 14, 2023

  ---

• The Shaheed

  The Shaheed

  Blessed are the shaheed
  Ultimately they succeed
  Blessed are the innocent
  In face of the virulent

  Oppressors bear the guilt
  One day the balance will tilt
  The homes will be rebuilt
  Those confiscated in conflict

  Know barakah rains
  Where oppression reigns
  In every calamity refrain
  Need to stay sane

  No panic no grief
  Full trust and belief
  With Allah is the relief
  Dunya is brief

  Commentaries and talk show
  All so artificial and shallow
  They thinking they’re haloed
  In fake justice they wallow

  The shaheeds win
  Oppressors steeped in sin
  When judgment will begin
  They’ll end in hell’s bin

  Don’t cry over the shaheed
  Mothers’ be proud indeed
  You are the ones who feed
  Iman for them to succeed

  Blessed are the shaheed…

  10.10 23
  Post Fajr

  October 10, 2023

  ---

• Curved balls

  Curved balls

  Curved balls given in life
  Life designed as
  struggles and strife
  No matter what one has

  When it’s a material struggle
  Finances you juggle
  Strengthened as a couple
  Together face the trouble

  When there is financial ease
  People you need to appease
  In relationships no guarantees
  Altercations to some degrees

  When relationships sorted
  Health may be thwarted
  Need to be supported
  Egos have to be aborted

  The curved balls will come
  To see what we become
  Do we submit and succumb
  Grow or be numbed

  Opportunity for growth
  Is the definition of ibtela
  Is the calamity, the balaa
  An opportunity for falaah

  Do we deal with curved balls
  Hear heaven’s calls
  Sidestep the brawls
  Avoid the pitfalls

  Reassess and recalibrate
  Retract and revaluate
  Do we exaggerate
  Or let anger evaporate

  Know what values are a must
  All else can chuck to rust
  Staying true to the crux
  While life is in constant flux

  Post Fajr
  3 October 2023
  17 Rabbi ul awwal 1445
  Johannesburg

  October 3, 2023

  ---

• Intentions

  Intentions

  you know intentions
  by seeing attention

  masjids opened or closed
  hearts sorrow Allah knows

  efforts made Allah sees
  end result he decrees

  under all conditions
  a Mumin’s ambition

  no khauf no huzn
  knows dunya is a sijn

  no fear no sadness
  floats in gladdness

  Alhamdulillah
  alaa kulli haal

  accept and submit
  aslim & taslim*

  28/4/20
  fajr

  *a phrase meaning
  “submit (to Allah) &
  you will get salvation”,

  September 20, 2023

  ---

• Expressions of love

  Expressions of love

  When expressions of love
  Are dismissed and shoved
  Feels such a fall from grace
  To fall flat on your face

  The reaction is
  Constriction in the heart
  Maybe it’s better to part
  Together there is no bliss

  Home is no more the space
  Where love is in place
  Deep hurt, and neglected
  Expressions of love rejected

  Joyful time turns sour
  Anger does devour
  When expression of love
  Isn’t seen, feels unloved

  Shaytan loves best
  To create deep unrest
  Rifts in homes
  Negativity to roam

  Gives life to reptiles brain
  Unloved, the only refrain
  Pointless to remain
  Feelings not the same

  It’s meaning we give
  Of how we should live
  When it’s by divine decree
  This life can’t be painfree

  Yet in sorrow we wallow
  Shattered and hollow
  When actions misunderstood
  All that was designed good

  What only matters
  That Allah above
  Cares and loves
  Perception alters

  Endlessly let go
  Shun the ego

  Fajr 22.8.23
  5 Safar 1445

  August 22, 2023

  ---

• Appeasement

  Appeasement

  The new way to please
  Is trying to appease
  Being political correct
  And being circumspect

  Is it an achievement
  Redefining core values
  Unworthy of being used
  All to be in agreement

  Do we need to fit mainstream
  Give in to vain dreams
  Part ways with beliefs
  To achieve momentary relief

  Things turned upside down
  Makes us into clowns
  To fit in with the times
  You end up toeing their line

  When we need to only worry
  Pleasing the One and Only
  Before we end up being sorry
  For being fake and phony

  Appeasement
  A form of agreement
  Undermines morality
  Makes normal abnormality

  To navigate these times
  With the blurring of lines
  No easy feat
  Difficult to beat

  Bank on tawakkul
  By the bucketful
  Intentions renew
  Vigilantly review

  Blessings will accrue
  Barakah will come through
  We’ll be safe amidst turbulence
  Courtesy of Creator’s benevolence

  We just need not panic
  Or make fear mongering volcanic
  Be aware and minimise
  Trust Allah, He’ll chastise.

  So don’t appease
  Or try to please
  Stay away, beware
  Avoid the snare

  19.8 23
  3 safar 1445
  Johannesburg

  August 19, 2023

  ---

• Bailouts 

  Bailouts 

  Subhan Allah

  Alhamdulillah

  Allah bails you out

  As long as you don’t flout 

  Stick to the straight n narrow

  Tawakkul seeped in your bone marrow

  Allah will surely bail you out

  Never be in doubt 

  Tawakkul super steady 

  For any outcome be ready 

  Nothing should faze you 

  Tawakkul will raise you 

  Marvel at the bailouts 

  Allah has complete clout 

  Events close to a fallout 

  It’s Allah who bails out 

  Amazing moments post despair 

  Realising we’re in Allah’s care 

  Instant sajdah feelings 

  Subhan Allah Alhamdulillah reeling 

  From the core of your soul 

  Awe at Allah completing your goal

  The nafls make sense

  Thru the fog so dense 

  Post Isha n pre Fajr

  Endlessly duas for success in Hashr 

  We’ll see Allah’s bail out

  If we don’t drop out 

  Stick thru thick n thin 

  With iman we’ll win 

  Wow for Allah’s bail outs 

  Never be in doubt

  19.10.22

  Isha

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Points to ponder 

  Points to ponder 

  When someone is in grief

  over a loss in disbelief 

  Just open a window of hope 

  For introspection, to cope

  Don’t belabour the tawakkul point

  Let it be a journey of self discovery

  So they can operate 

  Beyond outer grief and action 

  Come to complete comfort inside 

  Knowing it’s by Allah’s decree

  We pay lip service.

  Say the correct words 

  But if it doesn’t resonate

  inside, in the heart, pointless 

  From words you can tell

  what the heart feels

  Dry mechanical words

  Or is the heart engaged 

  11.9. 22

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• On al’ Imran

  On ale Imran ayaat 191-200

  Learn to think

  Out of the box

  Get rid of mental blocks

  There’s a rhyme n reason

  In every shift of season

  In chaos there’s purpose 

  Signs in the unverse 

  And within ourselves 

  Perfection

  of the Hayyul Qayyum 

  No wavering in accepting 

  destiny, n decree while striving 

  If expelled, killed or harmed

  To not be sucked in

  the glitter, pomp and din 

  Ultimately it all lands in the bin

  Look out with an awed attitude 

  Subhan Allah, In full gratitude  

  For iman in heart mind and soul 

  Is there any flaw to see 

  Look inside, flee

  From all negativity 

  There’s choice and free will

  To not harbour ill will

  The choice not to sell iman 

  The ulul albaab are

  The cream of the crop

  Think deeper, out of the box

  Beyond the doors locked

  Obstacles and road blocks 

  Prime Real estates awaits 

  True falaah to be found 

  When the heart is truly sound

  Constant, firm and content 

  Pre Fajr

  20.9.22 

  Safar.23 1444

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Baton of life

  Baton of life

  As my Arwa grows.

  I enter my throes

  As life channels to her

  Mine starts to blur

  Her activities take centre stage

  Mine begin to diminish with age

  As her cortex develops 

  More info she’s able to envelop 

  Decision making too

  Wants and desires grew 

  As I slow down 

  Head for underground

  The baton of life passed on 

  Mantle of decision making shifts 

  7.6.22

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Warm in the womb

  Warm in the womb

  By Allah’s grace

  Baby is in place

  Warm in the womb

  Makes me think

  Pray for a breeze

  When I’m in my tomb

  Baby is snug and fed

  Swims in a water bed

  Totally cared for 

  As it works its way out 

  With effort and determination 

  Has the umbilical cord cut 

  . 

  So too remember the last day

  As the ruh works to leaves the body 

  May it be in a gentler way

  9 months in the womb 

  Equally temporary is years on earth

  As we journey to our tomb

  As oblivious as we think the baby is

  So too we live searching for bliss

  Oblivious of a final destination

  Friday Fajr

  1 dhul hijjah

  Jhb

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Selective listening

  Selective listening

  Some words are heard
  Some totally unheard

  Depends where we are
  From reality how far

  Perceptions cloud
  The clamour is loud

  Messages get unheard
  We don’t hear the words

  What resonates for me
  Causes listening selectively

  The brain by default processes
  What its cpu possesses

  All else by passed
  Bounces off the glass

  It takes practice and care
  To be fully aware

  Hear what is said
  Not tarnished by what is read

  Be present to the uttered word
  To have it truly be heard

  Not be preparing a reply
  And let what’s said, fly

  Mind busy working on an answer
  Thoughts in a whirl – like a dancer

  Learn to still the mind
  Gaps of space, find

  To be able to hear
  So the message is clear

  Otherwise
  we internalise

  Self fulfilling prophecies
  Based on our idiocyncrasies

  Selective listening
  We’re constantly doing

  2.10.22
  Post fajr

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• When oh when

  When oh when

  Ya Allah 

  When will iman penetrate  my soul

  When will it seep to my bones 

  When will it stop being actions

  Perpetual, mechanical, out of habit

  When will what I say

  reverberate deep inside

  when will what I claim

  resonate and rattle my core 

  when will the shiver of awe

  ripple thru my spine

  when will kushu truly be there

  when will khudhu be etched in me

  when will my wudhu be conscious and true

  Ya Rabb when will I be Yours truly? 

  27 Ramadhan 1440

  2/6/19 after fajr

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• On Surah Saff

  Surah Saff

  Allah Gloriously in charge 

  of heavens  and earth

  Incredibly Aziz and Hakim

  Mighty and Wise 

  we lose the wisdom 

  when we are in might 

  Oh Believers – why do you utter 

  what you don’t follow through

  truly hateful is your saying 

  when you don’t  follow thru

  And truly Allah loves 

  those who fight for his sake

  Strongly bonded

  as a powerful force

  22 May 2019/ 16 Ramadhan 1440

  Jhb fajr

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• scenes of Zil’zalaha

  Zil’zalaha

  When the quaking quakes

  And earth spews out all baggage

  we wonder what’s with it 

  It then tells its story 

  as inspired by the Rabb

  and man is made to line up

  demarcation of diverse deeds

  slightest whiff of goodness 

  accounted for and seen

  flimsiest flaw found 

  weighed against the Deen 

  All after the quaking quakes

  16 May 2019/Ramadhan 1440

  after maghrib

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Reality check

  Reality check

  Reality check, what is, is

  No reason to be in a tizz

  Choices made, choices taken

  No need to be grief stricken

  The ‘could be’ ‘should be’ not real

  What is, is, in touch, be, feel

  Check out what is the fact

  Not how it strays from the pact

  Reality check, then think what next

  Realign, reassess, and be exact

  Listen to the voice on the GPS

  Take a wrong turn and it will reassess

  No hardship, no resistance, just accept

  The now is real, true and perfect

  Resist it, and join the queue

  Of judging, stuck in point of view

  With every judgment made

  In the operating system, reality fades

  It’s a point of view 

  That grips you

  Decisions made based on opinion

  Belong to the world of ego dominion

  It’s seeing things with a fogged vision

  Reality a casualty, out comes friction

  The sky is blue, the sky is blue

  No reason to crib, resist or rue

  It’s acceptance of reality, nothing more

  Seeing things as they are – is core

  The grass is green, lush green

  Or sparsely laid out, barely clean

  See it as is, or resist, 

  From the ‘should be’ do desist

  It may need water, or compost

  Reality check, focus not lost

  What needs to be done, gets done

  No issue, no pain, plain fun

  Focus is on the now

  No history, why or how

  Pain comes in judgment mode

  Too busy trying to decode

  All the fake, false deceptions

  Grown out of opinions and perceptions

  A reality check out of the window

  See the fruit of what we sow

  Practice the reality check

  Avoid being a nervous wreck

  Don’t abdicate to mind games

  That leads to the blame games

  A reality check so pristine

  Makes you feel fresh and clean

  Issues disappear, anger and rage

  A paradigm shift – out of the cage

  Haqq and truth stand alone

  Can’t tamper with, nor clone

  Sincerity and commitment are tools

  To extract from earth living jewels

  Serving humanity is service to God,

  Not about the carrot or the rod

  Do one’s bit, let the rest be

  Watch blessings, reality see

  It’s never tit for tat

  You do this, so I do that

  Source of motivation lies  inside

  Where core of goodness resides

  No matter what, 

  On  values don’t give up

  9 May 2010, Johannesburg

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Night of Power

  Night of Power

  In the night of power

  Blessings in abundance endless shower

  A downpour to last endless nights

  Angels come down in full might 

  Till the coming of dawn – fajr

  Downpour of blessings for a 1000 shahr

  Who’s there to avail, cash in

  Depends on what we truly believe in

  Night of power – Qadr

  Eptomised in the battle of Badr

  A defining moment in muslim destiny

  Cash in on lailatul qadr – align with decree

  Magnetic force to keep you grounded 

  Firm focus to be found

  Downpour – blessings abound

  Sky filled with hamd of angelic sound

  To the heavens on the super highway

  Massive angelic movement ensures safe way

  Duas delivered in constant flow

  Constant blessings showered below

  Night of decree and destiny

  Not a time for mutiny

  On the bandwagon of blessings 

  No crookedness no messing 

  3.9.10 Johannesburg

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Money matters

  Money matters

  Sometimes when money matters 

  It doesn’t matter

  That feelings matter

  In money matters

  Slap it around

  Throw it around

  Salvage some

  Stop gap some

  Sensitivities don’t matter

  Analysis and paralysis

  Let material comforts

  Be all that matters

  Appease relationships 

  Through money matters

  Nerves exposed, doesn’t matter

  Where money matters 

  Lid pushed shut

  And pressure builds

  Till money truly doesn’t matter

  Relationships matter

  Submission matters

  25 December 2016

  Johannesburg

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Mankind – Created with free will

  Created with free will

  The One Creator 

  created Iblis and Adam 

  with their depths to fathom

  what stark difference

  both  with free will

  both with  intellect 

  one succumbs to ego

  one subdues his ego 

  both disobey 

  one wilfully, one forgetfully

  one reasons and justifies 

  one repents to recognise

  But the end result  

  consequences catapult 

  one accursed given respite

  other forewarned given insight 

  one swears revenge  

  committed to avenge

  other forgets his goal

  is kept on parole 

  yet 

  there’s a trump card

  so smart

  astaghfirullah in the heart 

  to acknowledge and repent

  It is the  saving grace 

  to bring to safe space

  17 May 2019

  after fajr 

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Marginalised

  Marginalised

  The pain of being sidelined

  The perception of being marginalised

  The hurt, anguish related to it

  Perceived insults. Being disregarded

  Ultimately all hurt is perception based

  Not given position, captaincy

  Emerged expectancy unfulfilled.

  Discrepancy between the should and the Is

  Marginalised – feeling so hurt

  Something close to heart

  Overshadowed, sidelined

  Ultimately outcomes are Allah’s decree.

  Sorrow, pain and hurt reflect

  Non Acceptance of what Is

  Wanting results to be different

  Reflects unhappiness over Allah’s decree

  Pain deep and heart hurts

  Heavy heart – wallow

  For a while dwell

  Then let go – what is Is

  Deep hurt, bury it deep

  Await the award in akhirah

  Relook at intentions

  Appreciation does not matter

  Sorrow sms’d to heaven

  Huzn*, shared  with the Creator

  Smile to creation 

  Wounds need not show

  Marginalised, only a perception

  Giving meaning no one sees

  As long as Allah’s pleased

  Doesn’t matter what fool you look

  .

  Being sidelined means nothing. 

  *sadness

  23.1.2016

  Jhb

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Ideas converge

  Ideas converge

  ideas converge

  be it Sufi, be it secular

  be it ritualist

  be it minimalist

  strands of truth merge

  ideas converge 

  as truth precedes

  as truth succeeds

  as it exceeds 

  beyond all things

  ideas will converge

  concept of sajdah*

  ultimate  expression 

  of  awe and submission

  of surrender and gratitude 

  beyond thoughts 

  beyond rituals 

  beyond materialistic minds

  a natural calling of the  heart 

  ideas of giving

  ideas of compassion 

  recognition of souls

  it’s truth that converges 

  surge of the souls

  rise beyond divisions

  so ideas do converge

  truth comes to purge

  as truth is found

  batil** is crushed to the ground

  convergence of haqq***

  isn’t about  luck

  underlying  bedrock

  is the recognition of haqq

  so ideas will converge 

  truth will prevail 

  goodness will merge

  batil can not derail

  ultimate end

  comes to show 

  what free will

  brings to the fore

  *now in submission 

  ** falsehood

  ***Truth 

  4.30hrs 28.3.19

  Jhb 

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• On Surah Hashr

  Oh Believers beware

  Alert – 24/7 aware

  Let each work and  worry 

  what they have in place 

  planned for tomorrow 

  Awareness aids action

  as the Knower knows 

  what you are up to

  Take care not to forget 

  lest He makes you forget 

  who you are and

  where you’re headed

  That makes for a Faasiq

  depraved and  deprived 

  warped and wanton

  Nothing to compare 

  the hellbent crooks 

  to those yearning 

  for rivers and brooks 

  Yearning leads to success

  inspired by Surah Hashr Ayaat 18-20

  17 May 2019 Fajr 

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Feel

  Feel

  feel the  energy flow

  when in sajdah* you go

  feel the tiredness dissipate 

  when in salaah** you concentrate 

  feel the pores  energized 

  each cell each core sensitized 

  in the reading 

  in the memorizing

  in the understanding

  in the  imbibing 

  Feel

  have  the goosebump moments 

  its not by design or  volition

  it’s  in the connection 

  it happens 

  Feel 

  make it Real Ya Rabbi 

  give meaning to my salaah 

  make it be source  of  endless falaah***

  if only I be in the moment

  switch off to dunya

  Qur’an the guiding light

  may it be Real for me

  may I truly Feel

  *bow in prayer 

  **the ritual prayer

  ***success

  8 June 2019/3 Shawwal 1440

  Jhb 

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Establish Crediblity

  Establish credibility

  Establish credibility

  And earn high fidelity

  It brings lasting stability

  Of prized durability

  Learn to mix and mingle

  Be you married or single

  The advantages are great

  You’ll avoid dire straits

  It’s important to socialise

  Listen to woes, sympathise

  With no ulterior end

  It’s sure to pay dividends

  Kindness for kindness’s sake

  Nothing to lose, nothing at stake

  Hold no grudge, hold not rancour

  It will earn you an encore

  Give others your time

  Don’t think only of what’s mine

  More precious than feeds and gifts

  Is sincere sympathy that sticks

  Heal the mind and soothe the soul

  Is a more important goal

  Than feeding the body, gaining fat

  Living a life that is very pat

  21 April 1993  Dehra Dun

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Expressions 

  Expressions 

  Facial expressions express 

  What in the heart is compressed 

  The pursed lips

  Speak volumes 

  The avoided eye contact

  Notice the visible detach

  The frowning forehead 

  Clouds conversations ahead

  The turning away of the face

  When one’s fallen from grace

  Deaf ears

  No desire to hear

  Folded arms

  Raises alarms

  Distances created 

  Relationships berated

  Give away body language 

  A window to guage

  What’s in the heart 

  Rust or is it whole….

  6/12/17 Jhb

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Converting moments

  Converting moments

  The bliss of converting 

  Low moments into high

  Plug into shukr*

  As you stand wavering

  On the brink of Kufr**/sadness 

  Convert the moment

  As the pendulum swings

  Between depression and sorrow

  Catch the instance, 

  just Be – In the silence

  Hold, hold tight the rope

  Of iman in that stillness

  Something aligns

  Sends you soaring

  To the heavens and beyond

  Where duas collect

  See the shine of Nur***

  A flicker of hope

  To permeate the heart 

  Energises, lifts the fog

  *gratitude

  ** denial/ingratitude 

  ***Light

  4/10/2014 Istanbul

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Clear the cobwebs

  Clear the cobwebs

  clear the cobwebs

  daily diligently 

  clear the head

  empty the mind

  clean slate daily

  free from fret

  shrug off the shoulders

  stress distress and boulders. 

  shake out misgivings 

  pat out ill ease

  tap the head, the eyes, the chin

  the chest, the thighs, the shins

  tap the kidneys, liver and skin

  the abdomen, the ribs and limbs 

  refresh reinvigorate 

  new day celebrate 

  hope & tawakkul (faith) 

  in peace be

  serene and content 

  cobweb free

  22/6/19  fajr 

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Choice

  Choice

  choice of no choice

  allows you to rejoice

  true freedom 

  rid of  serfdom

  nafs* reigned

  peace gained

  choose to choose

  no choice 

  there’s nothing to lose

  no waswas-ing** voice

  serenity n falaah***

  plug into the choice

  of no choice. 

  feel the whiff of jannah****

  *ego 

  **mind chatter 

  *** success

  **** heaven

  5.15 am 28.3.19

  Jhb 

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Anticipation of Ramadhan

  Anticipation

  Joyful anticipation

  Exciting expectation

  Ready for Ramadhan

  Plenty praying will be done

  Taraweeh – tremendous joy

  Sense of pinnacle in prayer

  Quick to eat and clear up

  Main focus not on the cup

  Fajr too, at leisurely pace

  Once sahoor has taken place

  Anticipate days filled with ibadaah

  Senses tuned to deeper rahmah

  Openings and insights occur best

  When from the dunya the mind is at rest

  Month of celebration for the muslim state

  Qu’ran the gift to the ummah

  Look forward to full immersion

  Recharge batteries for the year

  Anticipate a time of healing 

  Repair and regroup, energise the spirit

  7.6.13 Johannesburg

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Genie in the lamp

  Genie in the lamp

  My phone in my hand
  is my genie in the lamp
  works at my command

  Instead of rubbing
  I swipe the screen
  What, who is to be seen

  I can order my food
  chalk out my path
  check the weather forecast

  My phone is my crystal ball
  my genie in the lamp
  always charged – on call

  It is the dummy for solace
  each instant check
  without it I’m bereft

  The new genie in the lamp

  16/1/21
  Jhb

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Lamp posts

  Lamp posts

  If you align to divine decree

  From pain you are set free

  If you have lamp posts

  There are no whispering ghosts

  Nothing to fear

  The highway is clear

  In life you need lamp posts to guide

  Loved ones to listen to, abide

  Unconditional commitment to ultimate goals 

  Strategies that steer, not fall in holes

  Spirit of flexibility, 

  Ability to disengage

  Nothing to be hooked on

  Vision packs and reality checks

  In life you need 

  Lamp posts for directions

  People to trust, opinions to value

  Capacity to risk

  Recognise Haq

  A cause greater than yourself

  Pre 2020

  August 15, 2023

  ---

• Drama Queens

  Drama Queens

  We’re all drama queens 

  Letting out spleen 

  My right my dues

  Otherwise annoyance brews

  When it’s not fair 

  Injustice makes me flare 

  We’re all drama queens 

  Of myself I’m full of beans 

  Anything unforseen 

  Causes a meltdown, a scene 

  We’re ever so precious 

  Very special, it’s atrocious

  Raised so delicately 

  The princess n the pea

  We think we’re so very sensitive 

  When it’s really all relative 

  The tastes of drama queens 

   so grand, haute cuisine 

  Marie Antoinette n cakes 

  When there’s no bread to bake 

  What to do with drama queens 

  Run a mile, not be seen

  We’re all prone to be drama queens

  With a false high self esteem 

  Ingratitude ingrained 

  With the entitlement refrain 

  Born with a silver spoon 

  If crossed, I’ll swoon

  Centre stage I deserve 

  I’m not here to serve. 

  Need to shift gear 

  Of drama steer clear 

  On the other shift focus 

  Not raise a rackus 

  The Creator’s countence yearn

  His pleasure we need to earn

  9.9.22

  18.9.22 Jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Simple humble soul

  Simple humble soul

  She was, ma shaa Allah
  A simple humble soul
  And pleasing Allah
  Was her only goal

  So much to learn
  From her homely heart
  So much to discern
  At her time to depart

  No extra dunya talk
  Only love of deen
  No strenuous walks
  No wish to be seen

  Raising children on iman
  Interested only in bayans
  In her space
  Core values in place

  A hard life
  Being a wife
  She honoured the home
  Even when alone

  In her beautiful demise
  The mumin recognise
  The legacy she leaves
  To gain a jannah breeze

  Animated by talk of Allah
  Hoping to earn falaah
  In her heart and soul
  Allah’s pleasure her only goal

  12 August 23
  Muharram 1445
  Johannesburg 

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Who’s  in charge

  Who’s  in charge
  It’s not you

  Get your degrees
  Belong  to the pedigree
  But who’s in charge
  It’s not you

  Get your  wealth
  Be at peak of your health
  But who’s  in charge
  It’s not you

  At the crest of your career
  Having nothing to fear
  Ride the high horse
  Feel you are on course
  Achieve all your goals
  Fulfill all your roles

  Still – who’s  in charge
  It’s not you

  Between effort and  results
  There’s someone else in charge
  Someone  who doesn’t consult
  Yours is only effort to discharge

  A false premise
  A misleading abyss
  Blinded by success
  Derail  and digress

  Who’s in charge
  You forget, you forage

  Rizq is in who’s hand
  We think we are so clever
  With the castles in sand
  We think are forever

  Without taqwa and tauhid
  We plant the wrong seeds
  Values besmirched
  Ultimately left in the lurch

  We forget who’s in charge
  Who’s   purpose do we serve
  Wilfully or willingly
  Divine decree we are fulfilling

  We create the consequences
  So filled with self confidence

  Yet who’s in charge?
  Not you and not me

  15 May 19
  @1:20hrs

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Entitlement

  Sense of entitlement

  I deserve

  The world owes me

  I have rights 

  It’s all a myth

  In Allah’s  decree 

  We own nothing 

  Nothing is due to us

  Nothing is ours 

  Everything a bonus 

  Entitled to nothing on earth

  Our actions can earn heaven 

  Everything on earth a bonus

  For our breath – gratitude 

  For life –  gratitude 

  Where do we get the idea

  I am deserving of anything 

  Job position wealth or health 

  Everything a bonus 

  Nothing  intrinsically mine 

  All is on loan 

  This life a loan

  Freewill  is mine alone 

  What I do, earns reward

  Or puts me in pit of hell

  29/3/19 Jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Distress

  When there’s  distress

  Compounded with more stress

  Emotions get tightly compressed. 

  As tears froze 

  And sorrow  arose

  opportunity grows 

  Compass of iman

  Bedrock of faith

  Sweet solace of furqan

  See it as it is

  Facts against  fizz

  stay away from the tizz

  Happenings  happen

  Appease with apologies 

  Acceptance remains a choice 

  Move on move away

  As donkeys  bray 

  And dogs stray 

  Let it be, value see

  Feel distress free

  In gratitude be

  23/11/17

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Gratitude for guidance

  Gratitude for guidance 

  Of the surgeon’s hand 

  To safe source 

  To believing souls 

  Away from material goals 

  Gratitude for guidance 

  To perceive who’s in control 

  To know of ultimate goal

  Bird’s eye view of a plan

  Still to unfold 

  Gratitude for realisation 

  It’s not about the self 

  Piece in the jigsaw of life 

  Seemingly innocuous 

  Events have a purpose 

  Gratitude for awareness 

  Of Divine presence 

  In all that unfolds 

  All blessings meaningful 

  When there’s  guidance

  Gratitude…

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Inner eye

  Inner eye

  Oh‌ ‌for‌ ‌the‌ ‌inner‌ ‌eye‌ 

  To‌ ‌see‌ ‌my‌ ‌tummy‌ ‌as‌ ‌it‌ ‌churns‌ ‌ ‌

  all‌ ‌that‌ ‌I‌ ‌eat,‌ ‌drink‌ ‌and‌ ‌burn‌ ‌

  what‌ ‌creates‌ ‌a‌ ‌sludge‌ ‌ ‌

  what‌ ‌gets‌ ‌flushed‌ ‌ ‌

   ‌

  if‌ ‌I‌ ‌had‌ ‌the‌ ‌inner‌ ‌eye‌ ‌

  I’d‌ ‌watch‌ ‌what‌ ‌I‌ ‌take‌ ‌in‌ ‌

  what‌ ‌I‌ ‌eat‌ ‌and‌ ‌when‌ ‌I‌ ‌eat‌ ‌

  oh‌ ‌for‌ ‌that‌ ‌inner‌ ‌eye‌ ‌ ‌

   ‌

  If‌ ‌I‌ ‌trust‌ ‌the‌ ‌doc‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌know‌ ‌ ‌

  what’s‌ ‌going‌ ‌on‌ ‌even‌ ‌though‌ ‌

  it‌ ‌is‌ ‌from‌ ‌the‌ ‌unseen‌ ‌ ‌

  Somewhere‌ ‌I‌ ‌haven’t‌ ‌been‌ ‌

   ‌

  I’ll‌ ‌trust‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌abide‌ ‌ ‌

  what‌ ‌to‌ ‌take‌ ‌what‌ ‌to‌ ‌avoid‌ ‌ ‌

  ‌why‌ ‌then‌ ‌the‌ ‌Creator,‌ ‌I‌ ‌don’t‌ ‌hear‌ ‌ ‌

  of‌ ‌the‌ ‌unseen‌ ‌don’t‌ ‌take‌ ‌care‌ ‌

   ‌

  my‌ ‌inside‌ ‌is‌ ‌as‌ ‌hidden‌ ‌ ‌

  as‌ ‌the‌ ‌ghaib‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌sky‌ ‌

  if‌ ‌the‌ ‌insides‌ ‌function‌ ‌ ‌

  though‌ ‌I‌ ‌cannot‌ ‌see‌ ‌

   ‌

  why‌ ‌is‌ ‌it‌ ‌so‌ ‌hard‌ ‌to‌ ‌believe‌ ‌

  of‌ ‌what’s‌ ‌beyond‌ ‌death‌ ‌

  the‌ ‌writing‌ ‌is‌ ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌wall‌ ‌

  see‌ ‌the‌ ‌earth‌ ‌thru‌ ‌spring‌ ‌and‌ ‌fall‌ ‌ ‌

   ‌ ‌

  I‌ ‌can’t‌ ‌see‌ ‌-‌ ‌why‌ ‌oh‌ ‌why‌ ‌

  oh‌ ‌for‌ ‌the‌ ‌inner‌ ‌eye‌ ‌

  my‌ ‌heart‌ ‌does‌ ‌sigh‌ ‌

  Baseera‌h ‌for‌ ‌the‌ ‌unseen‌ ‌ ‌

   ‌

   ‌

  ‌1/7/19‌ ‌Jhb‌ ‌

  ‌fajr

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Fifteen years on

  Fifteen years on
  And I may be long gone

  Dear Arwa you will be
  young and carefree
  And I will be
  senile maybe

  As I fend for you
  Show you sights
  Nudge you along
  Attend to your needs

  I wonder if you will
  Then be my eyes
  Help me dress
  Attend to my needs

  No matter what
  The love is forever
  In my heart you live.
  Like there is no other

  Apple of my eye
  Treasure of my heart
  I pray you’ll remember
  Some of me when I depart

  Pray you carry the legacy
  Of caring for others first
  For service have a thirst
  Know ego is a fallacy

  I pray you carry the heritage
  Fulfill their teaching messages
  Be mentor and stalwart.
  For those who come after

  May in your genes be
  The fitra of a good tree
  Only benefits those in its shade
  N your light of love never fade

  14/7/21

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Special Soul

  Such a special soul
  Epitome of gratitude
  Gladness was a goal
  It was a choice and attitude

  No matter the aches and pains
  Uplifting messages she sent
  Ever cheerful n content
  Forever desirous to learn n gain

  The hardship and suffering
  Taken with a smile, no muttering
  It was always alhamdulillah
  Will earn her her Jannah

  The best of friends,
  The best of grans,
  Ever ready to cook and make
  Family’s favourite Rotis n bakes

  Excellent at stitching
  Nimble fingers at dressmaking
  Green hands in the garden
  All before the joints hardened

  Despite the aches and pains
  Gratitude was her refrain
  Warmest loving of souls
  Connectiing was her goal

  Friends far and wide,
  There was no divide
  They were young and old
  All saddened when told

  There’s a steady decline
  A plan that was Diivine
  How grateful she was
  for family and friends

  A gem of a daughter
  Supportive sisters
  Bros and the loving son
  Nieces nephews and grans

  The deep sorrow we felt
  When msgs were no longer sent.
  Pray was all we could do
  For comfort and ease, as we quietly rue

  God’s last gift to her
  Despite all the tearful blur
  Soul taken on Jummah
  What a fulfilled dua 

  

  

  

  19.5.22
  Isha 17 Shawwal 1443
  Johannesburg

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Being right

  Being right

  What’s more important
  To be right
  Or have a relationship

  Is my attention on
  Fixing, correcting, judging
  Or is it on
  Nurturing relationships

  When can I Iet go
  Of seeing wrongs
  And Being right..

  Is the  friction worth
  The cold air that emanates
  And body language that alienates

  So easy to be estranged
  When on my high horse I am
  Drowned in shaytanic spam

  Egged into self indulgence
  I am right and
  You are wrong.

  So easy to see your wrongs
  Not notice my own reflection
  And lose out on a relationship

  What need is greater
  Feeding the ego
  And being right.

  Or maintaining ties.
  Of silah rahmi*
  Blood ties, marriage ties

  To keep the bond strong
  I need to let go
  That I’m right n you’re wrong.

  Need a reality check 
  When judging others.
  How stiff with pride is my neck

  What do I value
  Being right
  Or having a relationship

  • kindness to kith and kin

  7 May 2022 – 00:15 hrs
  5 Shawwal 1443
  Jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Deep gratitude

  Deep gratitude
  Emanates from correct attitude

  Beyond the clutter n morass,
  See all that has come to pass

  Deep gratitude for what is
  Beauty each instant gives

  Perfection manifests
  In each one of the tests

  Through each crisis
  Self awareness arises

  Discoveries to be made
  And the anger is contained

  Allah loves those that restrain*
  In forgiving is their gain

  Results in Deep gratitude
  Awareness is an aptitude

  *al Imran 135

  6.4.22

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Lines in the face

  Lines in the face

  Lines etched on the face
  Speak of my life n pace

  When the ego is big
  The face doesn’t fib

  The hardness shows
  Gentleness goes

  The tight jaw
  Indicative of flaws

  The sparkle spent
  dimmed  by the dent

  The spontaneous gurgle
  Of the new born n toddler

  Doesn’t take long to shatter
  Replace with anger

  Frustration on the face
  Anger does deface

  And yet
  With sincere istighfaar
  worries can be hurled afar

  Change the perspective
  See what was deceptive

  Shaytan’s ploy
  Is to seep out the joy

  Make you feel the injured soul
  Bruise the ego is his goal

  Then he sits back to watch
  In his web the catch

  All that leaves a trace
  Lines etched in the face

  And yet
  Just as the body heals itself
  So the face can in and of itself

  Changes the lines of worry n sorrow
  To bloom into a glow and halo

  A connect with the Creator
  Disconnect with the traitor.

  With istighfaar
  Fling fury afar

  The lines alter on the face
  You see the new grace

  Whichever state I’m in
  In Joy or chagrin

  The face will show
  The mask – its faux

  It’s all visibly sketched
  thru the lines etched

  Erase the past
  Let it not last
  Nor
  Fester deep down
  Incinerate it in the ground

  Allow the glow
  on the face to show

  Soften the lines
  To show joyful times

  Gratitude will grace
  Show in my face

  I need to watch out and replace
  The lines etched on my face

  Pre fajr 22.2.22
  Jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Detach with dignity

  Detach with dignity
  Enable with empathy
  New things build on
  The dismantling of old

  Solace thru submission
  Accept with compassion
  The dislike of assistance
  The keeping of distance

  The absorption of self
  The do it yourself
  The self inflicted pain
  Comes with being vain

  Projection of perceptions
  The warped reflection
  The endless chatter
  Creates false matter

  Detach with dignity
  With no disdain
  Calm n be calm
  Cause no harm

  All things to be
  By divine decree
  This too will pass
  And we will depart

  Storm in the teacup
  Of epic proportion
  A relative tsunami
  Created in the mind

  By a tired physique
  When the limbs feel weak
  And with lack of sleep
  Resentment creeps

  Detach with dignity
  Allow things to be
  Designed decree
  Acceptance sets free

  Submit for solace
  Navigate thru morass
  This too will pass
  With Taqwa face

  Duas to divert
  Crisis to calm
  In tawakkul trust
  Let the heart not rust

  Be in the moment
  Not be despondent
  Breathe in the air
  Not be in despair

  Detach with dignity
  Dunya in the hand
  Not in the heart
  Know from here we depart

  13.2.22 Post Fajr
  11 Rajab 1443
  Johannesburg

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Rajab

  Rajab
  Month of amazing ajab*

  We ask for forgiveness
  And we pray we witness
  The month of Shaaban
  and blessings of Ramadhan

  Rajab a sacred month
  It stands alone
  From the other three
  Sacred months

  It ushers in seven more
  Glorious months
  Till muharram begins
  Then we pledge again

  In Rajab
  Constantly uproot the weeds
  Constantly sow seeds
  Tend to the garden of life
  Nourish the soil of your soul

  Plant the seeds
  Water the soul
  With beautiful deeds
  See blessings unfold

  The blessing and barakah
  Built up in Shabaan
  To the month of Qur’an
  Royal Ramadhan

  So in Rajab reconnect
  Respect and correct
  The protocol of dua
  Real road to falaah

  Hamd is thanks and praises
  Standards it truly raises
  Then Durood and salawaat
  Gives us a head start

  Best self awareness
  Is our need for forgiveness
  Imploring to the Gaffaar
  With endless istighfaar

  Remember in Rajab
  Allah’s amazing ajab*

  *Wonder, Astonishment

  5 Feb 2022
  3 Rajab 1443
  Johannesburg

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Reach out

  Reach out

  Live to reach out
  To reach good souls
  Reach out for iman
  Our ultimate goal

  The wealth of Iman
  Being with the iman minded
  Is beyond measure
  An Immense treasure

  It’s solace for the soul
  Contentment of the heart
  A sense of well being
  The minds agreeing

  Reaching out
  to like minded souls
  Gladdens the heart
  Goodness imparts

  Core beliefs in synch
  No egos flinch
  Super serenity
  Desiring the same destiny

  Pleasing the Creator
  Pleased with Him
  Earning entry
  To eternal ecstasy

  30.1.22
  Fajr Jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Shadows

  Shadows

  You get shadows in the day
  And you get shadows at night
  All it needs is light

  Shadows on the ground
  Shadows on the wall
  Shadows long and tall

  Shadows reflect perfectly
  Images of us all
  Of everything anywhere

  All it needs is light &
  something that blocks it
  And a shadow is created

  A symphony of light 
  And it’s absence
  Gives shadow a presence

  Just as music is
  sound and it’s absence
  sound and silence

  As with all things created
  Potential for shar* and khair**
  Lies in the makeup of all

  Shadows give relief
  Can cover grief
  Can cover crime

  Music too can distract
  Provide ecstacy
  And lead to immorality

  Then there is diffused light
  shadows don’t show up
  On an overcast day

  So too in overarching calamity
  Small aches n pains disappear
  It all becomes relative

  On earth and it’s duality
  Need to sift constantly
  Between the false and reality

  The earth was in shadows
  Till the final Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم
  Lit up the skies, set it free

  * Bad stuff

  ** goodness

  4.12.21

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Chill pill

  Chill pill

  Take the chill pill
  Before you get ill
  Nothing to stress
  It’s not a mess

  Remember in every delay
  Not to be in dismay
  Let there be acceptance
  On Allah, total dependance

  Blessings will accrue
  Nothing to rue
  Tawakkul al Allah
  There’s only falaah

  Khair in the delay
  There’s nothing to say
  For sabr n shukr pray
  Alhamdulillah every which way

  We plan & Allah plans
  His plans are the best
  Even if there are travel bans
  Know it’s only a test

  27.11.21
  Jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Connecting the dots

  Connecting the dots

  May I be one of the connecting dots
  In Allah’s scheme of spreading goodness

  May I be one of the plugs in the holes
  That helps avert crises

  May I be one of the flickers of flame
  That light up the lanes

  May I be one of those who
  helps keep steady the boat

  May I be one of the invisible ones
  That keep calm the waters

  May I be used by Allah سبحان و تعالى
  To bring some solace and sakinah

  Be there for others
  And not one that bothers

  May I be someone
  That reminds us of the One

  May I be one of the usherers
  Directing to the fount of Kawthar

  18.11.21
  Jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Trepidation

  Trepidation

  Joy and anticipation
  Mingled with trepidation

  The unknown can overwhelm
  Feeling no longer at the helm

  New beginnings and some ends
  Allah knows what’s around the bend

  Shake away the doldrums
  Be trusting of outcomes

  Not easy to do
  Even when true

  the ups and downs
  The smiles and frowns

  All normal and natural
  Understandable, imaginable

  Doubts and trepidations
  And having expectations

  The need to calm the mind
  Leave fears and worries behind

  Know it’s waswas of satan
  The fears and doubts he awakens

  Amidst joy and anticipation
  He fuels the trepidation

  It needs tawakkul and faith
  And positive vibes to embrace

  To keep trepidation at bay
  It’s with dhikr we need to stay

  Solace to the heart it gives
  Negativity of doubts it sieves

  In the Almighty trust
  That’s what we must

  Steer clear of trepidations
  Let tawakkul be our foundation

  10.11.21
  Jhb
  

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Obsidian coloured eyes

  Obsidian coloured eyes

  Obsidian eyes
  Shine with a glow
  As they marvel at the world
  Notice things unfurl

  Obsidian eyes
  Glow in the dark
  Observe and sparkle
  Taking it all in

  Who’s responsible
  For this ability to process
  As babies progress
  The data they collect

  Who’s linked the eye
  To ear and sound
  Multiple senses
  To work in synchrony

  Touch and feel develop
  Before taste and smell
  The walk and talk
  The next level

  All aided. by
  The obsidian eyes
  As they are busy absorbing
  All sights n colours

  Alert to sounds
  Feel the ground
  As they topple n tumble
  And learn motor skills

  Inbuilt safety valve
  Precaution before next move
  Uncertain of balance
  And watchful obsidian eyes

  Playful and excited
  As the world unfolds
  No experience of fear
  Just joy of discovery

  Along the way awaits
  Likes and dislikes
  Developing preferences
  In taste and texture

  All the while
  The Obsidian eyes
  Collect data
  To generate experience

  Gift from the Creator
  Of the Obsidian eyes
  And wholesome senses.
  Lack one and see

  It lower  defences
  Leaves one vulnerable
  Frail with domino effect,
  All things are affected

  The challenges are many
  So I’m super thankful
  For her observing
  Obsidian eyes

  Fajr 7.7.21 jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Going the extra mile

  Going the extra mile

  Going the extra mile
  Even if only with a smile

  Do we give selectively
  Or nor matter who – irrespectively

  It speaks of our character
  And what things we consider

  Do we go the extra mile

  With a random forlorn soul
  Or only where it fits my goal

  Is going the extra mile
  An agenda based climb?

  Can it be seeped into me
  With all and sundry, give of me?

  Or is there constant judging
  Assess who’s deserving

  What filters are in place
  when we look at a face?

  When will going the extra mile
  Become an entrenched lifestyle?

  13.11.21
  Jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Paraphernalia

  Paraphernalia

  There’s so much we collect
  So much we can’t do without

  I need my glasses,
  I need my scarf,
  I need a nail clipper
  A hair clip and slippers

  Without a towel
  Difficult to bath,
  Shampoo and soap
  I cannot pass

  A shawl, blanket n coat
  Socks n coverings
  I can’t do without
  And I like to be a minimalist..

  At my musallah I sit
  This is what I notice
  The phone is there,
  The cream, warm water

  Makes me think 

  Nothing will go in my grave
  Where I’ll go alone
  Beyond the twilight zone

  Yet paraphernalia
  So essential for living
  Food, water n washroom
  Toilet paper n jug

  Things I can’t do without
  A comb, paper n pen
  So frustrating to be bereft
  If not packed n kept

  Just notice.
  What is our list
  Of basic paraphernalia
  How to shed some more

  I should do it while I can
  before it’s done for me
  When I’m not mobile
  nor independent, agile

  The day may come when 
  My glasses may seem irrelevant
  And I have no need for the phone
  As I near the barzakh zone

  10.4.22
  8 Shawwal 1443
  Jhb post Fajr

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Putting out fires

  Putting out fires

  We are all firemen
  In some way or the other
  putting out fires,

  Some we light ourselves
  From green  trees*
  Create our own havoc

  In treading thru life
  We have no idea
  What potential fuel we gather

  And one spark can cause
  A wild forest fire
  All due to sheer carelessness

  Or is it over time
  The barren dry heart
  That’s quick to ignite

  It was left unattended
  Not nurtured or groomed
  No Dhikrullah to bloom

  How do we still our own
  Raging inner fires
  Steer them to water

  Just as dams’ sluice gates
  Open to let out excess water
  How to channel, direct fires

  What safeguards do we take
  as firemen on the lookout
  Or is it always crises management

  How do you anticipate
  Where fires will ignite
  With full fury and might

  You’re left aghast
  wonder how and why
  It all came to pass

  Skills of firemen
  Needed by all
  To navigate thru life

  * surah Yasin: 80

  Fajr 9.5.22
  7 Shawwal 1443
  Jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Home can be heaven

  Home can be heaven
  If care is the leaven
  Heaven in the home
  When it’s a peace zone

  In homes you get a slice
  The call of paradise
  Is peace n salaam
  It brings such calm

  Yearn for serenity supreme
  Something to dream
  Bliss in homes
  Before you are dust n bones

  Homes can be heaven
  Don’t be craven
  Ready to give up
  At the smallest fuss

  Heaven in homes
  Watch your tones
  It’s not about me
  It needs to be we

  To bring heaven in homes

  Feb 8 2023
  17 Rajab 1444
  Jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• The Empty nest syndrome

  The Empty nest syndrome
  Great opportunity to roam
  Fly out of the nest
  Travel unstressed

  Pack up and go
  Forget the long ago
  Alhamdulillah for all that is
  It’s all over in a whizz

  Each era comes to an end
  Pray for better around the bend
  Hear the heavenly calls
  Beyond dunya and it’s malls

  Seeru fil ardh *
  *Travel thru the earth
  Ibrah** and lessons to learm
  Jannah earn. Don’t burn

  Empty nest
  So blessed
  Past the test
  The baton at rest

  Scatter over oceans
  Over waves in motion
  Ashes of good deeds
  Somewhere to breed

  As the life cycle churns
  Each generation yearns
  Footprints to leave behind
  Hopefully of something kind

  ** wisdom gained through experience

  12 February 2023
  21 Rajab 1444
  Jhb

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Senior citizen

  Senior citizen
  So much fun
  Being one
  Be full of humour

  The phone  rings.
  Frantic search
  It’s in the pocket
  Has you in a tizz 🙈

  Looking for sunglasses
  High n low
  It’s perched on the head
  With embarrassment you glow

  You hobble on the bus
  They scramble to get up
  It’s humbling n you rue
  It’s now you

  So wonderful to be
  Senior citizen n sharp
  Still enjoy humour n wit
  Can laugh at yourself

  For them you’re old
  But if truth be told
  Experience n wisdom
  Makes you forever young

  Senior citizens
  So much joy
  Gratitude for life
  Having lived shows

  Serenity and peace
  As senior citizens
  No stress over the
  Should, could or would

  I love this phase
  Kids I raised
  Nudged out of the nest
  All for the best

  As I get my sleep
  Pills on time
  Eyes that see
  And heart that beats

  Iman that grows
  Astaghfirullah flows
  Limbs move
  Ibadah intact

  Love being a senior citizen
  Family n friends
  Few or many
  Serenity resides inside

  Praying for a good end
  The best around the bend
  Last days be best
  Hopefully with iman we rest

  24.2.23
  3 Shaban 1444

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• In touch

  In touch

  Do we think
  we’re in touch
  Thru social media

  Do we think
  we’re in touch
  When we talk too much

  Learn to discover
  We’re in touch
  In the silence

  We’re in touch
  Thru the massaging
  of the feet

  We’re In touch
  Thru kneading knots
  Out of shoulder blades

  In touch
  In the cup of coffee
  Given with love

  No need for words
  To be in touch
  Feelings speak

  Heartfelt duas
  In the dead.
  Of the night

  Feel then
  That you’re
  In touch

  3 Shaban  1444
  24 February 2023
  Jhb Pre Fajr

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Immersed in gratitude

  Immersed in gratitude

  Immersed in gratitude
  A conditional attitude?

  When the going goes good
  You see trees from wood

  Everything is rosy
  Can’t be more cozy

  Easy to be thankful
  For the heart to be tranquil

  When immersed in crisis
  And depression entices.

  Easier to be in deep dismay
  Easier to unhinge and stray

  Need to dig deep inside
  For fears to subside

  Know who holds the reigns
  Of situations that change

  Solace is faith based
  Sweet serenity you taste

  You’re quick to bounce back
  God gifted, developed knack

  Then immersed in gratitude
  Becomes a consistent attitude

  11 May 2023
  Johannesburg
  Post Isha
  3.20am

  August 14, 2023

  ---

• Comparison

  Comparison

  Comparison
  Is such a source of grief
  What the other has
  Always seems  brighter

  The eyes are so alert
  To see what the other has
  Mostly weighs as better
  Than what I have

  How to change perceptions
  Be glad with what’s yours
  The slip and fall occurs
  No matter how happy you were

  Something always hits
  That his is better
  If my life’s journey
  Is about the rat race

  Ensure I’m one step ahead
  On something somewhere
  Watching my back
  To stay ahead on track

  Forever chasing dunya
  I need to be top brass
  In acquisition of things
  Best cruise, best trip

  Even the umrah and hajj
  Are a conversation piece
  To cause envy n grief
  Something to compare

  It’s so clearly stated, look below
  Compete only for goodness
  Race for Allah’s rida
  Be pleased with his decree

  9 March 2023
  16 Shaban 1444
  Maghrib

  August 13, 2023

  ---

• Ducks in a Row

  When we think
  We have our ducks in a row
  Just watch them flow
  And then all in a blink

  One flies away
  I’m left in disarray
  Bereft with a hole
  No longer on control

  Having ducks in a row
  I need to learn to let go
  Allow things to be
  For greater tranquillity

  See the Divine plan
  Everything in Allah’s hand
  See Him show
  How He has ducks in a row

  8 Feb 2023
  17 rajab 1444
  Jhb

  August 13, 2023

  ---

• Duas for happiness

  Duas for happiness

  I can only deeply pray
  That whatever I do or say
  Reaps only happiness
  Even without the fanciness

  May the heartfelt prayers
  Sink beneath the layers
  Of desiring pomp n glory Rasheda
  The competitive story

  Only goodness desired
  Beyond being admired
  Truly to Allah plug in
  With Bismillah begin

  His pleasure acquire🙏
  A sound heart required
  Help connect family n friends
  To Allah for a fine end 🤲

  Have no other goal
  But be a solace giving soul
  Leave memories of joy
  May no one be annoyed

  I can only pray
  And watch what I say

  20.11.22 Jhb
  Pre Fajr

  August 13, 2023

  ---

• Black holes as incinerators

  Black holes as incinerators

  We worry about cyber pollution
  Clogging up the airwaves

  Endless waste
  The copy n paste

  Useless information
  Usually it’s disinformation

  Allah has his own means
  Of removing scum n filth
  .
  Be it a tsunami or earthquake
  Avalanche or hurricane

  What needs to be incinerated
  Gets firmly obliterated

  Allowing for new growth
  Flowering again of something worth

  14.10.22

  August 13, 2023

  ---

• Complainers

  Complainers

  Some love complaining
  It’s part of their life
  It’s like a training
  Becomes ever so rife

  We think we’re clever
  Noticing differences
  Creates rifts forever
  It creates distances

  A need to make known
  Complaints n criticism
  Not an iota of asceticism
  We can’t wait or postpone

  Here and now
  Desires to be fulfilled
  Can’t stay chilled
  To pressure you must bow

  Peace n tranquility
  Becomes a distant dream
  When wants are supreme
  There’s no thought of generosity

  The God factor is missing
  Pleasing the Creator
  Isn’t what you are wishing
  We’ll leave that for later

  Complaining is rife
  In every sphere of life
  Finer distinctions absent
  Re: Ruh n Nafs presence

  March 19 2023
  Post Fajr

  August 13, 2023

  ---

• His Pleasure

  His Pleasure

  Earning his Pleasure
  Is the true measure
  Striving for His rida*
  For Him being fida**

  All creation
  You’ll never please
  Try to appease
  With endless variation

  Talk of Him
  Moreso, talk to Him
  When troubles fill
  the tears spill

  When times are grim
  The light is dim
  Return to Him
  Connect with Him

  It’s the only way
  Let creation be,
  On doomsday
  From it we’ll flee

  *Favoured by Him
  ** devoted to

  Fajr
  12 Muharram 1445
  31 July 2023
  Johannesburg

  August 13, 2023

  ---

• Grace and mercy

  Grace and mercy

  It’s so amazing to see
  Allah’s grace and mercy
  In the trials n hardships
  It’s always Allah to worship

  Keeping iman intact
  Fulfilling the pact
  in sabr in shukr
  No iota of kufr

  Allah’s infinite mercy
  Seeing things as a test
  Responding with courtesy
  Behavior at its best
  .
  Faith does not falter.
  Full conviction n comfort
  Of better days to come
  Of healing and ease

  Trusting in every eye blink
  Even when the heart sinks
  And plans go up in on smoke
  Feeling the tightness n choke

  Marvel at the mercy
  Allahs infinite grace
  A mumin stays on track
  Always to Allah goes back

  Fajr 18.12.22

  August 13, 2023

  ---

• Unheard

  Unheard

  When you know you are unheard

  What’s the point of saying a word

  Wait for their self realisations

  Awareness, their self recriminations 

  Change only occurs

  When with acceptance one concurs

  A shift in mind set

  It’s not only them to be upset

  When focus is on others

  They no longer smother

  Till then let blindness live

  Filter complaints thru the sieve 

  Maybe a wake up call 

  Will be a welcome overhaul

  Unlikely to happen 

  Don’t let the spirits dampen 

  Stay with your core values 

  Even if others don’t use 

  No point in saying a word

  When you know you’re not heard

  Forget what got under my skin 

  May it be a cleansing of sins 

  Wait with duas n istighfar

  The day isn’t far 

  Go in peace 

  Pray for a beautiful release 

  20.7,23 Asr

  Muharram 1, 1445

  Johannesburg

  July 20, 2023

  ---

• Different brand

  Different brand

  Some are a different brand
  See in all, the Creator’s hand
  Top of the range
  The mukhlis brand

  An Allah minded brand
  A focus beyond dunya’s stand
  Their expression n demeanour
  Grateful, sweet not sour

  In the world so grand
  An awareness strand
  They get hooked to nothing
  And nothing hooks them

  Dunya in the hand
  Not in the heart
  Can sidestep any disaster
  Mindful of the real Master

  All seen in perspective
  Equilibrium and calm
  Focus on ultimate goal
  Is seeped to the soul

  Humour and wry smile
  Over dunya n guile
  Enjoy subtleties
  Bypass futilities

  This too will pass
  Life is an hourglass
  The Deen brand
  The most  grand

  May it be that we can
  Be beneficial in Allah’s plans

  

  17.5.23 Fajr
  Johannesburg

  July 10, 2023

  ---

• Embrace death

  Embrace death

  Welcome it coming
  Be ready.
  Shed possessions
  Live simple
  Reduce desires and wants
  Let needs suffice

  Take care of creaking bones
  Gracefully embrace dependence
  We can’t outdo time
  It wins and we wane
  Accept the slowing down
  Before you’re forced to climb down

  This illusion of being in charge
  It often causes us harm
  Disillusioned and disappointed
  Independence a prime possession

  We don’t control our next breath
  Death hovers overhead.
  So why the ego- why?
  Coz I forget and am blinded.
  Shaytan loves smokescreens
  And I fall for it frequently

  17-21.12.21
  Kwa Maritane, South Africa
  
  https://najmanotebook.wordpress.com/2017/08/30/175/

  July 10, 2023

  ---

• Anti Brands

  Anti Brands

  need to move away from brands

  ain’t the mumins’ lot to be grand

  not in the dunya

  save it for the akhirah

  we will brand him on his nose*

  the kuffar for his pose

  that’s what brands reflect

  deviation from deen – deflect

  brands a killer of equality

  Grand to create disparity 

  with a scarf of fame

  carrying kuffars’ name

  is this how we say salaah

  as we wish for falaah – astaghfirullah

  kids in branded clothes

  advertising all Allah loathes 

  it’s so cute – my child special 

  make him special  – love Allah 

  brand of this and a brand of that 

  might make me fall flat on my back

  what if I’m branded on my nose

  get what I deserve – a just dose

  Allah save us from brands 

  In akhirah make us grand

  *surah 68 ayah16

  23/6/19 pre fajr

  June 19, 2023

  ---

• Allah’s Design.

  Allah’s Design.
  So much better than mine.

  Allah’s plan
  It’s not a ban

  His time
  Is Divine

  It’s alhamdulillah when I see it
  It’s alhamdulillah when I don’t

  It’s all by Divine decree
  Even the leaf off a tree

  So know Allah’s plan
  Isn’t a ban

  In hind sight
  We’ll see the light

  Enjoy the moment
  Forget all proponents

  Put our minds at rest
  Then easy is the test

  Alhamdulillah every which way
  So long as I don’t go astray

  To Allah’s design
  I must align mine

  23 Rajab 1444
  14.2.23
  Jhb Fajr

  February 14, 2023

  ---

• Amazing Grace

  Amazing grace

  Amazing grace
  For the amazing friends
  They leave a glow on my face
  Of kindness there’s no end

  Amazing grace
  of an amazing spouse
  He’s never fazed
  When I grief him with grouse

  Amazing grace
  Of a merciful God so giving
  I pray His mercy I’ll face
  When I’m done with living

  6 Feb 2023
  15 Rajab 1444 Johannesburg

  February 6, 2023

  ---

• Bring out

  Bring out

  We can bring out the best
  Or we can be a major test

  Those who bring out
  The best in their spouse
  Are the same as those
  Who bring out the worst grouse

  Our potential to hurt equals
  Our potential to give joy
  In equal measure
  There’s immense pleasure

  As there is
  in giving grief
  Forever remembered
  Even if brief

  Which wins the day
  Depends where attentions stay

  If there is staying power
  In moments of anger
  Pure joy wins
  bitterness unhinged

  If anger sways emotions
  You end up with commotion
  Hell breaks loose
  Fury of blown fuse

  To regroup n recalibrate
  Takes skills to navigate
  Wonder what you admired
  When you are in a quagmire

  When will we learn
  Without the burn
  Anticipate the storm
  Long before it brews

  Circumnavigate to safe shores
  Before there are banged doors
  Foresight to see
  From egos stay free

  Watch which way
  the winds blow
  Bring out the best
  So together we grow

  8 November 22
  Post Isha

  November 8, 2022

  ---

• Generic on the shelf

  Generic on the shelf

  . 

  Generic on the shelf I buy, 

  Not one to fly high

  Some feel blessed 

  They believe brands are best

  Get sucked in the marketing ploy

  Think the haute couture gives joy

  The top floor of the mall

  Is where you find the best stall 

  It is the brands and name

  That gives value and fame

  To feel fulfilled and good

  When really worry we should

  About the the One we need

  Who’s good pleasure we plead

  Worry about brands n quality 

  Unplugged with reality

  Whereas quality of Wudhu

  And salaah with kushu n kudhu

  Will earn me Falaah

  Hopefully get me to jannah

  So why not generic on the shelf 

  Refrain from indulging myself 

  9.11.22

  November 1, 2022

  ---

• Insight

  
  Insight

  May we be given Insight
  To see thru the night

  Know from the sapling that sprouts
  Exactly what it will turn to, what fruit

  So too know the consequences
  Connected to the deed

  To be finely tuned in.
  Know what happens when we sin

  In the knowing is the deterrent
  In the knowing is the motivation

  Developing insight
  keeps one on the right
  —
  To see beyond the the nose
  Anticipate, prepare for the storm

  Insight a blessed gift
  Helps ease the sift

  See what’s of value n worth
  And what’s best left unearthed

  Duas for a keen insight
  See beyond the plight

  Silver linings there will always be
  Just needs a fine eye to see

  Basar is outer seeing
  Baseera is insight

  Post Isha
  22.7.22

  Tahajjud
  23.7.22 Johannesburg

  July 23, 2022

  ---

• Insight

  Insight

  May we be given Insight
  To see thru the night

  Know from the sapling that sprouts
  Xactly what it will turn to, what fruit

  So too know the consequences
  Connected to the deed

  To be finely tuned in.
  Know what happens when we sin

  In the knowing is the deterrent
  In the knowing is the motivation

  Developing insight
  keeps one on the right
  —
  To see beyond the the nose
  Anticipate, prepare for the storm

  Insight a blessed gift
  Helps ease the sift

  See what’s of value n worth
  And what’s best left unearthed

  Duas for a keen insight
  See beyond the plight

  Silver linings there will always be
  Just needs a fine eye to see

  Basar is outer seeing
  baseera is insight

  Post Isha 22.7.22

  Pre Fajr 23.7.22 Jhb
  

  July 23, 2022

  ---

• As my G’daughter grows

  As my G’daughter grows

  As my Arwa grows.
  I enter my throes

  As life channels to her
  Mine starts to blur

  Her activities take centre stage
  Mine begin to diminish with age

  As her cortex develops
  More info she’s able to envelop

  Decision making too
  Wants and desires grew

  As I slow down
  Head for underground

  The baton of life passed on
  Mantle of decision making shifts

  7.6.22
  

  June 7, 2022

  ---

• Our Smiling Prince

  Our Smiling Prince

  Smiling shining Prince
  Ammar the Aziz
  Beloved of us all
  Like a fragrant breeze

  His beautiful smile
  Bright lit eyes
  And gurgling coos
  Is joy to our hearts

  7.5.22 Fajr

  May 7, 2022

  ---

• Arsenal of Love

  When a baby is born

  Allah pours on you
  An arsenal of love
  as you enter the game
  When baby comes

  You pat the head
  Caress the earlobe
  Trace the cheek bone
  Stay away from your fone

  You feed it with love
  Each morsel with dua
  Read the tasbih
  Using her fingers n phalanx

  Cut the nails
  While she sleeps
  Lie beside her
  So she wakes in ease

  Change her, bath her
  With love n care
  No hurry no other care
  Attentive to her needs

  First come her feeds
  Wipe the nose and chin
  Before the mess
  And you need to change the dress

  Massage her feet
  Fiddle with toe
  Caress the calf n shin
  Tickle the back of the knee

  Play with the limbs
  wrist and forearm.
  Stand her up
  Assist the steps

  When on her knees
  She’s ready to crawl
  Watch her eyes
  Glow with discovery

  New treasure troves found
  Alert to endless sounds
  Notice how her fingers
  Touch n feel n grip

  Marvel at her growth
  In constant flux
  And the arsenal of love
  Allah showers on you

  As you rock her to sleep
  Snug in your arms
  Out pour the litany of duas
  At her every breath

  Pray for her future
  When you’re not around
  She be steeped in Deen
  Deep to her core

  To feel safe and secure
  With faith firm and sure
  Blossoms to goodness
  A blessing and joy to all

  

  6/7/21 Jhb

  July 7, 2021

  ---

• Backup plan

  Backup plan

  Is our life all about 

  backup contingency plans

  Is it a war zone

  constantly on guard 

  from where will the virus hit

  Cover the back

  shields and safe guards

  masks and PPE’s

  Where’s the backup

  the iman immune  booster

  when the chips are down

  Is iman the first casualty 

  or the last resort?

  who’s in control 

  Tie the  camel

  with a string or padlock

  what’s in our hands ?

  Where is the attention 

  for our backup plan

  in the material or mental

  Safeguard our dunya

  or the spirit matters? 

  what’s the final goal

  Dunya a prison 

  for the Mumin

  Garden for the others 

  What’s our backup 

  and what’s our 

  forward plan? 

  Lets flip the way 

  we look at things

  give iman the wings 

  21/1/21 Jhb

  January 21, 2021

  ---

• The Irony of Life

  The Irony of life

  So suddenly:

  New York, the ‘city that never sleeps’ 

  all quiet, now asleep, 

  Paris, the city to entice

  lives in echoes of its night life

  Rome ‘the eternal city’

  is deserted, such a pity

  Disney is out of magic

  Entertainment became tragic

  London is caged in gloom

  the Queen speaks from a hidden room.

  Mecca is made empty

  Permission needed for entry

  The Chinese wall is no longer a fortress.

  The G8 nations rendered speechless.

  The developed world suddenly on its knees.

  Churches, Mosques, pass decrees

  Stadiums and parks

  Left desolate and stark

  The busiest places now dreaded

  Were hitherto the most avoided

  Hospitals and graveyards

  If you don’t safeguard

  Abandon fashion shows, football leagues,

  Exotic wedding that cause fatigue

  Festivities all lost memory

  Forgone all the reverie

  Celebrities have run out of celebration trails.

  Our titles, status and privileged trips

  With all our boastful citizenships

  we cannot step out of our homes.

  With all our savings and loans,

  we can only buy food to taste

  sanitisers to take care of the waste. 

  We usually went to watch animals in cages,

  now animals roam our empty stages,

  watching us in our ‘cages’,

  the world still goes on full swing

  the sun still shines; the birds still sing.

  When this long night finally is over and a new day sets in,

  let us not forget the lesson the virus brings

  that the only essential is life of purposeful service

  the rest is but dispensable prefixes and suffixes – 

  Allah remains the Almighty

  22 May 2020

  July 22, 2020

  ---

• Dunya affairs

  Listen to dunya affairs.m4a by Najma Ansari on #SoundCloud
  https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/dunya-affairs-m4a/s-CKaMxa3Dg4B

  Caught in dunya affairs
  Of akhirah no one cares

  Hooked to the politics
  Worried about economics

  Islamophobia rampant
  Humanity dampened

  Crushed souls
  No vision of goals

  Caught in dunya affairs
  Of Akhirah who cares

  Health gurus and glued
  To body needs n good food

  Soul nurturing irrelevant
  Dunya and dime we navigate

  No value or need for
  Eat less pray more

  No vision no recourse
  Wait for the remorse

  Just be caught in dunya affairs
  Wait when the fire flares

  29/12/19

  https://m.soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/dunya-affairs-m4a/s-CKaMxa3Dg4B

  May 19, 2020

  ---

• Mind the Soul

  بسم آلله الرحمان الرحيم

  * وَٱلۡكَـٰظِمِینَ ٱلۡغَیۡظ
  ََ وَٱلۡعَافِينَ عَنِ ٱلنَّاسِۗ
  وَٱللَّهُ يُحِبُّ ٱلۡمُحۡسِنِينَ

  wal kadhimeena al ghaidh –
  wa aafeena an nin naas
  wallahu yuhibul muhsineen
  Sura Aal-E-Imran, Ayah 134
  ________________________________________

  Mind the Soul

  mind the soul
  to keep you whole

  serving the Creator
  will make you greater

  Peace reigns
  relationships gain

  egos abdicate
  kindness cultivate

  reach for depths
  watch the breaths

  anger rein in
  hide it n feign

  those who:

  restrain their anger *
  forgive others, are tender

  Allah loves them
  for their benevolence
  as people of excellence

  in Zikr they be
  from acrimony they flee

  souls find comfort
  knowing days are numbered

  yearn for a higher goal
  nurturing the soul

  Allah they please
  it becomes a breeze

  from the depth of their being
  it’s always Allah they are seeing

  may we aspire to be
  those who of dunya are free

  in our hands it be
  keeping our hearts free

  reserved for the Loving
  serving with longing

  we can do it
  if we mind our soul
  and remember our goal
  13/9/19 pre fajr

  May 19, 2020

  ---

• The inner eye

  Oh for the inner eye

   

  To see my tummy as it churns 

  all that I eat, drink and burn

  what creates a sludge 

  what gets flushed 

   

  if  I had the inner eye

  I’d watch what I take in

  what I eat and when I eat

  oh for that inner eye 

   

  If I trust the doc I’ll know 

  what’s going on even though

  it is from the unseen 

  Somewhere I haven’t been

   

  I’ll trust and I’ll abide 

  what to take what to avoid 

   why then the Creator, I don’t hear  

  of the unseen don’t take care

   

  my inside is as hidden 

  as the ghaib in the sky

  if the insides function 

  though I cannot see

   

  why is it so hard to believe

  of what’s beyond death

  the writing is on the wall

  see the earth thru spring and fall 

   

  I can’t see – why oh why

  oh for the inner eye

  my heart does sigh

  Baseera for the unseen 

   

   1/7/19 Jhb

   fajr

   

  May 19, 2020

  ---

• Destination Qabr

  Destination Qabr

  Ya Allah I pray
  my bones and core
  be drenched in dhikr

  as they disintegrate
  turn to dust – they emit
  the fragrance of dhikr

  as my insides melt away
  become one with the earth
  may it be infused with dhikr

  At destination Qabr
  may my body decompose
  from every pore emit dhikr

  Let the fragrance
  of tawhid flow
  let the earth mellow

  Welcome my body
  enfold in homecoming
  with a breeze of jannah

  I pray Ya Rabb
  my destination in Qabr
  Is warm and welcoming

  A glimmer of hope
  of my subsequent end
  beyond the barzakh bend

  For iman I pray Ya Allah
  Giver of falaah
  beyond doomsday

  19/5/20 Fajr
  25 Ramadhan 1441

  May 19, 2020

  ---

• Activity in Qabr

  Ya Rabb I pray
  in qabr for Qur’an
  to be my escort

  I pray Ya Rabb
  I can park my worries
  in a kind comfy qabr

  float in barzakh
  see my loved ones
  and Allah’s loved ones

  in joyful gatherings
  of awe and marvel
  of Subhan Allah

  forget dunya concerns
  be a Ruh that only yearns
  to be in Awliya company

  I pray for in qabr
  for joyful activity
  as a gift for sabr

  and yet better still
  wonders beyond
  any possible imagination

  If taqwa I can imbibe
  an amazing exit plan
  Ya Allah let me come by
  19/5/20 Fajr
  25 Ramadhan 1441

  May 19, 2020

  ---

• Secrets of the universe

  Secrets of the universe

  The hidden pains
  The eyes well up
  Unshed tears
  Rise to the heavens
  Deposited in the vault
  In the Secrets of the universe

  So too – inner joys
  Solace with the Maker
  In sync with Destiny
  Not marred by chatter
  pure n prestine
  Remains secret in the universe

  A glimpse of heaven on earth
  A instant of barq al kashf
  A lightening unveiling
  A fleeting instant
  Gone before it registers
  Tucked in the secrets of the universe

  So too a saddened heart
  Seeing Satan’s snarls
  Webs of virtual worlds
  Souls enwrapped in egos
  Blinded and blundering
  Sorrow – a secret of the universe
  7/12/17

  May 17, 2020

  ---

• Crossroads or deadends

  Crossroads or deadends

  If Allah has brought us to this
  Allah will take us through this

  In life we reach new plateaux
  Come thru good times n ghettos

  And then what?
  Which way do we turn

  At the sea we arrive
  (like Musa عليه وسلم).
  Then panic n bewilderness
  which way to turn

  Seeming dead ends
  Sometimes we see no bend

  If Allah brings us to it
  Allah will bring us thru it

  New crossroads
  New istikharas

  New plateaux to reach
  New horizons open up

  New planning
  New anticipation

  Some trepidation
  Some coming to the end

  New life unfolds
  New relationships to harness

  Potentials and possibilities
  endless
  Openings and vistas
  endless

  Which way we turn
  What pages of fate unfold

  We set the stage
  At which crossroad we turn

  Ultimately is it all a dead end?
  End of game or new beginning

  Thru barzakh a new life
  In the qabr another crossroad

  Where we come from
  Determines where we go

  The turns in life
  The choices churned

  May we be carried thru
  By Allah’s Grace

  22.9.19
  Fajr

  May 15, 2020

  ---

• Parallel universe

  Parallel universe

  We live in parallel universes
  the slip from one to another
  subtle and imperceptible
  when are we in one or the other

  Behavioural change gives it away
  the slip from serenity to barbarity
  humane and at peace in one
  then slip into anger and in abyss

  Same person
  same constraints
  same factors
  same curved balls

  Yet the slip into a parallel universe
  happens imperceptibly.
  needs a fine eye to catch the slip
  an inner eye – alert and attentive

  Parallel universes of our soul
  nafs derails, forgets it’s goal
  align with the divine spark- the Ruh
  or be ready to regret and rue

  24/7 radar alert for every shift
  option to slip back, switch
  needs practice and presence
  to know when you are in which

  Parallel universes lie within
  microcosms buried in blood
  veins run the same highway
  when the switch, when the slip… ?

  Whilst the pulse beats
  and the nafs resides
  beware you Ride
  the parallel universe…
  7/1/19
  Jhb

  May 15, 2020

  ---

• The Pendulum

  The Pendulum

  The pendulum swings.
  hierarchies change
  top dogs come down
  new top dogs emerge

  In the cycle of migration
  new groups start from zero
  some excel become heroes
  the old rich displaced

  Complacency causes slips
  tenacity keeps one soaring
  till pinnacle is reached
  then loses grip – slips

  In the cycle of life
  start as an infant – vulnerable
  pick up steam walk tall
  compete and collect

  Then over the hill
  trip and fall
  end up vulnerable
  in the twilight years

  And the pendulum
  continues to swing
  as time
  continues to chime

  4.9.19
  Woodmead

  May 15, 2020

  ---

• Faultlines

  Faultlines

  Faultlines
  due to nepotism
  cracks in the system
  due to nepotism

  fissures and favouritism
  fuels frictions
  gives rise to rifts
  finds faultlines

  hard earned efforts
  impeccable commitment
  goes up in the air
  as nepotism is laid bare

  unfair practises
  blind to justice
  cronyism central
  to slide to dysfunction

  disenchanted staff
  slackens commitment
  unheard grievance
  causes indifference

  fall of standards
  code of conduct slips
  fault lines form
  thanks to nepotism

  manners and etiquette
  up in smoke
  who you’re related to
  justifies who you greet

  ride rough shod
  empower cronyism
  overlook seniority
  cling to seat desperately

  fault lines form
  due to favouritism
  a gupta syndrome
  in the workplace

  2.10.18
  jhb

  May 15, 2020

  ---

• Mercy of silence

  Battles won
  in silence

  Friction fritters away
  in silence

  Buzzed activity
  calmed with silence

  Time to reflect
  introspect

  No need for replies
  silence and it dies

  Mercy of silence

  20.10.19

  May 15, 2020

  ---

• Writing on the wall

  Writing on the wall
  does it tell you
  where you’re going to fall
  does it say what’s true

  How do you read signs
  what do harbingers herald
  how and what do you read
  in the writing in the wall

  Actions bear consequences
  though they are not linear
  some random some in sequences
  learning to read – a fine art

  Awareness of the subtle
  call out to the Lateef
  how do I read at all
  the writing on the wall

  How do I recognise the call
  which act will cause a fall
  the inner eye needs to see
  in synch w/the outer ball
  29.9.19

  May 15, 2020

  ---

• Lean on the Deen

  When in crisis when in pain
  lean towards Deen
  whether in loss or in gain
  stay quiet and unseen.

  Connect to the Connector
  who connected us all
  gives purpose to our falls
  so we learn to Lean on the Deen

  The prayer mat & the sujood
  draws us to the loving Wadood
  lean on the Deen
  find pure solace – Pristine

  When we’re sad n morose
  low and listless
  Dhikr melts it away
  as we lean on to Deen.

  How fragile and frail
  any whiff of wind
  unexpected, unanticipated
  drives us in disarray

  That’s when you need
  to lean on Deen

  15/7/19

  May 15, 2020

  ---

• Steps closer to Death

  Steps closer to Death

  Each moment closer to death
  it creeps up with stealth

  We’re caught unaware
  unaware of its stare

  Inching to our death
  with each inhale of breath

  When’s the last exhale
  no one knows

  Designed so we’re on our toes
  24/7 vigilant

  guarding against a slip into kufr
  heedless of salaah n shukr

  24/7 aware
  death’s in the air

  mine and yours
  can strike anywhere

  all here in transit
  luggage sent ahead

  across the veil of barzakh
  reward for the effort

  the unaccompanied baggage
  lays out our bedding n lodge

  window to jannah
  a breeze of heaven

  or cribbed n constricted
  a taste of hell

  are we aware
  every instant closer to death

  time up as
  the bell chimes

  what’s in my name
  when it’s end of game ?

  13.12.18
  Woodmead

  May 15, 2020

  ---

• Shukr no Kufr

  Ya Allah

  Let  me be always in shukr
  Not plagued with kufr

  Keep me free from kibr
  Not be a fibber

  Contentment in my soul
  Goodness be my goal

  There’s s no reward for goodness
  But goodness itself *

  Ya Allah let
  Gratitude seep my soul
  Serenity keep me whole

  May You be pleased with me
  Me, pleased with what you decree

  Jannah be my lot
  I don’t lose the plot

  Despite trials and tests
  Tribulations at their best

  We be rewarded for patience
  It only elevates our station

  Ya Allah Let
  Me move from islam to iman
  Ultimately to ehsan

  Have an iota of ikhlas
  Be in the sincerity class

  Stay away from fame
  Desire no accolades or name

  Be a silent simple Abd
  Know some of your abdals**

  Ya Allah let
  Shukr be laced with generosity
  For your immense magnanimity

  Never can we give you Your due ***
  But try our best – iman renew

  Let my giving increase
  Even as my abilities decrease

  Concern for others override
  Worry about me and my hide

  True concern remains
  Re my akhirah my domain

  Ya Allah May
  Your group of guardian angels
  Cover us, keep us safe always

  Gratitude be ingrained
  Shukr our constant refrain

  Within the sorrow and loss
  There be deep gratitude

  Seep thru our pores
  To our very core

  Desire to help and buffer
  Best response of shukr

  May it get us to Jannah
  Ameen 
  ______________
  *Surah 55:60
  **Pious souls
  ***6:91
  Wama qadaroo Allaha haqqa qadrihi

  14/5/22
  12 Shawwal 1443
  Pre Fajr

  May 15, 2020

  ---

• Life of low maintenance

  Life of low maintenance
  Speaks of inner confidence
  Serves as evidence
  Sight on akhirah consequence

  Live a life of low maintenance
  Not a creature of habit .
  Only habit of substance
  Salaah on time – be ecstatic

  Love to be of low maintenance
  Simplicity flows and wins
  In sophisticated absence
  Time for true productiveness

  Love and live a life
  Of low mainentance
  Less agro and strife
  Desire akhirah excellence

  6/1/20

  May 15, 2020

  ---

• Silent SubhanAllah

  SubhanAllah

  In silence
  lies solace

  Inaction also beneficial
  by grounding and calming

  Constant buzz
  creates a fuss

  Silently revere
  in awe and fear

  Subhan Allah
  swimming constancy

  Each instant awesome
  anxiety at bay

  Blemish free Allah
  we glorify and adore

  Subhan Allah
  purifies hearts for falaah

  Road to success
  when our sins we confess

  Astaghfirullah and the
  reminders that remind

  Remembrance made easy
  with tasbih in our heart

  Who created us
  who fashioned us

  The green grass
  turned to stubble

  Phases and cycles
  ultimate destination

  Remember and
  the Rabb revere

  17.10.19

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• Life carries on

  Life carries on
  Alhamdulillah

  Life carries on
  with helpers or without

  The escalator of life
  keeps moving
  amidst lockdown
  what all goes on?

  What silent activities
  underground
  under the radar
  under ocean

  Aeroplanes grounded
  transport numbed
  groceries available
  work online

  What sensors are being installed
  what world will we return to
  vaccines with chips?
  all under surveillance ?

  Obiquitous G5

  Love the speed
  love the download
  the invasion of privacy
  a price to pay?

  History in the making
  many moments of
  never before
  first time ever

  World wide phenomena
  often occur
  at this scale in this way?
  never before

  Punting for technology
  under the fear psychosis
  erasing independence
  human freedom at stake?

  Uniform systems
  already in place
  gradual globalisation
  all airports the same

  Signage the same
  same travel screening
  lockdown just to harness
  last cleanup for uniformity?

  All under the radar
  biometrics to nth degree
  saffan saffah row upon row
  all now traceable accountable?

  Misdemeanors caught
  no stepping out of line
  eventually control the mind
  guidelines for thought

  Where is the antidote?
  side step the malaware
  Qur’an and Sunnah
  how will it safeguard?

  Deen iman and ummah
  able to implement sunnah
  a recalibrate moment
  rethink re-evaluate
  a new gameplan

  Bottom line who’s incharge ?
  dunya a sijn – in transit
  through all the morass
  here only to navigate

  Keep iman intact
  serve and survive
  under oppression
  still iman imbibe

  Below the radar
  life carries on
  Alhamdulillah

  Fajr 5/4/20

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• Lockdown

  Lockdown

  The real lockdown will be
  when I’m in my grave
  then it opens up
  on the Day so grave

  Lockdown is
  when the heart is sealed a
  the ego inflated
  blind to reality

  Lockdown is
  despair in hope
  no akhirah to believe in
  selfish interests

  Lockdown is
  yearning for dunya
  feeling hemmed and caged
  hankering for freedom

  As an Abd you are
  always in submission
  always under lockdown
  treading the taqwa way

  Lockdown for a Mumin is
  the dunya as a sijn – a prison
  the heart is free always
  able to worship always

  Under any constraints
  lockdown does not stop
  ibadah in myriad ways
  despite closed masjids

  The heart isn’t caged
  when the Jummah is cancelled
  lockdown does not prevent
  kushu & khudhu – still attainable

  True lockdown is
  when the heart is sealed
  the mind is closed
  and humanity is sold

  Lockdown just an opportunity
  to truly connect – before
  we lockdown in our graves
  and it’s game over

  11/4/20

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• Microchipping

  Microchipping

  We are chipped anyway
  our deeds decoded
  our blueprint designed
  By the Creator who created

  If our action’s already known
  our balance sheet recorded
  our transactions scanned
  what’s new about microchipping

  Man playing controller
  decides who can transact
  in a cashless society
  with a burden of debt

  In the global hold
  of plans that unfold
  learn to side step
  the snarls of Dajjal

  In the lull and pause
  what comes next
  As the button resets
  there’s always a choice

  The time maybe right
  to bring in the golden dinar
  and the silver cent to
  create a parallel economy

  Under the radar
  in a parallel world
  sidestep the hegemony
  live shadow lives

  Islam came as a stranger
  let it be a stranger
  avoid the conglomerates
  simplify – live within means

  Decision-making leaning
  towards microchipping
  skip mass movement
  find the sane loophole

  Options to choose
  at subliminal level
  no one can take away
  each instance of choice

  Allah’s micro chipping
  ensures we can navigate
  with a compass bypass
  challenges of dunya

  Find solace in akhirah
  know microchipping
  is nothing compared
  to the recording angels

  21/4/20
  27 Sha’ban 1441
  Fajr

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• Heartbeat

  Heartbeat

  My heart beats
  beats from the time
  I’m given a Ruh
  the angel on me blew

  My heart beats
  in my Mum’s womb
  till when I’m headed
  to my tomb

  Beats and beats
  sometime’s skips a beat
  out of joy and ecstasy
  or fear or fantasy

  How long it will beat
  only Allah knows
  doing its job faithfully
  non stop continuously.

  No break in between
  it beats and beats
  thru thick n thin
  long and hard

  My control room
  in synch with my limbs
  my organs and brain
  vessels and vein

  Ensures oxygen supply to
  every nook and cranny
  in me that makes me
  the heart that beats for me

  Seat of my soul
  keeps me whole
  beats away
  doesn’t rebel or stray

  My job is to take care
  nurture it – be in prayer
  keep disease at bay
  no ill will block it’s way

  In awe and shukr
  for my heart that beats
  a truly amazing feat
  I pray I keep it in dhikr

  Till the Ruh is called and goes
  and the heart beat no more flows
  from the time in the womb
  I now head to the tomb

  30/4/20 – Asr
  Ramadhan 6, 1441

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• Social Distancing

  social distancing

  distancing from ghibah
  from shop till you drop
  from hasad and envy
  from negative vibes

  distancing from acrimony
  from competitive lives
  endless entertainment
  spending beyond utility

  endless internet n YouTube
  and Instagram following
  distance from futility
  create space for learning

  the stadiums shut
  the pubs closed
  the restaurants shut
  the parlours closed

  food from home
  less laundry
  less vanity
  less consumption

  some simplicity
  some gardening
  some breathing deep
  some coolness to the eyes

  some time for prayer
  some closer connection
  some lightening unveiling
  with the Creator of all

  who knows
  what we gain
  what we learn
  from social distancing…

  11/4/20

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• Reverse Gear

  Reverse Gear

  Think in reverse gear
  truly need to fear
  your last minute here
  will iman be near

  Worry first about
  the exit hour
  then think of dunya
  sweet or sour

  End game matters
  myths will shatter
  when barzakh is in view
  I mustn’t regret and rue

  3/5/20
  9 Ramadhan 1441

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• I wonder

  I wonder

  if there wasn’t a woman
  deeply abject, oppressed
  abused and harassed
  for her hijab her niqab

  I wonder
  if she raised her hands
  in duas so heartfelt unplanned

  to show the wicked oppressors
  who’s in charge, the true Possessor

  I wonder
  if heard were the mustadafeen cries
  it shook the heavens and skies

  brought down the knives
  cut them all to size

  doesn’t matter what the cost
  don’t mess with the oppressed lot

  you may see consequences
  suddenly feel queasy n apprehensive

  now they can rethink all in a blink
  who they mocked wished to block

  economies in disarray
  global chaos in display

  the niqab no longer banned
  the mask is now in the plan

  i wonder
  if soon istinja, ghusl and wudhu
  will be part of a hygiene plan too

  9 Ramadhan 1441
  3/5/20 jhb

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• Rizq Rahmah

  Rizq Rahmah

  bursting at the seams
  with thoughts and dreams
  hoping to be on siratul mustaqeem
  finding purpose in myriad themes

  Rizq allocations guarantee
  is still by Divine decree

  the living still live
  the dying still die
  the embryos grow
  the births still flow

  the barber is closed
  the hair still grows.
  the garden service closed
  and the grass still grows

  Rahmah still flows

  Allah’s the Razaq
  he’s As Samaad
  a bedrock support
  so unique n Ahad

  some business fall
  others flourish
  masks by shiploads
  and Zoom overloads

  where’s the new wave
  of opportunities that emerge
  restaurants maybe closed
  food production still surge

  the food parcels packed
  a bonanza for some –
  a windfall for the one
  with no expectations

  those who would have been
  normally hungry and unseen
  suddenly become recipients
  of hand out schemes

  those who were self reliant
  thought they earned their rizq
  find themselves bereft of Rahmah
  at the wrong end of the stick

  Divine allocation realigns
  who’s ahead who’s left behind
  bigger picture needs to be seen
  if we wish to be on siratul mustaqeem

  Fajr 3/5/20 Jhb
  Ramadhan 9, 1441

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• Ramadhan

  Ramadhan

  in Ramadhan
  is a perfect time
  to upgrade iman
  memorize new ayat

  eat less
  sleep less
  sadaqa more
  salaah more

  in Ramadhan
  close connection
  with Qur’an
  distinguish – Furqan

  upgrade iman
  downscale dunya
  Apply sunnah
  attain itmenaan

  midnight salaah
  brings falaah
  Retreat in khalwa
  opportunity for najaah

  a unique Ramadhan
  Taraweeh at home
  time to memorize
  read and relay

  gift from Allah.
  ocean creatures pray for us
  our smell dearer than musk
  and shaytan chained

  less waswas
  less opportunity to derail
  more profound moments
  more occasion to accrue

  gardens in heaven
  to see Allah
  the final falaah
  best gift of Jannah

  who knows
  if we are here
  next Ramadhan
  make the most now

  25/4/2
  Fajr
  1 Ramadhan 1441
  Jhb

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• The Face

  The Face

  The neck and chin
  can be shackled as in
  Surah Yasin (36:8)
  or
  chins be in humility and khashiya
  as in Surah Isra (17:109)
  with tears in sajdah
  or
  as in Surah Alaq (96:15)
  dragged by the forelock
  in for a shock
  or
  awed to tears in reverence
  as in Surah Maryam (19:58)
  they see the evidence
  or
  the face can frown
  as in Surah Muddathir (74:22)
  doesn’t know he’s to drown
  or
  the eyes flowing tears
  saddened, yearning
  as in Surah Tauba (9:92)
  or
  walks fallen on his face
  or walks upright – guided
  as in Surah Mulk (67:22)
  or
  as in Surah Abasa (80:38-41)
  Radiant faces in akhirah
  or dust stained – in ghabara

  choice is ours
  which nature to nurture
  the sweet or sour

  5/5/20 Jhb
  Ramadhan 11,1441

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• Gift of Life

  Gift of life
  peace no strife
  gratitude
  no attitude

  Gift of serenity
  comes with humility
  acceptance
  and repentance

  Gift of living
  comes with giving
  generosity
  causes no paucity

  Gift of being
  is in the feeling
  in empathy
  no animosity

  Gift of belief
  brings major relief
  Faith and hope
  when you can’t cope

  Gift of the Qur’an
  guidance with iman
  gives love of Allah
  the Rasul and salaah

  Gift of zakaah
  cleanses, gives falaah
  there’s only increase
  never a decrease

  Gift of Deen
  might not be seen
  but in Akhirah
  surely will find jazaah

  Gift of life
  is belief in afterlife
  where justice will unfold
  all will be told

  12/5/20 Jhb
  Ramadhan 17, 1441

  May 13, 2020

  ---

• Rendered Redundant

  rendered redundant

  imagine imagine
  all those things 
  we saw as abundant
  rendered redundant

  what once we could only imagine 
  now it has become so real
  we can truly see and feel
  we can live cooped in a cabin

  the handbags and  shoes
  time spent on hairdos
  the make-up and ties
  we can say goodbye

  what once we thought essential
  has become so tangential
  need a change in mindset
  then  no cause to be upset

  home becomes haven
  no need to be shaven
  basics kick in
  we can all live in

  when the shoes are left out
  like homes of the devout
  find floors kept clean
  cleanliness half of Deen

  what if we ate on the floor
  slept in the floor 
  comfort in simplicity
  has it’s own dignity

  19/4/20 – Fajr
  Jhb

  May 4, 2020

  ---

• Under the Radar

  Under the Radar

  Ikhlas is found
  under the radar
  hidden in Sirr

  In tahajjud salaah
  and staying away
  from fame

  The left hand
  doesn’t know
  what the right
  hand gives

  Good deeds done
  in secret better
  than alaniya

  Sweepers of the
  mataf floor and
  bathroom doors

  Invisible under
  the radar blessed
  for unseen chores

  Access to
  unique times
  rarely experienced

  Alone at the Roza
  in peaceful prayer
  special and rare

  Things that happen
  under the radar
  far from limelight

  To motivate
  fardh in public
  nafl in private

  What’s under the radar
  carries more weight
  sirr in good deeds

  One who needs to know
  knows sirr and alaniya
  The Raqib sees

  Watch for those
  who work under
  the radar quietly

  Like the abdaals
  simply sincere
  otherwise fear

  Like a black ant
  on a black rock
  on a black night

  Deeds go up in smoke
  kibr infests deeds
  renders them hollow

  Sqtay under the radar
  the Raqib watches
  in His knowing find solace

  17/4/20
  23/Sha’ban/41
  Jhb

  April 17, 2020

  ---

• Life carries on

  Life carries on 

  Alhamdulillah life carries on

  with helpers or without 

  the  escalator of life

  keeps moving amidst lockdown 

  what all goes on ?

  what silent activities 

  underground,

  under the radar, under oceans,

  aeroplanes grounded, transport numbed 

  groceries available, work online 

  what  sensors are being installed 

  what world will we return to

  vaccines with chips?

  all under surveillance ?

  obiquitous G5 love the speed

  love the download

  the invasion of privacy 

  a price to pay? 

  history in the making 

  many moments of 

  never before, first time ever

  world wide phenomena 

  often occur 

  at this scale in this way?

  never  before 

  punting for technology 

  under the fear psychosis

  erasing independence 

  human freedom at stake? 

  uniform systems already in place

  gradual globalisation 

  all airports the same

  signage the same

  same travel screening

  lockdown just to harness 

  last cleanup for uniformity?

  all under the radar

  biometrics to nth degree

  saffan  saffah – row upon row

  all now traceable accountable? 

  misdemeanors caught 

  no stepping out of line 

  eventually control the mind 

  guidelines for thought 

  where is the antidote?

  side step the malaware

  Qur’an  and Sunnah

  how will it safeguard?

  Deen iman and ummah

  able to implement sunnah

  a recalibration moment 

  rethink re-evaluate 

  a new gameplan

  bottom line who’s incharge ?

  dunya a sijn – in transit

  through all the morass 

  here only to navigate 

  keep iman intact 

  serve and survive 

  under oppression 

  still iman imbibe 

  below the radar

  life carries on 

  Alhamdulillah 

  Fajr 5/4/20

  April 5, 2020

  ---

• The Irony of life

  The Irony of life!

  So suddenly:

  New York

  ‘the city that never sleeps’ 

  is now asleep,

  all quiet. 

  Paris the

  ‘center of romance’

  lives in echos.

  Rome

  ‘the eternal city’

  is deserted.

  Disney is out of magic.

  London is caged in silence,

  the Queen speaks to her people from a hidden room.

  Mecca is empty!

  Nobody to

  ‘stone the devil’.

  The Chinese wall is no longer a fortress.

  The G8 nations are speechless.

  The developed World suddenly on its knees.

  Churches,

  Mosques,

  Great Parks,

  Monuments,

  Stadiums are filled with unfilled spaces.

  The busiest places at present were hitherto the most dreaded:

  Hospitals and

  Cemeteries.

  The famous Football Leagues,

  the Fashion Shows,

  Exotic Weddings,

  Festivals all lost to memory.

  Celebrities have run out of celebrations.

  Our titles,

  Status and

  Privileged Positions are stale.

  With all our boastful

  ‘citizenships’

  we cannot step out of our houses.

  With all our savings in gold and cash,

  we can only buy food to eat and toilet papers to take care of the waste. 

  We usually went to watch animals in cages,

  now animals roam our empty streets,

  watching us in our ‘cages’.

  With our expensive clothes and shoes,

  our house clothes and pyjamas are the latest fashion.

  AND despite all these ‘oddities’…

  the World still goes on;

  the sun still shines;

  the birds still sing.

  When this long night finally gets over and a new day sets in,

  let us not forget the lesson of the long night –

  that the only essential is a life of iman.

  The rest are but dispensable prefixes and suffixes – 

  Busy Emptiness

  Allah remains the most powerful.

  April 5, 2020

  ---

• Allah – the  Light of heaven and earth

  Allah – the  Light 

  of  Heavens and Earth

  imagine a niche

  high in the wall

  place therein a lamp

  diffusing light to all

  its glass encasing 

  sparkles so bright 

  like a twinkling star

  in the sky at night

  fuelled by a source 

  like a sunsoaked tree 

  with ceaseless resource 

  giving its best for free

  limitless latent potential 

  resides in the lamp 

  near ready to ignite 

  without being lit

  giving

  Light upon light

  Guidance is by Divine will

  the believers’ hearts do fill 

  an example for all mankind 

  It’s all known to the Sublime 

  *****

  light on light * 

  reflects 

  in homes that are abuzz

  with ongoing Dhikr

  they’re graced and elevated 

  By Divine decision 

  worry for wheels n deals 

  Do not derail those folks 

  their only Fikr is for

  Dhikr, Salaah and Zakaah

  Most concerned are they

  of the end result 

  of the state of hearts  

  of their eyes and minds

  Gifted best reward 

  for best of deeds

  a special award

  He provides provision  

  beyond all count 

  _________________________

  * 

  inherent light of the Ruh 

  fuses

  with the Light  of guidance

  _______________

  inspired by ayaat 

  in surah Nur

  5:30hrs

  14 Ramadhan 1440

  20 May2019

  May 20, 2019

  ---

• Life

  While there’s life  

  there’s sound 

  the engine, the motor

  the machine, the pump 

  Life lives in sound 

  imperceptibly found

  the stethoscope to

  gauge the heart beat

  Sound key ingredient of life

  in plants, ocean and reefs

  listen for life signs

  in sound

  Last sense to sleep 

  is the ear that hears

  silence reflects the end

  or is the grave only a bend?

  Sounds beyond barzakh

  life beyond the silence

  if I don’t  hear 

  it’s not there?

  Life lives on

  in silence and sound

  27.3.19 Johannesburg 

  March 27, 2019

  ---

• Web of Deceit

  Web of deceit

  Caught in a web of deceit
  Some find it not hard to cheat
  Cheat their souls, cheat their minds
  They truly believe in the axe they have to grind

  Ego the ultimate goal
  For children sell the soul
  Education to free them from serfdom
  The posh and expensive will ensure freedom

  Fallacies of the mind
  False sense of serenity it reminds
  It’s ‘I know it all, I know it best
  Stupid indeed are all the rest

  To justify the stand
  I have to prove I am grand
  To make me better others must be wrong
  Sing it long enough, that’s my song’

  When survival is at stake
  Easy to clutch to all that’s fake
  Survival of ego the core of being
  Prevents one from living, truly seeing

  To give up ego so hard to do
  To imbibe reality and all that’s true
  Too painful, too difficult to face
  When of kibr and ego there is still a trace

  Web of deception , Shaytan’s ploy
  Admire the mind, chief source of joy
  Only thing to clutch and hold
  When the universe around collapses and folds

  The working of the mind the ultimate alter
  Shaytan’s hold is firm, doesn’t falter
  Seeing things as they are they cannot do
  The ‘should’ and ‘ought’ are their cue

  In deception mode they judge
  From their opinions they cannot budge
  Serenity they do not allow in
  In the mind there’s endless noise and din

  Children the demigods and their education
  The stand is right, they see no ramification
  Give up, give in then give no more
  On this stand they will hold the floor

  To die a death of kibr
  Truly makes of one a fibber
  Caught in the web of deceit
  On judgment day what a horrid receipt

  Caught in a web of deceit
  Who else to fool who else to cheat
  Ego intact the major feat
  Never mind if it’s an ultimate defeat

  A web of deceipt
  An endless repeat….

  © Najma Ansari
  Johannesburg 2 February 2010

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Striving

  Striving

  If I could strive with a striving so true
  If I could strive without turning blue
  If I could strive only for you

  Ya Rabb If I could
  I truly would
  Be in Taqwa as I should

  What is – is
  Accept without getting in a tizz
  May futility lose its fizz

  A mind that does not stop
  Conversations continuously crop
  Till I burst at the seams and pop

  Enormous effort to be still
  To empty out, with serenity fill
  No scorn, no rancour no ill will

  Strive hard to empty the vessel
  Let go of pet hates – such a hassle
  With the ego it’s such a wrestle

  So hard to strive
  Be whole and alive
  Bypass the nafs, survive

  Strive with an effortless striving
  That’s how I’d like to be living
  But in the pit of discomfort it needs diving

  Ya Rabb, you will test and try
  If the kalimah from my heart I cry
  If by truth I stand, falsehood defy

  No pain no gain
  That isn’t my game
  Ease and comfort I wish to claim

  To strive is such a jihad
  Against the ego such a die hard
  It pollutes the heart, dims fuad*

  Ya Rabb, I strive, I really do
  Slip and fall, at the ego rue
  Striving not so easy to do

  Moment to moment strive
  It is consequences you drive
  Slip up, the broadcast is alive

  Each take, each shot has repercussions,
  Go blue in the face with endless discussions
  Justify, explain, and want concessions

  What is – is, accept and move on
  Waste no time, energy on what has gone
  Doesn’t make right what has gone wrong

  Reality check need of the day
  Clears the deck, paves the way
  Seamless striving becomes the mainstay

  If my ducks are in a row
  It’s a smooth sail, and flow
  Inner peace gives the glow

  Ya Rabb Let striving come to me
  Joyfully, naturally, casually
  Effortless, merrily, happily

  © Najma Ansari, Johannesburg
  3 February 2010- fajr

  * Arabic for the thinking heart

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Stories

  Stories

  The tremendous need for a story
  A story to make sense of events
  A story to live on hope
  Amidst disappointments and breakdowns

  A tremendous need to have ducks in a row
  Aligned, visual and organized
  To see the end of the tunnel
  Caught in morass doesn’t work

  A need to see the bigger picture
  Defined clearly with goals set
  Swimming against the current
  Pointless when no focus is set

  Where’s the faith, the trust
  To see the purpose of chaos
  Trust that over the hill there is
  A fuller picture of bliss

  Let go and let be,
  Perpetual serenity
  It’s resistance that causes pain
  When things go against the grain

  Desires and wants become gods
  Peeved at the unfulfilled stories
  As planned, written and anticipated
  Hooked to stories, tales and fiction

  Reality lost in the planning, in disarray,
  Realign intentions, leave the gambit
  In Allah’s decree align my will
  No other goal but submit

  Stories to soak in
  Stories to drown in
  Loss of reality
  The wasted now

  ©Najma Ansari
  Dec 1, 2010 Johannesburg

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Sounds of the Universe

  Sounds of the Universe

  Still the mind to silence
  To listen to the sounds of the universe
  The waft of breeze in emotions
  The nuance in body language

  Tune in, tweak the radar
  Fine tune to hear the sound of the universe
  See the impact of the infinitely small gesture
  Marvel at the silence between the sounds

  Music made in heaven
  Beauty of appropriate action
  Miracles unfold in silence
  If your faculty is tuned to receive

  Silence the mind to stillness
  Sounds from the universe will hum
  Clarity and focus falls in place
  The universe echoes in your being

  The perfection in pin drop silence
  Hearts beat in synchrony with the universe
  Plug in, to feel the symphony
  Bliss in life accessible in any and every moment
  ‘

  As truth precedes, imbues and
  Continues beyond all things
  It can always be found’1
  Listen then to the universe sounds

  © Najma Ansari
  5.4.2011 Johannesburg

  1Quote from Sh. FHaeri (ASK course/lesson4)

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Sorrow

  Sorrow

  It’s in times of loss and sorrow
  We know it’s time we borrow
  We are all in transit
  Yet we forget and resist

  There’s a time of sorrow and grief
  It’s the bigger picture that brings relief
  Life’s a journey, we get lost in the ride
  Best joy if we meet on the other side

  Bask in the shade of a tree a ‘while
  We’re all in the queue in a single file
  Every instant, step closer to death
  Slowly creeping with steady stealth

  Alone we come. Alone we go
  The arwah* constant in to and fro
  Worth it, if iman we grow
  Something there, we’ll have to show

  Goodbyes and the doors close
  Hearts sink and the tears froze
  The parting hard to accept
  The world moves on, no respect

  Time moves on, time to heal,
  Moments gone, memories recede
  Belief in akhirah source of solace
  Helps pull us out of the abyss

  ©Najma Ansari
  May 6, 2010 Johannesburg

  * Plural of ruh – spirit or soul

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Shadows of Disbelief

  Shadows of Disbelief

  We are all covered with
  Shadows of disbelief
  Step in the sun for relief
  Iman to drench our soul

  Clouds of doubts veer overhead
  Shubuhaat plague our soul
  Good company to dispel shadows
  Istiqamah to stay firm

  Next level up
  More shadows
  Desires not left behind
  Carrying their own dark clouds

  Shadow of disbelief covers us
  We run – it follows us
  Stand firm on iman
  Upright in the midday sun

  Constant knowledge of Now
  With tawba touch base – bow
  Clouds of disbelief hover
  Taqwa reminds us who’s above

  Above the shadow of disbelief
  The light of iman shines
  Truth vanquishes – disbelief dies
  Taqwa disperses the shadows of disbelief

  ©Najma Ansari
  21.5.2010 Johannesburg

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Sabr

  Sabr

  Sabr, so sweet and beautiful
  The moment it’s willingly undertaken
  Think of the infinite rewards it reaps
  If I can keep my iman unshaken

  Sabr – such a mercy, such a gift
  Use it for strength, – uplift
  Bala’, ibtela, opportunity for growth
  Ya Rabb, you’re the best to help us reach our potential

  The best razaq, the best arbitrator
  The best protector from our lower nafs
  Let’s enjoy the games the nafs plays
  Let taqwa keep us be on top of the game

  The ace up our sleeves – sabr
  The card to discard early – kibr
  The deal to lead in – shukr
  The trump card – always zikr

  Best way to sabr
  Lots of nawafil, tahajjud salaah
  Victory confirmed – what a falaah
  How can we not be in shukr?

  The cards stacked up in our favour
  If we still look for disfavour
  Idiots are we, stupid as hell
  Dumbest are we, caged in a cell

  Alhamdulillah for sabr
  Gracefully undertaken
  Yields a thousand blessings
  In the dunya and the Akhirah

  © Najma Ansari
  8.6.2006 Johannesburg

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Ride

  Ride
  On each high tide
  On every crest of wave
  To each, goodness attach
  Each goodness advocate

  No stumbling block
  No spoke in the wheels
  No dog in the manger be
  Ride

  The high tide
  With every excellence be
  Recognize fledgling seeds
  That sprout goodness and glow
  Ripple effects and mercy and love
  Nudge on goodness and let it dominate

  Ride
  On goodness side
  Be source for it to multiply
  Permeate pores and wet eyes
  Softens hearts and skins ashiver

  Ride
  On every high tide
  High or low
  Goodness follow
  Nothing short or shallow

  ©Najma Ansari
  14.6.13 Johannesburg

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Perfection

  Perfection

  If you plug to each moment of perfection
  You’ll see there is nothing that needs rejection
  Truth stands clear, shadows disappear
  Aligned with the universe, there’s nothing to fear

  Acceptance and submission to what is
  Allows for growth, to be in bliss
  Awareness of each breath taken in and breath let out
  Ensures there’s no pain, no anger no gout

  The Berlin wall had to go up for it to collapse
  The moment of perfection is there to grasp
  Consequences of each action are there to reap
  Each earthquake1, volcano and walls dug deep2

  Humanity showcased to its very best
  In catastrophes, calamities and all the rest
  Nothing casual nothing meaningless
  Perfect balance, nothing to stress

  Seeing each wrong is a point of view
  To prevent you from moving to what is new
  Stagnation exists in seeing the wrong
  Stuck in judging for ever so long

  Immersed in the moment of now
  Seeing perfection in the universe and how!
  Man’s freewill is the wild card
  Handling it ever so hard

  Despite spanners in the works
  Thrown in by all the jerks
  Perfection in the cosmos is steady
  For humanity to contribute, it’s ever ready

  Multiple free wills work at cross fire
  Endless whims and desires
  Can’t disbalance nor derail
  Perfection is constant – cannot fail

  © Najma Ansari
  19/01/2010 Johannesburg

  1 Haiti – Jan 2010
  2 At Gaza/Egypt border Dec 2009

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Maker & Shaker

  Maker & Shaker

  Allah is our Khaliq our maker
  The best of planners, his is the best makr
  Trust in him the best of shakers
  Be thankful – forever in shukr

  Shake out our garbage and crap
  Make us a mumin before we snap
  Shake out our rancour and rage
  Make us decent beings, maybe a sage

  Let your hikmah seep in us Oh Wadood
  We be appropriate within the hudood
  Shake us out of our crap and nonsense
  Make us aware of our futile trance

  Rid us of out baggage of hankerings
  Make us kamil, with the best of rankings
  Shake out the shaytan and its waswas
  Imbue in us the best quality of nass

  Ya Allah, our Rabb our maker
  Keep away the shaytan, the biggest faker
  Fill us with tawba, the best of shakers
  Wake us up to be in constant zikr

  © Najma Ansari
  8.6.06 Johannesburg

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Judgment Mode

  Judgment Mode

  It’s so easy to sit and judge
  Especially when you bear a grudge

  So easy to be in judgmental mode
  Watch then relationships erode

  Judging is shaytan’s game
  For his kibr Adam gets the blame

  Pride, superiority traits of shaytan
  Prevents one from the fragrance of Rehan

  So easy it is to sit in judgment mode
  Easy to scorn, mock and goad

  So prone is man to pass judgment
  Ill prepared to make any adjustment

  Scorn and superiority – inhumane traits
  Tricks of Shaytan, his infamous baits

  So easy it is to sit in judgment mode
  When ego holds, difficult to offload

  Baggage of the past come to judge
  From opinions, so very hard to budge

  Justice and fairness not for every man
  When the lower nafs he cannot ban

  ©Najma Ansari
  28.1.2010 Johannesburg

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Fundraising

  Fundraising

  We raise funds for this cause and that
  New committees set up at the drop of a hat
  I’m out on a collection drive
  Of light bulbs for the mosque to thrive
  Then I think back and reflect
  Of our values and what we select

  The collection drive we need
  Is of worship and good deeds
  The funds we need to raise
  Is of thawab with thanks and Allah’s praise
  The only funds that will be useful
  Is sabr and shukr – goodness that’s fruitful

  What do we spend our time on, what’s our aim
  Worry about wealth, glory and fame
  Another successful fundraising drive
  Is that our goal for what we strive
  The funds I’d like to raise
  To show the world and truly amaze

  What we Muslims can do to help mankind
  For the sake of Allah be ever so kind
  If our individual actions could only speak
  Louder than words, no egos to peak
  Silent good deeds, appropriately done
  No praise sought, no accolades sung

  Can I not just buy bulbs for the masjid
  Pray they won’t refuse or be rigid
  May I see the masjid as mine
  Do what I can only for the Divine
  Ya Allah, let us know the best fundraising
  Comes from knowing you in hamd, praising

  No agenda of fame or glory
  If only with ikhlas I can live my story
  Small things done on the quiet
  Consistently without ruckus or riot
  As torch bearers of deen
  Do the best and be keen

  Our every action is viewed by others
  Do we truly act as an ummah, as brothers
  How do I drive, how do I shop
  Rudely, looking for the bargain till I drop
  How do I behave at the hospital
  With bureaucracy at the capital

  Can I say thanks to the one manning the till?
  Can I bring some joy in their life, and some vacuum fill?
  Can courtesy be my trade mark
  Can I trigger in people their divine spark

  Those are the moments I’d like to collect
  That’s the fundraising I’d like to select
  May each moment be divinely inspired
  May Muslims with goodness be only fired

  © Najma Ansari
  13 Dec 2006 Rome

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Guantanamo Bay

  Guantanamo Bay

  The inmates of Guantanamo Bay
  I sometimes think of, often pray

  I had never heard of the place
  It could have been from outer space

  For the wardens there I do pray
  That they see light, see the way

  Opportunities abound to infinity
  May they see the imbecility

  Quite possible they become muslim
  The chances are not so slim

  In every depth of dung
  In every parliament hung

  Opportunity lies for change and growth
  Out of the box, something of worth

  A lotus flower grows out in the muck
  Debris in an oyster, and a pearl with luck

  Coal compressed, diamond yields
  Goodness emerge from the killing fields

  For the inmates of Guantanamo Bay
  There has to be a mercy in some way

  ©Najma Ansari
  9 May 2010, Johannesburg

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Class of No Ego

  Class of No Ego

  Can I be among the class
  That has no ego
  Where there is no pride
  No showing off
  No fancy mannerisms
  No things disliked

  Can I be among the class with no ego
  Where Allah's will reigns supreme
  Align and tune into the decree
  Know that our own accomplishments
  Come only by his Grace

  Can I be in line with what is
  No worry, no hitch

  © Najma Ansari
  30/8/98 – Jo’burg

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• In the Depth of the Ocean

  In the Depth of the Ocean

  In the depth of the ocean
  Billows of darkness upon darkness
  There’s still life
  Movement imperceptible
  Gems extractable
  Beauties to be found
  In the depth of scum
  In human morass and mind
  Opportunities abound
  For a different turn
  Before insides hollowed
  Blackened the heart burns
  Restoration, flowing
  Always possible of human soul
  from the depth of the ocean bed
  Free from burning coal
  So buried deep in human recesses
  Flicker of life, goodness untapped
  Rubbish heaps on top
  Of experiencing events
  Choices made often prevent
  Egos in the way
  Anger unleash vent
  Goodness buries deep in the ocean bed

  ©Najma Ansari
  22.5.10 Johannesburg

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Humbling Moments

  Humbling Moments

  Let me be a bathroom cleaner

  Let me be garbage keeper

  Let me learn to clear up filth

  I might then reach zenith

   

  May I cleanse my spirit

  Clean out my soul

  Therein lies some merit

  If seeing you – Ya Allah is my goal

   

  May I clean out the garbage fields

  All the muck the bathroom yields

  Let me be a doer in life

  Not a complainer in constant strife

   

  May I clear out the crap in my soul

  Let me patch up the miserable hole

  Through which I fall in the pit of hell

  When my mother I don’t treat well

   

  Oh Allah, let me clean the streets of Makkah

  Wave the wand to remove balaa’

  May I understand what is baqaa’

  Learn to benefit from khalwa

   

  May I flush the toilets of Makkah

  May I pick up the garbage for falaah

  Help improve conditions for wudhu n salaah

  Mop the wet floor for your sake Ya Allah

   

  Service to humanity

  But begin in my own territory

  Get over disdain for a brother

  And rudeness to a mother

   

  Ya Rabb, grace me with the gift of serenity

  No matter what chores, endless activity

  Ya Rabbi, strengthen me to cope with negativity

  Drench me with shukr n sabr, constant and plenty

   

  Ya Rabb humble my nafs

  Let it not agitate and fuss

  Let the ruh in me – the divine spark

  Beckon me to You, leave its mark

   

  Let my soul align with the spirit

  Avoid all that brings it discredit

  Be grounded in iman, goodness n humility

  Soaked in peace, taqwa n tranquillity

   

  I turn to you in tawba and istighfar

  Ya Ghafoor, Ya Ghaffar

   

  © Najma Ansari

  8 Jan 2007, Rome

   

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Heaven’s Waiting

  Heaven’s Waiting

  Heaven’s waiting
  Can you not hear the Call
  Heaven’s waiting
  All you have to do is hear the Call
  Heaven’s waiting
  The road is clear, our lives so dear
  It’s all so simple
  All you need do – is abide by the Call
  Heaven’s waiting
  It’s so easy, Just hear the Call
  The invitation is there
  The decision is yours
  Heaven’s waiting
  Open arms, so welcoming
  Just be aware – recognize the Call
  You need only tune in –
  synchronize and hear the Call
  So simple, so beautiful
  So clear
  So joyful to know that
  Heaven’s waiting

  © Najma Ansari
  17.2.1986, Rome,

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Drenched in Taqwa

  Drenched in Taqwa

  Ya Rabbi can it truly be
  That I am drenched in taqwa
  My every pore exudes love of you
  My every limb confirms Tauhid

  Ya Rabbi Can it ever be
  I walk the straight and simple way
  Every step steeped in ikhlas
  Ya Rabb will that ever come to pass

  With every breath of mine
  Live out the love of deen
  Or do I do it only to be seen
  I pray Ya Rabb, in taqwa I’m drenched

  I yearn Ya Rabb to be
  Soaked in submission, free
  From ailing shahwat, distractions
  Not caught in ego, shaytan’s pet suggestions

  I pray Ya Rabb, instrumental I be
  Knocking out the brains of falsehood
  Truth visible in every blade of grass and wood
  In every grain of corn signs to see

  I pray Ya Rabb for the death of confusion
  Vision to see through pollution
  The straight and clear, to shine through
  Crookedness, deviations sink and drown

  I pray in taqwa I am drenched
  Soaked to the soul, the thirst quenched

  © Najma Ansari
  Johannesburg 20.5.09

  September 7, 2017

  ---

• Memory Loss

  Memory Loss

  The mercy of memory loss
  Forget who’s in charge, who’s boss

  The mercy of loss of memory
  Who causes sorrow and injury
  Allah’s mercy – it’s wiped out
  Time is relative, beyond doubt

  Mixup of infancy and being a sage
  Gift to mankind in old age
  Signs to witness, take heed
  Changing times and changing needs

  Memory lapse a mercy indeed
  Painful recall is not the need
  Loss of recollection and lucidity
  Time in flux, fluidity

  In a time warp multiple reality
  Selective memory, living in duality
  Nearing barzakh – a sure sign
  Moving on to the blurred line

  Transition made easy, gradual
  Easy to disconnect be casual
  Nothing holds, nothing grips
  Easier to let go, in barzakh slip

  Gift of memory loss
  To know Allah’s boss

  ©Najma Ansari
  Jan 2010 – Johannesburg

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• Transit

  Transit

  I love to live my life in transit
  I love airports, being in transit
  At stopover, in the middle of nowhere

  So I see my life – in transit
  Imagine duty free shops, costly items
  You know @ home base you get them cheaper

  So too, it’s easy to withstand the dunya, material world
  The Gucci, Channel, the Nina Ricci, Faberge’
  In akhirah it is so much better

  The fruits, the streams, the bliss of heaven
  How much more inviting and real
  Not hard then to live in transit

  Call me lazy, call me careless
  Broken windows, faulty locks,
  Without repairs, I don’t come a ‘rock

  Smooth serene sailing
  Know I’m in fleeting moment
  Turbulence n torrid weather leaves me unfazed

  A stop under a shade of a tree
  That’s what our whole life is to be
  The vision of heaven is enough to sustain

  Call it lazy, indifference or whatever
  It’s wonderful to be in –Alhamdulillah
  Either which way, it’s sabr n shukr ullah

  May I stay away from ingratitude n kufr
  May I not fall in fakhr or kibr
  May I learn to be appropriate to the moment

  If faulty doors need to be fixed
  Hot n cold water taps need to be mixed
  Let me attend to, not take risks

  Ya Rabb it is so wonderful to be in transit
  When I’m tired I can always rest and sit
  Yet so joyful to be of use to fellow travellers

  Shift gears, talk multiple languages
  Assist wherever the need be
  My only role to be of assistance

  Airports such a wonderful place
  Baggage free, carefree
  Free to help, no strings attached

  Pure good with no hidden agenda
  Pleasure to be in a serene smile
  Allah is the only one to dial

  May good deeds accrue
  The sins washed away, left with very few
  Haqq may I totally imbue

  Life is beautiful because it’s in transit

  © Najma Ansari
  4 February 2006, Norwood

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• Imagine Imagine

  Imagine

  Imagine, imagine the days to come
  When the sky is clear and there is no sun
  Imagine, imagine the nights to be
  The sky is clear and no stars to see

  Imagine, imagine the time of gloom
  The night of doom, there is no moon
  Imagine, imagine the times again
  The hovering clouds that have no rain

  Imagine, imagine the days to come
  The sky is clear but there is no sun
  Imagine, imagine a world of fear
  But there is no place to run

  Imagine imagine the eyes that see
  But body and soul that isn’t free
  Ears that hear, but filled with fear
  Eyes that won’t shed a tear

  Imagine imagine hearts gone cold
  All in all humanity is sold

  © Najma Ansari
  15 Dec 1992 Aligarh

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• Muslim Joys

  Muslim Joys

  Joys for Muslims are of many a kind
  But to them we are mostly blind
  A family that wakes up for fajr prayer
  Walks to the mosque in absence of traffic blare
  The blessings of a meal without TV

  Muslim joys are of many a kind
  Some we know some we’ve left behind
  A family together to talk and see
  Hearing the Qur’an before you go to bed
  Clears the brain, lightens the head

  With sharing, caring and forbearance
  We are now at variance
  The joy of courtesy to elders,
  The genuine giving children time
  These are joys that aren’t just mine

  The bliss of a helping hand
  Guiding someone, showing the way
  Accentuates, praising Allah all day
  For making possible
  Deeds that are noble and grand

  Muslim joys are endless in time
  More venues open to serve mankind
  More opportunities to worship and praise
  Technology harnessed for better ways
  A few joys of the Muslim kind

  © Najma Ansari
  4/6/98 London

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• Autumn leaves, Fall trees

  Autumn leaves, Fall trees

  Leaves of autumn fall
  Crunching under feet
  Carpeting the street
  Each one has its call

  Each drop of leaf
  Recorded somewhere
  Identity it has
  Known somewhere

  Crushed under foot
  A purpose it served
  Some shade it gave
  Somewhere

  Colour of each leaf
  Unique and blends
  Its position unique
  In space and time

  The picture complete
  The dot per inch
  In the life of a tree
  The leaf has a special role

  The vivid yellow, red and rust
  Give joy before they turn to dust
  The waning sun at dusk
  Shines on falling leaves.

  Fall trees
  Shed leaves
  Each noted
  Record posted

  Gave shade
  Of all shades
  Red, rust and yellow
  Underfoot crushed

  ©Najma Ansari
  15.5.2010 Johannesburg

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• Bridge

  Bridge
  Over insurmontables
  Connect here to hereafter
  Transit point
  Off one plane and on to another

  Bridge over
  The Now and barzakh
  Miles long or
  In an instant crossed
  A flash and games over

  Curtain up
  Cross over
  Flash of an instant
  No resting place

  Bridge
  No building place
  Transit under a tree
  Gone to eternity
  A link between moments

  We create our own bridges
  To what we connect
  Harvest reaped
  On sincerity seeds

  ©Najma Ansari
  14.6.13 Johannesburg

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• Dunya for Akhirah

  Dunya for Akhirah

  Allah asked us ‘alasto be rabbikum?1
  In unison we said ‘qalu bala 2
  If we remember that, we are in falaah
  In heaven we’ll be greeted with As salaam alaikum3

  Allah said he created us only for his worship4
  His alone is the rububiya, lordship
  The imprint of covenant is on my soul
  Obey his ruling should be my only goal

  Serving humanity would ooze out of me
  Following the commands would set me free
  Satanic traits kept at bay
  If, to the nafs I don’t fall prey

  To want, demand and earth desire
  Creates turmoil, exhausts and tires
  Each wrong, messed up relationship
  Adds to heaviness and hardship

  The jahannam kept ablaze
  Asks ‘are there any more to come’ 5
  We are ever so dumb
  Thought of akhirah does not faze

  Dunya, only a testing ground
  If our ears are plugged to the sound
  Of akhirah and its surety
  We’d live a life of purity

  We plan and plan and plan
  For a future that’s not so certain
  We don’t seem to give a damn
  About death that’s ever so certain

  The Earth is given the command
  He who runs after you – exhaust him
  He, who serves Allah, serve him
  We aren’t here to demand

  Pole position in Akhirah I want
  Demand from creation I can’t
  All blessings that come to us
  Let’s acknowledge and thank Allah without a fuss

  Of goodness on earth
  There is no dearth
  Our selfishness causes pain
  Our shortcomings brings no gain

  My dad always said
  The more you give the more you get
  His soul on goodness and service was fed
  Mending relationships, no opportunity let

  The power of goodwill, honour and respect
  Putting others first, not only in retrospect
  Soars the spirit to the heaven in wonder
  As are in awe, even lightning and thunder6

  If we can put away our baggage
  Of ill will, ego and garbage
  Not be closed, cagey and suspicious
  Good thought are only auspicious

  It isn’t an airy fairy, wishy washy way
  If in touch with covenant we truly are
  The crap of dunya falls away
  We’ll see akhirah is not so far

  Caught in the dunya is shaytan’s scheme
  The glitter, glamour has such an appeal7
  But hollow, fake and so unreal
  For those with an eye for the unseen

  May it be rammed into our brain
  Our purpose on earth and the gain
  Anger and hasad is shaytan’s game
  From all the crap may we truly refrain

  The dunya only to win us Akhirah
  Our place in heaven, bottom line goal
  From the crap of dunya save our soul
  Turn to Allah forever seek his Rahmah

  © Najma Ansari
  9/12/2007 Johannesburg

  1 Am I not your Lord? – Surah 7:172 (Covenant with all our Ruhs before we were born)
  2 Indeed you are – Surah 7:172 cont. (we said that at ruh level)
  3 Surah 10:10; 36:58
  4 Surah 51:56
  5 Surah 50;30
  6 Surah13:13
  7 Surah 18:7

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• The Party

  The Party
  Ya Allah. Let me prepare for the party
  Let me prepare for the party that is to be
  Let me prepare for that which is sure to be
  Let me plan and prepare for the party to be

  Ya Allah Let my beautiful dress be one of taqwa
  Let the gift I take be my good deeds
  Let my cooking be free from the spice of life
  Let it be free from ghibah, hasad, rancour and strife

  Ya Allah May I use all this time remembering the party
  Where entry depends on the gifts I take
  Y a Rabb make it be that it is a load full of good deeds
  Make me be ready for this party that’s not a fake

  Ya Rabb this party is for real, this party is 100% halaal
  Ya Rabb, you’d be happy if I prepare for this
  May your help and guidance be with me so not to miss
  This time you’ve given me Ya dhul Jalaal

  Ya Allah Let my dress of taqwa be a blemish free skirt
  Let me ensure I don’t stain it with any dirt
  Let my blouse be jewelled with the love of you
  May I be rightly guided in a comfortable shoe

  May the cake I bake be iced with ikhlas
  May the deeds I take to my grave be packed with ehsan
  May I clean out my kitchen of crap and garbage
  May I leave a spotless clean kitchen with no kibr or sin

  Ya Allah let me not carry to the party any arrogance or shirk
  Let me be feather light and free of ill will and sins
  Through tawbah n istaghfar Ya Rabb let me off load my wrongs
  With Afu and generosity Ya Rabb, wipe clean my slate

  Ya Allah allow my entry to the heavenly party
  Let me carry in there a loaded plate
  Full of ehsan, full of ikhlas, full of love to see your face
  And as an insan e kamil may I be graced

  Ya Allah Let me find at the party
  My place with the shuhada and sualiheen
  With the Anbiya, the khalifa tur rashideen
  Ya Allah make me qualify as one of the abideen
  Ameen

  © Najma Ansari, 16 November 2006, Johannesburg

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• Shortcuts

  Shortcuts

  Oh how we love shortcuts
  Language full of ifs and buts
  No time for Qur’anic details
  Time I have to file my nails

  The course is too long
  The workshop prolonged
  Can’t we have a summary?
  After all, I’m in a hurry

  For my soapie I do have time
  I don’t have to use my mind
  Two hours for a Qur’an class
  Sorry to miss, I’ll have to pass

  The dunya beckons I can’t forgo
  The Qur’an the first I have to let go
  I trust Allah, and jannah guaranteed
  Never mind if I get the very back seat

  Shortcuts loved in the deen
  At the gathering just be seen
  If with the froth we can make do
  Let’s leave the essence to the few

  Have patience for the fruit
  Take time to dress and suit
  Eye for detail all takes time
  For the deen, here’s a dime

  Takes time to plant a seed
  Wait for it to cook and feed
  For Qur’an no staying power
  Can’t wait for the gems to flower

  Instant remedies and short cuts
  Placebo pills for the mutts
  Keep busy at the periphery
  Short cut to quick delivery

  Effort in Qur’an – much too much
  Give me a mantra over lunch
  Time to learn and ponder hard
  After school we did discard

  The dunya beckons and all its wares
  Careers and business and all the snares
  Time for akhirah not really there
  Shortcuts in deen seem quite fair

  Shorten the course, the workshop
  My own things I cannot stop
  If it fits in my schedule
  I’ll come – iman refuel

  But keep it short, keep it brief
  I have little time, appointments to keep
  Investment in akhirah a lost cause
  Unless in a shortcut, in the pause

  ©Najma Ansari
  6 May 2010, Johannesburg

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• Giving meaning

  Giving meaning

  Giving meaning where there is no meaning to give
  Giving value when there is nothing to value
  Giving importance to what’s not important

  Symbolism, cultures norms set up on a pedestal
  All manmade, accepted, valued and held in esteem
  It’s insignificance not seen

  It boggles the angels as they see
  Them pave their way to hell1
  Given free choice, a Sunnah and Book

  Against this backdrop there is
  A way of doing and being
  Steeped in Haqq, truth and reality

  The earth made beautiful
  Not to sink and wallow in,
  Not to be bogged down

  To be in Alhamdulillah Subhanallah
  And Allah o Akbar every which way.
  Seeing the new dawn as the new dawn

  Each day’s deeds and baggage
  Sent forth, nothing in hand
  The journey made light

  No meaning to give
  Nothing to set on a pedestal
  Nothing more important

  Than to see Allah’s signs and decree
  Abounding all around
  In perfect harmony and synch

  Flowers blossom and bloom
  When the environment around is perfect
  Or else they wilt away

  May I be the environment that is
  Conducive for people to bloom and excel
  Safe from my tongue and hands

  May I be the medium Allah uses
  For perfection to be witnessed
  A mirror to the mu’min – a solace to man

  The capacity to be as still as a graveyard
  And as active as a beehive
  And to know when to be which!

  Moment to moment come from nothingness
  Not to be a meaning making machine
  Surrender to Allah’s will – to it our will align

  Giving up habits, customs, cultures
  My way of doing/being can be used for Choice –
  Can I let go of my need to plan,

  At any and every instant

  And operate from what’s appropriate
  Default mode works for machines and robots
  For mankind free will of choice is Key

  Choosing to make a difference
  Recognizing what is IS
  The choice to choose Haqq

  ©Najma Ansari
  June 11, 2012
  Johannesburg

  1 Surah 67 ayah 8

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• Excellence – Best use of Time

  Excellence – Best use of Time

  What is the best use of time
  Worry about me and what is mine?
  Where’s the loss and where’s the gain
  Helping others or running after fame?

  Is it all about me and my needs
  Is it always the ego to feed
  What gives me pleasure, my joys
  The earth my playground, my toys

  Why is it I do, what I do
  Self enrichment and pleasure too
  Where’s my attention
  It determines my intention

  Where’s the belief and the good deeds to follow
  The race of dunya like there’s no tomorrow
  Where is the encouragement, stance for truth
  Is there time for patience, see it’s fruit

  Where do I put my use of time
  Waste it away till its end of game
  Wake up on the last chime
  It was all about me, my name

  I win when you win
  Otherwise both land in the bin
  Its mutual help and mutual support
  To earn us the best report

  Endless opportunity for good
  Appropriate to the moment is the catch
  When I leave behind all my ‘should’
  Excellence in time I can match

  A time to help a time to serve
  In the dunya I don’t lose my nerve
  Priorities in place see what’s at stake
  Keep the main thing sifted from the fake

  Why do I attend endless courses?
  What’s the compulsion – egoistic forces
  Does it help serve humanity
  Or personal gratification, only vanity

  Where’s the gain, where the loss
  In this time warp, who’s the boss
  End game and where to then
  Depends on belief ingrained in men

  Time to use – Now
  Consolidate goodness – how?
  Mutual support, be true
  Patience supreme to never rue

  Then there’s no loss, only gain
  We kept the main thing the main.

  ©Najma Ansari
  7 May 2010, Johannesburg

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• Blessings

  Ya Allah
  Is it a blessing to see kufr
  Is a blessing to see lack of salaah
  Is it a blessing to witness indifference
  In it all there must be an element of shukr

  The negative highlights the positive
  Gratitude for sensibility to deal with insensitivity
  Careful about humility – away with kibr
  So easy for arrogance to creep in

  The ego forever bouncing out of turn
  More powerful than 70 Shaytan
  The only option for a Mumin
  To be in sabr or shukr

  Be thankful in the face of kufr
  Hold firm to the blessings of iman
  Know blessing abound all around
  Pray for the vision that makes that clear

  The blessings of living between hope and fear
  To keep one on track – never derail
  Aim for the sirat ul mustaqeem
  Make sure we don’t fail

  Blessed to be born Muslims
  Striving to be mumins
  Hoping to reach the mukhlis1
  Be in company of the Mukhlas2

  Blessings infinite all around
  The ink will dry the pen consumed
  Endless refills, never enough to detail
  The universe filled with blessings

  Every day has new moves
  Discover new joys new truths
  Blessings in the sorrow
  Blessings in each tomorrow

  May we be blessed with the basirah to see
  May we manage to keep rancour at bay
  In the end see the mercy in grief and anger
  Channel it appropriately to strengthen iman

  Let the Haqq seep into the very marrow
  Yaqeen in qada wa qadr be confirmed
  No dodgy wishy washy faith
  Taking us down dead alleys and trails

  Let our faith be confirmed by action
  Refrain from retaliation and reaction
  The blessings of what is on our plate
  Be always apparent, a beautiful state

  Ya Rabb to present to you in Akhirah
  May we look forward to the day of Qiyamah
  May we be assured our place in jannah
  May we see blessings in everything – the Rahmah
  © Najma Ansari
  8 June 2006 Johannesburg

  1 Sincere ones
  2 The chosen ones

  September 6, 2017

  ---

• Old Age

  Old Age

  As I begin to bend with age
  Let me give up anger and rage
  Allah’s put me in perpetual ruku
  Maybe it’s something I was reluctant to do

  Ya Rabbi let me live in dignity
  As my soul is taken from me
  May the young cover the old
  Engulf them in a loving fold

  Forgetfulness, leaks and lapses
  Be treated with an embracing clasp
  May the wings of love be lowered
  No scowls, impatience when I am slower

  May I do what I need to do
  In old age I don’t regret and rue
  As the wheels of life come to full swing
  Let me not suffer and come unhinged

  The more I care for the elderly
  Feed on patience, compassion regularly
  My moments of end can be my best
  In the company of dear ones made to rest

  Enfold my mum with love and grace
  Value the time, her slow pace
  Listen to stories of long ago
  This time and moment I mustn’t forego

  I see the old, bent and grey
  Did to the dunya they fall prey
  Upright, erect they must have walked
  Humbled now, they barely talk

  May we learn and see
  Be just in appropriate humility
  Ready to eat the humble pie
  Before, in remorse we rue and wry

  Stiff necks, and strident walks
  The earth beneath marvels and balks
  The same preening, pride filled faces,
  Will find their home in miserable places

  As sure as death comes to all of us
  Let’s do for our elders without a fuss
  Where they are, is where we’ll be
  Let’s deal with it with quiet dignity

  May I soften my stand, be arrogance free
  Treat my elders compassionately
  Blinkers off, see the road ahead
  Nothing more really needs to be said.

  © Najma Ansari
  13 December 2009, Johannesburg

  September 4, 2017

  ---

• Wudhu

   

  Wudhu

  Ya Rabb let me learn to do my wudhu
  The way I’m really supposed to do
  I abide by its shariah
  I need to imbibe its haqiqa

  Ya Rabb let me learn to do wudhu
  To wash away the junk, keep what’s true
  Keep me focussed, clear my mind
  So in my salaah, khushu I find

  Ya Allah, make me do my wudhu
  In a way that’s ever so true
  Even if it’s from a running tap
  Forgive me the wastage, rid me of crap

  Ya Allah make the wudhu my shield
  In my grave be my saviour
  Let the wudhu be my toner
  Let it be the best of cleanser

  May the wudhu act as a seal
  Free me from negative feels
  Rid me of the whisperings of shaytan
  So good he is at derailing me from iman

  Let me be free from all ill trace
  Let the nur reflect on my soul and face
  Let the beauty of wudhu
  Give solace and may joy shine through

  Ya Rabb I thank my parents and spouse
  For giving me foundation, so not to grouse
  They gave me iman, he gave me time
  So I keep on track, don’t fall in crime

  Ya Rabb thank you for my siblings,
  Their spouses and their offsprings
  Thanks for my sons, I wish them well
  May we all be free from the waft of hell

  Ya Rabb thank you for my friends and clan
  May Akhirah be visible in all our plans
  May the wudhu give us a shining face
  Sorrow and rancour leave no trace

  Ya Rabb teach me the wudhu so sincere
  Let it be the best of my gear
  When I stand in salaah my focus be firm
  Let there be no distraction, pollution or germ

  Ya Rabb as I cross the bridge over hell
  Make my wudhu act as gel
  Armour me against the flames of fire
  Truly it’s heaven I only desire

  To see your face I truly yearn
  This time I have to fully earn
  If I can win in heaven a seat
  It would be such a miracle, such a feat

  Ya Allah let my wudhu be so real
  The joy of my salaah I can really feel
  Distractions and shaytan kept at bay
  Khushu n kudhu in what I pray

  Ya Rabb If only I learn to do my wudhu
  Without it being heavy and a burden to do
  May I find meaning in it and direction too
  It will make my salaah wonderful too

  I can also keep anger at bay
  Stop the shaytan from having a say
  The water so pure and full of healing
  Wash away the sins, leave the best of feelings

  Ya Rabb the day I learn to do my wudhu
  In the way I’m supposed to do
  My salaah will carry more meaning
  Keep me away from all that is demeaning

  Ya Rabb I pray for attention and ikhlas
  Purify my intention, such a hard task
  Ya Rabb, sort me out, clear the muck
  The rituals and habits in which I’m stuck

  Throw in mercy in my wudhu
  Let my salaah be worthy of you
  Let there be good in all that I do
  Ya Rabb my love for you be ever so true
  Ya Rabb in this test see me through

  ©Najma Ansari
  17 November 2007, Johannesburg

   

  September 4, 2017

  ---

• Verse in the Qur’an

  Verse in the Qur’an

  A verse in the Qur’an that speaks to me:
  Good guys will have no fear no sorrow
  This is what it means to me:
  They live not in the past nor in tomorrow

  They live in the now, in taqwa abound
  Goodness they amass, in it surround
  Each moment of act
  Appropriate and compact

  This way on earth
  There is no sorrow or fear
  Of excellence there is a dearth
  In taqwa, Allah always held dear

  On these good guys of iman
  There is no khauf nor huzn1
  No expectation, no demand
  Life not seen through a prism

  This beautiful verse of the Qur’an
  Comes oft enough to strengthen iman
  As ever valid it is today
  May we be one of this Way

  © Najma Ansari
  Johannesburg Dec 2009

  1 Fear or sorrow

  September 4, 2017

  ---

• Social Media

  Social media networks

   

  Social media networking sites

  Allow for self expression without a fight

   

  Stay anonymous and have a say

  Influence the events of the day

  Across cultures and divides

  Porous borders with nothing to hide

   

  Civil society redefined

  Frustrations left behind

  Courtesies and protocols put in place

  Responsible restraint in the face

   

  No insults no mudslinging

  No violence, shot flinging

  Demonstrations defined by peace

  Hits authorities with unease

   

  Ill equipped to handle mass protests

  Caught on the back foot, amazed at the unrest,

  The cover of fear blown through the roof

  Governments no longer can stay aloof

   

  Too little, too late they missed the boat

  Over oppressed people they can no longer gloat

   

  A generation empowered by social media,

  The digital web spills in streets and stadia

  Incredible empowerment in having your say

  Gone is the fear of the oppressive day

   

  Pandora’s box flung open

  New equations have begun

  Outer oppression and tight controls ebb

  In the face of the World Wide Web

   

  Who’s in charge and who’s in control,

  They will be the ones caught on parole

  Accountability catches up

  Corruption of power and all the muck

   

  Face book and Twitter’s tweets

  Helped in this fantastic feat

  Domino effect to ripple through

  An area where troubles did brew

   

  In the shifting sands of change

  Social media networks will engage

   

  ©Najma Ansari

  March 7, 2011 – Johannesburg

  September 4, 2017

  ---

• Ruh and Nafs

  Ruh and Nafs

  The ruh in my body gives life to me
  It is God given – ‘min amri rabbi’1
  Call it the soul or spirit it be

  The nafs is my decision making machine
  The more I refine it, keep it clean
  It aligns well with the ruh – keeps life serene

  You can call it ego, self or soul
  Freewill given for it to control
  Choose with it the ultimate goal

  The ruh rejoices when to it the nafs aligns
  It is the bit in me that connects to the sublime
  Each of our wondrous cores it defines

  In turmoil we put ourselves through
  When our nafs we don’t groom and brew
  If without training, without guidance, like weeds we grew

  The heart is prism and home to the ruh
  Call it qalb and fuad too
  It can resonate with all that is true

  The mind and thinking pure will be
  When the heart is polished and blemish free
  Things as they are, we then really see

  The radiance of the ruh shines bright
  And the nafs is on a smooth flight
  The heart pumps wonders in full might

  Good will, good cheer will resonate
  When the ruh I don’t suffocate
  The wayward nafs I don’t placate

  The nafs is what defines my character
  Makes me Muslim or turns me into a monster
  I can be refined or be quite sinister

  Egged on to evil by a ‘nafs ul ammara bi sou’2
  From all humaneness I come unglue
  The heart, a black hole, all crap it imbues
  The heart can be seat only for one
  Put in there the dunya and come undone
  Or the love of Allah and heaven can be won

  A polished heart – prism for the ruh
  To shine on the nafs ul mutmaina3 all that is true
  That’s what will take us to jannah and through

  A serene nafs needs to be nurtured
  Selfishness squashed, the self structured
  Freewill, decision making contained, not fractured

  The waswas of Shaytan kept at bay
  Let it have minimum say
  ‘Else the freewill will truly flay

  If the nafs we can truly groom
  Our lives will only blossom and bloom
  No sorrow or fear4, no horizons of gloom

  Mind, body and ruh of mine
  Will connect to thine
  For the love of Allah the sublime

  A mumin’s heart reflects the heart of a mumin
  Beyond dunya’s dust and din
  Souls in affinity, totally akin

  All this, when we get a sense of ruh and nafs
  The heart for Allah without a fuss
  The mind subservient, not full of pus

  Journey to akhirah then quite serene
  With a polished heart kept clean
  Use the dunya, work for the deen

  Ruh, qalb and nafs in a straight line
  Siratul mustaqeem5 to the Divine
  I wish my being would so be defined

  © Najma Ansari
  31 December 2009 (after Fajr)
  Johannesburg
  1 Surah Bani Isra’il – 17:85
  2 Surah Yusuf -12:53

  3 Surah Fajr – 89:27
  4 Surah Anaam – 6:48
  5 Surah Fatiha – 1:6

  September 4, 2017

  ---

• Defying Perceptions

  Defying Perceptions

   

  I see a niqabi

  I think she’s oppressed

  I get to know her

  Find I’m impressed

   

  I see a scantily clad

  I think she’s glad

  Get to know her

  Find she’s sad

   

  Defy perceptions, not judge

  A soul lives

  Behind each dress

  In joy and times of stress

   

  I see a scraggly beard

  Feel it an eyesore

  He’s the only one though

  With eyes on the floor

   

  And the smart clean shaven

  I admire the suit

  What’s inside

  It could be soot

   

  Need to defy perceptions

  Think out of the box

   

  Najma Ansari

  July 3, 2016/Ramadhan 27, 1437

  Johannesburg

   

  September 2, 2017

  ---

• Rosebush

  Rosebush

  Each thorn is

  a potential rose

  On each rose stem many thorns

   

  Any thorn can bloom to flower

  Any thorn turn to bud, to rose

   

  Seen thus it loses the power

  Seen thus, it no longer hurts

   

  Every thorn becomes an opportunity

  Awareness sets in, grows

   

  So in life too, each stab to the heart

  An opportunity to cleanse and burnish

   

  Seen thus, no stab is a stab

  But a welcome tool to grow and blossom

   

  Reach new heights, fly

  In each thorn see the Rose

   

  Some blossom some don’t

  For a thousand hardship some ease

   

  Affliction does not freeze

  Goodness still oozes out.

   

  ©Najma Ansari

  10.10.10 Johannesburg

  September 1, 2017

  ---

• Clutching at straws

  Clutching at straws

  Clutching at straws

  Till I make a haystack

  Sit atop to stay a float

  As it begins to seep in water

  Begins to sink I start afresh

  Clutching at straws

  Is what life is about

  Seasons of lush joys abound

  Autumn winds blows, scatter the moment

  In hibernation I go to renew my iman

  To rid me of rancour, envy and anger

  Till peace is infused, seeped through the skin

  Drenched to my soul

  I emerge again for seasons afresh

  Clutching at straws and deeds to match

  When the haystack sinks

  I pray my deeds will carry me through

  While the straw sinks, deserts me

  May the deeds sent to heaven amass

  In the cycle of life the rope of Allah

  I always clutch

  © Najma Ansari

  27 September 2009

  September 1, 2017

  ---

• Comatose

  Comatose

  Desiring to be comatose

  When of depression there’s an overdose

   

  A magnet of negative energy

  Is depression – freeze in lethargy

   

  Pill popping

  Devils droppings

   

  Great to be in coma

  Away from dunya’s drama

   

  Better still, wishes to pop off

  May yield some sympathy @ knockoff

   

  Can’t wish for death

  It’s sin to desire last breath

   

  So how wonderful to be comatose

  The body still, the mind froze

   

  Imprisoned in the chambers of negativity

  Wallow in whisperings of imagined captivity

   

  What would it be to be in coma

  Perceived freedom from trauma

   

  Iman @ low ebb

  Ensnarled in the ‘waswas’ web

   

  The magic wand waved

  Frozen into inaction – caved

   

  Too scared to budge

  Scarred in a sludge

   

  Yet the light of iman shines

  Faint, faded behind battle lines

   

  To transport beyond time

  To truth, uniquely sublime

   

  A comatose state

  Imbibes a human trait

   

  When despair and dismay sets in

  Alienated, can’t fit in

   

  In neat boxes of planned paths

  Tumult, uproar n ruckus the aftermath

   

  Twilight of iman still remains

  In the face of scorn and disdain

   

  Labeling states, giving meaning

  Eats away into a mumin’s feelings

   

  Lash out and be laid low

  Spill the beans, bitterness flows

   

  In a quagmire of quicksand

  Safe from slipping, needs a firm hand

   

  Rope of Allah that never sags

  No matter how deep and long it drags

   

  Light of iman will shine through

  No matter how big the bugbear grew

   

  As rain cleanses the earth

  Flushed out the bottleneck n firth

   

  Inexorably pushed on, face the music

  No tumultuous event remains an epic

   

  April2011 – Johannesburg

  Najma Ansari

  September 1, 2017

  ---

• Crisis

  Crisis

   

  Crisis is low self esteem

  Crisis is feeling alone

  Crisis is unshared grief

  Crisis is strained relationships

   

  Turn the page and see

   

  Blessing is the breathing

  Given that it’s a gift

  Feel everything function

  Tooth and nails all in place

   

  Crisis evaporates

  Gratitude replaces

  Perfection manifests

  Sorrow dissipates

   

  22/11/2015

  2:50 am

  September 1, 2017

  ---

• Qalb e Saleem

  Qalb1 e Saleem2

  Aim for jannah with a qalb saleem
  Stay in humility, be haleem3
  Polish, shine, burnish the heart
  Know what to do, where to start
  

  Avoid shirk, the major, major sin
  Kibr the next one to bin
  A heart to keep rust free, no raan4
  With tauba, istighfar and best bayaan
  

  Zikrullah for itmenane5 qalb
  Lights up the serenity bulb
  Diseases of the heart avoid like a plague
  Stay away from the doubtful and vague
  

  Good company helps a qalb saleem
  Vie for love and mercy from the Rabb ur Raheem6
  Learn what to avoid, what to aspire for
  It will help to get to jannah’s door
  

  From hasad7 and Shaytanic traits refrain
  Before too long it will be end of game
  Let it be with a qalb saleem
  We face the generous Rabb ul Kareem8
  

  © Najma Ansari
  29 January 2010 Jhb

  
  1 Heart, core
  2 Wholesome, sound
  3 Gentle, forbearing
  4 Rust
  5 Tranquil
  6 The Lord most merciful
  7 Jealousy
  8 The Lord most Kind

  September 1, 2017

  ---

• Poorest of the Poor

  Poorest of the Poor

   

  I will be the poorest of the poor

  If my salaah I don’t cure

  Chances are, the way I say my salaah

  It will be flung in my face in akhirah

   

  As I make a ritual niyyah

  With Allah o Akbar I take my stand

  My mind flies away to the dunya

  Into meadows, fields and endless sand

   

  I change my posture – a moment of attention

  Gone again to a thousand distractions

  The sajdah is sometimes with ikhlas

  As the forehead and nose press the grass

   

  On soft comfortable carpets

  My thoughts turn to the pits

  A mechanical salaah is all I perform

  By tashahud the wondering mind is informed

   

  Time for attention it is near the end

  That is the message that is now sent

  Such a lousy prayer makes me so poor

  If only a 100% attention span I can ensure

   

  Ya Rabb

  I pray and pray till I pray no more

  Make my salaah not of the poor

  If it’s flung in my face

  There is nothing for me but disgrace

   

  Poorest of the poor I’d truly be

  If my deeds are found empty

  Lacking sincerity – not an iota of ikhlas

  The final test I may not pass

   

  If I did this for show

  And that for a glow

  If acknowledgment made goodness flow

  Truly my deeds will be so hollow

   

  Ya Rabb

  In tauba ad istighfar I need to be

  From all things worldly I need to flee

  I worry and worry till I worry no more

  That I may fall flat on the floor

   

  
  

   

  The least good sadaqa I can do for my limbs

  Is stay away from wrong, indulge in no sin

  The least I can do for myself

  Harm no one if I can not help

   

  The rights a fellow Muslims has on me

  His greeting I return better or equally

  His invitation I accept gratefully

  His query for advice I fulfil beautifully

   

  When he sneezes I invoke Allah’s mercy on him

  In his sickness I must visit him

  At his death be at his janazah

  Pray for him, for his falaah

   

  Ya Rabb please let it be

  My basket of good deeds does not empty

  My deeds not given away on Yaum al Hashr

  Make my attention be pure and whole at Fajr

   

  Ya Rabb I pray for my salaah

  To be in khushoo and kudhu

  Please Ya Rabb put my mind at rest

  Let it be in salaah for it to be the best

   

  Keep Shaytan and waswas at bay

  Let me wholeheartedly pray

  Each word each action be true and pure

  Please from my distractions let me be cured.

   

  ©Najma Ansari, Johannesburg

  14 May 2008 Norwood

  September 1, 2017

  ---

• Sweet solace of salaah

  Sweet solace of salaah

  Sweet solace of salaah
  Seeped deep in dua

  Awareness of position, posture and place
  Earnest, eyeing of sujood’s space

  Pores relaxed to rhythmic breath
  Feet firm, hands at rest

  Attentive mind to word said
  Skin shivers with hairs on end

  In jammah imbibing the Qiraah
  Tears flow when understanding the ayah

  Personal sujood long and profound
  Nothing to distract, no outside sound

  A vision of miraj present in tashahud
  Image of angels echoing the shahadah

  Breath steady in ruku
  Pleasure getting up to hamd and kushoo

  Gratitude in salawaat to the Rasul
  Hope to meet him by the Kawthur pool

  The universality of salaam n dua
  End the sweet solace of salaah

  ©Najma Ansari
  7.6.2011 Johannesburg

  September 1, 2017

  ---

• Counting the Cost

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/counting-the-costs” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

   

  Counting the Cost

  From birth to death
  Till the last breath
  The cost of energy spent
  On draining emotions causing dents

  The garbage collected
  Blurs what gets reflected
  Dig deep through debris
  Find what sets you free

  \Iman the only thing true
  Hold to that, and win through
  If gratitude is intact
  The cost has no impact

  Cost counting matters
  Only when iman falters
  On judgment day
  Balance sheets in a tray

  That’s the time to count the cost
  Don’t worry now of joys lost
  Ultimate goal paradise

  Never mind if of dunya you get a smaller slice

  ©Najma Ansari
  October 81,2011
  Johannesburg

  August 31, 2017

  ---

• Destination Death

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/destination-death” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

   

  Destination Death

  Arrive to destination death

  As you take your last breath

  It creeps up to you with stealth

  Can’t stop it with your wealth

  No matter what your state of health

   

  Watch out for destination death

  In every corner it can be felt

  Like an albatross around your neck

  Or a Damocles sword overhead

  Any moment to strike you dead

   

  Anticipate your destination

  No last minute scramble

  Collect belongings to get off

  Air freight before – far ahead

  Good deeds – to make your bed

   

  Final destination yet to come

  Death an interlude just begun

  Welcome with open arms

  Ever ready to knock off, disarm

  Calling from on high do no harm

   

  Destination death a prelude

  The chapter there, doesn’t conclude

  Final sifting on judgment day

  Leave behind goodness so others pray

  Appointment with death – pray it’s a happy day

   

  ©Najma Ansari

  22.8.10 Johannesburg

  August 30, 2017

  ---

• Love of Qur’an and its teachers

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/love-of-quran-and-its-teachers” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

   

  Love of Qur’an and its teachers

  I love those who know the Qur’an
  I envy those who teach the Qur’an
  I marvel at those who read beautifully
  I honour those who understand it thoroughly

  They are those I wish to emulate
  Learn to imbibe, think and contemplate
  Their footsteps I wish to follow
  In their company I’d love to wallow

  I’d love to be one of them
  Know Arabic root words, derivatives and stems
  Background and history drilled into me
  Qur’anic ethos seep out of me

  Drenched in the book of Allah
  Mind blowing – complete Subhanallah
  Best of all, it gets you falaah
  Intellectually stimulating, and jannah

  No PhD, no rocket scientist, no IQ tests
  is more fascinating than the revealed text
  Our psychology it lays open and bare
  Challenge its wisdom, if you dare

  The mufassir – the ilham* they are gifted
  Profound insights for us they unwrap
  Immersed in Qur’an, ayat searched and sifted
  Threads found, details to untap

  Who better than one who teaches Qur’an
  Teaches its wonders, logic and burhan**
  Emulate them in their company be
  With tauhid and ikhlas, living Qur’an practically

  I envy none like the knower of tafsirs
  I envy no dunya, no fame, no fate or taqdeer
  Gravitate towards the lovers of Qur’an
  Arabic, fine distinctions and furqan***

  Depths and subtle profound messages
  Lost in hurried reading of the passages
  Stop and ponder – why this word
  Each time you’ll find something new, unheard

  It is Subhanallah every which way
  Alhamdulillah for something new each day
  I love to bask in the company of teachers of Qur’an
  Endless learning, in humility, of the merciful Rahman

  Is it for mental stimuli or something more?
  I pray Ya Rabb; it is for the akhirah in store
  Is it for show or worldly gain?
  I pray it’s Allah’s pleasure I wish to gain

  Ya Rabb I pray, from the bottom of my core
  To see your face, to be at jannah’s door
  Qur’an in my soul to carry to my grave
  May it bring me light make me brave

  Ya Rabb expand my heart, make space in my brain
  In my every breath there be a Qur’anic refrain
  A walking Qur’an was our Rasul
  He left aside all that was fadhool****

  Your dunya beautiful, free from defect
  But not to run after in any respect
  Gratitude and thanks for the blessings abound
  Not there to abuse, to corrupt the ground

  Every assembly of Qur’anic teaching
  I love to find, am forever reaching
  Not to judge, criticise or compare
  But be Allah conscious, forever aware

  Thank Allah for all good things
  Seeing the wrong that falsehood brings
  Qur’an the true navigation tool
  Learn it; know it avoid being a fool

  A mine of know-how, edicts and wonders
  A powerhouse profound with splendours
  The threads and flow of themes
  The linkages, network and endless seams

  The senses refined in delight
  The shivers and goose bumps of awe it ignites
  Listen carefully to be inspired
  Nothing more to be desired

  The best gift, gifted to us
  Yet we fidget, fiddle and fuss
  A 100 excuses – we’ll miss the bus
  Chasing the dunya raising dust

  So easy to be with Qur’an Kareem
  All you bring is a qalb-e-saleem*****
  You make the effort, see blessings flow
  The heart receives, ready to glow

  Imbed in me the love of the Qur’an
  Ya Rabbur Rahim, Rabbur Rahman
  Douse me with the love of Qur’an
  Ya Rabbul Kareem, Rabbul Musta’an
  ©Najma Ansari
  May 4, 2010, Johannesburg

  *inspiration  ** proofs  *** distinction, criteria
  ****useless, irrelevant *****pure wholesome heart

  August 29, 2017

  ---

• Magnifying glass

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/magnifying-glass” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

   

  Magnifying glass

  Discover the use of the magnifying glass
  To skim over faults, criticism bypass
  Apply appropriately in time and place
  Between anger and response see the space

  In that space is the option of choice
  A response that can make me rejoice
  The decision that is uniquely mine
  Consequences it will truly define

  Magnifying glass on a reptile brain
  Watch it at work, the energy drain
  Awareness helps the waswas stop
  Deep breathing, see anger levels drop

  Zoom out when in blaming mode
  See the bigger picture, the ethics code
  Serve humanity, be closer to Allah
  Imbibe Qur’anic values, find falaah*

  The magnifying glass a wonderful tool
  Awareness prevents one being the fool
  Between stimuli and response is the space
  The power of choice, a choice to grace\

  ©Najma Ansari
  Johannesburg 15 March 2010

  * success

  August 29, 2017

  ---

• Random acts of kindness

  Random acts of kindness

   

  Random acts of kindness

  Yield dividends unprecedented

  In ways inconceivable

   

  Random acts of kindness

  Go unnoticed on earth

  Collected in the heavens

   

  Like the ‘rajulun min aqsal madinate’

  Whose name is not mentioned

  Whose lineage remains unknown

   

  Unknown on earth

  In heaven he’s honoured

  For his care and concern

   

  Random acts of kindness

  Spontaneously spurt

  From core, goodness surfaces

   

  No agenda,

  For an instance

  Nafs aligns to Ruh

   

  Random acts of kindness

  Defy logic

  Carry sincerity

   

  Pure and pristine

  Unexpected

  Have impact

   

  Random acts of kindness

  Remembered long after

  Leave a sweet after taste

   

  Allows one to be free

  Inhibitions do not curtail

  Random acts of goodness

   

  19 June 2016

  After Sehri

   

  August 28, 2017

  ---

• Million Moments of Gratitude

  Million Moments of Gratitude

   

  A million moments of gratitude

  To offset the many moments of doldrums

  Change of scene, change of attitude

  Let go, choose to remain unstrung

   

  A thousand moments of hamd and shukr

  Followed by thousands of istighfaar

  To offset my moments of kufr

  I call on the Ghaffoor, the Ghaffaar

   

  A million moments of gratitude

  Lost things found, saved from mishap

  Angels working overtime at my ineptitude

  It’s infinite SubhanAllah, Glory uncapped

   

  Light bulb moments of inspiration

  A glimmer of Kashf*, through the porthole

  Heaven’s near in moments of desperation

  Ahad Ahad, to keep us whole

   

  A million moments of gratitude

  Seep through heart and soul

  In moments of pure solitude

  Ya Hadi – the only Goal

   

  A thousand moments of takbir

  Followed by thousands of salawaat

  Solace in knowing Al Khabir

  In charge of me and my halaat**

   

  If every breath can be

  A moment of shukr and hamd

  Heart beating a constant tasbeeh

  For an instant, Shaytaan I may have shunned

   

  Ya Rabb

  Give me millions of moments of shukr

  Every heartbeat aligned to your Will

  Salawaat to the one who taught us the dhikr

  Ya Rabb my waswas and wayward nafs truly kill

   

  May I live my million moments of life

  in shukr hamd, istighfaar n salawaat

  Free from self inflicted anguish and strife

  With the Rabb there, to fill my hajaat***

   

  Million moments of gratitude…

   

  Najma Ansari

  9 Feb 2016

  *unveiling  ** condition   *** needs

  August 28, 2017

  ---

• Silver Lining

  Silver lining

   

  See the silver lining in every cloud

  Feel the silk thread in every shroud

  Hear the soft heart in every crowd

  Smell the fragrance in fields ploughed

   

  With attitude of  gratitude

  See sorrow subdued

  Blessings renewed

  Rancour reduced

   

  Negativity flies away

  As judgement is kept at bay

  Reality of what is

  Seen truly for what it is

   

  Fatwas – critique the self

  Fixation to fix –  first the self

  Finger point to the self

  Learn – to forever forgive

   

  Then

  The silver lining will be seen

  The silk thread will be felt

  The soft heart will be heard

  The fragrant fields will be smelt

   

  24.8.17

  Joburg

   

  August 28, 2017

  ---

• Miracles

   

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/miracles” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

  Miracles

   

  Miracles lie in small spaces

  it needs an eye with special graces

  the miracle is in our faces

  the skin, the colour, the hair that laces

  of Divine hand see the traces

   

  Miracle lies in the bud that flowers

  the rain from heaven that showers

  miracles lie in feeling blessed

  seeing beauty despite the mess

  in every sorrow see the test

   

  Miracles lie when you surpass

  watch things through an hourglass

  this journey to a higher class

  miracle is in seeing glory

  knowing there’s another side to the story

   

  april 2015

  n ansari

  August 22, 2017

  ---

• Carbon footprints

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/carbon-footprints” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

   

  Carbon footprints

  Carbon footprints or thuma atba’a sababa*
  Follow the way, be ready for sajadah
  Use of resources to best capacity
  Recycle, maximise, and learn frugality

  Carbon footprints can’t justify piety
  Nor merry making, music or gaiety
  Wrappings, plastic, and fancy packaging
  Needn’t define the status, it’s so damaging

  Carbon footprints a modern term
  Or ingrained in the mumin’s pot and urn
  Israf**
  abhorred, balance maintained
  No gluttony, whim or desires to detain

  Carbon footprints for many a hajj
  From some things it is difficult to budge
  Fuel consumption, packed freezers and fridge
  Trees cut down to build on the ridge

  Carbon footprints, what a legacy
  So much disparity, such discrepancy
  For children and the rest of mankind
  The earth abused, oh never mind

  Carbon footprints boggle the mind,
  How is it we can be ever so blind
  When for ourselves, we are so prone to stock up
  If it’s for free, there’s no need to clear up

  Consumption and consumerism at its max
  Concern and consideration very lax
  It takes nothing to use the phone or fax
  Blazing lights, water wastage, and no tax

  © Najma Ansari
  Jan 13, 2010 Johannesburg

  *Surah 18:85, 89 and 92 (using the means available) **Arabic for wastefulness

  August 22, 2017

  ---

• Blessings in Adversity

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/blessings-in-adversity” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

   

  Blessings in Adversity

  Enriched you are through adversity
  If attitude you choose is serenity
  No matter what the calamity
  If you stay plugged into reality

  Things to hold fast
  Allah, His book and His Rasul
  Yields blessings till the very last
  Under adversity still stay cool

  Amazing growth spurts happens in events
  In events unplanned, unexpected – adverse
  It’s knowing the Now – where to pitch your tent
  Seeing beauty, blessings in all that’s diverse

  Dividends you reap, rewards unimagined
  That itself is a challenge – a test
  Do you derail, come unhinged?
  Or move up a notch, with what you’re sent

  Every adversity a potential blessing
  Choices you make – see what’s missing
  Every opportunity for growth of Taqwa
  Staying in submission away from shahwah*

  Whether you ride the mount of ease
  Or you ride the mount of balaa’**
  All roads lead to Allah
  See if it’s him we’ve pleased

  ©Najma Ansari
  July 8, 2011 Johannesburg

   

  *Excessive desires  ** Trouble

  August 22, 2017

  ---

• Bureaucracy

   

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/bureaucracy” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

   

  Bureaucracy

   

  I love the grinding wheels of bureaucracy

  It brings low the high and mighty, the aristocracy

  If you have to queue, you have to queue

  Your turn will come when your time is due

   

  Never mind if there are many or few

  If you have to queue, you have to queue

  As the wheels of bureaucracy come to grind

  Those with patience aren’t left behind

   

  Bureaucracy I love, its system in place

  Follow the procedure and you’ll find you space

  It showcases humanity in a sea of mankind

  Who’s in control, it’s there to remind

   

  Humbles the elevated, the poor it serves

  Brings at par, we all get what we deserve

  I love bureaucracy, its wheels as they grind

  Crushes our ego, to our wealth is blind

   

  I love bureaucracy, what a bind

  It locks together a wave of mankind

  Watch the one who wants to bypass

  The queue, the paperwork, wants first class

   

  I love bureaucracy, it brings me low

  Breath in, breath out, resistance let go

  Criticism, frustration and anger reign in

  Bags of patience you need to bring in

   

  The wheels of bureaucracy I love

  Temptation to bribe, hand in glove

  The desire to bypass, jump the queue

  My needs come first, I belong to the few

   

  In the queues of bureaucracy,

  Watch the behaviour of theocracy

  Self worth brought low, deflated,

  Never mind to who you are related

   

  When it works like this, you love it

  If someone jumps ahead we have a fit

  If there is justice and fairness we are okay

  If there is nepotism, patience is in disarray

   

  
  

   

  Cheerful acceptance – order of the day

  You need to engage, by the rules play

  The system is fair, procedures in place

  Ethics rule, compassion in the face

   

  Bureaucratic machinery gets messed up

  The wheels clog, the queues get stuck

  When there are those who want a short cut

  Corruption and bribery, the system held up

   

  Watch the alert eyes of those in queue

  Who’s behind, who’s next – what’s due

  Invisible masses, a deterrent force

  Officers of bureaucracy kept on course

   

  Bureaucracy such a wonderful thing

  A microcosm – a universe in swing

  A reminder of doomsday, the sea of humanity there

  Waiting for accountability, accurate and fair

   

  © Najma Ansari

  Johannesburg 4 January 2010

  August 19, 2017

  ---

• Gatheredness

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/sounds-from-thursday-evening” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

   

  Gatheredness

  Every dispersion allows for gatheredness
  Each ill will and you can bury the hatchet
  Each negativity surfaced has the potential to disintegrate
  Put it to the atmosphere and incinerate

  Behind every kufr lies the truth
  Differences only highlight innate sameness
  Behind each constriction there’s room for peace
  In every pain the potential for ease

  Behind every crisis, the presence of Mercy
  In every conflict the option of resolution
  With every fight the possibility of friendship
  With every dead end a new beginning

  Lurking behind confusion, true calm, full submission
  Behind every turmoil the chance of serenity
  With every volcanic eruption of rage
  You can stay unfazed, turn a new page

  See behind every dispersion – gatheredness
  Every arrogance paves way for humanness
  Each oppression brings closer the option of justice
  Behind every suffering the glimmer of hope

  August 17, 2017

  ---

• Defining Moments and Divine Decree

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/defining-moments-and-divine” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

  Defining moments and Divine decree

  Man created in best of moulds
  Satan rebelled, pride took hold

  Defining moment in history of man
  When he fell in Satan’s plan

  Eating the fruit – a critical point
  Put us all out of joint

  Cain killed Abel jealousy took hold
  Fitra* of man exposed, unfolds

  Noah’s ark – a watershed
  After 900 years of all that he said

  Abraham took on the establishment
  As he challenged the idols and management

  Defining moment of truth and all that’s fake
  The challenge he threw for them to take

  Joseph thrown into the well
  From there starts a new spell

  Raced to the door to safeguard honour
  Landed in jail, all the horror

  God’s gift of dream interpretation
  Gets him to govt. representation

  Many defining moments in Musa’s life
  Put in the basket, picked up by the Pharaoh’s wife

  One punch and the man is dead
  A price put on his head

  Arrived at a watering post
  Allah’s help he needed most

  Instead he helps damsels in distress
  Then sits in dua – against a tree rests.

  Defining moment in divine decree
  When in the distance the fire he sees

  He’s given the mantle to uphold the deen**
  To battle the worst tyrant man has seen

  Ultimate drama, parting of the sea
  The oppressors end for all to see

  Defining moments in divine decree
  The bonded nation set free

  The wandering in the wilderness
  Thanks to disobedience and willfulness

  The dua for a dedicated son
  Springboards far on to a grandson

  Not only a daughter super special
  Jesus comes with impeccable credentials

  Be and it is by divine decree
  Paving the way for the final Nabi***

  Defining moment in the solitude of the cave
  To the best of creation the Creator gave

  23 years – down pouring of guidance
  Last link – Qu’ranic brilliance

  Till the end of time,
  When the trumpet chimes

  Defining moments we’ll surely have
  Do we use them to soothe and salve

  Aligned to divine decree
  Creator’s countenance yearn to see

  * nature **faith, religion  ***Prophet

  August 16, 2017

  ---

• Careless talk

  Careless talk has consequences 

  Repercussions, & breakdown 

  Diminished direct dialogue 

  Gives grievances credence

  In an instance 

  Of careless conversation 

  Nurtured relationships 

  Wiped out

  Operate on hearsay 

  One sided story 

  Spirals exponentially 

  In abyss of disarray

  Needs presence of mind

  A stitch in time 

  To catch the rifts 

  Before the spill

  Neglect perceived somewhere 

  Ripples to repercussions 

  Over something else 

  Comparison has an ugly head

  Empathy sympathy mixed up 

  Entertaining complaints & 

  Dramatic display 

  To mend matters

  Backfires, cause setbacks 

  Uphill battle to retrieve 

  Goodness and harmony 

  Relationships a casualty

  Expectations extinguish 

  Options to operate 

  Reassess reality

  Careless talk

  Clouds clarity

  Bears no fruit 

  Wilts away life 

  Drains energy

  To recoup n recover 

  Requires stillness

  An empty page 

  Silence the endless chatter

  Each data input assessed

  As a stand alone 

  Not as add on 

  To past baggage

  Or preexisting notions 

  Moment to moment

  Reset the counter 

  Clean the Slate

  History need not define 

  Future possibilities 

  Creativity is created

  Without careless talk

  Najma Ansari

  25/12/16 Fajr

  Johannesburg

  December 25, 2016

  ---

• Uniquely gifted

  Uniquely gifted

   

  We are uniquely gifted

  From the sand sifted,

  Hand picked, lifted

   

  Then what?

   

  Are we used to uplift

  Or do we come adrift

  Do we serve humanity

  Or indulge in banalities

   

  We’re uniquely privileged

  To serve our Rabb

  How do we do

  What we are created to do

   

  A drop in the ocean

  Or a pebble in the sand,

  Either way – A purpose there is

  Designed to make a difference

   

  It needs an eye of vision

  A mind not muddled

  A wholesome heart

  And a will to serve

   

  Then truly our unique gifts

  Glisten and shine,

   

  23 Oct 2016

  After fajr

   

  October 23, 2016

  ---

• After Death

  After Death

  Here’s what I think 

  Happens when I no longer can think

  Here’s what I feel

  Will happen when I no longer feel

  When I’m washed and shrouded

  In my grave snuggly grounded

  Planks put over my head

  And left to be with the dead

  The body does not feel

  The mind does not reel

  Something else kicks in

  The Ruh* now has a voice

  It oversees events 

  How I answer to Munkar Nakeer**

  The nafs***leaves a blueprint

  Embedded in the Ruh

  An embossed life 

  Speaks for itself

  No need for lips to move 

  Or sound to be emitted

  Angels read off the blueprint

  Deeds leave traces on the Ruh

  Fate decided there and then

  Body silent, Ruh speaks

  Nafs*** silent, Ruh speaks

  Actions of nafs etched on Ruh

  An open window facing Jannah

  A gentle breeze soothes the Ruh 

  Body feels nothing

  Nafs is silenced

  Ruh feels

  In pain or bliss

  Awaits its final destiny 

  high up or in an abyss

  All this when the nafs is silenced

  The body still 

  Free will 

  Done it’s drill 

  This is what I think 

  Will happen when I no longer will think

  *soul/ spirit 

  ** questioning angels

  *** self/ego

  August 10, 2016 Jhb

  August 10, 2016

  ---

• On Surah Yusuf

  On Surah Yusuf

  Ahsan ul Qasas

  Best story to discuss

  A dream he had, 

  Shared with his Dad

  Who’s joyful inside yet sad

  Aware of envy and all that’s bad

  Thrown in the well, than pulled out, 

  Sold as slave, such a sell out

  From the well, made a slave 

  At the end he still forgave

  Raced to the door, for God’s sake 

  Saving integrity that was at stake 

  The shirt from the back ripped

  Over his beauty the women flipped

  His good looks got him in deep trouble

  He was safer amidst the prison rubble

  The prison years he withstood 

  His noble mission he understood

  Beautiful patience for father and son

  Allah’s planning – best that’s done

  Dreams played a critical role

  Messages from beyond scrolled

  His noble lineage kept him sane

  Messages in dreams he could explain

  Gets him the top seat

  What an amazing feat

  In foreign land 

  Without a friend

  Noble heritage never in doubt

  Though he had no overt clout

  In every scheme latent good

  Divine planning at it’s best

  Beauty in patience unfolds

  When unflinching faith holds

  Prophecies fulfilled 

  Evil plotting come unhinged

  Firm resolve wins the day

  Comes to full circle – Allah’s way

  In every connivance and plot

  Divine intervention – on the spot

  Discuss 

  The best Qasas

  28/6/15

  June 28, 2015

  https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/detail/dastan-e-yusuf-maulwi-mohammad-ishaq-ebooks

  ---

• Anticipation

  Anticipation

  Joyful anticipation
  Exciting expectation
  Ready for Ramadhan
  Plenty praying will be done

  Taraweeh – tremendous joy
  Sense of pinnacle in prayer
  Quick to eat and clear up
  Main focus not on the cup

  Fajr too, at leisurely pace
  Once sahoor has taken place
  Anticipate days filled with ibadaah
  Senses tuned to deeper rahmah

  Openings and insights occur best
  When from the dunya the mind is at rest
  Month of celebration for the muslim state
  Qu’ran the gift to the ummah

  Look forward to full immersion
  Recharge batteries for the year
  Anticipate a time of healing
  Repair and regroup energise the spirit

  7 June 2013 Johannesburg

  June 7, 2013

  ---

• Call for condolences

  Call for condolences

  Our need to call

  Or need to comfort

  Fulfill a protocol

  Where is the pain felt?

  Just words and rituals

  Where is the heart

  It shows on the face

  The lip service and grief

  The outburst of tears

  Ready to flow

  Next instant tap off

  Merriment of dunya

  The time span

  Shorter and shorter

  Moments of grief

  Reduced to seconds

  Just the rituals to fulfill

  A few hours of silence

  More the joy of seeing

  Lost friends and family

  To catch up on the news

  Well being of the living

  All halal and kosher

  At another occasion

  Either busy as bees

  Set the seating space out

  See to people’s needs

  The mouths to feed

  Sorrow hidden for private moments

  Mass grieving only a ritual

  Lip service to closure

  An adaab to fulfill

  Where is the heart?

  It’s immune and lost

  Herd mentality at work

  The energy that floats

  It’s not about the dead

  He/she is just a prop

  Even the sitting in silence

  Is imposed and forced

  A lost golden opportunity

  For introspection – ibrah

  My death is coming next

  Am I preparing for the test

  Auntie jee has gone

  What is the message for me

  Her goodness to remember

  Can I live any of it out?

  Be a sadaqa jariya for her

  Be a gift for her

  Life goes on

  How to be appropriate

  Our capacity to feel

  Each other’s pain

  Reduced to the minimum

  Or who’s who to judge

  Ask for Allah’s mercy

  For one for all

  Love for humanity

  To see good in all

  A life time’s training

  Need to see goodness

  Pervade through all

  Exude energy of concern

  The busy mind

  Distraced by faces

  Constant thoughts

  Chasing each other out

  No stillness no focus

  Agitation of the soul

  Still only with death

  My death

  To die before we die

  To kill the ego

  With each witnessing of Death

  Sore higher in ikhlas

  The endless judging

  The nonstop assessment

  Of visions outside

  Too busy to find the spark in the heart

  Practice of stillness

  Through a pure salaah

  In public places

  Still connect to the soul

  Love humanity for Allah’s sake

  Possible if it’s real – not a fake

  How to care for the sea of humanity

  See in all a mirror of me

  Truly share joys and sorrow

  Or carry around frozen hearts

  No layers peeled off

  To get to the core

  Loss of a mother

  We can all relate to

  Yet when it’s my moment of pain

  It’s not yours

  It’s real to hit home

  When it’s in my home

  The sorrow of another

  Is peripherally felt

  The world stops reeling

  It’s taken a pits stop

  No going ons meaningful

  No news greater

  Then the naba ul adheem

  When it hits my home

  Becomes a bit real

  To know there is an akhirah waiting

  Solace in that we meet again

  Motivation to ensure I earn a place

  Have my ticket booked

  Ready for the flight

  Sisters’ sit in memory of dreams

  Shared and personal of long ago

  The joys so real, the sorrows too

  Families expand to let others in

  Things trickle down and dilute

  New bonds grow strong

  Yet the pull of a mother

  Does not lose its gravitational pull

  One womb, delivered both

  One cradle nurtured  both

  Different destinies yet united in love

  Lessons learnt from the strict and strong

  Nurtured to raise the 3^rd generation

  Lessons learnt are different

  Amazingly from the same source

  Allah’s way of disseminating goodness

  Parents reap ongoing reward

  Lived on by righteous children

  Each brings for the parent

  The unique gift of love

  In our quibble in our quarrel

  It’s only the love of the parent that manifests

  Caught in the moment to do the right thing

  Different views and outlooks

  The gift of life and death

  Ongoingness of goodness

  Endless sadaqa jariya

  Amidst the rituals to fulfill

  The love for a friend

  Goes beyond unspent tears

  To be there in the stillness of night

  Away from the lime light

  Let me empty out your bins

  Fold away the bedding

  Clean out the loo

  Be the assess – what no one will do

  Love to be the hidden source of comfort

  When all have gone

  Be there to hold the hand in the dark

  So it’s not even known whose it is

  Allah give solace in friendship

  God’s gift to us

  The intangible wealth

  Hopefully the Shaytan won’t reach

  Saying goodbye to a mom

  Rest assured we will meet again

  In the best of venues – best party

  In akhirah by the pond of Kauthar

  Allah make it be

  Qur’an seeps through our hearts

  Guide us in meaning and spirit

  We live and imbibe it in our soul

  The Qur’a n will light her grave

  Be her window to jannah

  The legacy she leaves behind

  To multiply that light – ameen

  7 May 2013

  Mayfair

  May 7, 2013

  ---

• Abdicate

  Abdicate

  The need to abdicate
  From the realm of the ego
  That clings on to vindicate
  Grips you, commands what you do

  Abdicate from the realm of shaytan
  His promise to plague
  To makes false emotions seem true
  Entices and beckons, sets the stage

  From the wavering mind – abdicate
  Vacillation invalidate
  Make the ego not life’s predicate
  Move on to a higher state, elevate

  ©Najma Ansari
  26.3.2011 Johannesburg

  March 26, 2011

  ---

• Allah’s Mercy

  Allah’s Mercy

  Allah’s mercy encompasses all
  Even amidst shock and fall
  Blind by the unknown
  Stunned, frozen to the bone

  Allah’s rahmah pervades
  Every nook and cranny, it invades
  Shocked mind has to see
  Beyond the cloud, the Mercy

  Iman intact
  The promise, the pact
  Duties discharge
  Allah’s in charge

  Only thing sure
  Allah’s mercy is there
  Can’t see, lost in the snare
  Stress, the hearts bear

  Tighten the grip
  Rope to Allah
  Don’t let it slip
  Only way to falaah

  Worry, uncertainty creates
  Derails the mind, to deviate
  Only solace to satiate
  Allah’s mercy that permeates

  ©Najma Ansari
  Tahajjud 19.9.10
  Johannesburg

  September 19, 2010

  ---

• Alienation

  Alienation

  So many ways to be alienated
  A shrug a look of disdain
  A walk away, full of pain
  Joys seeps out – deflated

  So many ways to alienate
  Inappropriateness to grate
  Wrong word, wrong time, too late
  Excuse to hang us by our fate

  Alienation quite complete
  With every meeting
  Shaytan wins, what a defeat
  Some mistakes oft repeat

  Alienation flung afar
  With tauba and istighfaar
  Ownership of events
  Leaves no dent

  Shaytan snares
  Alienation flares
  Continents apart
  Not enough to appease the heart

  ©Najma Ansari
  22.5.10 Johannesburg

  May 22, 2010

  ---

• Acceptance

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/acceptance” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

  Acceptance

  Acceptance of what is

  Unclogs the airwaves

  Acceptance of this

  Clears the clouds

   

  The universe conspires

  As we perspire

  Ensures a reality

  In view of our frailty

   

  Key condition

  Be in submission

  What is – accept

  No prism to deflect

   

  Doors close, doors open

  Word uttered, word spoken

  Up in heaven finds its space

  It always leaves a trace

   

  Acceptance defines

  One does not pine

  Any issue does not define

  Acceptance the bottom line

   

  Creativity quite complete

  Acceptance a super feat

  What is is

  Carries bliss

   

  ©Najma Ansari

  03.00 hrs

  20.5.2010 Johannesburg

  May 20, 2010

  ---

• Angels of Death

  [soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/najma-ansari/angels-of-death” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

   

  Angels of death

  Angels of death, their purpose fulfil
  Leave us in sorrow as the person is still
  What is it like on the other side
  Joyful moments for those who abide

  Continuous joy on the rungs of Barzakh
  Constant brightening on the horizon in shafaq
  Angels of death on a mission of mercy
  Help you along where you’re alone with no clergy

  Instant flowering of the seeds sown
  As harbingers of joy good deeds are flown
  Cross the veil of death, joy to be seen
  For those who’ve stayed committed to deen

  Grief stricken we’re left behind
  Of the unknown we see no visible sign
  Iman most visible we experience at death
  The angels presence we sense at the last breath

  Gently the angels withdraw your soul
  When they know you’ve been focussed on your goal
  Angels of death a blessing indeed
  When we stick to sabr and good deed

  Oh angels of death be good to me
  When you come to set my soul free
  Let me return to my Allah be full of glee
  He be pleased and welcome me

  © Najma Ansari
  21 October 2009 Jhb

  October 21, 2009

  ---

• Angels hearken

  Angels hearken

  Oh Allah! Let the angels chorus my hamd
  Let them hear the praise – most beautiful sound

  Ya Rabb with a new batch of angels at every fajr
  May they all witness for me on yaum al hashr

  Oh Allah for each tashahud in prayer
  Let the angels echo all the way to heavens stairs

  Ya Rabb let my insignificant hamd and tasbih
  Be recorded and multiplied by the malaikatihi

  Ya Allah no atom of good goes unheeded
  For my akhirah multiple reward is needed

  Ya Rabbi add ikhlas and kushu in every salaah
  Let the angels amplify my record, see me to janaah

  Allah, with me the angels need to work overtime
  Sift through my deeds remove the grime

  Ya Rabbi let me be always between khauf wa rajaa’
  Let it all add up to my falaah

  Ya Rabb as the angels change their shift
  Let both sets record, to heaven our goodness lift

  Ya Allah your maliaka – best of mathematicians
  Record goodness, deeds by accruing, adding and multiplication

  Ya Allah see us through to heaven
  And the angels echo amen

  14 December 2007 Johannesburg

  December 14, 2007

  ---

• Agenda (On great granddad)

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  Agenda

  In life I have no agenda

  To Allah I only surrender

  In the company of the awliya, the muqarabeen

  That’s where I’d like to be seen

  My family, friends and clan I’d like to see

  If in that company they will be

  With great granddad maulana Ishaaq

  I’d like to be buried and raised Oh Razaaq

  Joy comes form having no agenda

  Only Allah, nothing could be grander

  If only I can abide by that covenant

  No better return no better dividend

  Happiness defined by the bigger picture

  Thoughts of akhirah as in the scripture

  In sabr and amal e saleha –spend the time

  Allah will ensure muck and worry is left behind

  No ego or self in any agenda

  Leaves the heart pure and tender

  All around are callings, pamper the self

  When Allah says – watch, control yourself

  The nafs in line with the ruh

  Keep it in check with a glue

  Rancour, resentment kept at bay

  With Audho – keep Shaytan from leading us astray

  The beauty of having no agenda

  Clears the horizon, to dwell on Allah’s splendour

  Needs and wants evaporate as mist

  If of core values we all get the gist

  True desires deal with the akhirah

  The company of those to meet in jannah

  My great granddad’s coat I’d like to hold

  As grace and rahmah on him unfolds

  Is having no agenda so hard to believe

  Does the world and worry have to be up my sleeve

  Does it mean I’m not at peace

  If I’m in service ready to appease

  Do western parameters define my condition

  Tawheed and taqwa eyed with suspicion

  Serenity comes with zikr-ullah

  Abide by that for true falaah

  In the footsteps of my great granddad I’d like to be

  From the dunya I love to be free

  Ability to instantly change gears

  Only to the One – in sajdah, his displeasure fear

  Best joy when I am; appropriate to the moment

  Nothing more inspiring more potent

  No needs no wants ever really matter

  If ma’arifatullah – I can understand better

  © Najma Ansari

  13 December 2006, Rome

  December 13, 2006

  https://www.rekhta.org/authors/maulwi-mohammad-ishaq-1/ebooks?ref=web&filter=book-authors

  ---

• Penumbra

  Penumbra

  I love to pave the way

  I love to fade into oblivion

  I love to storm citadels

  I love to stake out – take stands

  And then I like to fade away

  I love to plunge deep, break barriers

  I love to back out – disappear

  I like to stand alone, on an edge of a cliff

  Face the storm, brave the elements

  Lime light, celebrations and merry making

  I like to shrink away from

  Joy, happiness, success of others I like

  I’m happy at the well being of all

  Yet I love to be away and apart

  I love the action, I love the planning

  The actual fruit – prize taking

  I wish to avoid.

  25/1/01 Jhb

  January 25, 2001

  ---