Poetry Recital At Oxford University ISOC, 2015
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Interview with MuslimView’s Masud Ahmed Khan
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Joe And His Technicoloured Servers
Dear Father,
I don’t have much time, my sentencing is in a few days, so I will cut to the chase. I am sorry for not speaking to you or Benjamin throughout all of this. I have sent him a separate note… But now that I’ve had some time to think, I want to tell you about recent events from my point of view; from the way I have experienced things; in contrast to the secondary tales from social media (like The Net- I have much to say about them later).
As you know, your son, my older brother, has been spreading the news that I was attacked by a wolf and that I may never return. The wolf of insanity. He has told you all that he tried to help me, but I was dragged away by this fiend.
Continue readingDressing Up For Juma’
I’m dressing up for Juma’,
Suited and looking fine
No t-shirts nor tracksuits today
I want to impress the Divine
I yearn to get there early
And be acknowledged for
Arriving to the first in line
Angels tick me off at the door
Continue readingRihla 1997 and 1998: Paradigm Shifts in Nottingham and Fez
For me, a first year BA English Literature student at Kingston University in London, enclosed by quintessential Western atheism and hedonism; Bollywood bonanzas; Salafi, Sufi and Hizbut Tahrir skirmishes; Qadianis; Kozovo ‘Jihadis’; and Pakistani parental, tribal expectations; the prospect of the Rihla was rather intriguing and daunting.
Continue readingWHAT IS ON THE MENU FOR SAHOOR?
WHAT IS ON THE MENU FOR SAHOOR?
Fried eggs sizzling, paratha from tandoor?
Buttered paratha in the shape of the full moon?
Paratha filled with succulent Aloo?
Now that would be so absolutely cool!
In Ramadan I just appreciate the food!
WHAT IS ON THE MENU FOR IFTAAR?
Biryani made with chicken and piyaar?
Mango milkshake, my wife is such a star!
Homemade samosa and pakora!
So spicy they would tantalise a Gora!
In Ramadan the food is best by far!
WHAT WILL BE MY WORSHIP FOR TARAWEE?
Speeding through rakats in such a hurry?
Coz I’m feeling bloated from the curry?
Head and heart pulsating in a flurry?
I need to sleep, Allah, I am so sorry!
In Ramadan, take your time, no need to worry!
“WHAT WILL THEY GAIN TONIGHT?” The angels surveyed.
“Nice suhoor? So, they feel strong at day?”
“Light Iftar, so they feel light to pray?”
“Recite Quran, to clear the disarray?”
“Staying up to perform Qiyam Al Layl?”
“In Ramadan, the nafs can fade away…”
“There’s no fear or grief from these pure days…”
Locked Down
One night as I sat
Shackled up by Facebook
The jitters from the Twitter
Filled my body and my face shook
The trap of the Whatsapp
Enwrapped my intentions
But a voice from beyond
Just arrested my attention
Sallahu ala Muhammad! Sallahu alayhi was sallam!
Locked down to the ground
Of the multiplicity
My heart was aground
A beleaguered city
Spellbound in the haze
Of my lusts’ euphoria
But the voice cleared away
The phantasmagoria
Sallahu ala Muhammad! Sallahu alayhi was sallam!
I arose with a heave
Enclosed by acedia
My head leaking facts
From the Wikipedia
My eyes bleeding tracks
From the social media
But the voice kindled me
I rejoiced with a fever
Sallahu ala Muhammad! Sallau alayhi wa sallam!
I strained to my door
To the ways of the speaker
My phone tingling
Making me feel weaker
My soul signalling
To awake like a seeker
The voice echoing
And the light shone brighter
Sallahu ala Muhammad! Sallahu alayhi wa sallam!
I followed the voice
In my mind’s metropolis
Approached by these hawkers
And hucksters and sophists
They plied me with gadgets
And pure luxuria
But the voice stirred me
Like the Queens of Nubia
Sallahu ala Muhammad! Sallahu alayhi was sallam!
Then beyond the display
Of my urban madness
A pistachio tree
I encountered with gladness
The limbs shivering
With the breezes of Oneness
The leaves whispering
Shimmering with abundance
Sallahu ala Muhammad! Sallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam!
The roots of the tree
Spoke to me in a dialect
The fruits of the tree
Was a map to redirect
“To find the essence
When you’re feeling remoteness
Recite this sentence
Tune in to the gnosis.”
Sallahu ala Muhammad! Sallahu Alayhi Was Sallam!
THANK YOU DEAR NHS!
There’s a group of heroes
Enough we can not stress
That deserve our gratitude
They’re in our NHS!
The doctors and the nurses
And the workers and the porters
They’re helping us negotiate
Covid’s choppy waters!
They’re working 12 hour shifts
They put our safety first
Without their stirling bravery
Our health would be much worse!
Despite the clear adversity
Despite the challenges
Despite the risks to their safety
Despite the ravages
These people just keep fighting on
With undying dedication
They are the darlings of the hour
The pride of all the nation!
Please make their lives more bearable
By staying safe at home
Stem the spread of Corona Virus
Don’t let them fight alone!
We pray that all the blessed staff
Of our great NHS
Manage to steer through this trauma
Without unending stress
And bless the souls who passed away
Whilst caring for patients
They are the martyrs of this war
Which has rumbled since the ancients
So every Thursday clap your hands
Stand by your front door
Say bravo to the NHS!
They serve the rich and the poor.
Sincerity: Inspired by Surah Ikhlas, Chapter 112, Al Quran
Pull your choler through the mud
Collar Beelzebub
Numb your Id
Benumb shrew blood
Succumb through and through to the One True Flood
Notes:
The intention of this piece is to highlight the absolute wonder and majesty of Surah Ikhlas vis a vis the limitations of human endeavour (ie- my own). I also love the sounds and aural qualities of Surah Ikhlas, and I guess I am trying to capture some of the sublime sounds of it within the English language.
Choler- formal- anger
Beelzebub- ancient synonym for the Devil
Id- from Freud’s theories about the subconscious- the Id refers to the hidden desires and obsessions within human consciousness
Shrew- refers to a rebellious personality
Wa La Nablu Wanna Kum
In appreciation of verse 155, Sura Baqarah, Al Quran Al Hakeem
I’d heard this verse
Many times before
But I fell in the world’s momentum
And now I’m drawn,
Like a looping moth
To the light of
Wa La Nablu Wanna Kum
I’d heard this verse
So deep and terse
But I swayed in a sea of fevers
But now I am swept
Like a floating wreck
To the shores of
Wa la Nablu Wanna Kum
I’d heard this verse
With a heart immersed
In the dread of the world’s hysteria
But now the only thing to panic-buy
Is the key for
Wa la Nablu Wanna Kum
I’d heard this verse
In the Friday prayers
While my mind viewed conspiracy theories
But now the fake news
Needs to be rebuked
With the truth of
Wa la Nablu Wanna Kum
I’d heard this verse
In the universe
Of talks and the deen intensives
But now all the notes
And inspiring quotes
Need to act on
Wa la Nablu Wanna Kum
I’d heard this verse
When things were worse
For the poor folk mired in outbreaks
But now the vaccine
For my uncertainties
Is the pledge of
Wa la Nablu Wanna Kum
COVID 19 BY NOVID 77
Dear COVID,
I’m NOVID
And I’m older by 42
I’ve seen the SARS
Mad Cow disease
And AIDS and Avian flu
Bird flu, Man-flu, Ebola
I’ve seen them on the news
And now you’re here, Corona crown
Pandemic so epically
Epidemic of our media age
Behaving untypically
Scourge of men and stock markets
Endemic to the earth
A pulsing strain of pathogens
You’re spreading round your worth!
Soon you may encounter me
Coughing through NOVID then
Coasting through my veins and blood
We’d meet and start to blend
COVID could imbue NOVID
Then I would be your host
Conflated with an acronym
Not such a thing to boast!
Now name-calls in registers
Could make me squirm in shame
People may remember you
When they gaze at my name
I guess if I spread ill like you
They’ll see COVID in NOVID then
I guess if I harass the weak
COVID in NOVID then
Your name could blight me, permanently
No cheer would my name give
Thoughts of dire suffering
By saying just: NOVID
But if I learn the art of love
Like Tiresias transcend
If I spread verse and elegies
OVID in NOVID then!
But If I learn to weather storms
Like Ulysses and his men
If I ride waves of discontent
OVID in NOVID then!
So COVID 19 here you are
With NOVID 77
Perhaps there’s poetic justice
Perhaps there is a blessing
Perhaps through you I’ll know myself
And wash hands for 20 seconds!
By Novid Shaid
Intermandias
For Shelley
I met a traveller from a digital land
Who said: “Two vast and wireless screens and phones,
Stand in some memories. Near them, on discarded toilet rolls,
Spread out, a printed message lies, with fonts
So micro soft, and typefaces for command prompts,
Tell that its printer well that software read
Which yet survive, stamped on these paper sheets,
The ink that stained them and lines that smudged
And on the strips of rolls, it can be read:
‘My name is Intermandias,
Look on my works, ye ancients, and despair!’
Nothing online remains. Round the decay
Of this obsolete tech, boundless and rich
The lone and loving souls stretch far away.”