Adam and Hira had just turned twenty, when they realised, they were in prison. Now they could see four monumental walls topped with barbed wire to the north, south, east and west. Now they could make out the prison officer uniforms on men and women they had not noticed before. Now they could see other prisoners around them, looking and behaving much like themselves. Fear and anguish grew chains around their hands and ankles; the couple struggled to move as the realisation took hold of them; their breaths quickened and sweat trickled on their heads. How on earth did they not realise this before? Why were they prisoners? What had they done wrong? As far as they knew, they had lived an average life in an average town, following the law of the land, most of the time, and keeping out of trouble. Yet now they found themselves languishing behind towering walls and barbed wire.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Poems
If You Dream Of The Valleys Of Kashmir
(CHORUS)
Allah Allah
Laa ilaha illallah (*3)
Allah
If you dream of the valleys of Kashmir,
And the iridescent fields
And listen to the reeds
You’ll find Allah
Continue readingCoz I’m Muslim and I’m British…

Coz I’m Muslim and I’m British
I really can’t help it
I was born in the Royal Bucks Hospital
As was my future spouse
I went to school with the Catholics
I went to mosque in a Victorian house
Continue readingFasting in Aylesbury
It’s Ramadan and I’m fasting
On the streets of Aylesbury
My hunger sighs out like a violin
My thirst desires the sea
I aim to focus my heart on God
And give my hunger a lesson
I aim to follow the scripture’s truth
And feel how drink is a blessing
Continue readingMuslim Imperatives
Smile endearingly like Al Mustafa
Brighter than an iridescent star
Rise celestially like Isa
Transcending corporeal fever
Conjure mystic snakes like Musa
Which devour the pull of Lucifer
Continue readingI’d Rather Go To Medina
I’d rather go to Medina
Than go to Hollywood
In Medina, there’s no Oscars
Or shining halls of fame
Instead there’s awe with Mustafa
And prayers at Qiblatain
Continue readingSimorgh At Islamabad Arrivals
In Islamabad arrivals, a great hullabaloo arose, like a volcano erupting. Hundreds of tired and disgruntled travellers crowded the luggage belts, struggling to catch sight of their possessions, like a flock of herons, frantically searching the water for fish. Faces scowled; babies wailed; ladies sat back, fanning themselves with their scarves. It had been two hours; their luggage had failed to arrive and, to make matters worse, the luggage of the next arrivals was beginning to appear instead.
“What the hell is this!” yelled a large, moustachioed fellow, in a rich, white salwar qameez. The officials, in blue uniforms, continued to play dumb, expressing platitudes: “we have some technical difficulties… One of the computers has malfunctioned, but it will be fixed, and your luggage will be here soon.”
Reading Reading!
Chorus
Reading, reading
Reading gives a feeling
Reading makes your life
So wonderful and pleasing
Reading, reading
Reading gives a feeling
Reading makes your life
So wonderful and pleasing
Continue reading
What would Al Ghazali Say To Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas told us do not go gentle
Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
But Al Ghazali said think not that death is death
Nay it is life
Be not afraid when death draws the night
The Mufti And His Night of Descent
It was the night of Isra and Mi’raaj
The night our Prophet travelled afar
To the glory of Masjid Al Aqsa
And then ascended beyond Al Muntaha