I read the devil once
and recently it came back to me:
In envy of the new favourite of heaven
did he rail. ‘This man of clay’, he said,
‘whom us the more to spite his Maker raised’
so it is, he continued,
‘with spite is spite repaid’.
Of late I too have railed
At His having created me
So as to set me to a test;
A test I asked nothing of,
A test I desired not to sit,
So rail I did.
I cried and I shouted
I disobeyed wantonly
And had I the tongue of Iqbal
I too would have complained eloquently
So that my plaint could have reached heaven’s gate
And the gatekeeper of Eden have recognised
That I too was the man thrown out of paradise;
Yet fall as I did both then and now
I was filled with krodh in Nanak’s river of fire;
Herein I burned and spite is all I felt
At He who cannot be destroyed
Who sits in judgement over His creation
Whom He creates to fulfil His attribution
With whom I felt I had lost all connection;
So the devil desire grew
To rebel, to decry and to desecrate
While the sheep bleat on, god is great god is great.
But as the moon over took the sun
And as the stars adorned the sky
And as the breeze changed the dunes
I heard my soul speak out to me;
‘oh you who are so discontent,
Listen to the rhythm of the night
Let not your lament deafen your heart
Nor your pride obscure your sight;
See the fire fight against the darkness
Hear the sound of your own breathing
Feel the warm sand between your fingers
Remember that all of this is not in vein’
Then from afar I heard His words
Upon which I opened my eyes
‘Which of His favours,’ he said melodiously
‘will ye then deny?’
In regretfulness I next descended
Whereupon I heard him say
‘(He is) Lord of the two easts
and Lord of the two wests’;
Fell I then in humbleness
‘For whither shall I run from thee?’
The veil was lifting before my mind
And as the beauty of the night
Gave rise to the lingering orange of dawn
I sought forgiveness and with joy
Let the sun wash over me
And with its rays
Felt once more
The light of eeman lighten my heart,
And as I made footprints in the sand
I remembered,
I read the devil once
Only now it seems of no importance.
Jazak Allahu Khairan
Very real. Only someone who had experienced this could have written about it and described it so accurately.
Masterpiece!
Nothing more I can say than great mashaAllah!I like the way the lines keep you hooked, waiting for the next.
splendid!
Assalam-alaykum, MashaAllah! I really enjoyed reading this..perhaps we have a Muslim baird? JazakAllahu khayrun and can we look forward to some more? U should write loads more and send them to a publisher…It would be an excellent form of dawah to have some ‘proper’ Islamic English poetry. May Allah continue to inspire u and increase your skills. Ameen
Wassalam