Defining Moments and Divine Decree
Love of Quran and Its Teachers
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
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 fuad1
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
1 Arabic for the thinking heart
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
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)
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
