Khalid Mukhtar

What fills me with sorrow today;
You know I am smiles no matter the wiles
That destiny tosses my way.


I’ve sailed on an ocean of pain,
Lost children I never could see,
And those that I saw and hoped would remain
So swiftly were taken from me.


Now you, how we hated each other,
And just couldn’t see eye to eye,
We’ve been through these storms, one after another;
I know that I’ll never know why


Your feisty old heart did incline
Toward me, for when I was down,
How well had your heart responded to mine:
We haven’t since traded a frown.


I feel better now that the dawn
Is warming my heart once again,
And just as it slips away, you are gone,
Abandoning me with no friend.


Yet here do I sit, through my tears,
I smile that the Lord gave to me
A mountain of hard tribulations and fears,
With rivers of love running free,


Depositing sweet memories
Of all of the times that we shared,
Thank God for my smiles that seem to increase
With every damage repaired.

I skinned my big toe on the sidewalk yesterday,
Comes from doing stupid at the age I’m at;
When the brain has the body execute a crazy play,
Most ingenious imaginings go splat.


Came the time to sit down, put myself in that toe,
Set to ponder why this tribulation come,
Everything that comes to pass, each insignificant blow
Is a lesson that a story has become.


So I thought, and I sought, as this left big toe of mine,
Any reason for my violent defacement,
But I couldn’t find an answer till I happened on a sign
Clarifying the physics of big toe placement:


Getting down on my knees just to tender a prostration
Proved to be a source of pain that burned and shocked;
It is so that I learned navigating my frustration
That my toe is where my arrogance lies locked.


I know why, I know what; so this lesson I will heed,
And the Lord be praised for such big toes that bleed.

Last night I attended a lecture by Shaykh Amin in which he delivered a fresh perspective on the Israa wal Mi’raaj, one through the lens of constant companionship. 

What made him to say what he said
When the news of the journey by night
Celebrated on tongues, danced in hearts that were dead
To the songs of rejection and spite;

But what made him do what he did
(This companion we call Al-Siddeeq)
Is a knowledge so subtle, entirely hid
Except to the one bent to seek.

Destined to be standing by our
Most beloved Rasul and Nabi
In a dark little cave in a difficult hour
As hard as an hour could be,

To join him to Yathrib, and there
Through the battles and stretches of peace,
To remain his companion beyond all compare,
With a love never knowing decrease.

And so on the night when the Lord
Took his slave on a mount that was bound
Past the waters the reaches of time cannot ford
Where all matter and space run aground;

It is true that Jibreel could not walk
Past the Lote, that magnificent tree,
It is where none of angel or human may flock
But for our beloved Nabi;

Above, the Nabi with his Lord,
While below was his friend rapt in prayer:
Did The Lord to his worshipping slave so afford
This companion in every affair.

The observation regarding Abu Bakr’s (RA) engagement in worship during the course of the prophetic journey is attributed to Shaykh al-Akbar, Muhyiddin ibn ‘Arabi.