What did he just say there
this man sitting before us
like a brother we wish we had by our side every day
nudging us toward a little more good
shoving us away from the seductive edge we keep romancing
What did he just say there
With humor sparkling in his eyes
In a manner to implore us
To think!
Al-Qist.
A brand of justice that is
just more
He asks us to consider two tales bearing out this qist:
A tale of the damned and a tale of the redeemed
truer than this moment we are in
Of the damned: we think of the tyrant
treading water in a sea that won’t give him floor
coming to grasp with his crimes
finding himself a victim of his own tyranny that tore
him away from his true master
Then he casts his desperate eyes
up to the heavens and the storm of Divine truth
makes landfall upon his sorry senses
“I believe! I believe!”
He yells into a wave
that gives him no respite but for a cold and watery grave
Why no mercy
Because al-Qist
Think of Amr and his mother Sumaiyyah
Think of Bilal under the whip of Umayyah
Think of Hanzalah and his widow
Think of Mus’ab with not enough to shroud his remains
Think of Yahya, pursued Yahya
Think of the magicians who traded their faith for crucifixion
And that’s a fact
Think of all that.
None of them could see or sense or taste
a morself of the ghayb - the unseen
Can this tyrant play his pathetic seeing-is-believing card
Would Al-Muqsit mock his believing servants
for a tyrant who amounted to waste
Of the redeemed: we think of Yunus
Who missed checking one box from his sky-high list
of a nabi’s checkboxes
He leaves behind a people marked for destruction without warning
Onto ferry, into whale
La ilaah illa anta subhanaka innee kuntu min al-dzalimeen
The Lord stalls his command on the rebellious nation
“Why, Lord?” asked the angels
Because al-Qist
Was that little checkbox a mere formality
Or did it hold in its execution a tidal wave of rahmah
Pure Divine love
Back goes Yunus ‘alayhisSalaam
Warning served!
Well-deserved
They heed his call and become a noble people
Al-Qist
Its platinous scales shine differently than the golden scales of al-Adl
The Baseer sees all
magnifying the smallest atom of virtue
and dissolving the largest mountain of vice
if His adl will embrace it
and His qist will allow it
Ya Muqsit!
Inspired by this post-tarawih talk by Shaykh Amin Kholwadia.