Khalid Mukhtar

Word, like wind, cuts through you / Withers all but true you

Poetry

Toe Disciplined

· ·

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.

Thursday Riddle (June 5, 2014)

· ·

Lanis McAllous is bound
Somewhere on hospitable ground,
Delivering traces in all of the places
That Lanis McAllous be found;
Carefully tows wherever he goes
His lodging without any sound.
——————————————
Absent from air,
Absent from water,
The fast shall run less
When the temperature’s hotter.

Counting Sha’baan Moons

· ·

The cup is full, can take no more,
And each new drop lets to the floor
The stains that show and slowly grow,
The cup is full, can take no more;

I know my tears can wash these stains,
If I could weep till none remains,
I need those nights, despair be gone,
All grief be lost when splash upon

Me mercy waves that wash the shores
Of dark rebellion once more;
Bring me those nights, despair be gone
With your angelic hum of dawn;

I dash my cup upon the floor,
And long for sips of Ramadan.

Thursday (May 29, 2014)

· ·

Black and white, 
Nailed, then red;
Renains conposed 
This natter said.

—————————————————

Though given, it never decreases,

From many a darkness releases,

Miserly the one from whom never spared,
For true can it be only when it is shared;
Once had, all conjecturing ceases.

The Companion

· ·

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.

Scooping Up Tadpoles on A Sunny Afternoon

· · 

Just give me a balmy day, a sunny sky
A stream, a bridge and no reason to be soon
A friend with a hand that refuses to stay dry
As we scoop up tadpoles in the afternoon

I cannot tell what makes me happy more
The feel of tadpoles dancing in my hand
Or whining and pretending to be sore
That we might stay much longer than we planned

The coolest thing about our time together
Is how we didn't think about the weather
When the rain cut short our fun time at the stream
There will be places you and I can dream

Of things to do if it weren't for the rain
If it be with you, it's easy on my brain
Alhamdulillah! Till we meet again
Alhamdulillah for friendships that remain

Sonnet on the Futility of Placing a Familiar Face

· ·

You ever see a face you’ve seen before,
Then start to wonder when or where that was?
You glance askance while lined up at the store,
Or crane your neck at traffic lights because
You really want to catalog that face,
Although you do not need to, not one bit,
But you know tagging it with time and place
Will make these wasteful moments seem legit.
Should you get out of line and turn around
Or make your way across a busy street
Until that wretched face you seek is found
Indifferent to your manner indiscreet?
If such a face familiar you find,
Attribute it to capers of the mind.

Plant Remembrance

· ·

The prophet of Allah looked down at the grave
Of one who had once been a difficult slave,
He prayed for the soul and then sat on the ground
And planted upon it a sapling he found;


Then pressing his noblest of hands in the earth,
He served his companions a word of good worth:
How well does the tasbeeh of one little plant
Bring peace to a soul in a way the soul can’t!


These words are more precious than they seem to be,
They’re words of a lofty, ingenious Nabi,
So think, for they tell you much more than you think:
The thirst of a seeker survives the first drink.


If what does take root and smiles up at the sun
And sways in the breeze when a shower is done
Can widen the straits of the one in his grave,
Each rustling SubhanAllah helping the slave,


Then how much more worthy the tasbeeh of one
Who speaks and beseeches and weeps in the sun
And seeks a forgiveness for himself before
He seeks a forgiveness for them at the door!


So hear what the Messenger wants us to know,
He spoke for companions who knew he spoke so
And those who his legacy guard and protect,
Bequeathing us treasures that we might reflect.