Categories
Poems

Violence and Silence

You can’t fight violence with silence,

With silence there will always be a consequence.

Right is always right, wrong is always wrong,

This isn’t a fancy poem, this isn’t a musical song.

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Whether you are Black, Brown, Yellow or White,

Whether your skin is dark or your skin is bright,

I don’t know why y’all get into a fuss and a fight,

We were all created different, but equal and right.

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Some of you look at Black people and say it’s so tight,

I think that in itself is racist – that is the height.

There are other words too but I wouldn’t ever write,

You might wana stop your tongue, you might wana give it a bite.

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When you look at it in hindsight,

Whether you are brighter than the sun or darker than the night,

There’s no need to hurl abuse heavy as a meteorite,

Cos that will cause the fire to spread and you will ignite.

Just because you’re White doesn’t mean you’re right.

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You can come from Africa, Ghana, Somalia or Nigeria,

Doesn’t mean you are low or should be treated as inferior.

You can be brown and come from China, Japan, Pakistan or India,

Doesn’t give you the liberty to be proud or think you are superior.

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Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Syria,

Tunisia, Palestine, Bolivia and Algeria …

We all have something in common, something familiar

It may sound strange, sound weird and peculiar.

But that’s what God taught us, what is in the Shareeah,

He SWT never judges you by your face, always by your interior.

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We’re all a bit racist, we’re all a bit stereotypical,

I don’t expect worldwide change from my words – but I hope they’re powerful and not just lyrical.

I’m not a politician, I’ve never been political,

I just speak my mind, speak my heart, which is just typical.

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I practise what I preach, I don’t wana sound hypocritical,

But racism is growing, it’s reaching its pinnacle,

This isn’t a myth or made up – it’s actually statistical.

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Black, White, Woman or Man,

The message is simple, one you can understand.

It ain’t just and it ain’t fair,

To judge someone by the texture of their hair or their colour of skin,

To judge someone by the country they’re from or the village they live in,

Racism comes from within and needs to be thrown in the bin.

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Murder is wrong, murder is pain, and murder is sinister,

Remember that’s somebody’s brother somebody’s sister.

I blame the people in power, the president and prime minister,

They don’t control their words and justify saying it was a tiny tongue twister.

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It was those people who created the Us and Them,

We’ve seen kids dying cos of this as young as ten,

Stuff that makes your heart and mind shake and shiver,

You don’t want to watch these things, I still feel the quiver.

They don’t care about our women, they don’t care about our youth,

They feed them lies and keep them away from the truth.

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Pain is still pain, blood is still blood,

We’re are all from Adam (peace be upon him), from the same mud.

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This poem was written to highlight the ongoing racism and prejudice in America, after the killing of George Floyd. We are all brothers and sisters in humanity, we should all feel the pain of Black people in America and across the globe. The Holy Qur’an teaches us:

“…if any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.”
[Al-Qur’an 5:32]

Such is the value of a single human life, that the Qur’an equates the taking of even one human life unjustly, with killing all of humanity. Thus, the Qur’an prohibits homicide in clear terms.

Ismail ibn Nazir Satia (one who is in dire need of Allah’s forgiveness, mercy and pleasure)

9 Shawwal 1441

Categories
Current Affairs articles

Qurbani – ‘Sacrifice’ or just comparing the price?

Unfortunately, Qurbani has become rather like car insurance, where one searches for the lowest quote and the cheapest price, this should not be the case.
 
We shouldn’t think of Qurbani or any obligation in Islam as a burden or tax. Rather, we should fulfil it for solely the pleasure of Allah SWT.
 
Give to the “needy” countries.
Give to the “poorest” country.
Don’t go for the lowest quote.
 
Did you know there are many Muslims who don’t eat meat all year round, only on Eid? Remember that next time you’re licking those chicken legs and nibbling on that Kobeda.
 
I feel sooner or later, we will have websites or apps like ‘gocompare’… ‘goqurbani’ that will compare charities and countries then show which are the cheapest animals, Astaghfirullah.
 
My gripe is we earn thousands of pounds and when it comes to spending for Allah SWT, we are tight fisted – La Hawla Wa La Quwwata Illa Billa.
 
The saddest part of all of this is, how deep our selfishness goes. The word ‘Udhiyyah’ (Arabic), ‘Qurbani’ (Urdu), actually means ‘sacrifice’. It really shows whether we love Allah or just love our pockets, our purses and our bank accounts.
 
Lastly, many of you reading this will be from Bangladesh/India/Pakistan. Let’s not just focus on these countries, we have many of our Muslim brothers and sisters around the world who are living in extreme poverty. I understand that some of these other countries have extortionate rates for an animal. If we all go for a £20 share in a cow from India and just want to absolve ourselves from this obligation, who will feed the Muslims in Iraq and Palestine where a large animal costs almost £2,000 (approx £300 per share). It is advised that family and friends get together and offer a ‘Nafl’ Qurbani in these countries, i.e. split the cost between them, if they can’t afford a full share. A great way of doing this is with the intention of Esale Thawab. This Eid, let’s not deprive anyone In Sha Allah, Allah soften our hearts, Ameen.
 
Please bear in mind, Qurbani comes once a year and we eat meat on a regular basis in the UK.
 
ASK YOURSELF: ARE YOU SACRIFICING OR JUST COMPARING THE PRICES?!
 
 
(Mawlana) Ismail Ibn Nazir Satia (one who is in dire need of Allah’s forgiveness, mercy and pleasure).
 
1st Dhul Qa’dah 1438