SHADES
OF
ISLAM
SHADES
OF
ISLAM
POEMS FOR A
NEW CENTURY
RAFEY HABIB
First published in England by Kube Publishing Ltd,
Markfield Conference Centre
Ratby Lane, Markfield,
Leicestershire LE67 9SY
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1530 249230
Fax: +44 (0) 1530 249656
Website: www.kubepublishing.com Email: [email protected]
© Rafey Habib, 2010
All rights reserved
The right of Rafey Habib to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
A Cataloguing-in-Publication data record is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-84774-021-2 paperback eISBN 978-1-84774-099-1
Cover Design: Irfan Adrian Day Typesetting: Nasir Cadir
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to those Muslims, Jews and Christians who are striving to find a common path toward peace, mutual understanding and humanity.
CONTENTS
Azan
The Garden and the Fire
Time
Journey
Peace
Mosque
Cancer Cell
Tsunami I
Tsunami II
II. ON BEING A MUSLIM
Muslim Manifesto
Partition
Prayer
Vacancy
Friday Sermon
Weight
Phantom Ship
Hijab
New Generation
To a Secular Cynic
III. LOVE?
Marriage
To a Muslim Girl
Muslim Love
Honorable Death
Lot of Sin
Paradise
To Yasmeen, after Nine Years
Ode to Yasmeen
To My Son Hishaam,
To My Son Hasan, Sleeping
Repression
For You (Yes, You)
Mother
A Letter to my Father
Sealed Book
A Muslim Man to a Woman
Childhood Sweetheart
IV. GHAZALS, SONNETS AND RUBAIYAT
Ghazal I
Avenues
Far
Flood
Rubaiyat
Ghazal II
Ghazal III
V. POLITICAL MUSING
To a Suicide Bomber
Suicide
A Poem for Neda
A Prayer for Gaza
A Prayer for Zia Rahman