Ramadan 2010: MM Poetry Contest | Semifinalists, Day 5

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | The Finals

Welcome to day five! Now that we’re almost done publishing the semifinalists and the voting process is also underway, please do check out day 3 onwards' poems and cast your vote.

Note: Voting for poems published on Day 3 closes today! Cast your vote if you haven't yet!

Update 4/9/10: Voting for poems published on Day 5 closes today! Cast your vote if you haven't yet!

A quick recap on how it’s going to be:

1) We’re going to publish four shortlisted poems a day, for five days.
2) Each day, you, the public, vote for the poem that you like best out of the four published.
3) The poems with the most votes from each day will go on to the final round, where a second poll will decide the winner and runners up.

Simple, eh?

As beautiful as the poems all are, and we are indeed experiencing the Holy month of Ramadan, the spirit of the competition can be pretty overwhelming. That’s why here’s a simple reminder to keep it clean, and wholesome, healthy competitiveness that adds to the fun but does not hurt anyone in anyway.

Without further ado, here’s the fifth group of semifinalists for your pleasurable reading.

Please don’t forget to vote!

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Ramadan Oh Ramadan
By: Zuha Mirza

Ramadan oh Ramadan how I miss thee

You come for one month and leave us for an 11 month spree

You bring us both blessings and control from the shaytaan,

But eventually leave us, anticipating next year’s Ramadan.

Ramadan oh Ramadan how I miss thee

Waking up with tired eyes for suhoor and some tea

Frying samosas and filling up our plates in time for iftaar with glee

The sweet and savory taste of the kajoor

Keeps me filled from iftar to suhoor

Ramadan oh Ramadan how I miss thee

Taraweeh and ibadaah, I perform with Allāh’s decree

I make dua with immense faith and concentration

Hoping this Ramadan’s fasts will be accepted without any hesitation

Ramadan oh Ramadan how I miss thee

I hope to meet you this year, so I can welcome you contently

Ramadan oh Ramadan how I miss thee

I hope I can meet you the next year, so I can keep fasts in honor of HE

Ramadan oh Ramadan how I LOVE thee

That I keep missing you, even when you’re not here with me

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Where hope lies
By: Miriam Islam

Engulfed in the blackness of despair, drowning with deeds beyond repair

The sinner walks a lonely path

A desperate effort to heal the wounded aftermath

Chased by the demons of desire

The dunya led him closer to the fire

The glitter of pleasures and death never pending

Threw him into sins never ending.

So great is the shame, marred with emotions unnamed

How can he dare to call upon his lord again?

With a heavy heart and eyes downcast

Dreams of carefree days go past

A time when it was so easy to raise up hands and freely request

Innocent pleas and simple decisions, praying Allāh would ease the rest.

Requesting from his Lord most high, most bountiful

Who made all good things seem possible, and the evil unthinkable.

So when did the light of goodness fade into darkness?

Was it through the extinguish of the conscience

Or did it diminish with the weak voice of reason

When overshadowed by the shout of Satan?

So the sinner walks a lonely path,

No longer seeking wrong or right, only hoping for a ray of light.

A light of purpose, a light of redemption

A lamp of guidance, leading to the road of salvation.

A way to repent for the time unspent

For the obligations unfulfilled and the book unread

The deeds which rendered the weak heart dead.

So what can revive the stricken heart?

Allāh set a month apart.

A time of healing, a time of hope

A time when everyone can grasp a lifeline boat.

Drifting to Allāh’s mercy, escaping to the plains of tranquillity

Wherein lies a night, better than a thousand nights.

Containing beauty and power concealed from sight.

A time to walk through a new door and emerge with vows of “no more”

And so the sinner walks a lonely path

Towards renewal and amendments for the past.

Through doors of repentance and levels of submission

Allāh’s mercy leads him to the doors of admission

The promise of two gardens for taqwa for a lord unseen

In the prevention of a fearful deed.

For O son of Adam if your sins reached the sky

But you called on your lord just one time

You would be forgiven as if you had never turned to transgression.

So never despair of the mercy of Ar Rahman, turn the key in Ramadan.

Reignite the former glory of īmān.

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Untitled
By: Umm Anas
Today my pen truthfully writes,

And my heart through it speaks,

The gift of Rafeeqal ‘Ala,

In this blessed Ramadan it seeks.

The lips and throat may be parched,

The tongue’s dry yet under control,

O Allāh! I need this Ramadan,

To ransom back my lost caged soul.

It trailed off knocking door to door,

Into the Ghostly Town of Desires,

Seeking happiness with security,

And a safe place to retire.

O Allāh! My soul became Shaytan’s Puppet,

Jumping to whatever ‘advice’ he gave,

Dear Allāh! Let me reach Laylatul Qadr,

To show you that I’m a worthy slave.

Mountains of sins stand threateningly united,

Blocking my view of Your Paradise,

O Allāh! Your slave’s trapped in a Well of Darkness,

Pull her out before her spirit dies!

Tarawih’s heavy on the body,

Yet so light and refreshing for the burning soul,

O Allāh! Help me cash out all my nights,

So that I can redeem all the nights my sleep stole.

In crowds of excited Muslims at Iftaar,

In a certain anxiousness I feel alone,

Wondering whether You granted me forgiveness,

For the sins in my Past’s Emotional Cyclone…

I admit! Drenched I am in Your Blessings,

I realize that everyday soon after Suhoor,

For it’s easy to pacify the growls in the stomach with the hope of an upcoming Iftar,

Unlike the many ever-fasting needy and poor.

A genuine smile can glue broken ties,

A hug can extinguish the hate,

The currency of Jannah is Ikhlaq,

Which ensures a clean slate.

But the motivation in me vanishes,

As I flick through the pages of my Past,

Ink of failure blackens them,

And also the blame of being a spiritual outcast.

Out of frustration:

My soul knocks at the door of Ramadan,

Hoping to benefit from its company,

It takes my hand and consoles my restless heart,

With words Promising of His Mercy:

“He directs the Creation in their matters,

He pardons the Seeker in the 3^rd part of the night,

You think He cannot forgive YOU?

Or give you the Ability to fight?

Do not doubt His Promises,

And do not doubt His Might,

Enter the Paradise of Dunia,

By remembering Him in times of plight!

Increase in reciting the Quraan,

Ponder but Increase not in speed,

For the Plant of Taqwa grows slowly,

When you with the Quraan nourish it’s seed.

READ in the Name of Thy Lord,

Who created you and that girl who’s deaf and mute,

She memorized Quraan merely by reading lips,

Why does your Faith in Allāh then lack resolute?

Control the Rein of your Nafs with His Words,

Devote a portion of it to memorize,

Do you not want to be clothed with the Heavenly 'Robe of Honor',

and majestically crowned In His Beautiful Paradise?”

At this my eyes moistened,

And I knew those forgotten words are true,

Has Allāh gifted me with this Ramadan,

to start my journey anew?

As my pen finishes dutifully writing,

The narrations of my strengthened heart,

It suggests that if the browser of your spiritual life seems stuck,

Then it’s only YOU stopping YOU from a ‘restart’!

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The Blanket
By: Mahfara Bakht

Ramadan

appears

When my soul

is hungry

Like a blanket made of

the softest wool,

It wraps itself

around me;

Whispers to me,

“I am here now,”

And I hold onto

This embrace

My heart—

Battered

From the blows of sin

Uncovers, and

in the light,

Feels safe again.

“Turn now,”

says Ramadan

To me

“Turn to Him

And His Mercy,”

I do.

I turn and feel

A load—

so heavy,

Rise up and

Burst

From my well

of tears:

Relief.

And then,

A sensation,

Like water down

A parched throat

The heart’s thirst—

Quenched;

The  soul’s hunger—

No more.

It now rests

In Ramadan’s embrace

Like nectar at

A flower’s core

And so it is

That my Lord knew

I needed Him

Before I

knew it myself.

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Enjoyed Day 5? There's more! Check out: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | The Finals

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