As We Stand Before Thee
by Farah Zaman

As we stand before Thee
Our souls bared in Thy sanctuary
Hearts humbled to the core
To envision Thy majesty
Affirmed by this act of prayer
Pride removed layer by layer
Standing firm as solid as rock
Building reverence with secret awe
Camouflage free to the maximum
Painfully conscious of what we lack
But Thou know our hidden depths
The sincerity of the minds within
Only the best will Thee accept
Heed not the ever lurking devil
Be not deceived by his fraudulence
Guard well our sacred precincts
By using our elite senses
Not succumb to baser instincts
The power is within our grasp
To justify this existence

Regarding Basketball and Salah
by Aneesa Mustafa

Reality check
frame freeze
Times like these
don’t exactly put the mind at ease
*laughs*
listen to me,
sounding like the most world weary
all bent over
with the troubles that both time and age heap
problems that we sow and reap
onto our back(s)
rather like Shaq
O’Neal at the buzzer
pressure’s on him
to complete and score
there’s nothin he’d like more
than to hear the crowd roar
his name
pressure’s got nothing on fame
you know, it’s kind of a shame
that we track each and every game
and yet
prayer time came
and left
our soul’s gone bereft
because… we missed that chance

But look at me
making some shallow anlogy
Basketball?
How can this compare
to the free fall
that life is taking
Look, we got ourselves a chance so rare in the making
Being born on the Path
(that’s with a capital P)
so don’t you see?
Man, you’ve got to take what you got
and believe me when i say
that it’s a alot
please excuse my cliche
but
capture this moment
stop getting carried away
dont let life slide
i know its a crazy ride
but hey
we’ve got the best Guide
to show us the True Way
what’s that we say…?
“reach for the stars”
but in this case…
if we do it right
our future looks nice,
because
this time,
its Paradise

Islam the Sibghah (Color) of Allah
by Sabeen Mansoori

The oceans dried up
Not one but two,
But the words of my Lord written were few

Each drop of divine ink
Each letter, each word
Their unchartered depths few have explored

“Sibghtullah”
The Colors of Allah
Dye yourself in them and attain falah

The hues of humility
The perfect tints of gratitude
The gait, the speech, the right attitude

In the style
Of the Nabi (saws) and the blessed few
They strive but they smile as if Jannah they view

Intense in their devotion
Their obedience glows
In the darkest of nights spent bowed low

Not like chameleons
They change their colors, or discard
When the going gets tough, or the opposition hard

Their deen dyed deep
Not washed away
By the changing tides of culture, or fashion’s sway

Awash in divine recitation
They persist and depend
On none
But the One

At peace in the knowledge
That blessed they are
To be drenched in
‘Sibghatullah’
The Colors of Allah