THE BOOK OF NASEEB
Khaled Nurul Hakim was born in Birmingham and has a background in film and poetry, publishing sparingly in the 1990s. He was visiting tutor in MA Screenwriting at the London College of Printing till 2004. The Book of Naseeb originally began as a 2005 screenplay for a low-budget feature film to be called Barzakh. Scheduled to be shot in Uzbekistan, the project was aborted when civil unrest broke out. Khaled took a decade-long break from writing to pursue a spiritual path, becoming a Sufi student and Sufi musician. He returned to rework the text as ‘a degraded epic’ while also looking after a growing family, a task that would take more than seven years.
ALSO BY KHALED NURUL HAKIM
POETRY
The Lost Poems (forthcoming, 2020)
Letters from the Takeaway (Shearsman, 2019)
PUBLISHED BY PENNED IN THE MARGINS
Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6AB
All rights reserved
© Khaled Nurul Hakim 2020
The right of Khaled Nurul Hakim to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Penned in the Margins.
First published in 2020
ISBN
978-1-908058-80-5
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
CONTENTS
The Account of the Angel of the Right Hand
The Account of the Angel of the Left Hand
The Account of the Angel of the Right Hand
The Account of the Angel of the Left Hand
ISLAMIC TERMS AND CONCEPTS
ANGELS
| Jibreel | (also the Ruh) Archangel Gabriel, responsible for imparting messages from Allah; |
| Mikail | Archangel Michael, responsible for earthly phenomena and sustenance; |
| Israfil | Raphael, who blows the ‘soor’ or trumpet at end of the world; |
| Azrail | Angel of Death |
| Noble Scribes | (also called Receivers) Arab. Kiraman Kaatibeen, the recording angels of left and right who arrive at a person’s age of responsibility, traditionally from eight years on |
| Protectors | (also called Followers) the protecting angels of front and back. Traditionally there is a changing of the watch at Asr (mid-afternoon) and Fajr (dawn) |
| Ruh | Arab. lit. ‘Spirit’, an epithet for Archangel Jibreel |
| HEAVENS | |
| Mi’raj | Arab. ascension (esp. Prophet’s journey through the seven heavens) |
| Preserved Tablet | Arab. ‘al Lawh al Mahfuz’, a metaphorical locus of the incorruptible Quran, created before time; it also holds the written destiny of every scintilla of the universe |
| Buraq | Arab. lit. ‘lightning’, fabled steed that transported the Prophet in his Night Journey |
| Ayah | pl. ayat, a Quranic verse; a sign, proof; a miracle. The Quran itself is counted as the greatest miracle, sign, and proof. |
| Barzakh | Arab. Pers. ‘divide, barrier’. A place between Heaven and Earth where deceased souls await the final Judgement Day, where they may experience their own heaven or hell. |
| TIME | |
| Salah | Arab. pl. salat, formal invocatory prayer at set times, namaz in Persian and Urdu |
| Magrib | Arab. lit. ‘west’, prayer at sunset. The Islamic day runs strictly from sunset to sunset |
| Esha | Arab. ‘night’, prayer at this time |
| Fajr | Arab. ‘dawn’, prayer at this time; time the angels change their watch (Fajr khadib: ‘false dawn’) |
| Zuhr | ‘midday’, prayer at this time; on Friday this becomes congregational ‘Jummah’ prayer |
| Asr | Arab. ‘mid-afternoon’, prayer at this time; time the angels change their watch |
| Qiyam | Arab. lit. ‘standing’, a superogatory night prayer halfway between Esha and Fajr |
| Ramadan, Ramzaan | Arab. ninth month in the Islamic calendar, month in which the Quran was first revealed, month of fasting |
| I’tikaf | Arab. ‘devoting’, practice of spiritual retreat in mosque during last days of Ramadan |
| Laylatal Qadr | Arab. variously translated as ‘Night of Power’, ‘Night of Majesty’, ‘Night of Destiny or Decrees’, ‘Night of Measures’. In this night the year’s decrees for all souls descends together with angels, departed souls, and gates of Hell. |
| Suhoor | Arab. prescribed meal before dawn during Ramadan |
| Taraweeh |
Arab. lit. ‘refreshment’,
|