SPLITTING THE
MOON
SPLITTING THE
MOON
A COLLECTION OF ISLAMIC POETRY
JOEL HAYWARD
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]
© Joel Hayward, 2012
All rights reserved
The right of Joel Hayward 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 978-1-84774-034-2 paperback 978-1-84774-100-4
Cover Design: Inspiral Design Typesetting: Nasir Cadir
Dedication
I wrote these poems as an offering of profound thanks to my Creator with a hope that insha’Allah the poems will also bring pleasure to other readers and repay the unfailing patience and love I have received from my wonderful and beloved family.
Deus est regit qui omnia
Contents
The Six at Thawr
Wounded at Uhud
Transfixed
The Calling of Moses
True Wealth
Today’s World
You Know My Life
Ironies
I think of the Prophet
Not for Himself
Chosen One
114 Surahs
Splitting the Moon
Knees of the Revert
The Islamic Bookshop in Leicester
Lord of the Worlds
Iman
What You Do
Master and Servant
Her Journal
Faizan-e-Madina Mosque
The Certainty of Not Knowing
The Office
Empty One
All in Their Eyes
From a Hadith
Ahl al-Kitab
Day of Judgement
A Wind Blew
Libya
Battle of Misrata
Life as Childhood
Man Named Razi
Soon
You Kept Me
Life in Gulps
Darling in Misrata
Birds of the Battlefield
Nature
His Face
Today
More Life as Childhood
For What?
Every Morning
Suicide Bomber
Osama bin Laden
Bin Laden: An End?
God’s Blessings
The Journey Back
Praying as a Revert
Yesterday
Holy Qur’an
Too Often
The Moment … in Jakarta
Lamentations
No Despair in Lamentations
The Cleft
Will I Write a Poem about Her and Sin?
Regret in Cashmere
In Different Rooms
The World is an Asian Intersection
Ambrosia
Such Power
Everything
At the Office on Thursday
Everywhere
Born with a Burden
Muslim Youth Workshop
Unfathomable Depths
Life is Such
The Fifth That Day
The No. 30 in Tavistock Square
Muslim Warrior
Mortal Dread
We Talk
Love as I Write