Reflection on Juz’ 25 by Eric Lamont Powell, Jr.

To bear witness & enter into submission wholeheartedly is what I’m wishing…

 

What do we have here? 

Woke up a Believer, went to sleep a Kafīr? Working for God, but clocked out at high noon? Yeah, who dem? [Yehudim…] 

The ones given knowledge 

can still be brought to ruin, 

Travel in the Earth and see 

what was the end to them, 

Then reflect and apply to Self… 

Doubt is dead land 

that I refuse to stay settled on… 

I’m prayin’ for the rain like Nuh, 

I’m movin’… like Ibrahim, 

like Musa, like Muhammad… 

Through a belief in the Revelation 

of a Recitation intended for every Nation, which with proper interpretation 

can bring about transformation 

and raise our spiritual station, 

It descends like the rain, man… 

Bringing life once again 

to a dead land, 

to a dead man… 

Both the people & the cattle have been poisoned, This disease of the heart, 

You cannot be inoculated for by any vaccination, When there’s little means for physical preservation, Our people take spiritual consolation 

in understanding that pain and struggle is only for purification and expiation 

of sin, 

These days come in turns, 

So that we learn how to turn, 

Especially during the lunar month that burns, We burn, for mercy and forgiveness, 

In order to be safeguarded 

from the fire next time, 

To bear witness & enter into submission wholeheartedly is what I’m wishing,

For, as long as I could endure, 

my limbs have remained sore, 

Not sure how to relax no more, 

Nor, how to restore my Noor, 

In short, I say I feel like manure, 

Like sh*t… but hopefully, 

something can grow from it: 

This dead land… 

For a year, I skipped practice, 

Hoping mere faith would suffice, 

Couldn’t deal with my grief, 

until I started to deal with my belief… 

In a world where 

corporations ran by Satan 

put their margins before the marginalized, 

then defeat us with convenience, 

plus social engineer us 

and make our attitudes defeatist 

from the time that we’re a fetus, 

Hypocrites codify cowardice, 

Wrongdoers — from those who abuse sex and parties to the self-righteous who divide us into sects and parties — ask you when the Hour is… 

We’ve seen the punishment to accompany this, From the Prophet Hud 

to the Seal of Prophethood… 

If Isa is a Sign of the Time, 

So is the Parable of the Sower… 

If the Hour comes and you’re planting a tree, 

Throw down the seed, 

You never know if it’s the one 

you’ll be resurrected from 

when that Final Rain comes… 

Please do, come walk a mile in my shoes, 

I got holes in my soul only God can fill, 

I got hurt in my heart only God can heal, 

‘Til Israfil blows on the Trumpet 

and the Final Hour commences, 

‘Til the heaven is render a scroll 

in the Almighty’s Hand, 

And we are all gathered together, 

All differences decided between us

by the Best Knower, 

I will pray to show up on that Day with the heart of my Father, Ibrahim… When they ask, “Whatchu mean?” Say, “Qalbin Salim”, 

Qalbin Salim, 

Qalbin Salim…

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Eric Lamont Powell, Jr. (Abu Shifa Fard Ali ibn Hanif-Allah) is a Black Muslim husband, father and artist from Prince George’s County, MD. As an Emcee/Poet performing under the name of E.L.P.J., he has released several projects, performed internationally and opened for acts like Common. He is an alumnus of Howard University (HU) where he majored in Media, Journalism and Film Communications, with a concentration in Audio Production. He also served as President of HU’s Muslim Students’ Association. During an internship with Sapelo Square, he served as a Politics Content Editor, Eric loved supporting the preservation and elevation of Black Muslim narratives through multiple media forms.

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