Reflection on Juz’ 02 by Tariq Toure

‏The Gaze

There’s a portion of the night

known to be known to the knowers,

and wishful wayfarers

traveling the road to be sober

 This a time heaven stills

And Allah extends his gaze

To the Hardened, hollowed out,

And humbled hands raised

This is the passage where dying is living

And living is dying

where the bounty’s brought forth

To bidders for buying

Where Salaam of all sorts

Is written for trying.

And the thought alls lost

Is hidden from minds

The countless broken beggars

Stand gathered in line

For a thread of Rahma

Cast from the sublime

How many bewildered wretched

Stand scattered to climb

The towers of their sin

In an attempt to remind

Their hearts that darkness

Has descended this time

As a passage through which

Allah’s light is further defined

This hour where carpets turn hospital

And surgery is sujood

Where the quiet tap of tasbih

Serves as interludes

For the wailing of the wayward

And dua being diffused

And no matter how deep the depths

Of souls who’ve been abused

These are the moments

Where the pleas of the Mumin

Fail to  go refused

And Should you find your self

Having cried out help

Has our habib not stated

Gaze inside my well

Ain’t the prophet of end times

Where we find our wealth

Don’t you see that Allah sees

These tired eyes swell

Ain’t he guaranteed we’ll receive

Whatever is ask for

No matter how many gallons of pain

And truth of the past pours

Or our weak intellects we use

To maneuver the crash course

Can never amount to valleys of mercy

Al Qayyum has had for

Those who beg in the twilight hour

For renewal at Ar-Rahman’s door

And as our life’s hours hourly escape

How are we to take

This life in our lifetime

Endowing with states

That cause the limbs to stir

Allowing it to wake

Our heads to face the kingdom

And bow them to the king

This is the content of courage

No coward could ever claim

Those who stand naked nightly

This lifetime will be showered in his rain

On a day the scrolls will be rolled

Miles upon the plain

Where will not be able to mouth

But our mouths will all explain

What we did with our hours

Hours before the day

If we are imprisoned by prices

Our pride was proud enough to pay

And if Jannah is just beneath moonlight

Shouldn’t  we be crowded at the gate

Because if they knew what was distributed to

The outstretched hands of the believers

They would kill sleep itself

Just  to stand as a receiver

They would ransom their own eyelids

To be seen by the redeemer

If not for the bloodied feet of Habib

Not a fraction of this is known

This is the outcome of his dua

Being cast into our homes

A millenia of worship wouldn’t pay back

A fraction of his loan

 

May Allah place barakah in every watery eye

And crackling of bones

That in the pitch of black night rise

In reverence of the master of the throne

الا يالله بنظره

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Tariq Touré is an award winning writer from West Baltimore Maryland. Touré’s poetry and prose has been featured in award winning publications such as, Salon, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, The Nation Magazine and Sapelo Square. Black Seeds, Toure’s debut collection of poetry was the winner of Best Poetry Book of Baltimore in by City Paper Magazine. Touré has been a featured lecturer/performer at Howard University, Princeton University, Georgetown University, Duke among many others. He has been regarded by legendary hip hop artist Black Thought as the Amiri Baraka of our era. Toure is a winner of a Short Film award from the Center for Global Muslim Life for his film Dear Beloved Son. Touré is a recent fellow of Duke University’s program, “Building Bridges: Muslims in America.” He is a graduate of Bowie State and Howard University. He is currently in his 3rd year as a full-time seminary student at Dar Al-Rahma Detroit, a training institute for community servants.

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  • A reminder benefiits the believer, al hamdu lillaah.

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