From East Oakland to Gaza, poet Amelah El-Amin shares a prayerful call to our brothers and sisters in Palestine in their ongoing fight for liberation.
Bismillah…
I cannot sleep.
How do I dare sleep
knowing you cannot?
How do I dare sleep
knowing you remain awake?
Awake praying for a peace in a place
where there is no justice or peace!
How dare me
embrace the quietness of my streets.
How dare me
not appreciate the peace I can find
in these deep East Oakland streets!
I know not
a war zone like yours!
I know not
what it is like to live through
the clamor of the Fourth of July
day in and day out, year after year!
You, beloved,
knowing with certainty
it is not the sound of fireworks.
You endure the sounds that proceed,
the crushing destruction
aimed to demolish your very existence.
I can’t sleep.
How dare I sleep while you weep
at the hands of your oppressor!
I cannot sleep.
I will not sleep.
Instead I will pray through the night.
Night after night.
I will pray through my tears,
in the name of your tears,
begging our CREATOR
to ease your fears,
and to expeditiously grant you and your people
sustained victory.
Allahuma ameen ameen ameen.
Amelah El-Amin was born in Oakland, CA to African American Muslim parents. Sister Amelah wholeheartedly believes her being Muslim is the answer to the prayers of her enslaved ancestors. Due to those prayers, Sister Amelah’s five grandchildren are fourth generation Muslims. SUBHANALLAH!
Sister Amelah is the co-founder of MU’EED, a non profit organization founded in 1993. She is the executive program director of their Eating Rights project. The Eating Rights project provides local elders, the disabled, low income families, and our un-housed neighbors with hot meals and other essential items. Being that she believes Eating is a Right not a luxury, Sister Amelah, alongside other local organizations, has been combating food scarcity for over 25 years.
Sister Amelah is a board member of Lighthouse Mosque here in Oakland. She is also an activist, a writer, and a woman who strives to speak against injustice wherever she finds it.
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