A Small Tribute

Maulana Rumi, Saudee, Hafez, many renowned Farsi, as well as Urdu poets and artists alike credit Ali Ibn Abi Talib(A.S) for being a major pillar of their work, as he is the primary force that initiated integration of Arab and Persian culture, by moving the caliphate from Medinah to Kufa. From metre and rhyme, to linguistic intertwining, his poems in Arabic are to this day still regarded as the best work of his era. I’ve placed just a few of my favourite hadith, couplets, art, and poems from/related/of/about him, and his beloved wife, below a poem I wrote this week as I couldn’t stop thinking about injustice seen in the world as an almost routine event in recent Ramadans. Here’s to a brighter future.

Bring mithai and a scrumptious treat

The end of Ramadan is so bittersweet

Esotericism’s crest

In white shrouds and wind dressed

Zulfiqar was here laid to rest

Liquid ruby on the pulpit spilled

The Wali of all Walis in Kufa was slain

Slaughtered in the Masjid, the congregation stilled

In front of sons and daughters, Hasan and Husain

It was in the last ten nights Ali was killed

Stabbed of the nectareous wisdom’s fill

We pray to gently pry her open from afar