My heart
Enter the land of misery
An ocean deep in shattered dreams
A palace built between the fragments of a weathered soul
With gates left open by broken smiles
Smiles of those who once and still occupy my memory
I have been blessed with two melting eyes
To witness the glory of His earth
And I have looked up often to take in the celestial wonders of the skies
But I have not seen an eclipse
Like the one raised upon the spears
The night reflected in his long gone eyes
My forlorn guides from Karbala
Seeing them narrate a silent story
Like the fully fledged petals that caress the supple branches of summer
Narrating how they came to bloom in the painful cold of winter
In the end that beautiful flower will be plucked petal by petal but the scent will be crushed into the air and pollen spread into the world
A world that will become his garden
Like seeds, tear drops will grow into men
Men of all colours unified under his dome
Embracing it
Just as I embraced his chest and neck like a mother
Like his Mother
I held him strong
He stood, an unshakeable mountain
And like a laden cloud I wrapped around
And found home at the peak of my despair
Content with what the Lord had bestowed upon us
But saddened by the nature of man
And his actions towards the manifestations of beauty
My brother was beautiful
And in his death "I saw nothing but beauty
Enter the land of misery
An ocean deep in shattered dreams
A palace built between the fragments of a weathered soul
With gates left open by broken smiles
Smiles of those who once and still occupy my memory
I have been blessed with two melting eyes
To witness the glory of His earth
And I have looked up often to take in the celestial wonders of the skies
But I have not seen an eclipse
Like the one raised upon the spears
The night reflected in his long gone eyes
My forlorn guides from Karbala
Seeing them narrate a silent story
Like the fully fledged petals that caress the supple branches of summer
Narrating how they came to bloom in the painful cold of winter
In the end that beautiful flower will be plucked petal by petal but the scent will be crushed into the air and pollen spread into the world
A world that will become his garden
Like seeds, tear drops will grow into men
Men of all colours unified under his dome
Embracing it
Just as I embraced his chest and neck like a mother
Like his Mother
I held him strong
He stood, an unshakeable mountain
And like a laden cloud I wrapped around
And found home at the peak of my despair
Content with what the Lord had bestowed upon us
But saddened by the nature of man
And his actions towards the manifestations of beauty
My brother was beautiful
And in his death "I saw nothing but beauty
Taher Adel
14/09/2012
Short biography of character:
" I have seen nothing but the beauty (of God)"
Sayeda Zainab(as) was the daughter of Imam Ali(as) and third child of Fatima(sa). Her role in Karbala is most notable in the aftermath, conveyed beautifully in the court yard of Yazid in a powerful speech in which she concluded " I have seen nothing but the beauty (of God)", when the tyrannical Omayyud governor Obeidullah ibn Ziyad exulted at seeing the heads of the martyrs of Karbala, and insolently said: Look what God has done to your brother (Imam Hussain) and other members of the Prophet’s family for not acknowledging the un-Islamic rule of Yazid.
14/09/2012
Short biography of character:
" I have seen nothing but the beauty (of God)"
Sayeda Zainab(as) was the daughter of Imam Ali(as) and third child of Fatima(sa). Her role in Karbala is most notable in the aftermath, conveyed beautifully in the court yard of Yazid in a powerful speech in which she concluded " I have seen nothing but the beauty (of God)", when the tyrannical Omayyud governor Obeidullah ibn Ziyad exulted at seeing the heads of the martyrs of Karbala, and insolently said: Look what God has done to your brother (Imam Hussain) and other members of the Prophet’s family for not acknowledging the un-Islamic rule of Yazid.
His eyes were like darkly painted rooms where my knightly figure wallowed
Floating on his pupil as he watched as I was swallowed
Into the distance
I wondered where his tears would run to without my shoulders to soak them
Or where his eyes will flee to without my shadow to shield them
I headed towards the river like a stream heading towards my ending
At my reaching my nurtured heart was betrayed by my fallible being
The water quenched my eyes so an arrow took them away
The water cooled my palms so the swords upon them preyed
This container reminded me of my heart where his agony was bottled
Like the water it now leaks
But I have no palms to pick up his woes or eyes to see them to sleep
Now, coiled in his silence I settle in my dreams
Devoured by the beauty of his presence I gleam
The lights of heaven clash at our embrace
Desecrating the redness, to have a house of visitors built
A distance away from him like the stitching of a quilt
That same quilt that covered five now covers me from a distance
And the same visitors that visit him seek me no different
The sons of Ali remain brothers in life and in martyrdom
Abbas they called me and Abbas I answered
Taher Adel
20/02/2012
Short character biography:
"Abbas, I too have a wish to be fulfilled. Since childhood you have always called me Master. For once at least call me brother with your dying breath." Abbas closed his eyes while repeating, "Husayn my brother, my Imam"
Abbas ibn Ali was the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib and Fatima bint Hizam(commonly known as Ummul Baneen). He is known for his selfless role in the battle of Karbala as the flag bearer who sacrificed his life to quench the thirst of the children of Hussain(as).
Floating on his pupil as he watched as I was swallowed
Into the distance
I wondered where his tears would run to without my shoulders to soak them
Or where his eyes will flee to without my shadow to shield them
I headed towards the river like a stream heading towards my ending
At my reaching my nurtured heart was betrayed by my fallible being
The water quenched my eyes so an arrow took them away
The water cooled my palms so the swords upon them preyed
This container reminded me of my heart where his agony was bottled
Like the water it now leaks
But I have no palms to pick up his woes or eyes to see them to sleep
Now, coiled in his silence I settle in my dreams
Devoured by the beauty of his presence I gleam
The lights of heaven clash at our embrace
Desecrating the redness, to have a house of visitors built
A distance away from him like the stitching of a quilt
That same quilt that covered five now covers me from a distance
And the same visitors that visit him seek me no different
The sons of Ali remain brothers in life and in martyrdom
Abbas they called me and Abbas I answered
Taher Adel
20/02/2012
Short character biography:
"Abbas, I too have a wish to be fulfilled. Since childhood you have always called me Master. For once at least call me brother with your dying breath." Abbas closed his eyes while repeating, "Husayn my brother, my Imam"
Abbas ibn Ali was the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib and Fatima bint Hizam(commonly known as Ummul Baneen). He is known for his selfless role in the battle of Karbala as the flag bearer who sacrificed his life to quench the thirst of the children of Hussain(as).
Every morning I fell asleep to the smell of him
As stars smiled from above
But no stars had the nerve to neither shine nor watch me cry tonight
He was always here mid-scream
But these nights only darkness settles my heart to sleep
That and silence
With my infant brother buried deep
No thirsty smile to kill the loneliness away
Nor father's gentleness
Just heads on the spears
Eyes swimming in tears
While the air inherits his scent
As it smothers me to sleep
Every night my tears raced down
Gliding past lips that once slept under the candles of his eyes
Dripping unto my fingers, the ones he once kissed
Orphaned
The walls, my only friends
As they echo my screams back to me
Until that moment came
Men drew near with an object held up to me
I sat upon my cold feet to see what they had brought for me
I want no gifts or food to settle this empty void
I just want my whispered memories
To come to life once more
I stared into his saddened pupils
Back and forth, wishing I could disappear
Altogether in his blood drenched eyes
Until the morning prayer
I can hear his eyes singing
"Ruqaya I know how much you miss me,
I can feel the shivers of your tiny heart
But I am only a dream away
So dream your way back into my arms"
The garment of my soul wrapped around his head
I cried into his wounds and breathed him in
Until death released me from this embrace
As I dreamt my tiny soul away
Taher Adel
30/12/2011
Short character biography:
Imam Hussain (asws) was often heard saying, "A house without Sakina (asws) would not be worth living in".
Ruqayyah(Sakina) – was the daughter of Imam Hussan(as). She was said to be roughly 4 years of age at the time of her martydom. The name Sakina refers to ‘Calmness’ or ‘Peace of Mind’. She died in Damascus only a few weeks after the battle of Karbala. When Rubab(The mother of Ruqaya) was released from the prison, she came to the grave of her beloved daughter, placing her cheek on the grave and cried out, Speak to me “Sakina. Only a word, my child, speak to me."
As stars smiled from above
But no stars had the nerve to neither shine nor watch me cry tonight
He was always here mid-scream
But these nights only darkness settles my heart to sleep
That and silence
With my infant brother buried deep
No thirsty smile to kill the loneliness away
Nor father's gentleness
Just heads on the spears
Eyes swimming in tears
While the air inherits his scent
As it smothers me to sleep
Every night my tears raced down
Gliding past lips that once slept under the candles of his eyes
Dripping unto my fingers, the ones he once kissed
Orphaned
The walls, my only friends
As they echo my screams back to me
Until that moment came
Men drew near with an object held up to me
I sat upon my cold feet to see what they had brought for me
I want no gifts or food to settle this empty void
I just want my whispered memories
To come to life once more
I stared into his saddened pupils
Back and forth, wishing I could disappear
Altogether in his blood drenched eyes
Until the morning prayer
I can hear his eyes singing
"Ruqaya I know how much you miss me,
I can feel the shivers of your tiny heart
But I am only a dream away
So dream your way back into my arms"
The garment of my soul wrapped around his head
I cried into his wounds and breathed him in
Until death released me from this embrace
As I dreamt my tiny soul away
Taher Adel
30/12/2011
Short character biography:
Imam Hussain (asws) was often heard saying, "A house without Sakina (asws) would not be worth living in".
Ruqayyah(Sakina) – was the daughter of Imam Hussan(as). She was said to be roughly 4 years of age at the time of her martydom. The name Sakina refers to ‘Calmness’ or ‘Peace of Mind’. She died in Damascus only a few weeks after the battle of Karbala. When Rubab(The mother of Ruqaya) was released from the prison, she came to the grave of her beloved daughter, placing her cheek on the grave and cried out, Speak to me “Sakina. Only a word, my child, speak to me."
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