Circumspecte

Poetry finally chased me down and caught hold of me :) Inspired by the movie "P.S. I Love You." Consider it a double entendre ;) -- Hello again It's been a long while I have seen so much, experienced so much Met people who reminded me of you Many times I've wanted to stay away for good Many times I've wanted to come back to you But why should I when we have such a history Of laughter, fun, smiles, love, yes But also of challenges, correction: littered with challenges It would be so much easier to leave it all behind, leave you behind And start afresh. With someone, somewhere who's more sure More certain, more clear, more easy to get along with? Someone who doesn't make me so damn angry all the time! Surely, that's what I should do…right? I've thought that so many times But looking back, I'm who I am today precisely because of you Because of us, and especially because of our struggles It might be easier...

Nor say of anything, "I shall be sure to do so and so tomorrow," without adding, so please Allah!" And call thy Lord to mind when thou forgetest, and say, "I hope that my Lord will guide me ever closer (even) than this to the right road." - Surah 18: 23, Al-Khaf (The Cave) This is undoubtedly one of my favorite chapters in the Holy Qu'ran . It tells the story of some young Muslims and their dog who came upon a cave when fleeing their enemies. Allah caused them to fall into a deep slumber, sealed the cave and saved them from their pursuers. When they awoke they wondered how long they had been asleep, and God commanded them to go into town to find out. They literally woke up in another time/era, the exact of which remains unknown to all but Allah. Why I like it? I can't pinpoint one thing. Maybe it's the comfort of knowing that God protects his own, or that He lovingly guides us to the best path/situation. Perhaps I find it amusing that what seems ...

In an authentic Hadith, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said:  "Man is influenced by the faith of his friends. Therefore, be careful of whom you associate with." One of the distinct features of Ramadan that I have come to love is the feeling of camaraderie, of being one anther's keeper and of going out of ones way to show love and support. In my opinion, (wo)man's capacity for kindness is never more evident than during this Holy month. Its a time when complete strangers sit together in prayer shoulder to shoulder for hours and contemplate the wonders of God's creative abilities. When families who live in the same house yet have very separate lives pause for a moment and rediscover one another. When people go out of their way to lend a helping hand to the needy and orphaned in society. And perhaps, what's most beautiful, when the indescribable bond between humanity - Muslims and non-Muslims - is renewed. Over the years and during my time away from home I have experi...

Beautiful sunset in Salim Sarr, Louga Dear Senegal, I don't know how I made it through this one. I really don't. It's kind of hard to imagine you'd be sitting int he waiting lounge at the airport with all one, two, three pieces of excess luggage checked in...at virtually zero cost. Something that should have otherwise been at least $300 came down to a tip of 10,000CFAs, the equivalent of $20. It's at times like this that I re-resolve to continue proclaiming "I'm blessed", or as Nikki Minaj would say, "No, I'm not lucky, I'm blessed." Aside my friend's brush in with your police force - who have apparently (and ironically) decided to use the Holy Islamic Day of Friday to arrest invidivuals who don't have their national ID cards on them, and then consequently exact a bribe of 10,000CFAs (Ha! Come try that one in Ghana!) - everything went as well as can be. Funny what 10,000CFAs can do in one night huh? Anyway, who am I to cal...

Pitch dark. Either way you look at it, that's all it is. Black, dark, uninteresting, uninspired. You move your head to the right and you might as well stay in your initial position, nothing's changed. How ever did you come upon the depths of the Mariana trench? Professor A. certainly wasn't kidding when he said it was the lowest point of the earth. But even he hadn't the slightest idea of just how low it gets. Battered and torn. Tattered and forlorn. A misguided grin creeps upon your face. It wasn't always like this. Far from it. At one point, you were riding high, soaring to the skies.  Believed you'd landed among the stars.  And then, like all the others, you never saw it coming. Scorn reinstated. And oh, what the downthrow it was. Out flew the self-respect, in seeped the conceit To hell with the morals, who's even thinking values? In that vacuum greed and self-satisfaction took seed And boy, what a party they threw! Eventually, it appeared on the...