Breeze of Redemption

On the hard ground she lay,
A thing forgotten, left to decay,
Her chest heaving up and down,
Her heart beating, but she could hear no sound.

A tear slid down ever so slowly,
Never before had she felt so lonely.
As if to fall within the folds of the earth,
An embodiment of the clay she was before birth.

She was alive, but barely hanging on,
Inside she was hollow, her faith long gone,
Tainted by the poison of ignorance,
Her face long stripped of faith’s radiance.

She knew she deserved to be alone,
No companions, a worldly unknown,
Her days to be filled with ceaseless regret,
Her nights, a void filled with lament.

As she lay in the midst of her distress,
A soft wind flowing did caress,
A body so weak from life in confusion,
Only to reach a mirage of delusion.

She had doubted that such a gift should find her,
A gust that would set her soul a stir,
Like a blessed recital more eloquent than any song,
That made her feel as if perhaps she could still belong.

Light as air she began to fly,
The breeze lifting her up towards the sky,
A gift from the Mighty, yet Merciful King,
Whose mercy she found to be greater than her sin.

She landed softly in a bed of violet,
The world around her quenched with quiet,
With the words of her Lord still fresh in her mind,
A reason to live did she again find.

“And We send down of the Quran that which is healing and mercy for the believers” An-Isra’ 17:82

This poem is very personal to me and has a theme that hopefully many others can relate to as well. How often do we hear beautiful recollections of distressed souls grateful that what helped guide them to Islam and the real meaning of life was picking up the Qur’an? They find that its words ring true, and are drawn deeper and deeper into realization and reflection as they read. The heart – which was dead and locked up before – is now filled with life and a desire for guidance. The words of Allah are both a gentle reminder and a call to action to the one who has forgotten their real purpose in life due to being blinded by temporal glitter. The more one immerses him/herself in these words, the higher he or she will rise in both spiritual and worldly understanding. Its recitation is like a soft breeze bringing hope to a tired soul that is worn out, worn out from trying to keep up falsehoods disguised as truths.

SubhanAllah, my own journey from being Muslim in name only to really starting to know the meaning of Islam started with, among other things, picking up the Qur’an two years ago in Ramadan. Thus, I am a firm believer that it is one of the best remedies for the diseased heart.