11 Jun 2011

Islam For Americans- Khadija Anderson

1. means god in Arabic
99 names
no eyes
no ears
Al lah
Al lah
AL LAH
alif lam lam hamsa
Allah is not male
NOT male
not a man
or he
or HE
or anything that
you
can imagine

2. Does your husband make you wear that?
I am a
wrapped piece
of candy a
swaddled jewel
I am perfect
woman under
my packaging
you may not see                                                                
my effusive gold mahr
my fruitful awrah

3. Does your religion make you wear that?
the woman
who does not
cover her hair
should have it
shorn
~ Corinthians 15:6

4. Tessellation
Middle Eastern Art Scheherazade veil sheikh
The Alhambra calligraphy Afghanistan burqa
Palestine hashish Morocco pyramids violence
hooknosed Arabic sword mosque haram thief
sand nigger Sinbad jihad camel whore infidel
Iraq belly dancing terrorist Aladdin barbarian
Sahara couscous hookah Rumi rag head bitch

5. last words
I see a woman covered
in a long dress, headscarf
and face veil
salaam aleykum, I say
and as she looks at my
bare head, tank top
and tattoos
she replies,
wa aleykum salaam sister
__________________________________________________________________________
 For me reading this felt like a Fresh Breeze in a Hot summer day like that we have in Egypt right now, It held that huge sense of "Modesty", "Confidence" and "Endurance", I Loved the Last stanza, it was indeed the Last Words, The forth stanza reminded me of Suheir Hammad's "Not your Erotic"- thought Hammad's is done for a different reason. These are the Types of poems that the one Reads every now and then and the Stick in the mind and makes you say "I read something Amazing today"
________________________________________________________
Listen to the Full reading from Ms Khadija herself Here 
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