A Muslim Woman Begs

A Muslim Woman Begs, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

what is her story
I really dont know
that she is Muslim woman
she begs through
this picture I show
she and her child
a destiny they tow

her hijab
her protection
part of her
shadow
her enduring faith
she wont forgo
had she
been given a proper
education
learnt some skill
it would have reduced the blow
quid pro quo
but early marriage
part of our tradition
adds to their woe
some build mosques
some build madarsas
some build bunglows
muslim women
on street s nowhere to go
muslim poor women
the underprivilged
chattel human cargo
this is truth that hurts
but part of her portfolio
her womanhood cursed
as an unborn embryo
borrowed todays
mortaged tomorrows
life laid low
as a mother
motherhood
against a tidal flow
living dead
soon to be buried below
empty talks
empty hope
eternal emptiness
that they will bestow
they who
with sectarian rhetorics
sectarian violence
seeds of hatredness sow
dividing Islam
God alone knows
power politics
all a big show
the Muslim woman is
what a Muslim woman was
since a long time ago
at the end of the tunnel
there is some light
although..
it is to our muslim
women our life
our religions life
we owe

Outside mosques , on Fridays, near Dargahs, you see the truth, at someplaces like Haji Ali , there is beggar mafia at work but overall the sights are horrendously painful..what really hurts , is the Idd Namaz , the starched clothes , the fragrance of attar, close at hand breaching all human kindness , in tattered clothes, burka clad women .. with empty palms..yes they celebrate Idd too who beg…

April 29th, 2007