Dear Beloved of Allah,

My artist’s brush

Is moved to paint

Images on the canvas

Of my mind

Perfumes of Jannah (1)

Riding on your back

Happy to be their camel

You lengthened

Your prostration

The Martyr of Karbala (2)

A child in an oversized robe

Eyes only for you

As you spoke on the pulpit

You descended

Swept him up in your arms

Pulled him to your chest

Defying the Bedouin’s boast (3)

A necklace, and a gold ring (4)

For Umamah

The apple of your eye

Boundless love

You are

Unmatched in

Beauty and Praise!

And now billions of hearts

Are moved by images

Etched on the canvas

Of their minds

~Farhad

Notes:

1. The two grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) were referred to as ‘fragrances of Jannah”
2. The Prophet’s grandson Imam Hussein was martyred at Karbala. There is a hadith that when he was a young child, while the Prophet was on the minbar, he came into the masjid wearing an oversized thobe; the Prophet descended the minbar and lifted him up to his chest.
3. This is in reference to an authentic hadith in which a Bedouin was surprised at the Prophet who kissed his grandsons and showed such affection; he boasted that he has ten sons and never kissed them (apparently to show the toughness of the lifestyle).
4. It is reported that the Prophet was very fond of his grand-daughter Umamah, daughter of Zainab. Once he had an Onyx necklace and said that he would give it to the one he loved the most. Many people expected that he would give it to Ayesha (RA), but he gave it to Umamah; on another occasion he gifted her a gold ring.