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:
- The two grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) were referred to as ‘fragrances of Jannah”
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
