Déjà Vu

We wake up in the morning and partake in our formalities

We open the paper, switch on the news, and see all forms of atrocities

Bombings over here, gunshots over there and such is the frequency

That these acts have no longer become insanity

God forbid I say, that they are somewhat a normality

But even writing these words brings pain to my heart

When did you have the audacity to start?

Tearing Allah’s world apart

Where did you get the right to take someone’s life?

When the God you claim to worship warned you of their right

Who gave you the authority to make a decision?

About who can and cannot practice their religion

But then...

But then I step back and re-evaluate history

And realise that today’s events are no longer a mystery

Because in one afternoon, I saw a brutal summary

Of all today’s oppression and tyranny

And these events live long in my memory

So when I see the headlines the news are relaying

They often come under the title: BREAKING

But for me, these calamities are hardly in the present 

They are merely a repetition of what happened on a desert

I turn on the news to discover a suicide bomber

Has entered a mosque as a Shi’a undercover

He blows up the mosque whilst worshippers pray

And to their Lord this is the last act they display

But then my mind casts back to the land of Karbala

When Husayn stops a battle to pray to Allah

But instead of joining, without hesitation

These ‘Muslims’ shoot arrows whilst he’s in prostration

But two noble companions come to his protection

And lay down their lives, so that we attain salvation

I turn on the news and find that in Peshawar

A school in the blood of children is showered

And I see the public in shock at the lack of mercy

‘These are just children but there’s no empathy’

But then my mind casts back to the land of Karbala

When a twelve year old boy asks to fight for his master

As he bends down to tie his shoe that has been undone

The enemies surround him and strike him one by one

And Husayn runs to his aid with utmost concern

But from this boy, what a story we learn

That in this transient world that is governed by power and money

He confidently says, ‘for truth, death is sweeter than honey’

I turn on the news and find video footage being spread

Of ISIS militants warning of the next victim they’ll behead

And in the midst of these threatening warnings

After a new story of death when I wake up in the morning 

I turn my attention to my period of mourning

And my mind casts back to the land of Karbala

When 72 heads from their bodies have departed

And in celebration of this massacre a party has started

So whilst the world is in shock regarding ISIS’ capability

My mind is all too familiar with this inevitability

Because in Karbala, these people had the audacity

To ensure that the family of the Prophet were slain

To the extent that not a single body remained

I turn on the news and on my screen I see

A picture of a helpless refugee

Who lies there dead, right next to the sea

And afterwards I observe the public reaction

Who rightly demand that our governments take action

Because the sight of a boy laying on the sand

Should be enough reason to take a stand

But then my mind casts back to the land of Karbala

Where I see Husayn lay his newborn on the scorching sand

And requests these enemies to feed him with their hands

But instead an arrow pierces his neck

And the number of prongs I have to double-check

For surely three prongs is too many for such an infant child

But the story of Karbala is such that nothing was too wild

I saw a man who was willing to be slaughtered

And bear the pain of knowing that his women will be brutally tortured

Knowing that they will be countlessly whipped
Knowing that the jewellery from their ears will be ruthlessly ripped
Knowing that of the Hijab on their heads they will be mercilessly stripped

But behind Karbala’s tragedy is a message of inspiration

Which is why you see his shrine with people from every nation

Because he did what he did with the purest of intentions

Husayn taught me that the power of justice will kill any oppression

So despite humanity being in a clear state of regression

Tyranny will fail

And the truth will prevail.

Yazid died.

Husayn lives.