jazaks to everyone who helped.
i found a beautiful poem and recited it at the event last night. it went pretty well, alhamdulillah
"My Sister's Prayer" by Suheir Hammad
She has never heard a woman call her
To prayer, still she answers-
Bears witness five times a day.
She faces East
And washes her body covers her human form
In preparation to meet the Most High.
She raises her hands,
Aware of all who have come before her.
Folds hands on her breast,
Right on top of left.
Between Arabic words heart beat breath.
She raises her hands,
In hope of all that will follow.
Humble and knowing she needs no defense,
She bows.
Before no man,
She bows.
Behind the men,
She bows,
Knowing angels will raise her back up
She prays on rugs, carpets, cardboard, earth.
She prays hungry, ill, misguided, hurt.
All the while calling on Perfection, Grace
Head to the ground,
Even the floor she walks upon becomes sacred.
She prays in prescribed form, but knows
There is no language the Universe does not accept.
There is no posture void of God.
She is Sarah's daughter.
She is Hagar's daughter.
And like her father Abraham, her tent is open
In the four directions.
For each wind will carry her prayers.
From each direction will come her blessings.
From the trees and the rocks,
From the seas and the hills.
She sits alone, knowing she is one of many.
She sits alone, knowing no one can petition for her.
All the while calling on Compassion, Mercy.
Her hands are open.
Her father taught her to read the words.
Her mothers teach her to live them.
Her brothers told her to live by the law.
Her sisters tell her the only law is Love.
She invokes peace over her right shoulder,
Then her left.
She sits alone with all that daily creates her.
She sits alone and patiently waits
To experience the feminine force of the Divine
Within her own body, her own face.
Help! Anyone know a decent poem about being a Muslim woman?
Great minds may think alike but brilliant minds think "different"
