A Door Please!

This poem is inspired by the recent tragic events relating to asylum seekers in Australia.
Published in Eureka Street  on 2 April 2013 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=35718

A Door Please!
By Saba Hakim

I live in a house

With no doors

No windows

No roof

A pigeon dropped me in

It promised me a door

But in this house

I found no doors

No windows

No roof

I see the rainbow in the sky

I shout for help

No one hears

There are no doors to their ears

I climb the walls

Up ... up...up...

To the roofless top

I try

I fall

I break

I cry

No one sees me fall or cry

There are no windows to their eyes

Tomorrow come, hurry please

Before the rainbow disappears

And all that’s left for me to do

Is breathe...

A message inspired by the memory of sheikh Jaafar Al Bakiry كلمات في ذكرى الشيخ جعفر الباقري

The late Sheikh Jaafar Al-Bakiry (Brief Biography)

"يا أيتها النفس المطمئنة ارجعي إلى ربك راضية مرضية؛ فادخلي في عبادي وادخلي جنتي"

ببالغ الأسى والحزن ينعى مركز الإمام علي عليه السلام الإسلامي في مدينة ملبورن فقيده الغالي سماحة الشيخ الجليل الدكتور جعفر الباقري؛ حيث انتقل إلى جوار ربه ليلة البارحة، في الرابع والعشرين من شهر صفر 1434 هـ، الموافق للسادس من كانون الثاني 2013 م، في مدينة مشهد المقدسة في إيران.

وبهذا المصاب الجلل، يتقدم مركز الإمام علي من عائلة الفقيد وذويه، ورواد مجمع الإمام علي علي عليه السلام وأحباء الشيخ المرحوم وأصدقائه وجميع أبناء الجالية العراقية في ملبورن بأحر التعازي، سائلين المولى القدير أن يمن على ذوي الفقيد بالصبر والسلوان، وأن يسكنه الفسيح من جنانه.

وسوف يقام مجلس الفاتحة على روحه الطاهرة الساعة الثامنة مساءً من هذا اليوم الاثنين 712013 ولمدة ثلاثة أيام، في مركز الإمام علي الإسلامي على العنوان:

94 Lawson St, Fawkner
للرجال والنساء.
رحم الله من أهدى الفقيد ثواب قراءة الفاتحة

·         الدكتور الشيخ جعفر الباقري (أبو أسامة) ولد عام 1962 بمحافظة البصرة في العراق. هاجر إلى إيران عام 1980 بعد أن تعرض للقمع و التعذيب وخرج من زنزانات البعث المظلمة.

·         تخصص أكاديميا في اللغة العربية و ادابها فحاز على الدكتوراه في الأدب العربي. و تخصص حوزويا في الفقه والاصول والفلسفة والمعارف الاسلامية فحاز على الدكتوراه بدرجة الشرف في العلوم والمعارف الاسلامية من المركز العالمي للعلوم والمعارف الاسلامية.

·         عظوا في الجمعية العمومية لمنظمة التقريب بين المذاهب الاسلامية ويحمل وكالات عن مراجع الشيعة الكرام

·         هاجر الى استراليا عام 1995 فاسس مع مجموعة من المؤمنين مجمع الامام علي الاسلامي الذي يعد اكبر كيان للشيعة في ولاية فكتوريا و تولى ادارته والاشراف عليه

·         مارس مجموعة من النشاطات الدينية و الاجتماعية و الادارية على مدى السنوات الماضية ... فأقام عام 1996 اول صلاة جمعة منتظمة لاتباع منهج اهل البيت في قارة استراليا ورافق بعثة الحج السنوية مشرفا ومعلما في كل عام واسس مدرسة الامام علي الاسلامية واجتاز دورة تطوير مهارات التعليم الحديثة واصبح مخولا رسميا

·         ساهم في بناء العمل السلامي ومواصلته لجمعيات عديدة منها الغدير و اهل الكساء للباكستانيين والرسالة للبنانيين و التوحيد للجامعيين في مدينة ملبورن (اي يو اس) واستراليان ميد للشبيبة الاسترالية المسلمة في ملبورن والمنتظر في منطقة داندينونك و الامين في كوبروم و السجاد في شيبرتون واهل البيت في مدينة برزبن وال البيت مدينة ادلايد.

·         له عدة مؤلفات ادبية و اسلامية منها: البدعة, البرزخ, الادب السياسي الشيعي, ثوابت ومتغيرات الحوزة العلمية, تربية الابناء في المهجر, الخلفاء الاثنى عشر, صلاة التراويح.

·         Dr Sheikh Jaafar Al Bakiry was born in 1962 in the City of Basra in Iraq.  He immigrated to Iran in 1980 to escape persecution and torture by Sadam’s Bathist Party.

·         Academically, Sheikh Al Bakiry specialised in the Arabic Language and gained a Doctorate in Arabic Literature.  On a religious platform, he specialised in Islamic Fiqh (laws) and philosophy, and Islamic Sciences and obtained a Doctorate with Honours in Islamic sciences and knowledge from the International Centre for Islamic Sciences and Knowledge
·        Is a member of the General Assembly of the Organisation that relates to dialogue and building understanding between Islamic sects, and holds wikala from a number of Religious Scholars Authorities (Marji')

·         Sheikh Al Bakiry Immigrated to Australia in 1995 and, together with a group of believers, established the Imam Ali Islamic Centre in Fawkner, which is regarded as the largest Shia Muslim religious centre in Victoria, and he is responsible for its management.

·         He has been continually Involved in a number of social, religious and administrative events in the past years including the establishments in 1996 of the first regular Friday prayers for Ahlul Bayt School of thought in Australia, accompanying the yearly Hajj Group from Melbourne as the supervisor and teacher; and establishing Imam Ali Islamic School .

·         Participated actively in Islamic da’wa and the foundation/support of many Islamic organisations and religious centres in Australia including Alghadeer; Panjtan Society of Victoria; AlRisala; Islamic Unity Society youth organisation; Australian MADE (Muslim Adolescent Development & Education) in Victoria;  Al Muntadhar  in Dandenondg; Alameen in Cubrrum, Alsajjad in Shepperton, Ahlul Bayt in Brisbane, and Al Albayt in Adelaide.

·         Has written a number of religious and educational books in Arabic including Bida’a; The Tweleve Khalifs; Barzakh; Taraweeh Prayers, and Raising Children in Migrant Soceiy.

Arab Spring, Women and People's aspiration

This is an interesting TED talk by Dalia Mugahed analysing the stats concerning the attitudes of people in Egypt before and after the Arab Spring.  She also gives interesting insight into the correlation between women's rights, religion and men's attitudes to women's rights!
"Human development, not secularization, is what's key to women's empowerment in the transforming Middle East.” (Dalia Mogahed)
http://www.ted.com/talks/dalia_mogahed_the_attitudes_that_sparked_arab_spring.html

O Fatima

Look at me

With your tearful eyes.

See my heart.

It beats cold blood

Through its walls.

Your words ...so soft,

Freeze

At its rusted doors.

I feel nothing inside,

So empty ...cold...alone.

I lost you, Fatima,

When I embraced life

With my youthful soul.

Your eyes reproach me?!

Do not blame me.

Once I felt Life’s gentle touch

Sooth these yearning walls,

I wanted more.

I did not know

Its gentle touch

Would chain my soul.

O Fatima,

Release your cries

As loud as thunder

To break the chains

That clasp my soul.

Embrace me

With your wounded heart,

And call to me my faith of old.

O Fatima

Weep for me,

For my tormented soul.

Saba Hakim

الشيخ الدكتور الوائلي

هذا ربما كان اخر لقاء مع الشيخ الوائلي... هذا المعلم الذي رسخ معالم الايمان في قلوب من هم من جيلي... الف رحمة على روحك الطيبة ...يا معلمي العظيم

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v1StRJ12Zk&feature=related

 http://www.alhikmeh.org/main/pages/tex_new.php?tid=1684بعض المعلومات الشخصية: 

The Eyes

Some 20 years ago, whilst walking in the corridors of the science faculty towards the main notice board, one of my lecturers stepped out of his office, noticed me and smiled.  He called me into his office and we had a short chat.  I was nervous because he was an important professor and I was just an eighteen year old nobody.
 

He invited me to sit in his big leather arm chair and said, “you seem to me like someone who is strong in faith.” His comments surprised me because I wasn’t wearing hijab at the time and was not active on the religious scene (I didn’t even know where the prayer room was).  I asked him the reason for his conclusion.  He replied, “your eyes; they have the light of faith”. 

He then explained that he was a committed Christian and encouraged me to continue in my faith.  He never asked me any questions, didn’t attempt to convert me, and never mentioned it again.  But he always had a gentle comradely smile reserved for me when we crossed paths. 

I remember the instant impact of his words on me (for a week I kept looking intensely at my eyes in the mirror from different angles trying to identify this “light”), and the generosity with which he said the comments.  In retrospect, I know that his brief words largely contributed to my understanding of faith.  Faith is not about who is right or wrong, or who has the best arguments.  Faith is about sincerity in our search for meaning.  It is about compassion, diversity, love, and vulnerability.  Faith is about how willing we are to embrace those who are unlike us. 

For twenty years and on, I continue trying to be the person that the Professor thought I was; a faith filled person; a person with an inner light.  I still have a long way to go, but I hope that when I get there, I will be able to pass on this light to others just as the Professor did.

Saba Hakim