Islamic History Pearls

Islamic History Pearls

Habeeb Alli

Nov 16 2018

How beautiful is your necklace?

The pearls set upon each other

Like the Borealis dancing on the Northern sky

Such is my history of Islam, Oh Canada

I’m not referring to the magnificent Kaba in Mecca

Or the grandeur of the Taj Mahal in India

But the likes of Malala and Ilhan Omar, if you know what I mean

Sisters still can’t go to school or join politics without prejudice

Yet we speak of Andalusia and Mali

Forgetting these civilizations came before Enlightenment

And women taught Imam Bukhari and founded Kairouan University in 859

Since all he wanted, on whom be peace, was to free the girls from mental slavery

Canada recognised Oct as the official Islamic History Month

That our diversity is our strength

That Maryam from Afghanistan could be a MP

And the first mosque rose on the brows of Lebanese Christian and Muslims in Edmonton

Why then do we still have Indigenous girls missing?

Why so many of our sisters are incarcerated?

Why Black brothers are going to prison?

And wars are fought on the streets of Dixon?

Because we have forgotten our identity

And the loss of a people begins in the erasing of their language

But in Canada you could be anything and read Atwood and Ruksana in the same library

Iqra was Malcolm X passport to freedom and that’s the Sunnah to read that’s missing!

On whom be peace

So let’s face it!

Only in Canada can you have an officer in hijab uniform

Only in Toronto could you embrace 190 ethnic forms

You could order poutine and ask for butter chicken as topping!