Alif. It is a straight line, like a relation where on one end is God, the other is man.
–Alif Drama Serial, written by Umera Ahmed
Alif ( ا )
A letter that so gracefully begins His name, الله
as it begins the melody of His harmonious language.
Alif ( ا )
Just as God begins the day,
just before the rise of the sun,
before the sky is painted an ombre of orange,
a momin is wakened,
by the first call to prayer.
Alif ( ا )
beginning the soft words,
as they reach their hands to their ear, and say,
الله أكبر
Allah Akbar
beginning a journey to the destination of contentment.
They have began their prayer.
Alif ( ا )
welcomes the morning,
eases the evening,
assures the afternoon,
watches the sun drown,
and enters the dusk,
as the momin turns his head to say,
ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ
Assalam Alaikum
to the angel,
that rests on their right,
then left, shoulder.
They have completed their prayer.
Alif ( ا )
Alif began their words,
lead theirs minds,
softened their souls,
ended their doubts,
as it connected man to God.
Alif ( ا )
eah dua begins with alif,
as they raise their hands to call upon Him,
becon Him to listen to them.
Alif, the conversation from them to Him.
Alif ( ا )
A straight line,
like the relation it has built,
where on one end lays the mercy of God,
and the other, a man’s heart.
Alif ( ا )
A path so straight and simple.
yet some falter,
as their lines are distorted,
no longer is the destination in clear view.
Alif ( ا )
a start to an untouched and pure path,
from them to Him,
as they begin to pronounce the beautiful name of Allah,
الله
Dear Faryal,
This post was quite unique in that you merged your religious beliefs with your writing in a way that didn’t feel forced – it just flowed. There was this fluency to your transitions, which carried me through your poem. Your imagery in how you described ‘Alif’ was quite powerful as just this idea that we are somehow connected to God, in this case through a straight line, gives us something tangible to hold on too. The way each dua begins with Alif and how every morning starts the same way seems to be something you hold really dear to your heart.
To improve, I honestly don’t have anything, probably because I have never been introduced to this type of poetry before and because structurally it already seems just fine.
All in all, your writing has a lot of heavy weight, which can influence people, and I hope you continue to empower and inspire others.
Sincerely,
Abhay
Dear Abhay,
First of all, I’d like to thank you for taking your time in reading this piece of mine. I’m glad you were able to pick up on the weight and importance this piece holds. It is definitely one of my powerful pieces. Again, thank you for your motivating comment!
– Faryal
Dear Faryal,
I love how this flows, it feels like a soft tone as though you are walking on air as you have, I’m guessing, your religious belief tied into the piece. I don’t have much to give on feedback it is wonderfully done as poetry done so different from any other writing I have seen. I can not wait to read more and see how your blog will bloom in the future.
-Melody
Dear Melody,
Thank you for taking your time to read this poem. I am glad you enjoyed the tone and structure of the poem. I do admit that I also, personally never tried something like this before until now. It was definitely a new experience and feeling writing this poem. Anyways, thank you once more for your lovely comment!
-Faryal
Dear Faryal,
I saw this post and was immediately intrigued by the title, as I wondered what your piece would have to do with an Arabic letter, however, I really enjoyed reading it. The structure was very interesting and focussing on a number of things that “Alif” has significance to was a great idea that made this piece interesting and varied but not too disjointed.
The final few stanzas especially are really interesting to read, because you talk about the metaphorical idea that “Alif” is a path that people can sometimes falter on. This was an interesting note and reminder to end off with.
Overall, Faryal, your piece was an excellent read, structured well, unique, and was pretty free of errors. For improvement, I’d like to see some more lines to each stanzas, as I felt like some of the topics like prayer could use some more explanation.
That said, I am presently surprised and would like to read some more work in this new style.
Sincerely,
Zaid