A witness. //

Written by Arwa Tawfiq

The sighting of the crescent moon 

A new prayer initiated between strangers

Hands raised to the seven skies

Pleas uttered in hushed voices and sent to the heavens

When the gates are opened

When supplication is most heard

When acceptance is promised

A season full of endless bounty

The beginning of a month incomprehensible to the ummah

A time of clarity

A time of devotion

A time of truth

When bad habits are broken down

New routines are borne out of newfound peace

When one of two pockets is emptied

When wells are dug deep and etched with names forgotten

Communities founded

Blessings revealed

The Book re-read as we attempt to translate the poetry once again

Repeating the movements established many centuries ago 

The separation of a date from its stone as we see the sun set and the moon watch over us 

Just as it once did over the Most Beloved 

Rivers flow as we pick up our cups and nourish the dried sands of our souls that exist in this dunya

And the most sacred of nights nears

An odd night

A night of power

A night of revelation

A night of mercy

And as quickly as our hunger is satiated with each passing day

The month comes to an end

The moon is sighted

Takbir is recited by the lips of the believer

Bodies are washed in the waters of The Eternal

Grief is felt for the goodbye to another month of which we feel undeserving 

Longing for another in a lifetime so uncertain

A special prayer is recited in mosques inscribed with the delicacies of our faith 

Celebrations begin

Well-wishes are exchanged

Food is presented on tables while the sun still sits high in the sky

Differences become mute

For the world is silent as new possibilities sit on the horizon

Waiting for the new you that was birthed from the blessings compiled by the one that is true

Ameen

We all say

As we hear our devotion echo

Unwavering

For our religion was delivered as a gift

Never at the mercy of our appetite for chaos

Its history remains impervious to the will of men

Its roots hold onto soil like words hold on to the pages of the Quran

Its faith continues to try to reach the breadth of the heavens to which it was promised

That is the legacy of Al-Rasool

A reminder of the divine connection

Between the Creator and the created