Her eyes, glittering, meet mine, and I hesitantly ask, “Can I get something for you ma’am? Water, maybe?”

            She can reap the concern in my eyes, and she smiles as her weak, fragile hands, hold mine. She’s fine she says. At 78 years old, she’s just been through a lot in life she told me. I still looked at her questioningly, unaware of my open expression of curiosity.

            “I’ve booked the lot for my grave today, the full amount paid and taken care of”, she said as a reply to my interrogative gaze.

“Oh”, I replied, “That must be… difficult”

“I still remember the time when I had newly been married.” She began telling me. “Then before we knew it, three children, and I was living with the best husband one could ask for. He was a good man, always put my desires at the top of his list. Then, one day we decided to buy a house for our family. My husband and I, both of us together, went to book a lot for a brand new home. We decided the colours, frames, all the little interior and exterior details. I was so happy. I had so much. And today, while signing the papers for the lot of my grave, all of that came back to me. Where life has brought me, I barely ever thought about. Realities we love to put on hold.”

“What about your husband, is he here with you I mean?”

“My husband died 8 years ago… of a heart attack. I realized I should probably prepare for that day when it came upon me. I began saving up to buy the lot for my grave, didn’t want to burden my children after I left. So I saved, just like my husband and I had saved up to buy our house at one point. But they’re both just so different. It’s all different.”

“Well, it isn’t the most exciting of purchases, I can understand” I tried to console her, shook her hand slightly in assurance.

“Except, this is probably the only purchase that I’ve made in my entire life, that’s going to stay with me forever…”

Sometimes as I walk the Toronto Streets
I like to Reflect
slowly try to dissect
all that’s going on around me
I can help but notice the abundance that surrounds me
nice buildings, huge towers
people who look like they’re in positions of power
and so many others with cool gadgets
seems the path has been set
for them to be ties to our identities
so you’re either on Team Mac or Team PC
Team Iphone of team Blackberry
and oh yea, Team Andriod
sometimes I feel i need a Polaroid
cuz i can’t seem to go far
with seeing a wonderfully amazing looking …....car
or sometimes i have to stop and oh Shoot!!!!
That is such.....a well tailored suit
feeling as if i should follow suit
and by one of own
as i’m thinking, i feel i need to step out this zone
seems somethings is missing from my vision
and as I adjust the optical prism
i see for those living in abundance
there are millions more living on ridiculously less
while some get to dress to impress
the many in situations of distress
i see in Toronto, “A city of so called progress”
many neighbourhoods here a still a mess
evidence that challenges just exist globally
they also exist locally
as I look within me,
I see sympathy
but also a bend to apathy
cuz there’s just so many problems in world
as i think, i struck my a few of Jesus’ words
two realisations come to mind
two that are very intertwined
Jesus words was to love God with every part of me
and love others to huge degree
that I love myself
the phrase in my mind is known as the greatest commandment
i’m starting think about  it a little bit different
realising that loving others
means more than loving my friends and family
or those living in close proximity
it means loving the world
For God so love the world
that he gave his only Son
So if i claim to be one
 who says he follows the Son
then i was must love the world too
and realisation number 2
was that Christ best demonstrated his love
not with words
rather practically
taking on the penalty
that was meant for you and me
on that old rugged Cross
demonstrating love by paying the high cost
The majesty of his love motivates me
to not just sit in comfort and enjoying distractions
it motivates me to take action
cuz as Dr. Martin Luther-king showed,  it’s fact
the world can change when people of faith act
So I challenge you
even if you have a different worldview
to do same
get in game
stop sitting on the sidelines
cuz our world is not fine
your action can be giving money or time
it can be a poem or a song
a little actions can go a long way
So the questions I have for you today
is what are you going to do
to serve those in pain and sorrow?
what are going to do make sure there is better tomorrow?

Out of all the news stories, they never mention these

So I find myself asking you for your attention please

You attention, please

We live in a world full of regression and hypocrisy

We live in a world where suppresions called democracy

We try for progression but get lessons on debauchery

We need to stand and fight and be strong like the boxers be

So in this social struggle, I guess we're Mayweather

Can't knock on our hustle but we need to play better

Politicking for control, yo when on the same bender

Old rich white power, but we're the main contender

A world where we ignore the suffering and poor

We leave their souls soar out in a cold war

I wish this talk was nothing more than some folklore

When men call their women…

Sorry, not THEIR women

When men call women bitches and whores

But what they really got a problem with is themselves at their cores

Out of all the news stories, they never mention these

So I find myself asking you for your attention, please

Your attention, please

Where we supported a leader who promised hope and change

But he turned out to be another soul deranged

More of the same

The dude can't even win a poker game

Makes you think if he did it for the votes or fame

Boats and planes saying his name across the side

Familiar tactics with no need to apologize

Political powers only seek to ostricize

Divide us as a people and ideologize our minds

So they can find and falsify

Any bad press so they can hide and diguise

And all of these citizens will bind over lies

They want our own mind to be blinds over eyes

Out of all the news stories, they never mention these

So I find myself asking you for your attention please

Your attention, please

Where an "Islamic" army kills as many people as they can before Ramadan

So that they can worship in "peace" and seek mercy for their wrongs

This isn't just Syria, its an Islamic World phenomenon

Its just so wrong, where has all of our IMAN gone?

Hypocrisy's the enemy, we need to fight like we're one

We need to fight like we've won, we need to fight with our tongues

We need to refrain from being quiet as nuns

The Muslim voice should not be the shiest of tongues

When I say fight, I don't mean violence and guns

Cuz as soon as we resort to that, the bias becomes

That the Muslim people contain the slyest of shuns

I want to be in Allah's shade during the brightest of suns

So raise the brightest of sons and the sweetest of daughters

Be the knowledgeable mothers and the keenest of fathers

Treat ignorance from within as an enemy

And treat the ignorance from outside with serenity

We can't fight for whats right, by pulling out a knife

We need to be obscene but also be polite

We need to learn to speak, we need to learn to write

Getting out our dreams and shining our own light

We need to see this as an oversized crime

We need to get down on our overtime grind

They be drunk off power, they live sober life times

I'm just waiting for the day when the voters might shine

I know these are just words from a young student

But recognize in time these eyes become prudent

We all lie sometimes, but for them it comes fluent

Its our future, we need to be the ones choosin

Make yourself aware of just who you are,

Be knowledgeable of the things that tear us apart

Link arm in arm, mind with mind

Cuz InshaAllah in time, this faith and it's people will shine


Usman Shabbar, also known as HighLight, is a Toronto-based poet and rapper. He is a second year student at York University and draws on the student lifestyle and issues important to students as his main influence, and thus the name of his forthcoming mixtape, "Stresses of a Student." To check out his material, search for "HighLight Music" on Facebook.

_ During my journey to my end, short-lived but rich of memories, I see so much. 

To be born of the marriage of joy and sadness and to be pulled from the womb of hate by the fingertips of love is truly a blessing. 

I sit here today begging you to let me be. Though they tell you there is no use to me, I will share with you what I go through, and you can judge if there is use to me.

I feel, through my liquid window’s pain the anticipating heartbeats of a million mothers.  As she relives the first steps of her firstborn son, waddling to her arms, the moments left till the train arrives disappear.  I see while she rejoices in the past, lovers perch their heads off the platform, like baby birds searching for their mothers, waiting for the blinding lights of the train.  I feel on the platform the thumping (thump thump thump) of a million hearts as they shake the ground more than 200 grinding wheels on a train, impatient to embrace their loved ones after the torture of time had taken its toll. 

I witness the helplessness of a wife, counting grains of rice on a plate for her children, remembering with each grain the number of timers her daughter’s innocent eyes asked why Papa wasn’t coming home with food anymore, and the number of times she answered with silence and a hug filled with hurdles of love but no hope. 

I touch the divine degree of an education fought for by a man who started of a boy as he wipes away days of sleepless nights spent soaking in knowledge upon knowledge.  I breathe-in (breathe in) with him, as he smiles to the crowd, the dean’s hand in his, he is moments away from the victory of “Doctor”.  I remember with him the endless hours spent sweating on cargo boxes to pay for a schooling that would someday lead him to a better place.

I share the pain of a body being eaten alive as the cancer kills its way through ripping apart the hopes of a child and forcing two lovers to bid each other farewell only moments after they promised to love each other forever and ever.

I smile with the bride’s father as his protective hand finally let’s go of his daughter’s, being  shaken to that of another man, under a napkin of new life that will give birth to pride as baba will now watch his katkoota, his banoota, his ammoura, become the habibti of another man.

I wail with a country as it calls on the world to regrow its olive trees, to kick out its unfriendly visitors, to bring back the tunes of harmony, and to let peace settle in the most beloved of lands.  I wail with a country as it sees no hope, stabbed in the back by its own two hands, and twisted to silence with its own mother tongue. 

I dance with a nation, celebrating the triumph of being one’s own; hopeful of a better future controlled by one’s own two hands.   I celebrate with them to the tunes of conquest, cheering my heart out with the victory of Afreedi.

I repent with the fearful heart of a sinned, shaking as it pleads the one Almighty to have mercy.  I scratch my skin as she tries to wipe away what she has done; putting all her hope in God’s mercy.  I shrivel at the fear of being watched with her, knowing that nothing can be done to undo the done.

I sit here today begging you to let me be. Though they tell you there is no use to me, I have shared what I go through, and you can judge if there is use to me.

So who am I to see the world while I am blind?  So who am I to smile with every crease of every pair of lips? So who am I to remember with every memory, rejoice with every happiness, and hurt with every pain?

I am every teardrop cried by a heartbroken lover, every joyous drop of love leaked from the eyes of a mother.  I am every wail of pain screamed by a suffering soul, every cry of disbelief rooted in joy, and every sigh (sigh) of relief accompanied by a hand raised to thank the Lord.

So let me fall to the ground, for my destiny is to be buried by the land each and every one of us was molded from.  They will tell you nowadays it’s better to cage me in, as if the liquid stored in your eyes will somehow pump up your biceps because men are too strong to cry and women are just too moody.  Well tell me now how many tears have been wept over lives that have been taken by the manly machine of war because men are too strong to cry but too weak to fight fears without weapons and women too emotional to stand up for their rights?  Too many to count

So let me fall to the ground peacefully, as light as a drop of water and as heavy as the stories of history books.  For when I fall to the ground, I sing to the soil stories of sadness and joy.  I nourish the roots of trees that will grow strong to tell tales of my stories for generations to come.  And later, they will dig holes in the ground, searching for treasure chests and golden coins, but they will find me instead to share with them the riches of your stories, your lessons, and your days. 

So share your stories, teardrops included.

Ali Saeed is a first year student at the University of Toronto.  He is always learning and experimenting with new things related to photography. He feels that he has a very long way to go and would love to hear constructive criticism regarding his photography from the Keeping It Halal community. 

_ Can you imagine a world where violence was never the answer,
where the streets were clean of drugs, thugs and gangbangers,
can you imagine a world,
where aggression was solved by the suppression of anger
never resulting to the point of being hand cuffed and thrown in the hanger,
can you imagine a world,
where bystanders wouldn’t just stand there and watch while innocent people were getting shot,
Can you imagine mayhem being struck in a country that cant afford clean water,
can you imagine losing a son or daughter, mother or father because someone carelessly pulled the trigger,
can you imagine the tears of a Palestinian kid having to watch his parents die,
in the midst of bullets falling from the sky,
but a kid like that never cries instead he bleeds from his eyes,
with pain permanently engraved in his pupils, his brain, shell shocked, hes an orphan,
a rebel carrying a pouch full of pebbles,
promising to himself that if he sees another tank he’s gonna stone it to the ground,
he lives in a place where its never safe and never sound, 
he never sleeps, terrified that the gunshots in his nightmares might pierce through his skull,
so he prays during days that are dull,
wishes that his dirt filled skies become blue,
can you imagine what would happen if his wishes came true,
if peace substituted for war and war no longer existed,
if the system wasn’t twisted and you wouldn’t get convicted for speaking the truth,
where we didn’t need to hide from our own shadows,
congregating in dark corners where the sun wouldn’t spot us,
see that’s how afraid we’ve become,
convinced that we’re the ones disturbing the peace,
they tell us, they tell us they want world peace,
but what they really mean is that they want the world in pieces,
segregated as the death rate increases,
stacking lies on top of lies, until their towers kiss the skies these cowards in disguise hide behind unfulfilled promises,
promising a better future trying to manipulate our consciences,
chaining down our brains making us their psychological hostages,
you see they control what we think, make us forget about these kids,
like this Palestinian kid whos afraid hes gonna die,
in the midst of bullets falling from the sky,
so he shuts his eyes, covers his ears and pretends hes invisible,
wrapped up in a blanket that he hopes is invincible,
little does he know that bullets can penetrate through cloth, skin and bones,
but don’t worry,
because it can never pierce a heart made of gold,
a soul as pure as the driven snow

See I always thought I was a wise man
better than
the average man
Until that day
It was a beautiful summer day
I had no idea what was coming my way
I was walking down the street
moving to my own beat
Then I saw her
She was a Goddess
She was the perfect girl
with a body that was out of this world
Sitting in the park
I swear as she sat there
It was almost a perfect picture
Her outfit showing she had excellent style
On her face this heart stirring smile
The cool breeze blowing her hair
I just had to stare
She saw me and gave me an inquisitive look
I was kinda shook
So I set a smile her way
She sent a smile my way
and with out delay
I started walking in her direction
hoping that I could win over this image of perfection
To me it seemed like our fates were intertwined
As if the stars were all aligned
Not a chance meeting but something of God's design