ya Abbas
as-salaamu alayk
I want to take this moment to ask for your forgiveness
it sounds ridiculous to say out loud
but for the first 15 years of being a Muslim
I didn’t even know who you are
I do not think the fault was my own
those upon whom I relied to learn my religion
did not center you
did not remember you
did not love you
but when Allah decreed
I heard your name invoked alongside your brother
your sister
your nephews
in the continued remembrance
generation after generation
across cultures and lands
until it reached me
–
how many others have fallen in battle in history
their names lost to the winds
but your name
ya Abbas
still flies on flags throughout the world
ya Qamar Bani Hashim
We call out to you
O shining Moon of the clan of Hashim
the Prophet’s clan
may blessings and peace be upon him and his family
your family
and so in your defeat was your victory
in your thirst was your satiation
and in your loss was our gain
for now we know that whenever we feel lost
and that we cannot bear the burden any longer
we can imagine you fighting your way to the bank of the river
and feel our courage restored
for tragedy has a way of turning into triumph
in your arms
your blessed arms
that we seek to feel wrapped around us
when we finally meet
–
if this message reaches you
by the power of Allah
then I ask that you pray for us
pray that we are worthy of your courage
ask Allah to make us capable of sacrificing ourselves
for the love of Husayn
our bodies
our wealth
our words
our time
our relationships
our careers
our identities
our hopes
our fears
for you have run the race and succeeded
poor us, if only we could have been with you, and thus succeeded
ya laytanaa kunna ma’akum fa nafuzu wallahi fawzan ‘adheema
–
ya Abbas
I am never going to compose words in Farsi, nor Urdu, nor Arabic for you
my mother tongue is English
and so that is how I have chosen to speak to you
the Creator of all languages is my interpreter before you
so most of all
I hope that we can use our whole selves
everything that we think we are
minds in bodies
bodies with minds
souls having an earthly journey
citizens with rights
individuals with agency
in the path of becoming the servants of your servants
for surely we were not the first to carry your story within our hearts
nor will we be the last
we are nothing but links in the chain
just as your story was passed to us
by those who came before
we ask your blessing to pass it on
to those who will come after
and no matter what may come
in our earthly journey
may we hold your story so tightly
that the only way we would ever drop it
is if they severed our arms from our bodies
and we fell in the dust
our lifeblood utterly spent
in your service
ya Abbas
as-salaamu ‘ala al-Husayn wa ‘ala Ali ibn al-Husayn wa ‘ala awlad al-Husayn wa ‘ala ashab al-Husayn
A Mercy Case 