Priorities in life

By Zahed bin Ghulaam

Busy, busy, busy is on everyone's tongue
Like a number one song, a million times sung
Running around crazy, as rational as a clown
Confusion and mayhem, things are upside down

Something is missing, something not quite right
Something so obvious, like black on white
My heart is agitated and in a state of suspense
As I try and define it, only an absence I sense

Life seems to have no purpose any longer
As I seek the elusive fame, status and wonga!
Laugh you may, but we're in the same boat
Chasing a dream which is misleading and remote

Surely mankind has a real purpose to serve
Surely there is something better we deserve
Better than the rich kid, respected and cool?
Designer cloths, fast car, a penthouse with a pool?

Better than parting and chilling with the boys?
Mobile phones, laptops, x-box and fancy toys?
Definitely there is more to life than these
To real happiness these are not the keys

We must wake up and we must get wise
There is something better, we must realize
Take a few deep breaths and deeply think
Because into your heart the truth must sink

The big problem is - our priorities are wrong
Everything has a place in which it belongs
So re-arrange things in their proper layers
First on the list is the daily prayers

Don't take it lightly -Salah must be completed
And day in day out, it must be repeated
Even if you are travelling or have ill-health
Or are tired and old or are busy getting wealth

The Salah is the link you must never neglect
This is the golden rule you must respect
It separates the Muslims from the rest of mankind
And by this Salah, the Muslims are defined

Bowing and prostrating, the prophet prayed
In performing the Salah, he never delayed
Before his maker, the prophet would stand
Submitting to and followed every command

In this spiritual ecstasy hours would pass by
And many tears from his eyes he would cry
Asking for guidance and forgiveness for all
And asking for mankind to accept the call

If we follow this example, we will also succeed
so for true guidance, we should also plead
We should turn to Salah, at our times of need
And only towards goodness this will lead

All the rest of the problems will disappear
And true peace and happiness will appear
The salah will embrace the soul like a friend
Things will come together - all wounds will mend

All the missing pieces will fall in their place
And this life on Earth, we will truly embrace
The link with Allah will not be broken,
This is the promise that Allah has spoken

To pray the Salah, don't ever forget
To pray the salah, you must always respect
To pray the salah, you must never neglect
To pray the Salah, to Allah will connect.

Your right priorities have to be defined
and chasing shadows, you must leave behind
In praying your Salah, success you will find
With contentment in life and peace of mind

Dedicated to brothers and sisters who knows that they need to start praying more regular (including me). May Allah give us all the guidance and strength to prioritise our lives properly and through His mercy attain success in this life and in the hereafter (ameen).

The Jewish Soldier and a 4 year Palestinian girl

From the diary of an almost 4-year old Palestinian girl who lost her eye to a bullet.

Tomorrow the bandages will come off,
I wonder, will I see half an oven? Half an apple?
Half my mother's face with my one remaining eye?

I did not see the bullet
But felt its pain exploding in my head.
his image did not disintegrate
The soldier with his big gun and steady hands
And the look in his eyes I could not understand
If I can see him so clearly with my eyes closed,

It could be that inside our heads
We each have one spare set of eyes
To make up for the ones we lose.

Next month, on my birthday
I'll have a brand new glass eye
Maybe things will look round and fat at the middle.
I gaze through all my marbles,
They make the world look strange.

I hear a nine-month-old has also lost an eye,
I wonder if my soldier shot her too,
A soldier looking for little girls who look him in the eye.
I'm old enough, almost four,
I've seen enough of life
But she's just a baby
Who didn't know any better

By Hanan Mikhael Ashrawi