In the sacred precincts of Madinah al-Munawwarah, where pilgrims send peace upon the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), few notice a quiet miracle. Above the gate to the Rawḍah — where our Prophet rests — is an engraved verse of Arabic poetry, nestled in plain sight. Most eyes pass over it, drawn instead to the Qur’anic verse below. But that upper verse is from a 40-couplet qaṣīda written by Imām ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAlawī al-Ḥaddād — a saint, scholar, and Sufi of the Bā ʿAlawī lineage of Tarīm. Only one couplet of the poem is visible to the public.
One line.
Facing outward.
Why this line? Who chose it? What does it mean that the rest of the poem lives inside, engraved on the inner walls of the chamber of the Prophet ﷺ? What does it mean to be the line that stands at the threshold?
This blog is a gentle unfolding of those questions.
Above the gate of the Prophet’s ﷺ chamber, one line of sacred poetry faces outward — a single couplet from Imām al-Ḥaddād’s 40-verse ode, chosen to stand above the Qur’anic verse.
Some verses open books. Others open doors. The chosen line stands where praise meets Revelation.
A magnificent Prophet — his noble character,
Exalted by the Most Merciful in the Master of Books.
Imām al-Ḥaddād is drawing from the Qur’anic verse:
“And truly, you are of a most noble character.” (Surah al-Qalam, 68:4)
In these lines, poetry bends in humility before Revelation. The poem is not in competition with the Qur’an. It is a witness to it. A praise that holds its breath before the Word.
Section 2: Ishārah and ʿIbārah: The Inner and Outer Signs
“Yā Fātiḥil-Abwāb — O Opener of Doors.” Some verses open books. Others open hearts.
What is visible above the gate is the ʿibārah — the outward expression. But the choice to place this verse there is also an ishārah — a subtle sign. It whispers: Look closer. Listen deeper. The rest of the poem remains inside the sacred chamber, out of sight, like the hidden knowledge that only the heart can read.
The verse that faces outward becomes a threshold, a knock upon the door. A visitor may stop to read it, but the meaning enters only when the heart listens. As Shaykh Jamiel said: “Most people see the ʿibārah, but few perceive the ishārah.”
And that is the invitation.
Section 3: The Hidden Inheritance
The inner walls of the Rawḍah: Where the full poem of Imām al-Ḥaddād is inscribed — invisible to the public, but alive in transmission.
There is a story passed down from the early life of Imām al-Ḥaddād. When he was still an infant, his mother dreamt that she was at the tomb of a great spiritual master. In the dream, the master emerged from his grave, took the baby to his breast, and gently placed his tongue into the baby’s mouth.
In the language of sacred dreams, this is no ordinary image. It means that the child inherited the master’s knowledge — not through books or teachers, but through direct spiritual transmission. Through the tongue. Through barakah.
When we recite the Ratib al-Ḥaddād, we are inheriting from that lineage. When we stand before the gate and read the outward verse, we are brushing our lips against the memory of that transmission.
Section 4: The Sultan Who Opened the Doors
It is worth noting that the spiritual legacy of Imām al-Ḥaddād extended well beyond the valleys of Ḥaḍramawt. The Wird al-Laṭīf and Ratib al-Ḥaddād — his litanies of remembrance — were introduced and supported within the Harams of Makkah and Madinah under the patronage of Sultan Mehmet IV (sometimes rendered Mehmed or Muḥammad IV) of the Ottoman Empire (r. 1648–1687). A ruler known for his reverence of Islamic and Sufi traditions, Sultan Mehmet IV’s endorsement ensured that the sacred rhythms of Tarīm would echo in the holiest sanctuaries of the Ummah. Even the architecture of prayer carries the trace of this inheritance.
🟫 Note on Naming & Recognition
A reader of this blog, Kitty Amina Rabbas, beautifully reflected on the significance of this verse’s placement — connecting her own reading ofSufi Sage of Arabiawiththe timeline of Imām al-Ḥaddād’s visit to Madinah in 1669 CE (1079 AH), during the reign of Sultan Mehmet IV.
She reminded us that, while Ottoman rulers held immense worldly power, Sultan Mehmet IV — known for his taqwā and reverence for the Prophet ﷺ — may have recognised in Imām al-Ḥaddād a spiritual authority greater than his own. That a single verse from the Imām’s poem was chosen to face outward from the Rawḍah may well be an act of humility, not mere decoration.
Section 5: What Is the Sign?
What is the sign? A call to see beyond the eye, to listen with the inner ear. Some verses open books. Others open hearts.
Not everyone notices the verse above the gate. Not everyone will be called to. But for those who do, a quiet spark may awaken in the heart. Shaykh Jamiel once described this line as a wick that does not even need fire to burn. The love, the longing, the witnessing — it ignites on its own, just by being near to the Real.
There are some verses that open books. Others open doors.
And then, some open hearts.
Epilogue: The One Who Watches
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Indeed, in the body there is a lump of flesh. If it is sound, the whole body is sound. If it is corrupted, the whole body is corrupted. Indeed, it is the heart.”
To read the verse that faces outward is to knock gently on that heart. To remember that character is not costume, and praise is not performance. It is to walk humbly. It is to remember the One who sees in secret.
And when no one sees, know that ar-Raqīb always does.
Acknowledgement: This blog was deeply enriched by the insights and generosity of Shaykh Jamiel Abrahams, who shared the photographs, historical details, and the luminous teachings behind the scenes. His voice opened a door, and lit a candle inside.
Meta Blocked My Breath. Now It Wants to Hire My Lungs.
A Scroll of Digital Colonialism
Introduction
They flagged my keffiyeh.
They removed my scroll on Gaza.
They muted my breath — one post, one image, one word at a time.
And now… they want to hire me?
A message landed in my inbox from MetaAI, offering me a digital marketing job. A role that “aligns with my voice.”
But I remember the shadowbans. The quiet erasures. The warnings.
This is not opportunity. This is recolonisation — algorithmic, automated, and dressed in flattery.
So I responded the only way I know how:
Not with a CV.
But with a scroll.
Scroll of Digital Colonialism
“Meta blocked my breath. Now it wants to hire my lungs.”
— Rafiq al-Bunduqia
Arabic Invocation
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ مَجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا ۚ إِنَّ رَبِّي لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ Bismillāhi majrāhā wa mursāhā
In the Name of Allah, its course and its anchorage. — Surah Hūd (11:41)
The Scroll
They came cloaked in pixels and promises.
Offering “opportunity” in the same breath that once flagged your content.
Your memory of Gaza? Too “sensitive.”
Your sorbaan? “Community violation.”
Your breath of truth? “Does not meet our standards.”
Yet now they appear,
like colonisers with new dialects,
offering salaries instead of shackles.
“We reviewed your profile. We love your voice.”
My voice?
The one you throttled
with your auto-flagging
and ghost bans?
The one you parsed into metadata
but never listened to?
Ya Allah.
Even the Pharaohs had more honest chains.
Closing Duʿā
O Allah,
Anchor us in truth when platforms drift.
Guard our breath when our words are marked “violations.”
Let our remembrance go viral in unseen realms.
Make us the scrolls they cannot erase.
Make us the breeze that keeps returning. Bismillāhi majrāhā wa mursāhā.
They were reciters — young boys and girls who sat day after day, line by line, vowel by vowel, until the Qur’an moved from the page to the tongue —not by memorisation, but by presence.
And when the day came — after a year, or two — when their tongues were steady and their stops correct, the elders would nod in silence.
Then came the dressing.
A sorbaan was wrapped around the boys’ heads. A salah jas placed gently on their shoulders. And the young girls, radiant in their medoras, embroidered in silver and gold threads, gathered with equal pride — their hearts no less luminous, their recitation no less fierce in its precision.
And down the streets of District Six or Bo-Kaap they walked, feet on cobbled stone, hearts trembling with pride.
Their journey led them to the Company Gardens — a sacred procession into the colonial centre, as if to say: “This is our inheritance. This Qur’an walks with us too.”
In the Gardens, each child would recite — sometimes their final chapters, sometimes a chosen portion — with the same discipline they learned in the halaqah, their voices carried by wind and heard by trees.
It was not a graduation. It was a Tamat — a completion, a covenant with the Sound of God.
And the Sorbaan was not merely cloth. It was a Khirqah al-Taḥkīm — a mantle of responsibility. A visible reminder that this child had entered a sacred trust: to live Qur’an, to speak it clearly, to carry it with mercy.
And perhaps most beautifully — that child’s journey had not ended, it had only just begun.
Acknowledgement
Tramakasi to Sh. Jamiel Abrahams, Sadia Fakier, Zaid Nordien, and Al-Ameen Marley — for helping carry this cloth of memory into the light.
Postscript: This scroll is inspired by the memory of Boeta Junain, who told stories of the Tamat and the children’s walk to the Gardens. Our next post will honour him directly — a keeper of sacred echoes.
A tribute to Hatta: flower seller, character, Cape Town soul. The fragrance lingers…
She wasn’t just a flower seller. She was a fragrance, a rhythm, a joke that made you feel seen. Her name was Cecelia Williams—known to all as Hatta—and for over sixty years, she stood at Cape Town’s Trafalgar Place market, not just selling blooms, but lifting spirits.
Hatta was a character. A caretaker. A Cape Town original.
The Poem that Opened the Door
“Hatta of the Flower Market” She was the last blossom of a vanishing season, a woman with hands that knew petals better than poems, who crowned Adderley mornings with colour and cackle. They called her Hatta—not just a name, but a rhythm. A shrug, a laugh, a story half-told while binding roses with string. Sixty years of market sun. Of joking with tourists. Of feeding the street children. Of being “one in a million” without ever asking for a statue. Now the market hums a little quieter. But her scent, her sass, her spirit— they linger, like the last bloom in a winter vase.
This poem, first shared on my Facebook page, sparked an outpouring of memory and community. The tribute went viral, shared across timelines and group chats. And then, like the scent of jasmine carried on wind, her story grew.
The Article That Helped the City Remember
Tamlynne Thompson’s piece in TheCape Towner became a cornerstone of Hatta’s public remembrance. It offered not only a portrait of her life, but a signal that her presence had mattered—deeply.
Though the newspaper referenced a YouTube link, the funeral livestream no longer appears to be available. But memory has other ways of surfacing. While searching for traces of Hatta, I found this moving video about her best friend, Sandra Bosman—herself a flower seller of the Cape.
Through Sandra, we hear the echoes of Hatta’s laughter, her generosity, and her grit. It’s another thread in the fabric we’re weaving.
Voices from the Cape
Facebook friends poured in with blessings, memories, and emotion:
Anne Rogers:“Yet another outstanding poem – beautiful, moving words and complementary image to honour an outstanding woman who brought joy to many.”
A Note of Gratitude: To Anne Rogers—your kind words landed with warmth. In a world where noise often drowns meaning, your belief in my words is a quiet blessing. Thank you for seeing not only the poem, but the person behind it.
And to Atiyyah Khan, Marianne Thamm, Mogamat KammieKamedien, and so many others—this harvest belongs to you too.
What Does “Hatta” Mean?
A few friends asked if Hatta was an honorific. The word “hatta” can refer to the traditional Arab headscarf, the keffiyeh—often used in resistance, honour, and dignity. It also carries echoes of the Arabic verb ḥaṭṭa, meaning to reach, to attain, or to bring down gently. Maybe that’s what she did—reached people, lifted them, wrapped them in grace.
The Spirit of the Cape Lives On
You can’t really write about Cape Town without talking about talking. That unique Cape Flats cadence—Afrikaaps—where people don’t just sell fruit or flowers. They create moments.
Ask about a naartjie and you’ll hear:
“Die naartjies is so lekker, hulle willie praatie. Hulle’s te skaam van al die soetigheid!”
And Hatta? She was the high priestess of that daily liturgy.
🌹The FragranceLingers
This is not a eulogy. This is a zahrā’, a bloom. And she—Hatta—isn’t gone. She lives in our language. In our laughter. In our stories. In every bouquet given in kindness. In every street market joke. In every aunty who tells it like it is, and every uncle who listens.
May we see them. May we remember them. May we become them.
🕊️ Rest in softness, Hatta. You were the last bloom of Trafalgar Place. But your scent is forever.
This blog post is dedicated to every flower seller, fruit hawker, street child, and storyteller who holds up Cape Town with grace and grit. May we never forget them.
Somewhere between the worn edges of oral history and the crisp pages of archived journals, I began to trace the journey of my ancestor — Hadjie Gasanodien, also known as Carel Pelgrim. It is said he was the first Muslim from the Cape to perform the sacred pilgrimage of Hajj, sometime between 1834 and 1837, a period just after the abolition of slavery, when its wounds were still fresh. For years, his story lived quietly in our family’s memory, surfacing in fragments and whispered recollections — until now. I write to honour that legacy, to weave together the strands of fact, faith, and feeling that shaped a man, a pilgrimage, and a community still finding its voice in the aftermath of bondage.
Pilgrimage of Discovery
I first heard his name as a child, tucked into a conversation between my sister Yasmine and our aunts. Years later, Yasmine would take those threads and stitch them into a short family tree, dated July 2004. At the time, it felt like the last echo of a fading past. We had little else to go on. But something stirred in me after I returned from my own pilgrimage. A fever of purpose, a longing to know more. I began writing and publishing reflections under Al Hujjaj Magazine, not yet knowing that my footsteps had mirrored those of my own forebear, nearly two centuries earlier.
Echoes in Academic Footsteps
The name “Carel Pelgrim” returned to me unexpectedly through the work of a neighbour and friend of my father — the late Mogamat Hoosain Ebrahim, a community scholar from Primrose Park. He had long been documenting the Hajj stories of Cape Muslims. In his thesis, The Cape Hajj Tradition: Past and Present (2009), Ebrahim writes: “Hajji Gassonnodien, more popularly known as Carel Pilgrim, enjoys the distinction of having been the first Cape Muslim to have successfully completed the Hajj.” Although I first encountered his name in Ebrahim’s thesis, the full significance didn’t strike me until later — during conversations with the researcher Abdud-Daiyaan Petersen. It was through our exchanges that the identity of Carel Pelgrim truly crystallised. This was not just a figure in history — he was my ancestor. A man who left the Cape between 1834 and 1837 to walk the sacred path when few could even imagine such a journey.
It was through Ebrahim’s meticulous work that I began to understand the context of that time. Hajj was not simply a religious obligation; it was an act of defiance, endurance, and transcendence. For formerly enslaved Muslims in the Cape, to make the pilgrimage was to reclaim a spiritual identity that colonial systems tried to erase. And Carel Pelgrim, in going, carried more than personal faith — he carried the hopes of a generation emerging from bondage.
A Lineage Remembered
George F. Angas (1822-1886). ORIGINAL 1849 Hand Coloured Stone Lithograph. A Malay Priest Prays.
Abdud-Daiyaan Petersen’s research added an entirely new dimension to the story. In collaboration with Turkish scholar Halim Gençoğlu, he co-authored a paper titled Was Imam Gasanodien Carel Pelgrim an Ottoman Descendant?, published in the Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa in 2021. They explored the possibility that Carel Pelgrim may have had ancestral ties to the Ottoman world — a lineage once obscured by slavery and colonial re-naming. Through Petersen, I learned not only of the archival traces, but also of the living memory carried in Cape Town’s communities — stories that had waited generations to be heard.
Petersen’s careful investigations, supported by old burial notices and public records, pointed with growing clarity to the fact that Carel Pelgrim and Hadjie Gasanodien — the man known for teaching Islam and the Qur’an to children in early Cape Town — were one and the same. The fragments were falling into place. What had once been academic became intimate. What had once been folklore became family history.
The Pain Beneath the Pride
The history of Carel’s mother, Pakka, adds further complexity and depth. As documented in Echoes of Slavery: Voices from South Africa’s Past by Jackie Loos, Carel — born into slavery — was the son of Pakka, a slave woman, and Jan Gottlieb Barends, a Christian man of German descent. Their relationship was informal and illegitimate, as was often the case in that era. Carel and his brother Philip inherited their mother’s status as slaves. In 1801, a notarial protocol records their transfer to a burgher, and upon his death, their eventual manumission was stipulated in his will.
Pakka’s exact identity remains debated, though one likely candidate is Janpakka of Batavia, who ran a shop in the Waterkant in the 1820s. Death records from the time, often unreliable, do not mention Carel or Philip, but their presence in community memory is clearer than archival certainty. Pakka’s story, like that of many enslaved women, survives in fragments — yet she remains the root from which this extraordinary lineage emerged. And it is here, in the shadows of that history, that I must pause. My heart aches at the likely truth: Pakka, my great-grandmother, was not loved — she was owned. The man who fathered her children, Jan Gottlieb Barends, did not protect her. He did not free her. Instead, he allowed her and their children to be sold on to another man. Was she raped? Exploited? Discarded? The records are silent, but the silence itself screams.
This is the pain we inherit alongside the pride — the wounds interwoven with the honour. In naming Pakka, I do not just trace bloodlines. I reclaim her dignity, speak her name with reverence, and acknowledge that even in bondage, she gave rise to a lineage that would one day teach Qur’an, lead prayer, and inspire generations. Her story, though faint, demands to be held — not with shame, but with solemn truth and fierce remembrance.
A Husband’s Grief
Carel’s transformation from a slave to a respected teacher, tailor, and hajji is all the more remarkable against this background. And among the most beautiful parts of his story is his deep love and reverence for his first wife, Japoera. Though she was childless, their bond was strong — spiritually and emotionally. When she passed away in their large home in Buitengracht in early 1841, Carel composed a public obituary in the South African Commercial Advertiser. It read: “The Heavenly Father, Lord of Life and Death, was pleased on the 16th instant to call from me my beloved wife Japoera, aged 64 years, 4 months and 16 days, after a happy union of [blank space] years. All who knew her virtuous character will sympathise with my loss, of which I hereby give notice to friends and relatives, requesting to be excused the visits of condolence.” He signed it: Carel of the Cape, the first Pilgrim and Priest.
Death certificate of Hadjie Gasnodien Carel Pelgrim.
In this short but poignant notice, we see not just a man grieving his beloved, but a heart refined by faith and loss. It reminds me that while history often records what men did, it rarely shows how deeply they loved. He eventually adopted the Islamic name ‘Hassan al-Din’ — appearing in records under numerous variations such as Gasnodien and Gasanodien — yet he signed himself proudly as ‘Carel Pelgrim.’ His ability to read and write in both Arabic and European script shows a deep level of literacy and determination to bridge worlds. While some have speculated that he may have spent up to three years in Makkah — a duration not firmly evidenced — what we do know is that he returned with the ability to teach Arabic and Qur’an, and left an imprint as a man of knowledge and devotion. It’s possible that his early literacy was shaped by Cornelis van der Poel, the burgher who once held legal ownership over him and later stipulated Carel’s manumission. Whether through formal tutoring or exposure to Dutch literacy, this early learning may have paved the way for his later mastery of both Islamic and colonial languages.
The directories list Carel van de Kaap as a free tailor living in Hout Street in 1816 and as a Malay schoolmaster in 1830. His brother Philip, born in 1789 and passing in 1844, was also a tailor, but unlike Carel, Philip was not a practicing Muslim. Some of Philip’s children were baptised, and in 1838 he married their mother, Carolina Marteyn of the Cape, in the Dutch Reformed Church.
Meanwhile, Carel was charting a different course. Once free, he began to prosper. In 1817, he loaned Seymen of the Cape 600 Ridollars (a substantial currency at the Cape in the early 1800s, equivalent to several months of wages for a labourer) to enable him to free his slave daughter, Cananga. By 1822, he had purchased his own home in Matfeld Lane. Then, in October 1833, Carel and his wife made a joint will, identifying themselves as the free man Carel of the Cape, alias Gaszimoedien — formerly a tailor, now a teacher in the Arabic language — and Johanna Salomonse, alias Japoera, born at the Cape.
Japoera seems to have been an exemplary Muslim wife, and Carel held her in high esteem. He set out for Mecca soon afterwards, and her encouragement must have been crucial to the success of his pioneering journey.
When Art Becomes Revelation
That intimacy deepened when I looked again at a familiar image — one I had seen countless times in Cape Town homes, books, and exhibitions, without ever imagining a personal connection. It is a watercolour painting by George French Angas, an English artist who visited the Cape in the 1840s. The scene is gentle but profound: a bearded man seated cross-legged, surrounded by children, teaching them the Qur’an. For years, this portrait was simply referred to as a depiction of a “Malay teacher.” But now, thanks to community scholarship and genealogical evidence, we know the truth — that teacher was Hadjie Gasanodien. My ancestor.
Another portrait, also by Angas, is held at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town. In it, Hadjie Gasanodien is more formally posed, with dignified composure. What amazes me most is his attire — a flowing Arabic coat, or abaya, layered over a long-sleeved thawb. The painting is filled with symbolic richness: incense burners still glowing in the frame, a minbar placed behind him as if ready for the next call to gather and reflect. To stand before that painting is to encounter the past as presence — not as myth or metaphor, but as family. His face, once anonymous to me, now echoes through mine. The ink of his story has always been part of my blood. Only now am I learning how to read it.
The Living Links
One of the most tender links between this legacy and the living was shared in Lawrence Green’s 1964 book, I Heard the Old Men Say. In Chapter Two, titled “The Living Links,” he introduces a woman named Gatea Jacobs — my great-grandmother and the daughter of Hadjie Gasanodien. In a touching passage, she recalls her father’s return from the pilgrimage to Mecca. She tells of the white robes he wore, the gentle way he taught, and how the community revered him not just as a teacher, but as a man who had seen the heart of Islam and brought its light home.
Yet there is something poignant here: on the death notice of Hadjie Gasanodien, Gatea was listed as his daughter — and she was just 11 years old at the time. Her recollections, as recorded by Green, must have been shaped not only by her own memory but also by the atmosphere that surrounded her father’s name: the reverence of others, the stories repeated in the family, the aura of a man who had left a sacred legacy. In this way, memory extends beyond personal recall — it becomes communal.
Her memories reach across generations with quiet dignity. She spoke not in grand declarations, but in lived detail — the scent of his clothes, the rhythm of his voice in prayer, the gatherings around him at dusk. Through her, his presence remained alive in the bones and breath of our family, long before any of us knew the fullness of his historical significance. It was always there — waiting for us to remember.
Incredibly, Gatea Jacobs lived nearly a hundred years, a living bridge between the earliest days of Islam at the Cape and our present time. In that same chapter, Lawrence Green recounts a remarkable scene: “One afternoon while she was still able to see and hear and talk to her family she called everyone round her. ‘I am too old to live any longer,’ she told them. Then she folded her hands as prescribed in the Islamic death ritual and passed away.” Her funeral drew thousands of mourners, and services were held in mosques across the Peninsula. It was a farewell not only to a beloved matriarch, but to an era.
Her final act — serene, faithful, and deliberate — echoed the strength of the lineage she carried. It is this spirit I now seek to honour, not only in rediscovering our ancestor, but in holding open the doorway for others to trace their own roots, to reclaim the sacredness of our past, and to remember that we, too, are living links.
Author’s Note Written by Adli Yacubi (pen name), descendant of Hadjie Gasanodien, also known as Carel Pelgrim. This article forms part of a continuing journey to rediscover, honour, and share the stories of Cape Muslim pioneers. May it serve as both record and remembrance.
References
Yasmine Jacobs, Jacobs Family Tree (Oral History), July 2004
Mogamat Hoosain Ebrahim, The Cape Hajj Tradition: Past and Present, 2009
Jackie Loos, Echoes of Slavery: Voices from South Africa’s Past, 2024
Habib Shaikh, “First of Cape Hajis came 3 years after abolition of slavery,” Arab News, 11 October 2013
Lawrence Green, I Heard the Old Men Say, Chapter Two: “The Living Links,” 1964
Halim Gençoğlu & Abdud-Daiyaan Petersen, “Was Imam Gasanodien Carel Pelgrim an Ottoman Descendant?”, Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, vol. 75, no. 2, December 2021
Helen Swingler, “Piracy, slavery and a Mecca pilgrimage,” UCT News, 17 March 2021
“Portraits stoke mystery of Hajji Gasnodien,” Cape Argus, 26 February 2021
In the quiet spaces of reflection, where language becomes prayer, Unseen Table emerged. This poem is a devotional meditation — a rhythmic journey through names and attributes of the Divine. Inspired by the cadence of Qur’anic verse and the beauty of the seen and unseen, it is paired here with an Arabic calligraphy that captures its spirit visually.
“رَبِّ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ — The Lord of Everything”
Pronouncing pronouns and prepositions Lift the lamp, the light, lit by the holy Scour the sacred and the secret sources Invoking various verses of our Lord
Lord of the mighty mountains high Lord of the sweet-scented rose nearby Lord of the earth and skies that lie Lord of the day and the night gone by
Lord of the mighty oceans deep Lord of the universe in its keep Lord of the stars in endless sweep Lord of the secrets that we keep
Lord of the merciful and just Lord of the faithful and the trust Lord of the righteous and the just Lord of the true, in whom we must
Lord of the prophets and the wise Lord of the knowledge that never dies Lord of the heavens and the sunrise Lord of the earth, to that we arise
Lord of the Throne, the Tremendous and Honourable Lord of Forgiveness, Full of Mercy, ever able Lord of the Bounty, the Infinite and Stable Lord of the Sovereignty, Owner of the Unseen Table
🌙 A Final Thought
In a world thick with noise, may these verses be a quiet invocation — a return to the Sacred, to the unseen currents beneath all things. If the words moved something within you, pause… and let that be your prayer.
“In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Compassionate” — every beginning echoes the womb of creation, where mercy overcomes all.
At the beginning of every chapter of the Qur’an (except one), and at the start of every act of meaning, Muslims invoke the sacred words: bismillāhir raḥmānir raḥīm — In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Compassionate. It is not merely a formula. It is a return. A remembrance of the womb of mercy from which all existence flows.
The Love Letter of Bismillah
In Surah An-Naml, we are told the story of the Prophet Solomon (Sulayman, peace upon him) sending a letter to the Queen of Sheba. He instructs the hoopoe bird: “Go with this letter of mine and deliver it to them, then stand aside and see how they will respond.” (27:28)
When the Queen reads the letter, she declares: “O you chiefs! A truly distinguished letter has been conveyed unto me. Behold, it is from Solomon, and it says, ‘In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Compassionate. Do not be arrogant with me, but come to me, fully submitting to Allah.’” (27:29–31)
Before asserting power, before making demands, Solomon begins with mercy. Even in politics and statecraft, mercy frames the dialogue. Every relationship — between people, between nations, between heart and heart — is meant to begin in the name of mercy.
The Womb of Creation
The Arabic root ر ح م (rā ḥā mīm) — from which Raḥmān and Raḥīm are derived — is intimately connected to raḥm, the womb.
Allah reminds humanity: “O humanity! Be mindful of your Lord Who created you from a single soul, and from her He created her mate, and through both He spread countless men and women. And be mindful of Allah—in Whose Name you appeal to one another—and the wombs. Surely Allah is ever Watchful over you.” (4:1)
The womb is not just a biological vessel; it is a sign, a sacred reality. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said in a sacred narration (Hadith Qudsi): “When Allah decreed the creation, He pledged Himself by writing in His Book, which is laid down with Him: ‘My Mercy prevails over My Wrath.’” (Muslim, Bukhari, an-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah)
Mercy is the origin of all things. The womb is the first mercy a soul encounters in existence — a place of absolute protection, nourishment, and unseen care. No wonder the Prophet narrated this to his companions.
Jahima (r.a.) came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and he said, “O Messenger of Allah, I intend to join the military expedition, and I seek your counsel.” The Prophet said, “Do you have a mother?” He said yes. The Prophet said, “Stay with her, for paradise is beneath her feet.” (Sunan al-Nasā’ī)
In another Hadith Qudsi, sacred narration, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that Allah said: “I am Ar-Raḥmān and created the raḥm (womb) – And I named it after Me.” (Ahmad)
Pain and Mercy
“The wound is the place where the light enters you.” Rumi’s words evoke not only pain but transformation. The womb is a site of life-giving pain — a space where creation ruptures comfort. It is the most literal place where light enters: the emergence of life into a world of awareness, form, love.
In verse 18:81, the Qur’an speaks of a child being taken away so another, “more virtuous and nearer in affection,” may come. Pain and replacement. Loss and mercy. Mercy is not always softness — it may come dressed in fire, thunder, or sacrifice.
No wonder Allah states, “And My Mercy encompasses everything” (Quran 7:156). This verse reinforces the idea that God’s mercy is vast and all-encompassing, extending to every aspect of existence. This verse highlights the inclusive nature of divine mercy, encouraging believers to seek forgiveness and strive for a compassionate life. It serves as a call for Muslims to practice mercy in their daily lives, fostering a community built on compassion and understanding.
Bismillah in Everyday Life
The Messenger of Allah, mercy of God and peace upon him, taught: “Any matter of importance that is not begun with ‘In the name of Allah’ will remain devoid of blessing.” (Sunan Abi Dawud, Sahih Ibn Hibban)
And regarding daily purification (wudhu), he said: “There is no valid ablution for he who did not mention Allah’s Name.” (Ahmad, Sunan compilers)
Every act, every moment, every step must be wrapped in remembrance. By invoking Bismillah, we are not just seeking blessing; we are anchoring ourselves back to the womb of mercy — to the beginning of all things — where Allah’s Compassion and Care cradle us unseen.
Closing Reflection: A Womb of Light
To begin with Bismillah is to step into the womb of mercy. A place where something is made of us. A place of constriction, gestation, and eventual emergence.
Ibn al-ʿArabī described mercy as the first veil between us and the Real. To know mercy is to be veiled, yes — but also to be protected, incubated until we are ready to face the fullness of the Divine.
And so, like the Queen of Sheba, we receive the letter. And like the hoopoe, we deliver it. And like the child, we are born through pain. And like Rumi, we remember that it is the wound — the rupture — that lets in the Light.
Auguries of Innocence is a poem of 132 lines by William Blake, possibly written in 1803 but published in 1863. It is the first four verses, however, that found popularity.
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour
I studied the poetry of Blake when I was at university and committed a number of verses from his works to memory. Years later, a good friend and mentor, Zane Ibrahim reminded me of the above four lines to help me see the light at a time of emotional turmoil.
It is to honour that moment that I have designed the following poster series.
The author reflects on the process of writing the biography of SA golf champion, Sally Little…
It’s finally here after a year’s hard work. The Sally Little book launched on 4 October 2016.
David Bowie was interviewed and asked about his creative process. He said that his best works came from those moments when his toes could not feel the bottom of the pool, when he was outside his comfort zone.
When the opportunity of doing a biography of Sally Little, world champion golfer, came along, that was exactly what I felt: I was in deep waters and yet it was strangely appealing.
Just from my initial research about this sportswoman, her meteoric rise, the many tournaments she had won and still going strong despite her age, I was already beginning to develop an analogy, an outline of what her story meant and what it could mean.
Once that happened, I knew that this was a story that I wanted to capture. Here was a image that I wanted to paint. In that moment, I realised that this story would force me to draw on my all my resourcefulness in a profound way.
One of those challenges for me as an anti-apartheid political activist from the 1980s, a product of the National Party forced removals from District Six to the Cape Flats, was whether I had the ability to have enough empathy, enough skill as a writer to capture the story of someone who broke the international sports boycott that helped bring down apartheid.
But it was also about whether I would be able to see Sally as more than just a sports celebrity. Would I be able to get her to tell me about herself, the side that fans may never see, without holding back? Would I be able to get her to trust me enough to share her story with the world?
I was embarking on a journey that had a clear destination; a published book of Sally Little’s biography. I was all packed and ready. What was not clear, however, was how this journey would unfold.
But I am a huge David Bowie fan, an activist from the 80s and I love swimming in deep waters…
[I have retold this story countless times. It was told to me when I was a student in the 80s. I googled the original storyteller but could not find any reference to it online. It resonated with me because I was born at the foot of Table Mountain in District Six, Cape Town. I am thankful, even now, for Khurram Murad for making this part of his keynote address so long ago.]
Table Mountain taken by Aadela Parker.
There once was a man who was very unhappy. Something was troubling him but he could not put his finger on it. At night he was restless and it took a while for him to sleep. That night he had strange dream.
He dreamt that an old man approached him and said, “When you wake in the morning, eat the first thing that you see.” When he woke up that morning sweating from the vision, he opened his eyes and saw the mountain. What? How am I supposed to eat a mountain?
Maybe the old man was joking. He then went about his usual tasks for the day. He still felt troubled though. That night he had the same dream. But now the old man was ranting and raving, “What are you afraid of? Eat the first thing you see.”
It is not easy to choose what you should see when you wake so when he woke that morning again and saw the mountain, he thought the old man must be crazy. The third night the old man was now threatening him with a stick and promised to make the rest of his nights a living hell if he did eat what he saw when he woke.
That morning he woke with determination. When he saw the mountain, he immediately packed and set out to eat it. But as he moved closer to the mountain, a strange thing happened: it started to grow smaller. The man began to panic because it seemed as the mountain was moving further away. Just my luck he thought and started to increase his pace. The closer he moved the smaller the mountain.
By midday he was running. At the end of the day he reached where he thought the mountain should have been. But it had grown so small that he could stoop down, pick it up and put it in his mouth. What do we learn from this strange but interesting story? I believe four things:
We all need dreams. We need a vision and a plan to get us where we need to go. We must see the idea before us and keep it in our sight. A dream that you cannot conjure before you is not going to keep our attention.
A dream will remain unattainable if we make no effort to make it real. It takes slog. Sometimes the work seems impossible to absorb. But sometimes the most difficult things to learn turn out to be the most enjoyable once you get it. Sometimes, the harder a thing becomes the sooner you are reaching a breakthrough. Apartheid gave way when we thought that we should prepare ourselves for a long fight and bitter fight.
Besides the dream and the effort you also need belief. You must believe in yourself. You must believe that you can win. You must believe that it is worth it. Belief gives you confidence and the world cannot resist a person with confidence it will open up paths and opportunities that you never imagined.
Finally: sometimes the solutions we are looking for are not weird or strange. Sometimes (often) what we look for, or the solution, lies right in front of us like the mountain in my story. That mountain was in front of his window his whole life but it did not occur to the man to seek it out.
Adli Yacubi 