DEDICATED TO THE MUSLIM DETAINEES EVERYWHERE
By Showkat Ali
It’s another day
No different to yesterday
Locked up for twenty three hours
On my own
Alone
Away from humanity
Trying to drive me to insanity
All by myself
Like a Quran on a forgotten shelf
I refuse to be beaten
Mentally or psychologically
The games they play
While I’m in solitary
Messing with my head
And hope that I would go mad
They fear me
Even though I am locked up
Am I cannibal?
Like Hannibal?
Who needs to be kept away from others
It’s my mind and ideas that they fear
As they stay clear
Refuse to talk
But watch and stalk
Every move I make
Recording and making notes
Of every discussion and debate
I have with inmates
I can feel their eyes and hate
Watching over me
And wishing that I was dead
They believe the media
And swallow the lies
See me as an animal
That should be put down
And not locked away in a jail
Do I feel disheartened?
Despondent
And lonely
Quite the contrary
Actually
I feel Allah close by
Protecting me
I remember Yunus in the belly of the whale
And Yusuf in another prison
Different times and places
But the similarity is striking
And I keep on making
Dua to my one and only lord
This they cannot censor or record
I smile and pass my days counting
Until I meet my lord smiling
No regrets or shame
For what brought me to this place
And if I had another chance
I would gladly do it all over again
For Allah and my akhirah only.
