The memory of my first day in Iran is still fresh in my mind; climbing up the slight slope towards the Jamia blocks, dragging my heavy suitcases and being greeted warmly by the mentors who had already arrived. That’s when it hit home. This is real. This is the beginning - the first step.
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06 February 2026 / 18. Shabaan 1447
Muharram in Gaza
Updated 13 November 2013
Dedicated to the victims of the Gaza Massacre - 2008/2009
As we commemorate Imam Husayn's revolution of truth and justice, this poem considers our role as Hussaynis in a world wracked by oppression.
Muharram arrived with piercing screams
Playing children bombed to smithereens
Torn limbs shrouded in ash
Lost in the deafening blitz, blinding flash
I heard the echoes fade
As I sat in the mosque and prayed
Safe in His house of peace
Far from the blood and screams
Clearing my heart and mind
Of haunting images and cries
I willed myself to concentrate
On the tragedy of the Ahul Bayt
I wept for my Imam’s compassion
His sacrifice for justice, his passion
I heard his call to follow, to rise
Reject apathy, inertia, and strive
And in that moment, I cried,
‘Labbaka Ya Husayn, I’ll try!’
And so I strove, week upon week
To don black and mourn and weep
To hear the lamentations,
Attend commemorations
Join the processions
To fulfil my promise and pledge
Yet, as I sat longer and cried harder
My tears did not douse the flames in Gaza
Nor did they cool the burning, searing pain
Of lives destroyed and children slain
I tried to be a Husayni, I did truly
I loved and mourned my Imam duly
Yet love without vision, action - is weak
A candle without a wick
It does not burn, nor serve, nor give
How much more slaughter, oppression
From Palestine to Bahrain, Pakistan to Yemen
Before my tears smoulder and ignite
A burning love that acts, resists, fights?
Will I be a moth to Husayn’s flame
Subsumed by the justice, light of Husayn
Or will I coldly turn away
And let humanity bleed and burn and decay??
By Fatema Valji - UK
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