Nothing so small as neutrino or gravitino,
less than a tiny click in a space less than the
size of a mote
or even the shadow of a mote,
nor so large as the largest galactic cluster
of scattering debris,
nor the mass and tilted swirl of the whole
universe milk it all swims in
fails to call out your name, Muhammad,
by the mere fact of its being.
For "There is no god but Allah" is the single
uttermost Essence untainted by any
shadow or substance
of atomic grime or even the
slightest tick of the time-clock
running down,
and "Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah"
is the creation from that first breath
of spirit, that first
clutch of light that
had breathed into it: Be Muhammad!
Starting the spin-out of oceanic matter, in
whirlpool bang that is
inside-out still more slowly
stretching to the limits of
Limit itself,
out and out to the greatest height and depth and width
like the spindly Lote Tree of the furthest
limit of matter
reaching to the ultimate branch-tip,
root-tip, edge and lip of
silhouette latticework spider web nebula and wisp
of stars and starlight shooting through wave after wave of
silent darkness
both alive and dead, both blue and red,
and behind that darkness, Black Holes or space pits
funneling matter and anti-matter into
somewhere unknown,
tight in its entrapment of radiance,
Venus flytrap of light
that lets none out -
nowhere, no side pocket,
lung, eye-socket, drain or
heartbeat
silence or shout
that does not call out
the syllables of your name:
Muhammad,
praised one,
existence's Messenger
from the One True Existent:
Allah.
Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore is a Muslim poet who has published many poetry books and organized poetry reading festivals. Born in 1940 in Oakland, California his first book of poems was published in 1964. He became a Muslim in 1970 and travelled extensively around Europe and North Africa. Although he stopped writing for ten years he continues writing Islamic and spiritual poetry.
