When I enter a mosque,
I’m transfixed,
Not by a statue, altar, or relic
But by material absence,
A vast emptiness!
Signifying all is naught,
For He is All

Although it is definitely true
That divine connection is perceived in varying hue,
And love, gratitude, reverence
All taste and feel different,
They are all rooted in a deep admission
Of non-existence

It’s only when I truly sense and see
That everything within and around me
Is illusion and vanity,
And He alone is all Reality,
That I realise my absolute, utter poverty!
All I am, all I need, all I desire, see and breathe
Emanates from His essential love,
Sole, immutable, reality

I cannot be God-centred,
I cannot connect,
Whilst I feel any independent strength or existence
It is only in realising my essential weakness,
Nay… my nothingness!
That I can truly begin
To love and worship
Him

Fatema Valji | @fatemavaljipoetry