The Heart's Journey to Justice

“Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.”

(Qur'an 13: 28)

 A series of poetic reflections based on my own experience, that has guided and grounded my racial justice journey and understanding of how oppression goes against divine design for a healthy world. For Allah (God) has forbidden oppression even for Himself. Allah is the source of all goodness, the most Loving, the most Just, the most Generous, the most Merciful; life should be a reflection of God Consciousness and the names and attributes of God. 

 The heart’s journey is not as fragile as some think
Not as vague as some believe
The rigor is painful, life-altering, heartbreaking, love building, healing, community nurturing and justice seeking
Heartwork is hard work

My heart is curious and in need of healing
It feels first and guides my thinking
I’ve learned a heartless mind can be cruel; doesn’t think about the soul - not the whole and how our ecosystem grows

The cruelty of the mind without the heart is how selfish interest takes hold
It indebts the soul to corruption and evil ensues
Stealing people, stealing land, killing people, killing land

A heartless mind will convince corrupt limbs that actions are justified and desires that harm should never be denied

My heart is curious and in need of healing
Curious about a borderless world
A transnational justice
A humane ecosystem where housing is a given and income is not your worth but a means to live abundantly on this God given responsibility of Earth

But I know a curious heart is not enough
I must fill the chasm between my heart and my actions with righteous behaviour of a just nature
So, welcome to the journey of the Heart

In Heartwork we embody abolition - imagine a world where your humanity is not on condition - of corruption and greed- incinerating dignity
We embody justice - the journey to restore what was broken, heal what was harmed and destroy what oppresses
We unify to amply what we need to transform - a world reborn into what God created - back to its original form

My heart is curious and in need of a just healing 

Displacement and the Right to a Home 

I begin with my story of displacement and wondering-
What is a home? Where is my home?
A nurturing place where struggle leads to growth
A place of ease and communal care
A place to eat, sleep and step into light
Where the sound of a welcoming song plays in the day and night
Where the plants sit in the window and recite.
Praising Allah
Because they know Al Khaliq- the One who creates and designs
They know Al Jabbar- the One who mends and restores
Al Wahhaab- the One who gives and gifts generously
Ar Razzaq- the One who provides and created the world with all we need to thrive

What is a home? Where is my home?

In my 29 years, I’ve moved 17 times
Often not by choice but necessity
Not for destination but for survival
I moved from one place to the next
Pushed by the waves of poverty and displacement
Seeking safety, stability and growth
My feet often wonder what the soil of home feels like
What does it mean to miss a place?

To belong?
What is a home? Where is my home?
I’ve grown to know, that not all those who wander are lost -
That I belong to no state
No bordered place
My ancestors sought freedom
They took care of the land not the corrupt state
I belong only to the Creator
From God we come and to God we return
What is a home? Where is my home?
Home is what God has bestowed
The right of a dignified inhabitance on Earth
My home is with Allah
And in all the blessings Allah has given
My Home is my mother
Wherever she prays Fajr
and all the Earth is a place of prostration and prayer
When I look for a grounding, for a hug that knows my deepest memories
For a place to grow, to struggle, to love, to learn and recite with the plants
I see my mother in worship
Praising the One who created belonging for every soul to know

Woe! to those who seek to create homes of strife
No state has the right to exist that violates life
A home is not meant to be proof of profit or domination -
It is not colonized land for corrupt nations
It is a right
A divine gift of stewardship
For there is only One Lord of the land and God gives and provides abundantly

What is a home? Where is home?
A gift and responsibility
A welcoming place of light, of belonging- given by the Creator and cared for by the creation
And none has the right to displace or take what Allah has given
To Allah we belong and to Allah we return. 

 Highway Robbery -  A Capitalistic Tale  

“You aren't worth that much”
“You have to earn a living”
The price put on life
I often think about how capitalism connects worth to profit
To the extraction of production and destruction of life
How it exists to racialize and commodify
How it demands you pay it for something it never gave
Life
Allah gives life but capitalism demands payment
With deceitful tricks of meritocracy and that life’s work is about capital
But really, the work of life is loving God
Doing good unto others and Paying the worker before the sweat dries on their brow,
Being kind to neighbors and Honest and ethical in business
Nurturing community and Caring for family and land
Seeking justice and Providing governance based on the sanctity of life
To govern is to be responsible for the dignity of resource and care
Not for profit
Not to rule
I often think about how capitalism connects race to worth and worth to profit
The extraction of production and destruction of life
Humanity as commodity
How it demands you pay it for something it never gave
Life
How it throws away life that can’t make the payment
That can't provide the racist hidden fees it says we need to breath
How it feeds greed
In my 29 years, I’ve moved 17 times
Often not by choice but necessity
Not for destination but for survival
I moved from one place to the next
Pushed by the waves of poverty and displacement
Seeking safety, stability and growth
I often wondered how so much hard work could lead to such little compensation
How my mother’s long days and tired limbs could be deemed not worthy
Not enough
Not enough to live
How can there not be enough, when there is so much the world has to give?
How can corporations steal years and memories in the name of profit
To capitalize off of life, means everything comes with an inflated price
The capitalist degrades those deemed poor and demands profit hoarders do the same
As if sin doesn’t come with its own price.
So we demand back!
That the price of capitalistic gain is disruption
The movement of justice seekers
It is the dismantling of harmful currency
It is people over profit and work that is dignified
It is compensation that feeds, houses and celebrates life
We demand back!
A thriving wage
The joy of living
Work that is giving, builds and bonds a world of care
We demand back!
The abundance of resource on this Earth
The return of those who care and nurture growth
Imagine! When capitalism goes and theft stops
We will find that there is enough
That the price of life is not degradation of humanity
It is being grateful for your blessings and striving for growth
It's loving and listening to God and all the beauty and abundance of God’s creation
It's the journey to the heart
Welcome to the heartwork’s work
Where the currency of care is abundant and you don't have to earn what Allah has given but rather strive in gratitude towards Allah’s grace
and commit to the Heart’s Journey to Justice. 
Ya Allah! Al Salaam Al - Rahman - the source of peace and mercy, may You bring peace to the hearts of those oppressed. Ya Al - ‘Adl, the source of justice, may You bring restoration, healing and transformation to the movements of those seeking justice. Ameen 

Learn More:

A Right to Income

A Right to Housing

Radical Readings of Justice