THE PILLARS OF ISLAM

First pillar: the Unity of God
The Mind, astray in this determinate world,
First found the pathway to this distant goal
By faith in God the One; what other home
Should bring the hapless wanderer to rest?
Upon what other shore should Reason’s barque
Touch haven? All men intimate with truth
The secrets of the Godhead have by heart,
Which is implicit in the sacred words
He comes unto the Merciful, a slave.
In action let faith’s potency be tried,
That it may guide thee to thy secret powers:
From it derive religion, wisdom, law,
Unfailing vigour, power, authority.
Its splendour doth amaze the learned mind,
But giveth unto lovers force to act;
The lowly in its shadow reacheth high,
And worthless earth becomes like alchemy
Precious beyond compute. Its mighty force
Chooseth the slave, whereof it doth create
Another species; sprightlier he treads
Upon the path of truth, and in his veins
The blood burns hotter than the lightning’s shaft.
Fear dies, and doubt; toil is new vitalized;
The vision sees the inner mystery
Of all creation. When in servanthood
To God man’s foot is established, beggary’s bowl
Becomes the magic cup that Jamshid bore.
There is no god but God: this is the soul
And body of our Pure Community,
The pitch that keeps our instrument in tune,
The very substance of our mysteries,
The knotted thread that bids our scattered thoughts.
And when these words, being uttered on the lips,
Reach to the heart, they do augment the power
Of life itself; graven upon the rock,
They wake a heart therein; but if the heart
Burns not with the remembrance of that faith
It doth convert to clay. When we inflamed
The hearts within us with the passionate glow
Of this belief, we set ablaze the barn
Of all contingency with but a sigh.
This is the lustre glittering in the hearts
Of men, those steely mirrors liquefied
By Faith’s consuming flame, whose torch is like
A tulip in our veins, and so we bear
No other mark of glory but its brand.
Through this true Faith black man becomes as red,
Kinsman to Omar, aye, and Abu Dharr.
The heart’s a lodge to self and the Not-self,
And passion quickens when the cup is shared;
When several hearts put on a single hue
That is community, which Sinai
Grows radiant in one epiphany.
Peoples must have one thought, and in their minds
Pursue a single purpose; to one draw
Their temperaments respond, one testing-stone
Discriminates their hideous from their fair.
Unless the instrument of thought possess
The fire of truth, it is impossible
Its range can be so wide. We Muslims are,
Children of Abraham, which fact is proved
(If proof thou seekest) by Your father he.
Though nations’ destinies their lands control,
Though nations build their edifice on race,
Thinkest thou the community is based
Upon the Country? Shall so much regard
Be blindly paid to water, air and earth?
It is dull ignorance to put one’s boast
In lineage; that judgment rests upon
The body, and the body perishes.
Other are the foundations that support
Islam’s Community; they lie concealed
Within our hearts. We, who are present now,
Have bound our hearts to Him who is unseen,
And therefore are delivered from the chains
Of earthly things. The cord that links this folk
Is like the thread which keeps the stars in place,
And, as the sight itself, invisible.
Well-pointed arrows of one quiver are we,
One showing, one beholding, one in thought;
One is our goal and purpose, one the form,
The fashion, and the measure of our dream.
Thanks to His blessings, we are brothers all
Sharing one speech, one spirit and one heart.

Second pillar: Apostleship
Abraham, friend of God, loved not the things
That set; and lo, his footprint was a guide
To all successive prophets. He, the sign
And witness to the everlasting Lord,
Yearned in his heart for a Community,
And from his sleepless eyes the flood of tears
Unceasing flowed until the message came,
Cleanse thou My House. Then for our sake he made
A desert populous, and founded there
A temple whither pilgrims might process.
And when the stem of turn thou unto us
Burst into bud, the tillage of our Spring
Took visible shape; God fashioned forth our form
And through Apostleship breathed in our flesh
The soul of life. We were a word unvoiced
Within this world, that by Apostleship
Became a measured verse; and that same grace
Both shaped our being, gave us Faith and Law,
Converted our vast myriads into one,
And joined our fractions in a mighty whole
Inseparable, indivisible.
He, who is pleased to guide whomso he will,
Made of Apostleship a magic ring
To draw around us; the community
A circle is, whose great circumference
Centers on Makkah’s valley; and by force
And virtue of that same relationship
Stands our community unshakable,
Tidings of mercy to the world entire.
Out of that sea we surge, nor break apart
Like scattering waves; its people, closely fenced
Within the ramparts of that holy soil,
Roar loud as jungle lions. If thou look
To prove the truth that lies within my words,
Gazing with Abu Bakr’s veracious eyes,
The Prophet, power and strength of soul and heart,
Becometh more beloved than God Himself.
His book is reinforcement to the hearts
Of all believers; through his wisdom flows
The lifeblood of the whole community;
To yield his garment’s hem is death – the rose
So withers at the blast of Autumn’s wind.
His was the breath that gave the people life;
His sun shone glory on their risen dawn.
In God the individual, in him
Lives the community, in his sun’s rays
Resplendent ever; his Apostleship
Brought concord to our purpose and our goal.
A common aim shared by the multitude
Is unity which when it is mature,
Forms the community; the many live
Only by virtue of the single bond.
The Muslim’s unity from natural faith
Derives, and this the Prophet taught to us,
So that we lit a lantern on Truth’s way.
This pearl was fished from his unfathomed sea,
And of his bounty we are one in soul.
Let not this unity go from our hands,
And we endure to all eternity.
God set the seal of holy Law on us,
As in our Prophet all Apostleship
Is sealed. The concourse of unending days
Is radiant in our lustre; he was Seal
To all Apotles, to all People we.
The service of Truth’s winebearer is left
With us; he gave to us his final glass.
No Prophet after me is of God’s grace,
And veil the modest beauty of the Faith
Muhammad brought to men. The people’s strength
All rest in this, that still the secret guards
Of how the Faith’s Community is one.
Almighty God has shattered every shape
Carved by imposture, and for evermore
Stitched up the sacred volume of Islam.
The Muslim keeps his heart from all but God
And shouts abroad, No people after me.