Splitting the Moon: A Collection of Islamic Poetry - Softcover

Hayward, Joel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847740340 ISBN 13: 9781847740342

Publisher: Kube Publishing Ltd, 2018

Synopsis

Splitting the Moon tracks scholar and author Dr Joel Hayward's intriguing journey into Islam, his fascination with the mysteries of faith, his experiences and observations as a Western Muslim, and his thoughts on the state of the Ummah (Islamic community) today. He writes his poetry to capture events each day in the way that some people keep a diary. They are therefore deeply personal, yet reflect the ever-changing world around him.

About this title

About the Author

Dr Joel Hayward's career highlights include having been Dean of the prestigious Royal Air Force College for five years and head of a King's College London academic division for six years. He is the author or editor of many works of non-fiction. He is also very active in the literary arts, and has written regular columns in emel and other Islamic magazines and published much fiction and poetry.

His first poetry collection, Lifeblood, appeared in 2003. The Evening Standard described it as "memorable and insightful". Chaff's reviewer wrote: "Hayward's eclectic poetry reflects his enigmatic mind. ... His poems are passionate and full of rich images and exert a strong and dignified intelligence. Hayward exerts a courageous strength, rebelling against his past creative constraints, and in perhaps a flush of originality and ambitious flair, has achieved a work of art." Lifeblood is now available in Kindle format.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Voyage of a Scholar

On the day that paper clips and files
And memos snowed upon a city
I opened an unfamiliar book
To see what had brought that storm

Each night I brushed back dreams
By turning pages of profundity
To learn what had placed death
In the eyes of passport photos

The heavens opened for
Forty days within my mind and
Soul in a Noah’s flood of
Confusing certainties

The willing dead were absent in
Every word but my forty days
Left greater questions buoyant
And curiosity unvanquished

I sailed twenty times
In seven years through
Surah seas of calm swells
Pushed by winds of conscience

Twenty times I charted their
Depths – truly Pacific –
Before I knew that I
Knew nothing

When tranquil winds lifted
La ilaha illallah I heard a soft
Muhammadur Rasulullah
Slip without thought from my lips

A book read twenty times asked
When I would embrace its truth
And in a small stillness I replied
Now oh Lord, Now

Florida Pastor

Tool, cruel, mistaken fool, grabs for fame, causes shame
Christ would cringe, this done in his name
Flames winning, Shaytan grinning, charred mess, success
Promise spoken, entirely broken, failed a single test
Eyes blind, blackened mind, should’ve read the book
A tiny pyre, the world’s ire, three minutes all that it took
Wanted, gained, anger blamed on Muslims always hated
Love missing, wisdom dismissing, happy with Muslims baited

Anger unbound, fists pound, Shaytan fanning the flames
Control left behind, grief in mind, anger pulsing in veins
Streets swollen, crowds emboldened, victims caught in rage
The irony is, the book forbids this, hatred not on a page
Message ignored, calmness abhorred, playing into his hands
World worse for that man’s curse, tension sadly expands
One copy alight, one billion alright, their power even greater
God’s mighty word, always heard, untouched by one Muslim hater

Today’s World

What will you think when you learn
That I have been bowing low like
Those who pulled down the brothers?

What will you think when you learn
That with hands by ears each day
I whisper the phrase of the cockpit?

What will you think when you learn
That I discover truth in the book
Found in lost luggage?

What will you think when you learn
That I have chosen the same faith
As the one in the cave?

How will you know
That I would never let my elbows
Touch theirs on the floor?

How will you know
That I have reclaimed the words
Stolen by the devil in the pilot seat?

How will you know
That I read the same book
But cannot see the same words?

How will you know
That I would not share his path
Or enter the wasted air of his cave?

Edition details

• Publisher: Kube Publishing Ltd
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1847740340
• ISBN 13: 9781847740342
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 128