*SAQI: AN ARABIC WORD, WHICH LITERALLY TRANSLATED, MEANS THE ONE WHO GIVES WATER/DRINKS TO THE THIRSTY. OFTEN, AS QUITE OFTEN HERE IN MY POEM, IT REFERS TO PROPHET MUHAMMAD, THE LAST MESSENGER OF ALLAH, WHO WILL LEAD THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THE ONE TRUE GOD (ALLAH IN ARABIC/PERSIAN/URDU) AND HIS MESSENGER OF ISLAM, PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PEACE BE UPON HIM). SAQI ALSO REFERS TO OTHER HOLY MEN AND WOMEN LIKE OTHER PROPHETS OF GOD ALMIGHTY, HIS SAINTS AND HIS CHOSEN HOLY MEN, WOMEN AND EVEN CHILDREN.
SAQI ALSO REFERS IN ARABIC AND PERSIAN LITERATURE AS WELL AS IN URDU LITERATURE TO THE BEAUTIFUL VEILED WOMAN, WHO SERVES IN A TAVERN.
THE NAMES OF THE PEOPLE MENTIONED IN MY POEM AND STARRED ARE THE NAMES OF GOD ALMIGHTY'S OTHER CHOSEN MESSENGERS.
*Al-HALLAJ IS MANSOOR AL-HALLAJ, A GREAT MYSTIC BELIEVER OF GOD THE ONE AND ONLY, WHO WAS PERSECUTED AND SLAIN FOR SAYING "ANNAL HAQ" MEANING "I AM TRUTH" IN HIS STATE OF MYSTICAL MEDITATION...BY THE MOULVIS AND JUDGES OF BAGHDAD DURING THE ABBASID DYNASTY.
IMAM MEANS LEADER IN ARABIC AND URDU AND HERE IT REFERS TO IMAM HUSSAIN, THE GRANDSON OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PBUH) AND THE SON OF HIS BELOVED AND ONLY DAUGHTER, THE HOLY FATIMAH ALSO DEFINED IN ISLAMIC TRADITIONS AS THE PRINCESS OF PARADISE. ALI HERE IN MY POEM REFERS TO HAZRAT (A TERM OF RESPECT USED FOR ELDERS AND SPECIALLY HOLY MEN OF GOD) ALI WAS THE PROPHET'S SON-IN-LAW AND THE FATHER OF HAZRAT HASSAN AND HUSSAIN...THE ONES WHOM THE PEOPLE/MAJORITY OF ARABIA WANTED BE THE CALIPHS OF MUSLIMS, AFTER THE DEATH OF HAZRAT ALI...THE FOURTH CALIPH OF ISLAM...THE SUCCESSOR OF THE THIRD CALIPH CALLED HAZRAT USMAN.
THE BATTLE OF KARBALA IS THE MOST WELL KNOWN BATTLE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG, EVIL AND GOOD, AND TAKES ITS PLACE IN ISLAMIC HISTORY AS AN EPIC FIGHT/CLASH SECOND ONLY TO THE BATTLES OF BADR AND UHAD, FOUGHT DURING PROPHET MUHAMMAD'S (PBUH) LIFE.
IT IS A CONTINUATION OF THE STRIFE FOR WORLDLY KINGDOM AND GLORIES AS SOUGHT BY YAZEED, THE SON OF MUAWIYAH, WHO WAS IN CONSTANT WAR AGAINST HAZRAT ALI.
HOWEVER, WHAT HAPPENED IN KARBALA, AS SHORTLY DESRIBED IN MY POEM HERE, IS HISTORY AND THE 10,000 REBELS LED BY OMAR BIN SAAD OF KUFA AND POISED TO STOP IMAM HUSSAIN AT KARBALA, HAD A MAN CALLED SHIMR, AN EVIL SOUL LED BY SATANIC PASSION AND DESIRE, WHO CUT THE HEAD OF IMAM HUSSAIN ON THE LUNAR ISLAMAIC MONTH OF MOHARRAM (THE 10TH OF THE MONTH...LATE AFTERNOON) AS THE GRANDSON OF THE GREATEST EVER HUMAN BEING THAT EVER LIVED, WAS ESTABLISHING THE ASAR PRAYER (POST-AFTERNOON COMPULSORY REGULAR PRAYER).
ALL THIS CAN BE READ AND MORE GENEROUSLY ABSORBED BY ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ISLAM AND ITS EARLY PERIOD, FOURTEEN CENTURIES AGO.
THE WINE I MENTION HERE MEANS THE HOLY DRINK...THE WATER OF THE FOUNTAIN/SPRING OF ZAMZAM AT THE HOLY KAABA (THE HOUSE OF ALLAH BUILT BY PROPHET ABRAHAM AND HIS SON PROPHET ISMAIL (pEACE BE UPON THEM BOTH ALONG WITH PEACE ON ALL THE OTHER PROPHETS I HAVE MENTIONED IN MY VERSES HERE).
KAUSAR OR 'KAUTHAR' (IN ARABIC) IS THE FOUNTAIN IN PARADISE FROM WHICH ALL THE BELIEVERS OF THE ONE TRUE GOD (ALLAH) ALMIGHTY AND HIS LAST MESSENGER AND PROPHET, MUHAMMAD (PBUH) WILL DRINK AND HAVE THEIR THIRST QUENCHED, AFTER ALLAH FORGIVES THEIR SINS ON THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT...ALSO KNOWN AS DOOMSDAY AND THE LAST DAY...IN ISLAM, JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
THE "TAVERN" MENTIONED IN MY VERSES HERE HAS A MYSTICAL MEANING WHICH ONLY THOSE INTERESTED IN MYSTICISM AND SPECIALLY ISLAMIC MYSTICISM, KNOWN AS SUFI'ISM, CAN UNDERSTAND. OTHERS CAN, HOWEVER, FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ALL THIS IN BOOKS AND EVEN ON THE INTERNET...
*FIRDOUS: IT IS THE BEST PORTION OF PARADISE, HIGHER AND MORE SPIRITUALLY ELEVATE THAN THE REST E.G. EDEN.
THIS IS A POEM INSPIRED BY A SUFI RENDITION WHICH HAPPENS TO BE A COMBINATION OF SEVERAL SUFI SERMONS, BELIEFS, PRACTICES AND EVEN POETRY/HYMNS...OVER THE CENTURIES.
