Al Amin Gourbhanga, Nadia
Prophet of the True Faith, the Best Messenger






Prophet of the True Faith, the Best Messenger
Appeared at Dawn1 on a Monday,
O! Let us go to Mecca City!
Mother Amina2 had a Child,
Of whom no one knew.
A storm raged outdoors
So they sheltered   inside.
Mother Amina spoke no words
but her heart ached for the Child.
For a Grace which I do not comprehend .
The door was closed, (and in the dark)
Mother Amina feared that the Son was born blind,
so heartrending were his cries.
Mother Amina spoke no words but inside her heart ached for the Child.
*There is no Deity but God
(There is no God but Allah)
And Muhammad is the Messenger of God!
Saying this the Child saw his mother’s face.
Knowing of her son’s heart,
That he was the Messenger,
She observed the rites3 of Islam
Within the week.
Abu Bakr4 weeps, caught in the traps of this illusory world.
The Child has not suckled 5 alas! for three days.
O! Let us go to Mecca City!

 
1.The Prophet Muhammad was born in the month of  Rabi ul awal, third month of the Islamic calendar. There is a widespread belief that he was born at daybreak, 2.The Prophet’s mother was Amina. 3. Probably the rites of Circumcision are implied. 4. Abu Bakr: probably the author of these lines. And surely not the first Caliph of Islam and one of the first converts to Islam, and the Prophet Muhammad’s Companion. 5.There is a folk belief in the Islam popular in Bengal that the Prophet Muhammad as an infant refused to suckle and wept for his ‘Ummah’ or Community of Islam. Some say the newborn infant fasted for three, others say for seven, days. Of course the word ‘ummah’ may sound close to a child’s natural cry. *la ilaha illallah Muhammad rasulallah: the kalma or Islamic declaration of faith.