Umm and Ummah

by Aasiyah Abdul Musawwir

Arabic, you are the tongue
of my spirit
And Wallahi,
it is no coincidence that
umm, “mother,”
and Ummah, “community,”
come from the same root.

I talk a lot about this hijab…

You ask me if it is mandated –

I will tell you it is
essential,
life-giving,
the umbilical chord
sustaining my connection
to a spiritual line of wombs
that
swung the sword
rocked the podium
graced the pen
and raised a generation of
“knights by day,
and monks by night.”

Because ‘the rope
of the believers’
is a thirty inch
wrap-around
with yellow flowers
embroidered into the edges.

This rope –
this scarf
is Asmaa’s sash
and it has met the rocky pathways
gracefully bearing sustenance.

I am holding on Ya Allah
I am holding because
Maryam is on the other end
grasping as she did the trunk of a palm tree
calling out your name

I am holding because
Aasiyah smiles towards the heavens
Even as her wrists are twisted in this rope
And the men are approaching with a boulder
Hold tight to the rope
and pray Aasiyah
Just pray…

I am holding because
Khadijah’s fingers grace the fringes
tenderly
the fingers that tousled a beloved head of hair
as he cried
‘Dathiruni dathiruni!’

Umm and Ummah

This hijab
declares proud lineage

not of blood –
but of light.