Until I had Been to Ka’ba

By Rasheed Rabbi

Until I had been to Ka’ba, I didn’t know

The repetition of Talbiya was not at all tedious;

Rather, it muted the inner noise to hear a Divine voice.

All words were lost to the eloquence of silence,

To continue a conversation with Him, to rediscover my existence.

 

Until I had been to Ka’ba, I didn’t know

The crowd of a million could not prevent Our union;

Rather, it saved the trouble of searching for Him in all directions.

An overwhelming feeling of His presence made me fain

To experience the closeness, closer than my jugular vein.

 

Until I had been to Ka’ba, I didn’t know

The result of confession is not always profane;

Rather, it saved my enslaved soul from the people’s prison.

For every mistake I have made, all excuses gone

To commence my return, to be whom I have been.

 

Until I had been to Ka’ba, I didn’t know

Traveling on a time machine is not always imagined;

Rather, the anti-clock tawaf transported me before beginning.

Cosmic motion immersed me in journey beyond ending,

Defying the laws of physics, dissolving the sense of timeline.

 

Until I had been to Ka’ba, I didn’t know

The trembling heart doesn’t stop at the beam of its own stream;

Rather, the trapped river inside was burst into a roaring ocean.

I was flooded by the Fountain, flowing beneath the heaven,

Reminding me of the omen, repeated over 32 times in the Quran.

 

Until I had been to Ka’ba, I didn’t know

None of these feelings can be called any holier;

Rather it provoked the free being from my slumber.

Constant rebirth, like a dried fish finding its ways to water,

To succumb all my prayers merely to His revere.

 

Until I had been to Ka’ba, I didn’t know

Walking the path of soul is not at all impossible.

Rather, the privilege of His proximity made it transmittable.

A candle was kindled within, rediscovering ninety-nine new isles

To let the soul travel, leaving behind the symbolic artless temple.

Rasheed Rabbi serves as Friday Khateebs, Advisor in Islamic Educational Institute, and Chaplain at INova Hospital and Loudoun and Alexandria correctional systems in Virginia.