The British Nomad

  Little boy shepherd, skin and bone Tending the goats all alone Abu Bakr & the Prophet ﷺ asked for drink Milk from a barren sheep made him think He became a Muslim & had such passion Then decided to teach Quraish a lesson In front of the Kaaba he recited Surah Rahman So beaten hard with no help from a clan The great scholars of Kufa trace back to this man No other companion knew more of Quran Sometimes mistaken for ahl al bayt Over 800 ahadith he did relate Despite his size, he could still fight The father of ignorance fell to his might But it was knowledge where he did best Placed on a pedestal above the rest

Of Persian nobility, a beloved son My father being a devotee Zoroastrian I heard the call to follow true deen  I escaped from this city, for I was so keen I spent decades travelling from land to land Searching for scholars who had the true brand Christianity was dying, not many were left The plan of Allah is so beautifully deft From the Arabs a prophet shall make waves I headed down south but was made a slave Found myself in Yathrib, owned by the Jews Years in this state but then there was news A man declared a prophet was on his way Fleeing from Makkah, he’ll be here any day I knew the signs & put the prophet ﷺ to the test His call was true, shall I tell you the rest?

Those companions in Jannah, much more than ten So let me tell you a story about this leader of men Most helpful to the needy, father of the poor His life an example of what to strive for This cousin of the Prophet  ﷺ , an early convert Even in adversity he would refuse to revert Oppression  built and what followed so soon To Abyssinia as head of the  Muhajiroon Met with adversity to win Najashi's heart The leaders of Quraish, playing an evil part But he won the king over whilst reciting Quran His eloquence putting a tear in the eye of every man Not available for Badr or Uhud, but still so keen to fight He got his chance at Mutah, against the Roman might Lost both his arms and martyred, so the poet sings Known forever after as the One with Two Wings

Would not follow Quraysh in belief It led him into becoming a haneef Different from a Christian or Jew To Abrahams way, he tried to stick true The rescuer of baby girls buried alive He raised them himself, until they would thrive If you were to offer him, non-halal meat Face an admonition, for he shall not eat Showed such strength, in an ocean of shirk The mis-leaders, everywhere they lurk It just shows, the pure fitrah is strong He'd never be made to stray into wrong He's not quite a sahabi But he is no less worthy Murdered whilst on his way home A nation raised, all on his own

Amidst such people, known as the custodian Of the Prophet  ﷺ , an ever-present guardian Known to be courteous, humble and shy But if you get in his way, prepare to die As his father found out on the day of Badr Tried to avoid it, but you can't avoid Qadr Sacrificed two teeth to help the Prophet  ﷺ The chain links so deep, so hard he bit Abu Bakr trusted him with the caliphate So highly his character, the people did rate Umar on his deathbed wanted him as the third And no-one around could've said a bad word Leader of the armies of Syria, Governor of the Levant During the great famine, 4000 camels of food he sent The liberator of Jerusalem, during the plague, met his end His likes these days, would never descend

A great man, cousin of the prophet ﷺ An early convert, and proud of it Treated and tortured so harshly Migrated to escape from his family The first of the migrants to have a son Into battle he would always run The prophet ﷺ named him his disciple An envious title among the people The father of a caliph & a scholar He & his family, far from regular A name mentioned in the six & ten Commanded in battle, thousands of men One of the names involved in the tribulation But then left the scene upon contemplation Betrayed in prayer, stabbed in the neck The culprits future, sure to be a wreck

Another young convert once again Who can count himself amongst the ten And amongst the six chosen by Umar His personality couldn't be warmer A skilled businessman from an early age His conversion filled his family with rage He missed Badr, due to a special mission Upset but determined in the next expedition Then during Uhud is where he shone best Achieved a station above the rest Refused to let the prophet ﷺ befall any harm Forever sacrificed the use of his arm At the epicentre when the fitnah came I sometimes think, would I have done the same? Here he met his end, shot by an arrow Such an end, mighty is the sorrow

His father prayer for him, before the prophethood Wanting him to follow the Messenger ﷺ, unlike he could It seems then not strange that he was of the first to accept And it became clear, that he was far from inept A cousin and brother in-law to Umar al Khattab A starring role in converting him, what a grab Fought in all the battles save in Badr, a scout Close always to the Prophet ﷺ, ready for a bout A governor of Damascus but would rather do battle Such a worthy man, but he thought of himself little Modesty in barrels, one among those special ten Qualified & worthy to have been the leader of men He stayed far away from the fitnah in the years to come Preferring a simple life, the world being cumbersome Agriculture kept him busy in his final years Buried in Madinah, with so many tears

A maternal cousin, of our beloved prophet ﷺ To tell his story in a poem, such a tight fit Of all the Sahaba, he is the one for me That I see in myself, may Allah make it be One of the first converts, he was seventeen His mother made it tough, for she wasn't keen He refused to give up, and things got so tense Until finally his resolve, made her see sense In Makkah, he was the first to fight & draw blood Against the mushriks, when they were upto no good Alongside the Prophet ﷺ, in Uhud he stood true 'May My mother & father be sacrificed for you' A leader in war, the Persians at loss If he made dua, always accepted it was Founded & governed Kufa in the years to come Of the Ten Promised Jannah, he was the last to be done

I asked for a sign, then had an epiphany Why did this have to happen to me And now what am I, supposed  to do? Now that my faith, has come out of the blue I don't want to, but I can't ignore it My mind is made up, I'm not one to quit But now there's so much I need to address My life for a while is sure to be a mess My dad never have the chance, to take me for a beer The prohibition of alcohol, obviously so clear My mum reflects on our ancestors, they couldn't be wrong Always to their religion, we should try to belong Since that day, lost much family and friends Some never wanting, to ever make amends But as I reflect, what a game I played By far the best decision I've ever made

Can they not see, why I am so very upset? Because the greatest woman, that I've ever met Is bound to Hell, for all of eternity I have to accept, that this is the certainty Unless the message, she never heard Perhaps a second chance, there isn't a third Can't you see? Don't you realise? It seems you don't even try to sympathise It's easy for you, your family is Muslim Whilst for us, our numbers are slim I face reality, the outlook is bleak But I have resolve, my faith is not weak What would you think? How would you feel? In this situation could you even deal? Not an attack, but please understand Treat the new Muslims with a softer hand