The pillars of Islam First pillar: the Unity of God

The Mind, astray in this determinate world, First found the pathway to this distant goal By faith in God the One;

what other home Should bring the hapless wanderer to rest? Upon what other shore should Reason’s barque Touch haven?

All men intimate with truth The secrets of the Godhead have by heart, Which is implicit in the sacred words He comes unto the Merciful, a slave.

In action let faith’s potency be tried, That it may guide thee to thy secret powers:

From it derive religion, wisdom, law, Unfailing vigour, power, authority.

Its splendour doth amaze the learned mind, But giveth unto lovers force to act;

The lowly in its shadow reacheth high, And worthless earth becomes like alchemy Precious beyond compute.

Its mighty force Chooseth the slave, whereof it doth create Another species;

sprightlier he treads Upon the path of truth, and in his veins The blood burns hotter than the lightning’s shaft.

Fear dies, and doubt; toil is new vitalized; The vision sees the inner mystery Of all creation.

When in servanthood To God man’s foot is established, beggary’s bowl Becomes the magic cup that Jamshid bore.

There is no god but God: this is the soul And body of our Pure Community, The pitch that keeps our instrument in tune,

The very substance of our mysteries, The knotted thread that bids our scattered thoughts.

And when these words, being uttered on the lips, Reach to the heart, they do augment the power Of life itself;

graven upon the rock, They wake a heart therein; but if the heart Burns not with the remembrance of that faith It doth convert to clay.

When we inflamed The hearts within us with the passionate glow Of this belief, we set ablaze the barn Of all contingency with but a sigh.

This is the lustre glittering in the hearts Of men, those steely mirrors liquefied By Faith’s consuming flame

whose torch is like A tulip in our veins, and so we bear No other mark of glory but its brand.

Through this true Faith black man becomes as red, Kinsman to Omar, aye, and Abu Dharr.

The heart’s a lodge to self and the Not-self, And passion quickens when the cup is shared;

When several hearts put on a single hue That is community, which Sinai Grows radiant in one epiphany.

Peoples must have one thought, and in their minds Pursue a single purpose; to one draw

Their temperaments respond, one testing-stone Discriminates their hideous from their fair.

Unless the instrument of thought possess The fire of truth, it is impossible Its range can be so wide.

We Muslims are, Children of Abraham, which fact is proved (If proof thou seekest) by Your father he.

Though nations’ destinies their lands control, Though nations build their edifice on race,

Thinkest thou the community is based Upon the Country? Shall so much regard Be blindly paid to water, air and earth?

It is dull ignorance to put one’s boast In lineage; that judgment rests upon The body, and the body perishes.

Other are the foundations that support Islam’s Community; they lie concealed Within our hearts.

We, who are present now, Have bound our hearts to Him who is unseen, And therefore are delivered from the chains Of earthly things.

The cord that links this folk Is like the thread which keeps the stars in place, And, as the sight itself, invisible.

Well-pointed arrows of one quiver are we, One showing, one beholding, one in thought;

One is our goal and purpose, one the form, The fashion, and the measure of our dream.

Thanks to His blessings, we are brothers all Sharing one speech, one spirit and one heart.