Praise Remember, O, the day that he was seen Advancing with his army that had been So awesome it kept rival swords pristine, Unused? Remember how he came to clean God’s House of all the idols? Helmet’s sheen Recall when, as he rode, he bowed. So glean From his approach the etiquettes that mean, “We fail to praise God as God should be praised.” His name is “Ahmad” in the sky’s regime, “Muhammad” to the mortals here. Prayers teem With blessings round his name. He lived the dream Of love. Each far-flung kingdom has a stream By which the poet sings: “each era’s gleam— Each lover’s blush—is from this man’s esteem.” God drew him near in pureness so extreme That all the veils of time and space were razed. So near, he witnessed God by heart and gazed. The Prophet Musa afterwards appraised Our Prophet’s charge who, shy, went back and raised The point with God. As prayers were reappraised Repeatedly so God then kindly phased Our prayers to forty, thirty, twenty, ten— At five our Prophet shied from asking when God, multiplying worth by ten, amazed. “We fail to praise God as God should be praised,” Our Prophet said that night he went past moon And stars, and passed all prophets, too. As soon As it began, this lovely, timeless tune, Did it conclude. And life resumed, with noon Siestas, weddings, battles, and that boon Of bowing from the bows’ lengths. Praised is he Who said we fail to praise God properly. Syed Abu ‘Affan Zeshan Abu’l ‘Arifin al-Chisti al-‘Uthmani al-Hassani al-Husseini for Tariqat u’l ‘Uthmaniyya zikr contact zs at uthman dot org