.بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

When it comes to the Truth, some may stand with her, and some: on the other

Side. Her name is Shireen, and she was murdered. In cold blood, and where

Others have been murdered before. Maybe: they didn’t ‘matter’ so much. Language

Arabic, and blood Palestinian. It runs through the land. They uprooted olive trees;

They dismantled cities, and livelihoods. Rolled tanks over grandfathers’ estates. They

Called it ‘prophesy’. Call it ‘Liberalism’. If you wish to know what a ‘terrorist’ looks like:

I can point you towards some flags. Red, actually, since they have the blood of innocents

Star-spangled spattered across them.

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They called it ‘conflict’. Argued that there had been ‘faults on both sides’. Don’t they know

That ‘even a worm turns’: in the face of oppression, Ukrainians will pick up arms. Self-defence

is far from ‘terrorism’. And terrorists have sat in White Houses, comfortably, commanding

Killer drones over ‘distant lands’. Did he matter less because his name had been Yahya,

Instead of John? Because her name had been Sumayya, instead of Rebecca?

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A ‘conflict’, they called it. When several armed soldiers arrive upon a family’s doorstep,

Unannounced, and ready to pillage. Over the victims’ cries: people say,

“We don’t want trouble. There’s two sides to this story.“

Don’t raise your voice. Be ‘civilised’. Elbows off the table, dear:

When you talk about Palestine.

Syria. Iraq.

Afghanistan.

What they did in Algeria. India. Across Africa, and Australia.

The Americas. And the rest.

The present: we say. It’s history continued. Don’t let falsehoods blind you:

Verily, we cannot lie, and deny that Allah loves the truthful.

With Him , it does not matter whose voice utters a sound for you, or against you.

As far as ‘humanity’ goes: to some, ‘less white’, ‘less ocean-eyed’ might translate, somehow to:

‘less human’. Hush, now. We don’t want any trouble here.

Over poured tea, they’re discussing Palestine. A ‘conflict’. ‘Two sides’, yes:

One: destructive. Boots. Aggressors, oppressors, fundamentally arrogant. The other:

Ukraine has a right to self-defence. And so does Palestine. Without that hypocritical misnomer of

‘Terrorist’, or whatever else. Truth: we do not take from you, who lie; who are engulfed in lies.

“Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.” 

— Qur’an, (5:42).