For Fatima
Arab News - Mar. 9, 2007
By Nimah Ismail Nawwab
Editor’s Note: The deeply troubling case of Fatima and Mansour Al-Timani seems to be only the tip of the iceberg of forced divorces in absentia in Saudi Arabia. The abuse by some of the concept of the guardian (wali al-amr) is having devastating social ramifications and causing deep personal and family traumas. The following poem composed by well-known Saudi poet Nimah Nawwab is part of an effort to help resolve unjust practices which hark back to the days of bigotry, racism and tribalism which Islam has denounced from its birth in this holy land.
The cold cell closes in
The cold of a living tomb
every breath a test
every breath a labor
every breath a prayer
not for her, not for her life
for her nursing baby
her only company
held fervently
her drawn, sleepless eyes
seek this only glimmer of solace.
Cold despair seeps in
yet the silver bars of her new ‘home’
dimly jar her thoughts
no longer a barrier
no longer a foe.
Bands of steel
familiar, loom,
more unyielding
with each drawn-out
hour, day, month.
The chilly prison
more merciful
than the icy
hard
hearts
of family.
Seeking to sever her bonds of love
to shatter her being
to splinter her sanity
to ravage her marriage
seeking to annihilate her freedom of choice.
Willfully,
rapturously,
plunging their poisoned claws
into the sacred familial bond.
Waging a war of words,
blinded with the rage of arrogance
as supposed guardians
turn into demons
hack with barbed wires of horned intolerance
stab with the shiny swords of putrid tribalism.
She who thought
her life full, settled,
escaped the inescapable.
On the run for survival
with her children,
on the run for blessed unity
with her sheltering chosen one
reeling in her ruptured reality.
Caught, dragged, torn
from the devoted arms of her other half.
Rejecting a traitorous family
and heads with determination
to a cold welcoming prison
warmer than the stiff freezing emptiness of
a sterile existence.
Her jagged heart turns in despair
to the scepter of just justice
Her savior morphs
into the grim reaper
opening the crypt of forced divorce.
The tight lid slammed
shut, tight
suffocating
the mummified family.
A fitting tribute to the coup
Of ancient bigotry.
Yet she embraces hope strenuously
awaits
prays
with chilled hands chilled heart chilled soul
the verdict.
The cold cell is no longer cold
A deep invasive frostiness settles in.— Nimah Nawwab can be reached at arapoet555 AT yahoo.com
SOURCE
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=93349&d=9&m=3&y=2007
——————————————————————————–
LEARN MORE!strong>
Muslimah Writers Alliance Forced Divorce Case Chronological Media Log
and Take Action Information Resource Page
http://muslimahwritersalliance.com/mwa-community/al-timani_case_chronology.htm
Muslimah Writers Alliance Petitions King Abdullah to Stop Forced Divorces
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/2/prweb505146.htm
Forced Divorce Now a Forum Issue, by Sabri Jawhar, The Saudi Gazette
http://saudifemalejournalist.blogspot.com/2007/03/forced-divorce-now-forum-issue.html
Nimah Ismail Nawwab
www.theunfurling.com
Saudi Attorney in Al-Timani Forced Divorce Case Nominated to Receive Award
http://muslimahwritersalliance.com/articles/al-timani_attorney_nomination.htm
To Advocate of Abdicate: Muslimah Writers Alliance Stands in Defense of Islam
http://muslimahwritersalliance.com/articles/mwa_stands_in_defense_of_islam.htm
Say ‘No’ to Forced Divorce - ‘Yes’ to Reforms
Online Petition to King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz
http://www.petitiononline.com/no24orce/petition.html
No Tags