The Lion of Panjshir (Ramadhan Verses #7)
Massoud, where are you now?
You were the breath of Islam
And you maintained the balance
In the Path of the Middle Way,
The Path of the Nation of Muhammad.
Massoud, what are you doing now?
You were the handsome leader,
The Commander of men,
Lettered and wise, feeling with emotion
The Feeling that a true leader should have.
Why did they want you dead?
Massoud, who are you smiling at now?
Beneath the sky of God,
You fought for your people
On the soil of your ancestors,
But some were ashamed of you,
Because they did not understand
The Light of Love that animated
Your strength and your compassion.
Massoud, how are you?
You who once surveyed the land
From the top of a mountain,
And you look upon your nation,
Tired, poor and dispossessed,
But you saw the coming of the pirates,
Who came to your valley with
A foreign hatred and a foreign bullet.
They said they were Muslims, these Talibans and al-Qaedas
But what faith were they following?
You stood in their way,
And with certainty you said,
“I reject you and your horrifying interpretations!”
Massoud, who are your companions now?
This Ramadhan, once again I know
That you are not with me anymore.
You have left us and only ghosts
And whispers are left of you
To counsel us, to caution us.
You were the Lion of Panjshir,
But you shall always be to me
The Lion of Islam,
For I claim you
In the name of
The Nation.
How can the world now forget
Massoud?
Who tried in his own tireless way
To do good?
This man, Ahmad Shah Massoud was instrumental in the defeat of the Soviet invasion and occupation of his homeland, Afghanistan. Later he was murdered in a lowly and cowardly assassination by the ruthless mechanism of his own co-religionists, when he rejected the Taliban and al-Qaeda as portraying a very wrong idea of Islam. His passing marked the end of the one real hope for the country before it fell into the hands of the evildoers.
"The only thing standing in the way of future Taliban massacres is Ahmad Shah Massoud."
—National Geographic, "Inside the Taliban"(2007)
I expect to be writing more about him during this month, ergo, this is Chapter 1.
Osama bin Laden is a blurry footnote of a footnote of a footnote in the page of history that belongs to Ahmad Shah Massoud. And with the killer’s demise, his mad ideology should perish too. But I fear that people will remember Osama more than Massoud - the Muslim bodypolitik are so easily manipulated, and a large chunk of Muslims are showing time and time again, why they do not deserve a leader like the Lion of Panjshir.
When leaders like Massoud is shining upon the Muslim nation, their compassion and courage only shows up the horrible ugliness of those other ‘Muslim leaders’ who continue to defame the Prophet’s legacy by their hate, hubris, arrogance and violence. Such managers of suicide-bombers and 'moral guardians' may be sincere in their convictions, but madmen can be sincere too, so we reject them utterly.
Especially in this holy month, we shall give them no quarter, and no respite.
wa min Allah at-taufiq
