Elevated position
strategically sitting
following a script
she says apathetically
three words
An audience a witness
Differently they speak
a language of friendliness
and graciousness
Lying on the innocent
she spreads confusion and doubt
Around the corner
a ray of goodness manifests
She averts her head
the mirror to a heart in crystal white
and guilty
is the Satan in her eyes

You're going to force me to violate a practice that has been ordained upon me by GOD for specific reasons after locking me up when I've committed no crime.

You're going to bully me and try to intimidate me and the many others who cover our hair and our body parts in order to dress modestly when in public and dignify ourselves.

You're going to forcefully remove my headscarf I've been willingly wearing after my conversion to the most perfected faith tradition, with the last, final, revised God's words' edition.

Well now you've contributed to a response to injustice in me.

Well now you've contributed to a response to violations of civil liberties, human rights, and religious freedom in me.

Well now you've contributed to a response to a crime against me and my blood and religious family in me.

Well now you've agitated a trend of resistance.

Well now you've fueled a trend of by whatever means necessary.

Well now you've instigated a trend of I love my GOD, I love my Prophet, I love my religion and you're not going to stop me.

Well now you've aggrevated a trend of many who are ready to stand up for me, by many who like me, by many who are like and unlike me.

Well now you've wised up a bit and have let me perform one of my religious duties, the wearing of my headscarf again proudly.

By: Najwa Kareem

She chose to sit in the driver's seat

Marzieh Hashemi isn't afraid of the smoldering heat

nor is she like the rest that one should try to beat

Like a butterfly in the mountain's wind

she'll pick up speed and bounce to the end

and help those around her confidently amend

Insightful, optimistic, she'll make you think

distracted by her intelligence, you'll feel no need to blink

on a gathering day, she looked beautiful in pink

Safety, cheer, and comfort were well dished out

to more than her own, a Mother for all to draw to and pout

Our unforgettable journey is Marzieh Hashemi, an icon of strength to plead about

By: Najwa Kareem

We fed ourselves on New Year's well

Gifts were exchanged over the song The First Noel

The evening before Christmas drinks were had

Many fooling themselves that they are glad

Throughout the cheer, men, women, and children in Yemen forgotten

Leftover turkeys and roasts would be hurriedly eaten even if found rotten

Starvation has Yemeni bodies eating themselves

Have you seen photos of their emaciated figures on newspapers' shelves

Pregnant women and newborn babies with dead husbands and dead fathers

How do they care for themselves when in the grand scheme of things no one bothers

Saudi military should go **** on themselves

Murderous cowards that they are playing with Santa's elves

Women in Yemen being ***** and domestic violence bring me to tears

Would they get away with their satanic work if the U.S. wasn't kissing their filthy rears

Seriously dangerous diseases running rampant

Yemenis beautiful skin no longer so lambent

So few of us care enough to choke up for our Ahmeds and for our Imans

I ask infuriatingly will it take a whole country's destruction to rise for Yemen's Marwans

Giving to ungrateful people teaches them to continue not giving, to continue expecting, and to continue receiving

Giving to ungrateful people teaches them that they are important and the person who gives to them is not

Giving to ungrateful people teaches them that they are entitled

Giving to ungrateful people teaches them to not put in any effort or to put in very little effort

Giving to ungrateful people teaches them to be arrogant

Giving to ungrateful people teaches them that selfishness ends in rewards

Giving to ungrateful people teaches them that not giving or that giving very little is acceptable when it is not

No more giving to ungrateful people

This gal has changed

On an island with so much untouched nature outside, why are the prices of things so expensive inside

Is it really necessary to charge a customer for oatmeal cookies four times the price they should be

Does it really take stealing from people and worrying people to sustain a country; to fuel an economy

Molded apples and molded oranges not having sold quick enough being removed from the shelves in a store

Things are so complicated, I say to a cashier at the register about life as it is now

She shakes her head yes and says, I often ask myself where am I?

written on 12/19/18

They're chasing this dollar bill
even it means compromising their beliefs and morals
even if it means lowering the status of their souls
even if it means hurting and not really caring about their own children
even if it means abusing them

They're chasing this dollar bill and they like the taste of this dollar bill
They want to taste it every day
They like what they can do with this dollar bill so they chase it every day
They don't realize how much of a slave they are to this dollar bill, nor will they admit to their slavery

They don't care if their chasing this dollar bill means more single sisters in the world
They don't care if it means mostly sisters are running many civil, Islamic, and Muslim organizations even though their husbands' contributions are desperately needed
Even if their children need their strength and their sons need role models and need and want to look up to them
Even if their children do not know how to read Quran and understand its meanings so they grow up stable, on solid footing, and bullet-proofed from all of the dangerous threats coming at them every day
They're chasing this dollar bill

They imitate their fathers chasing this dollar bill
Some want to out do their fathers in pursuit of this dollar bill
Some want to out do their fathers who failed in pursuit of the dollar bill
Some want to out do their fathers who succeeded enormously in pursuit of the dollar bill
Some want to out do their fathers who care less about chasing this dollar bill
They're chasing this dollar bill

The culture says if one is a man, he's supposed to be chasing this dollar bill
If he wants to be a man, he has to keep chasing the dollar bill
To be successful, have a perpetual plan on chasing the dollar bill
Advertisements, subliminal messages suggesting they need more things
They need more to be happy
They're chasing this dollar bill

They didn't get what they wanted when they were growing up. Now they can with this dollar bill
They had a frugal parent. Now they can be reckless. They're chasing this dollar bill
They had a cheap car in high school and in college. Not anymore. Luxury now only on wheels. They're chasing this dollar bill

Buying their children the name brand shoes they didn't have as children; Living vicariously makes up for a lot; Living vicariously fills up the holes
They're chasing this dollar bill

This dollar bill gets them the beautiful girl or so they think or at least temporarily
Finally they feel like somebody chasing this dollar bill

Their sons need to learn about chastity so they learn to respect God, themselves, and girls and to understand the value, beauty, and protection of experiencing *** and intimacy in marriage
Time is money. They're chasing this dollar bill

Young girls sitting in the classroom dressed looking like hookers and hoes and boys expected to focus on the teacher and their school work; Keep their eyes down and not call the girls, and not flirt with them, and not want to sleep with them or not go home with them. God on the other hand is covered up and no one is teaching kids who they are but the expectation is that they will know God and know themselves 
They're chasing this dollar bill

The oppressed need people to advocate for them. There are tons of homeless on the street. They're chasing this dollar bill

The ones around them who call themselves friends not really being friends to them.
Their friends don't ask them What's up with you? Where are your priorities? Re-evaluate your priorities man. What's really behind all this chasing? I want to see you in heaven with me prayfully, hopefully. I want to share in it with you. I care about you.

Instead their friends compliment them on their chasing this dollar bill
Their friends admire them chasing the dollar bill
Their friends edge them on to chase harder, chase more
Their friends get puffed up being associated with friends chasing this dollar bill
Their friends copy them chasing the dollar bill so they too have a taste of the dollar bill
Their friends compete with them chasing the dollar bill

They want to keep up with the Jones's running after the dollar bill, tripping and stumbling along the way trying not to let others see
They're chasing this dollar bill

I don't understand
It makes no sense to me
Why they're chasing this dollar bill to such a degree

It's clear to me. They're out of their right mind. That's what chasing this dollar bill can do to thee

They are on a chasing-this-dollar-bill frenzy
Their daughters need them to teach them more about hijab. Some of them wearing no hijab leaving them more of a target for hungry boys and men...like a closet full of valuables with no sign on the outside reading "Private"; Not for you to touch. Not your property. Not your valuables
What does that matter. They're chasing this dollar bill

Boys and men tempted by their daughters without hijab to imagine what their daughters' private parts sizes might be; What the sight of their nakedness could be
What they could do with their private parts
Their daughters need to learn their value and their worth from their fathers, fathers who are chasing this dollar bill

A human life investment or a temporary monetary investment...Where do they invest their time
It's an easy answer - They have no time...they're chasing this dollar bill

The community needs building but their homes need upgrading
They're chasing this dollar bill

My heart is heavy. I don't feel well
I'll keep talking about it. Even if I puke
I'll keep writing

They say women follow men. That's exactly what they are doing
They too are chasing this dollar bill

And we're all weaker because of it

If money strengthens, why are we weak
Why are our men weak
Why are our women frail  

Why

They're chasing this dollar bill

They're chasing this dollar bill