Author’s note:
Recently, I’ve just been thinking about how much having a father has been important in my life, regardless of the fact that he wasn’t even a Muslim & died when I was very young. I thought that it would be good to just share this importance to you all-I’m often left thinking, to myself, that if my father could be the man whom he was, without Islam, then I owe it to Allah to strive towards being at least half of the man that he was, with Islam. This particular poem is meant to celebrate the utter importance of having a father, generally, which domestically in the U.S., as well as other parts of the world, the status of fatherhood has really become a pathetic joke, not taken seriously at all, and we’ve all been more & more bombarded with this global, socio-culturally-influenced/encouraged “dead-beat dad” syndrome, which has taken the world by storm, as one of the greatest negative phenomenons of our lifetimes. Every Human being has the absolute right to have two parents, both mother & father, to be there for them, as long as they live, to give them some sort of positive rearing & direction in this material-existence.
I know my Father:
He was the man from whom I’ve inherited 23 of my 46 chromosomes.
He was never like a rollin’-stone, in & out of different women’s homes.
Although he died when I was only 8, my time with him was just great.
Alas, Allah decided to take him from me, it was just his destined fate.
It was always known he loved me & I knew that he cared.
He had the heart of a lion, he was so brave, never scared.
I know that he loved and cared for his own kids.
He even fathered children who weren’t even his.
He was A-Class, with great personality & a legendary smile.
No other father in the world could’ve ever imitated his style.
I’m simply in awe, oftentimes, at the mark of a man that he has made.
It’s been over 20 years after his death, yet his legacy just won’t fade.
If only I were ½ of who my father was.
Striving for that is such a worthy cause.
Gareth Bryant/2012
Recently, I’ve just been thinking about how much having a father has been important in my life, regardless of the fact that he wasn’t even a Muslim & died when I was very young. I thought that it would be good to just share this importance to you all-I’m often left thinking, to myself, that if my father could be the man whom he was, without Islam, then I owe it to Allah to strive towards being at least half of the man that he was, with Islam. This particular poem is meant to celebrate the utter importance of having a father, generally, which domestically in the U.S., as well as other parts of the world, the status of fatherhood has really become a pathetic joke, not taken seriously at all, and we’ve all been more & more bombarded with this global, socio-culturally-influenced/encouraged “dead-beat dad” syndrome, which has taken the world by storm, as one of the greatest negative phenomenons of our lifetimes. Every Human being has the absolute right to have two parents, both mother & father, to be there for them, as long as they live, to give them some sort of positive rearing & direction in this material-existence.
I know my Father:
He was the man from whom I’ve inherited 23 of my 46 chromosomes.
He was never like a rollin’-stone, in & out of different women’s homes.
Although he died when I was only 8, my time with him was just great.
Alas, Allah decided to take him from me, it was just his destined fate.
It was always known he loved me & I knew that he cared.
He had the heart of a lion, he was so brave, never scared.
I know that he loved and cared for his own kids.
He even fathered children who weren’t even his.
He was A-Class, with great personality & a legendary smile.
No other father in the world could’ve ever imitated his style.
I’m simply in awe, oftentimes, at the mark of a man that he has made.
It’s been over 20 years after his death, yet his legacy just won’t fade.
If only I were ½ of who my father was.
Striving for that is such a worthy cause.
Gareth Bryant/2012
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