When I first saw him in the flesh
It was on the blessed day of Friday,
In Chicago's Masjid Al Ihsan.
My glance towards him was met with
the most overwhelming subtlety:
It looked as if the Light of the Hour
was reflecting on his face,
his eyes about to burst from petitioning
Ar-Rahman for mercy
out of the most tender of pleas,
"and the heart lied not about what it saw." [1]
He is our teacher,
"a servant of Ours, to whom We had granted
mercy from Us and with knowledge
of Our Own." [2]

[1] Qur'an 53:11
[2] Qur'an 18:65