in.som.ni.a
“Is it thy will thy image should keep open my heavy eyelids to the weary night?
Dost thou desire my slumber should be broken while shadows like to thee do mock my sight?
Is it thy spirit that thou sendeth from thee?…Oh no, thy love though much is not so great-
It is my love that keeps my eye awake.
Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat to play the watchmen ever for thy sake.
For thee watch I, whilst thou dost wake elsewhere,
From me far off, while others all too near…â€
Question:
So do you get homesick often in Egypt?
My Answer:
Since childhood I’ve been good at blocking out my homesickness whenever I’m away. I’ve taught myself to channel it and only let it out once in a while, mostly to myself and always to Allah. Maybe it’s something I’ve acquired from necessity. I am very content here and honestly in no rush to go home. I do miss my loved ones a lot and think of them often. I am beginning to think that might have something to do with my nightly insomnia. So I dedicate the above, Shakespearean sonnet number 61, to the two people I spend precious moments with before I go to sleep every night, the two people I love and miss more than ever: Mom and my ‘baby bro’ Adam.
At the start of my travels I found deep comfort in the following supplication for travel:
‘Allaah is the greatest, Allaah is the greatest, Allaah is the greatest,
How perfect He is, The One Who has place this (transport) at our service,
and we ourselves would not have been capable of that,
and to our Lord if our final destiny.
O Allaah, we ask You for birr and taqwaa in this journey of ours,
and we ask You for deeds which please You.
O Allaah, facilitate our journey and let us cover its distance quickly.
O Allaah, You are The Companion on the journey and The Successor over the family,
O Allaah, I take refuge with You from the difficulties of travel,
from having a change of hearts and being in a bad predicament,
and I take refuge in You from an ill fated outcome with wealth and family.’