UNRHYMED HAIKU for the LAND OF THE HUDUD

AMPUTATING NATURE:
UNRHYMED HAIKU for THE LAND of HUDUD

by azly rahman

and they shaved the hills bald
that even the priests guarding the waters drowned in confusing thoughts
the Almighty's name they invoke
to begin the Ecotourism Project they say will give happiness to the villagefolks

and they say these are all God's bounty
those homes the rich up on the hills where floodwater cometh not guarantee
God has a plan and Man can't question this grand design
children of Noah we must become and let us not question the Islamic state's good intention

Let us pray and pray until the water subsided
Let us not question how the trees have all died
In the name of the Merciful we must now have the Law of Amputations
Because Man has sinned and the big flood is a testament

Let us now dabble in Science and Logic and the question of the political-economy of state planning and who will profit, in name of God, in these grand schemes of Islamic financing
Science is Liberalism and Liberalism is the Devil's secret invention

And let us have the highly-decorated leaders and aristocrats survey the areas of disaster in the comfort of their helicopters and have an Eagle's eye view of what it means to suffer ... put the biggest frown on the faces and let the media craft that into crocodile tears washing away the real story of their love for projects called Ecotourism

It is Divine intervention as they say
a Deus ex Machina to be more sophisticately put, if you may
that God hath willed everything
and we must still go on with our Hudud
whether the Holy Book had actually said we should
or whether a borrowed "eye-for-an-eye-Hammurabi-inspired law" we borrowed with such haste and brute

We ... the kampongfolks .. what do they know?
aren't we better than them as grand sheikhs of moral policing?
What do those ignorant folks know
about Ecotourism anyways
we tell them it is good for the Ummah, and they will agree, don't they?

And Nature we amputated
Hudud we scream
in name of God
the Sustainer, the Cherisher, the Lord of Nature we call to witness
whilst we laugh ourselves to the banks
the system of Halal financing we defend

May the Flood subside
May the victims be safe
May we continue to live with Empathy
Without race, politics, religion, nationality cloud our good sense
of dignity and care for fellow beings, in this time of Great Calamity ..

AMEN .. -- ar