Away From Him

By: Rabiah Tul Adawiyah October 10, 2025

How unfortunate -
to live in this world
and not have seen him.

I studied him through and through -
his childhood,
his family,
his companions.

How fortunate they were
to walk where he walked,
to hear his voice,
to look into the eyes
that carried Mercy for the world.

And I -
here,
away from him
in time and space.

Would he even know me?

I send my ṣalawāt,
hoping the angels carry my name -
that somewhere beyond the veil,
he knows
those who love him
without ever seeing him.

اللهم صلِّ على محمد

Rabiah Tul Adawiyah Mohamed Salleh teaches at the Department of English Language and Literature, AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (AHAS KIRKHS), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Her work focuses on the decolonisation of English language studies and the indigenisation of knowledge through Islamic and local intellectual traditions.