MY LIFE: Ghazali (Saad Omar) *Updated w/ audio*
Published by Saad Omar February 17th, 2007 in PoetryThis is by far the most personal piece i have ever made public…this version has a few slight edits that were not in Haseeb’s version from earlier today
(I wrote the whole thing in about 10-15 minutes without stopping to even more a second to “write a deep rhyme,” or even look at what I wrote. It was just about the free-flow of the conscious. Thus the rhyme doesn’t follow any structure and the rhyming is not “genius” or anything, but I just really wanted it to have a raw feel, not an artificial piece of poetry that is written to impress or whatever.)
UPDATE: Here is the live spoken word version of the poem by Saad Omar:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
MY LIFE
Ghazali (Saad Omar)
Okay, so yes I’m confident
That don’t mean I’m arrogant
That’s the way we had to be
To lead the way we did
What you know about the 90’s?
The war that defined me
There was no one left
And I had lines behind me
Barely a teen
When I was forced to lead
Like a rose from birth
With his heart turned east
And what do you know bout ‘98
The devil’s rage
As we heard his chains break
And we needed MYNA Raps every year
Just to keep our faith
And when our flanks were attacked
We answered the call
Not many made it back
As our friends began to fall
This is back when Music was still “haram”
Except for Yusuf Islam
And his only song, “Afghanistan”
Back when bosnia caused insomnia
Back when Mustaqim was still Tahir
Back when clapping was “forbidden”
ISNA still had its fire
Back when we would flock
to Hamza Yusuf talks
But then there were those crazy times
The one liner’s swallowed by lazy minds
You know, the speech in the closet that you now have to hide
And we realized…
The community had gone too far
The “us”- “them” mentality was tearing us apart
And so we tried to change
Mind you, this is before the planes
Before the drama, before Usama, before the hate
I took off my thob and changed my dress code
People attacked me and labelled it blasphemy
But this wasn’t a change of mentality
It was a change of strategy
I broke the pedestal so people could follow me
And don’t get this twisted,
We didn’t wanna be leaders
That’s just where we were
And to make Islam more real
We even talked to girls
And yah, we made a few mistakes
But in the end we stayed straight
And music was our way
To open the flood gate
These changes, were deliberately decided
And yeah, we were labelled liberals and misguided
But in the end it’s up to skies to decide
Who was on the right, on the side of light
And who was self-righteously
Trying to pick a fight
(this is when the song transitions from my 1990’s childhood to today)
So don’t talk about a man
If you don’t know about his life
Congrats, you just made a lot a hype
Black listed my name
Like a Daniel Pipes
And what do you mean, forgive you?
You’re a slanderous guy*
King of unfounded advice
And I still love you as a brother,
But you may have cost me my wife
And how you gonna start another war
When Saad was officially killed, in 2004
I see you, vendetta face, filled with hate
Just realize
All you’re doing is spitting on a dead man’s grave
And Ghazalis the rose that grew from his resting place
So let the man rest in peace
And maybe you’ve heard
I used to flirt with cupid
Snuck him a twenty
And misfired a few hits
But wait, what’s this latest nuisance
Who the “hecks” the new kid
And whys he talking bout me
Like I ain’t even human
And yes I try to live creative, with a religious taint
But I ain’t a player and I ain’t a saint
I’m just a guy trying to survive
Without community reins
Because I just don’t trust, its newest wave
And sometimes, love is more dangerous than hate
Like Robbie Frost, I gotta forge my own way
And if that leaves me single
Well then, marriage will have to wait
Or heck, I’ll just pull a Nawawi* straight to my grave…
(that’s all folks)
Notes:
* “You a slanderous guy” is actually not attacking a specific person or anything like that. I know that may seem like a personal attack but its actually not.
*It is recorded in history that Imam Nawawi (R) made a conscious decision not to marry out of principle.
Disclaimer:
I think those who know me or even read any of my previous works, the following should be already very clear but because some lines in this poem/rap can be misconstrued I’m just going to make this disclaimer. I do not support attacks against America and its innocent public by any group (Muslim or Non-Muslim)
Also, I am not against everything that we call (the 1990’s Islam), there are things I agreed with and things I was against. Furthermore, there are a lot of things about this new (post 9-11 Islam) that I consider improvements and things that I consider missteps.
(A more detailed account my views of post 9-11 Islam and its changes (for better or for worse) from the 90’s Islam can be found in my article “The fire that was lost as the smoke cleared) and it was posted on Haseeb’s website a few days ago, http://www.hahmed.com/blog/2007/02/13/the-fire-that-was-lost-as-the-smoke-cleared/.)
WAW…
Mashallah! Thank you for sharing. Definitely got the rap feel in that
comes straight from heart…dats good.
you are very talented!! Did you really write this in such a short time?!
Haseeb,
Stop changing all the clocks. That’s messed up. And also, start writing about how your mother was not oppressed =)
salam everyone
thanks for the kind words. the reason i wrote this without stopping to revise or edit was because i wanted it to be 100 percent real and for my heart so that inshallah it could also hit other people’s hearts because although this poem/rap is one of my very personal works, as carl rodgers said “what is most personal is most general.”
-saad omar
assalaamu alaikum,
i really really like the personal rap, and even though i only cursorily know the author (which isn’t much), i believe most muslim americans can relate to it: ie, those who have developed a conscious struggle to become active participants in the greater society around them (nonmuslims) while emphasizing their muslim/islamic adherence..reading the poem just flashes back everything to my own personal struggle, awareness of what i wanted to do, believed had to be done, the constraints of an ‘established’ society with their own thinking which was ready to condemn or isolate, daniel pipes haha who had linked me, the disillusionment of what a liberal really meant and the question of what does islamic really mean: who really practices islam and what makes liberalism (if in that vein) decriptive of being islamically conscious..to the disappointments of what life brings or doesnt bring to the concept of what really forms relationships in general and in specific..
again, i’m mentally in nap mode so i’m not sure if all this made sense..but to me, i sorta feel as if it’s semi biographical..i like rawness, and i like how this rap evoked all those memories and emotions, again something i think most muslim americans would be able to relate to.
so huge masha’Allah
props on this bro and keep it comin! keep it strong, keep it real n remem in the end, it’s whatever takes u straight to Allah 
swt. 
ur sis. (u know which one, ha.)
wa salaams.
This is is one of the greatest and most creative personal’s ad i’ve ever seen…ok sisters, time to respond in concrete direct ways…Saad pulling a nawawi (see reference above) would surely be your loss…
umm do you think I can rap this at International night this coming thursday,
Would non-muslims get it without being offended?
oh and I am a girl but I will give you credit for it.
Please, if you do agree or give permission, can you give a little introduction to the rap. Like what is the theme and what you are trying to say, I am going to give a disclaimer at the beginning and then say the rap.
The rap is proufound brother.
My favorite line is I aint a player and I aint a saint
and talking to girls to make islam feel real, LOL!
alhamdulillaah,
it’s all good.
i like the rhythm. and can definitely relate.
summarizes how we all grew up i guess
peace
To: “Downstate”
asalaamualaykum
i dont think this poem is for a non-Muslim audience.
Brother Haseeb,
wa alaykum assalaam,
you are right….
on second thought I thought this is not going to flow well with non-muslim audiences, I mean, I’d have to give a little speech before the poem and after but definitely for muslim audiences, it is excellent.
Assalamu alaikum “downstate..”
thanks so much for wanting to perform this but it will def work better with muslim audiences..
if u need a piece that was written for a non-muslim audience, i can send u a few works that i wrote for the occasion, but of course there are many other muslim artists out there too..
email me if u want me to send you one inshallah, ghazaliproject@gmail.com
may Allah
bless you
-saad
salam
ok, i cannot resist anymore, Brother Saad Omar, are u really in turkey right now???
im turkish myself and live there, (im on break now) and im just curious, just the way most turks are in general. it must be a national trait.
sorry for the useless question
peace
walaikum salam sister
yeah i’m actually studying in istanbul for the next 6 months… yeah i could tell by your name (aisha nur) that you are turkish
may Allah
bless you 
-saad
Salaaams, Saad bhai
I think poems (especially urs) end up better when they have been through no revision. Because when they are under such a small time constraint and without any corrections it comes straight from the heart. Only can something directly from one heart impact someone elses heart.
thank god for this brother ! his thoughts, poems and website and everyhting else is so refreshing !! keep it up, inshallah.
Saad, you know both Nursi and Gulen pulled Nawawi’s all the way up, too.
Really good bro. Keep it up. I’m your brother Jordan’s brother.
Peace,
U.
Hey Br. Saad,
just a suggestion: when you say the rap don’t enunciate everything.
Say it a bit faster and meaner.
Cause if I was reading the words you wrote I would say them like that faster and like I was being mean(it gets people’s attention).