My body is a temple

Say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty ; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof. [Quran : 24.31]

 

 

 

Eyes, black as stone, never leave the ground,

Modesty worn like coats in a winter storm,

No man lusts over me,

I stay hidden, unseen as a plain landscape,

Two hands wrapped around my heart,

No one enters, no one leaves;

The blind leads,

Dry as summer leaves,

Listen, breathe, and I pray,

Innocent as child’s play,

No rights to bare arms,

No rights to bare anything,

No approval rating exists,

My beauty comes from within,

Beneath these layers of black attire,

Pure from the fire,

Noncompetitive in vanity,

I retain my sanity,

This is my definition of humanity.

Author's Note

For my Muslim friend, Joel.