Would less you be a Muslim when, the world is torn?
O’er a faith, bloodlines estranged, Fidayeen Jihadis, sworn
How does it feel clad in hijab, skull cap, and Sunnah beard?
Be looked upon by shallow eyes, nay, stared and feared!

That ‘Ahmed’, ‘Mohammad’ et al, which tells apart your creed
In VISA forms and airport queues, ain’t you the outcast breed?
Once hugging neighbors, now shun you, like ticking time bombs
Don’t your hearts cry out, “We a different clan, not patron of pogroms”?

“What’s left to say and yet so much, for us to vindicate
Caught hostage to the travesty, of a sinful syndicate
That ain’t Islam, whose dark flags spell, Satan’s looming bane
We are the ones massacred most, in this bargain most profane

Me the ‘Ahmed’, and ‘Mohammad’ too, and skull-capped, proudly so
No name, no faith, no guise, marks a clan, an indiscriminate foe
Still truest is our call of Azan, not their blasphemous psalm
Infidels those, let shame be theirs, we ain’t ashamed of Islam!”

© 2016 Vikas Chandra