They said: Why do you follow a religion
Constructed by men to subdue women?
Why do you restrict your freedom on earth
In exchange for a non-existent heaven?
Why do you follow the Qur’ân, an ancient book
And a man who lived in antiquity?
Why don’t you follow Western models
And accommodate yourself to modernity?
‘Come’, they said, ‘and we will liberate you’
Come; and we will make you free;
Come; we will release you of your traditions
And of worshipping a God you cannot see.
She said: I conform to the Timeless
Not to the dictates of modernity;
I rather serve my Maker voluntarily
Than to enjoy this forced liberty;
I prefer to swim in the Ocean of Prayer
Than to sink in the mire of desire
I prefer to walk towards Heaven
Than to burn forever in the Fire
Freedom does not mean Westernisation
It does not mean forgetting the Lord
It does not mean wearing less clothes;
Let us not demean this lofty word!
If you value freedom, let us be free
To freely understand what freedom is;
Only the Infinite is Infinitely Free,
To be really free is to be His.
What is the freedom of a tree;
To be freed from its own root?
A prayerless soul is not saved;
And a rootless tree bears no fruit.
What is the freedom of a body?
To be freed from its own head?
The religionless soul also withers
As the headless body is dead.
What is the freedom of a traveller?
To walk aimlessly from clime to clime?
Or to walk on a straight and clear path
And to look at the map from time to time?
To us, freedom is not rebellion
Freedom is to conform to the Free
Freedom is to freely submit to God
Who is the one and only Divinity.
Keys To Paradises 