May 12: Day by Day with Father Bill
WEDNESDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER
Allah Castles
by Faisal Mohyuddin
are what my son,
with a 5-year-old’s
sweetness, calls every
house of worship,
is how I can tell
he is a traveler too.
O, how many times
I’ve performed salah 1
in empty churches,
whispered ameen
at mass, made wudu 2
before holding
the Torah or the
Guru Granth Sahib 3,
nodded reverently
at the statue of Ganesh 4
in my best friend’s
home. God is God
is God, is a wisdom
my son’s already
divided, that echoes
through the spaciousness
of his wonder. When
I lie beside him
tonight, recite the
Ayat al-Kursi, 5
then blow its protective
blessings over his
beaming face, his
growing body,
I too think of Allah,
of His many castles,
His singular Throne.
1 to offer a blessing
2 to wash
3 the scriptures of our Sikh sisters and brothers
4 the Hindu god of beginnings
5 the Throne verse of the Quran, which declares that nothing or nobody is regarded to be comparable to God