Ammar Alshukry – ICNA CON 24

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Was there any country that did not get

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shouted out just now? Okay.

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So who's from Sudan here?

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What else do we have?

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Pakistan. Who's from Pakistan here?

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What are you saying?

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Kenya?

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Who's from Kenya here?

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Okay.

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We said Ethiopia. Who's from Ethiopia here?

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Where?

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Ghana.

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Who's from Ghana here?

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Gambia. Who's from Gambia here?

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Okay.

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Nigeria. Who's from Nigeria here?

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Okay.

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Yes.

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What are you writing, bro? And how am

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I supposed to read that?

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Canada.

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Canada. What do you say? Yes.

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Who's from Kosovo here?

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Kosovo,

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Tanzania.

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Okay. Now you guys are just screaming at

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me. Okay. Okay. Okay. Calm

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down. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Calm

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down. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Everybody

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calm down.

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Alright, guys. Listen.

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Ghana is my hometown.

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Jerusalem is my heart.

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I flash a serious smile.

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I've been Egyptian from the start.

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My kindness comes from Pakistan.

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My style is Guyanese.

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Yemen and Somalia

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joined 2 continents at my knees.

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A Kosovan mind

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Where were y'all from?

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You guys were from Kosovo. Right?

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A Kosovan mind, Nigerian

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legs,

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Arabian disposition.

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Moroccan passion,

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Moroccan passion,

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Lubnani

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fashion, and a Norwegian precision.

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Wherever Allah is worshipped are my people. I

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conclude

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Bengali cuisine,

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English esteem,

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American attitude.

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I

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have history.

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I have history in

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no, no, no. Where were where were y'all

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from?

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I did Ghana already.

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Oh, I have history in Gambian soil and

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Malian sand,

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a future shining, Afghanistan.

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My present is where I stand. My eyes

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peer from Kashmir.

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Is that India or Pakistan?

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India. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

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Okay. My eyes peer from Kashmir towards an

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Indian rising sun.

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My body's indivisible. I'm an ummah of 1.

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Okay, guys.

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I have to tell you, you're going to

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hear a lot of poetry tonight. That's not

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how we respond to poetry. Clapping is not

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how we do it.

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Okay. So let's do this exercise because there's

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gonna be other poets coming.

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So number 1, we have American style. Try

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the finger snaps.

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Because that's one way. I heard that there

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are some Egyptians here. Egyptians, when you hear

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something you like, what do you say?

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No, no, no, no. What are y'all doing?

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Calm down.

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Go go Allah Allah. Try that out.

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Allah Allah.

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Allah Allah.

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Then we have

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Muslim style, we need a Takbir uncle to

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go Takbir.

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The Sudanis here can do something that nobody

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else can do, and that's this.

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You swing your finger and you make it

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slap.

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Or you make it snap. Like that. K?

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You can't do it. If you're not Sudan,

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you can't do it. You have to drink

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from the Nile.

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Okay. Then we have

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One brother, he told me once. I said,

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those are the styles that I know. Anything

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else? And one brother said, what about Pakistani

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style? I said, what's that? And he went

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like this,

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So try that out.

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Okay? So these are all acceptable styles for

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tonight.

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So the Sudanese are mad at me because

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I didn't mention Sudan in that poem, but

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I have a whole poem about Sudan. So

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this is the way that it goes.

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Senegal's too late. Where were you when I

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was asking for countries?

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Come on.

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Next time.

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Sudan is my hometown.

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Jerusalem is no. No. No. Hold on. That's

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not the poem. That's not the poem. It

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goes like this.

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I'm from where kids smile sweet

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and nows meet,

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where the sun always shines and grandfathers tell

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tales of golden times and grand mothers say

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prayers that always rhyme.

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I'm from that and women wrapped in tubs,

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hands ended with sandalwood and sesame with end

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of 4 decor.

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And everybody's got an idea or a plan

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that'll fix Sudan for sure. I'm from where

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people still sleep outside

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and stars still fill the sky.

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Family ties are still a notion deep enthroned.

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Meals, grief and happiness are never shared alone

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and kids chase cars to welcome people home.

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And your cousins are always trying to keep

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your clothes and run your phone because we're

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all family folk and kin with sun coated

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skin and 5 100 is the amount where

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your family count begins. I'm from where people's

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dreams are worldwide,

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and go way beyond the country where they

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reside, if only because

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home is beautiful and broken.

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So to survive, we have to leave by

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any means, by any token. Gotta run away,

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can't stay. We just pray

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for better days.

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May Allah

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protect the people of Sudan. Say,

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And may Allah

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allow them to return to their homes.

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And our brothers and sisters in Palestine and

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the Congo and in China and all over

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the Muslim world.

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I wanna share with you a letter

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that I wrote to the prophet sallallahu alaihi

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wa sallam.

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And there were many times where I would

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write letters to,

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and I never liked the letters that I

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wrote.

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But on one occasion,

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I jumped on the train and I pulled

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out my laptop, and this poem came out.

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And my favorite poems are the ones that

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just come out all by themselves.

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And this poem is called Until I See

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You, and we're going to play it on

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the screen for you. I want you to

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read

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or to see what

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this letter looked like.

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So we can play it. There we go.

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And it goes like this.

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You're the best person I've ever known,

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the best friend I've never met.

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Your sincerity to me is blinding enough to

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completely canvas the world with drapes that read

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respect,

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honor, love, protect,

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while creating a window for me to zoom

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in on the important things, but those are

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the things that I forget

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or neglect.

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I will do better.

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Your ummah is fine.

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Not because of me or mine or wounds

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that heal with time or those who would

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die for a dollar sign, but because the

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promise is divine.

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So when we feel like we're at our

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worst and our sadness would cause our hearts

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to burst,

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it feels like there are times when there

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are angels within our

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lines, or hovering over squares with chants of

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freedom in the air. And though tyrants may

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step on our necks, we smile.

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For history has always been on our side,

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yours is an ombah that simply does

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not die.

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I'm sorry for my weakness.

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For every time I've been ashamed of your

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name and asked someone to call me Moe,

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for not knowing enough about you to defend

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you when they

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made movies or put you on the cover

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of magazines or drew cartoons or accused you

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with the most heinous of accusations for

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not getting over my distaste of reading and

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waiting for Hollywood to put you on the

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big screen

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so I can know something about you. As

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if Steven Spielberg or Mel Gibson or Johnny

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Depp would somehow be able to recreate the

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twinkle in your eye, or a beautiful bead

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of sweat as it scaffolds on your forehead,

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frantically riding gravity, not wanting to fall off

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your body, I keep thinking of seeing you.

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And if you would smile at me,

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the thought gives me goosebumps.

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You told me to meet you at the

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pool.

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So on that day, I hope and pray

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that I will see you through the crowd,

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that no angels barricade me as I sprint

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at breakneck speed. I hope you recognize it's

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me.

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I will crowd the companions to get access

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to your vision. I will obey my thirst

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by quenching it from your hands. So until

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that day, I will pray.

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I will stand and I will pray as

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if my feet are holding the earth

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from splitting.

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If I make it,

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I cry at the thought of seeing you,

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for I know that the words that I

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used to read from books with all to

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the same pages will do no justice to

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your voice and your face and your scent

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and your touch.

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You see, my messenger of Allah has always

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existed between the curves and dots of the

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Arabic alphabet. So Muhammad ibn Abdullah

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in 3 d and whatever other dimensions the

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hereafter brings with it will be an overboard

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of senses. I will fall in love

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with your shadow.

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I will tell Adi that his description did

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not do justice. And so my mother, Aisha,

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of how we heard her story, of how

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you passed away between her chin and her

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chest

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over and over and over again, and it

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made us cry every single time. Because we

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never suffered any disaster that was greater than

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what we suffered before. Our souls merge with

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flesh, entering an earth that was without you.

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Does the sky even recognize us anymore?

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And I will sit in the shade of

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your smile

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and will ask you your story directly from

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your mouth as we sit on

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ice cold,

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and would be terribly embarrassed if you ask

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me for mine

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because I never did anything right

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other than loving you.

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And then if you let me, I would

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love

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for a hug.

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Everybody.

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It's been a pleasure. May Allah

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reward you all as my brother, Umar Regan,

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comes back on.

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I do wanna share that I'm gonna be

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doing