Response to the Hebron Massacre 
by Mohja Kahf 



When you raise a date to your mouth at maghreb, 

does it come up blood? 

does it come up blood from fajr from Khalil? 

does it come up blood from the throats of the murdered in Khalil? 

Mine does 




When you raise your hands to fold across your chest for maghreb in the mosque, 

do they come up bloody from fajr prayer in a mosque? 

do they come up bloody from the chests of young men in Palestine? 

Mine do 





When you stretch your arm to reach a canned good in the market 

does it come up a pulpy stump of tangled tissue? 

does it come up redslime from the arms of those in Sarajevo? 

Mine does 





When your children jump and play together on the street corner 

just outside your window where you can keep an eye on them 

do their little bodies come up blood? 

from the little bodies of Haris and Aliya? 

Mine do 





Mine do for I am Palestinian 

Mine do for I am Bosnian 

Mine do for I am Muslim 

Mine do for I am your Ummah 

How long will it be before my Ummah finds a way to stop the blood 

from bubbling up between lips trying to speak the Fatiha? 





I am your Ummah and I don't just want your spare change 

or your old clothes 

I am your Ummah and I don't just want thirty seconds 

of your thought after your dinner and your coffee 

I am your Ummah and I don't Just want ninety minutes of your weekend 

I am your Ummah and I want your whole mind 

I am your Ummah and I want your entire workday 

and your exhausting night 

I am your Ummah and I want your degree and travel 

and all your energies 

I am your Ummah and I want you to give your children to me 

I am your Ummah and I want your hunger and your muscle tissue 

and your bone and blood 





Rebuild me 

Raise me to Justice again 

Raise me to truth and to compassion 

Find a way to stop the blood from spurting up between the lips 

of those shot at fajr prayer in the mosque, 

who broke their fast on blood 

still trying to form the words Subhana Rabiyal Athim