The world of Islam in American poetry

Written in Arabic by: Abdelilah kasraoui

Translated by: Aziz El bahia

Email: azizbahia@gmail.com

Phone Number:+212659267744

For centuries, the Occident had formed a distorted image about Islam. An
act believed to be fueled by the church, at a time characterized by fear
and anxiety about this religion. The negative image which was portrayed
by the Divine Comedy1 author of the prophet of Islam for example, sums
up an attitude adopted by a generation as a whole not just by an
individual. However, The western attitude did not begin to retreat except
in the Nineteenth century with the growing spirit in research, and the
decline of the Church authority, but this did not mean that the image had
become accurate. The Western literature has generally reflected that
development of this image, turning the Islamic Orient into a space for
those oriental elements that satisfy the exotic view of Western writer.
Then, from the second half of the Twentieth century, Islam became a
religion that is growing in western space as a whole. This contribution is
therefore a demonstration of the transformation that Islam has
experienced in western mindset between two centuries, through two
volumes of two American poets.

Writers usually reflect in their works, details of the attitudes of their

people towards others, which attracts the attention of this "others", as
long as one sees oneself with the eyes of his rival, so many studies have
always shown the nature of the presence of Islam in Western poetry, old
and modern2, As in the poems: Dante Alighieri, Thomas Moore, John
Milton, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe,
Federico García Lorca and Rainer Maria Rilke... This contribution
continues to be an extension of this type of study, focusing on the world
of Islam in American poetry3; and I have chosen two models of study,
namely a 19th-century poet, Bayard Taylor (1825-1878), through his
collection “Poems of the Orient”, published in 1854, and the second
model is a 20th-century poet, Daniel Moore (1940-2016) through his
1996 collection "Sonnets of Ramadan."

Taylor .. The Eastern adventure

The American Orientalism did not achieve a significant accumulation,
while publishing “poems of the orient” of Bayard Taylor in 1854. It’s
actual launch was delayed to the 40s in 19th century, with the founding of
the American Oriental society. Ahead of this delay 4, The Americans used
to read about the works of European Orientalists, especially the Britich
one because of the close connection between Britain and America. The
Americans thus inherited this image of European writings about the
Orient, including literary works in which European writers dealt with the
Oriental theme.

A number of symbols of American literature in this century have also

been influenced by many oriental literary productions, perhaps the most
notable of which is the great influence of Arabian nights, which framed in
American mindset several prejudices concerning the Orient . further more
The Oriental motives are presented in the productions of American poets
to varying degrees as “Al Aaraaf”5 and “Esrafel”6 by Edgar Allan Poe7.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Days"8, without ignoring his influence by some
Persian poetries, and Herman Melville's9 epic "Clarel" poem.
Bayard Taylor is one of the few who tried to discover the spirit of the
East as it is, away from the image presented to the Western reader, so in
1851 he travelled to the East, where he visited many Arab countries
(Egypt, Palestine, Syria...), The young Taylor recorded much of what he
saw and experienced on his travels, enriching the U.S. library with many
travel’s writings, which made him "America’s pioneer of travel’s
writing."10 Among them: a journey to Central Africa in 1854, The Lands
of Saracen in 1855... Taylor has also published several poetry Volumes,
what concerns us is his 1854 Volume “Poems of the Orient”, a medium-
sized Volume, comprising fifty-three poems, the first forty of which were
devoted to the oriental theme.
The collection bellonged to the early Taylor’poems, which focused on
lyrical poetry, ballad, and romances in the first phase in his poetic
career11. It was widely received by American readers immediately after its
publication, the collection is an important book worthy of studying
closely12. Many writers, particularly those from taylor's circle, James
Russell Lowell13, and Richard Henry Stoddard14, who emphasized that
Taylor in his volume, had (captured the secret feeling of the East as no
English-writing poet but Byron had )15. There are those who think that,
unlike the two poems mentioned above (Emerson's poem "Days" and
Melville's "Clarel"), which transcended the Oriental motifs, in an effort to
engage the reader's interest to a deepest level, Taylor's Oriental poems
rarely have more than a kind of picturesque romanticism.

The collection “Poems of the Orient” reflected Taylor's great admiration

for Arabs and Islam, which largely free from the exalted exotic view that
dominated most Western poets of this century, and the collection was full
of (vivid images, dazzing descriptions of the natives and nature, the day–
to day- experiences of the Bedouins, and the very novelty and mystery of
Oriental life, freed from the false trappings imposed upon it by the hostile
West)17, and the East of Taylor remains the east of paradoxes, which is
( by turns glowing and languorous, sensuous and austere) 18. However, his
actual visit to the East did not get rid of the magical traces of Arabian
nights on him, this work formed in the poet's mind (some preconceptions
and presuppositions as to the nature of the Orient)19, Therefore, we see the
influence of the Arabian nights in many of the volume's poems,
represented by the following titles: ("The Poet in the East"20, "The
Temptation of Hassan bin Khaled"21, "Amran’s Wooing"22...).

The religious theme of Tailor’s collection was also evident through many
poems. which made Tailor supported by some studies concerned about
Islam, perhaps the most important one is the famous book written by the
American Washington Irving23 (life of Mahomet) edited in 1849. Taylor
was a fan of Irving and a reader of his works 24. These poems portrayed
the Arab as a real Muslim feared Allah. The first of these poems was the
poem "The Arab Prayer"25. Which reviews a description of the Muslim
prayer rites:
“La illah il’ Allah !” the muezzin’s call
Comes from the minaret, slim and tall,
That looks o’er the distant city’s wall.

“La illah il’ Allah !” the Faithful heed,

With God and the Prophet this hour to plead ;
Whose ear is open to hear their need. (1- 6)

The khalil’s poem26 celebrates an old bedouin, his religious pious was
admired by all, he thanked Allah about his blessings
On God, the Merciful, I call,
To shed his blessing over all:
I praise His name, for He is Great,
And Loving, and Compassionate;
And for the gift of love I give-
The breath of life whereby I live-
He gives me back, in overflow,
His children’s love, where’er I go. (24-31)
The poem "the Wisdom of Ali"27, which celebrates Ali ibn Abi Talib’s
wisdom:
The prophet once, sitting in calm debate,
Said : “I am Wisdom’s fortress; but the gate
Thereof is Ali.” (1-3)

It is clear that this poem was based on a long Hadith translation imitation,
this kind of poetic imitation spred in 19th-century poetry, especially
among the Romantics, who imitated many of the translated Oriental texts,
by reproducing them as poetry28, as Taylor did with this Hadith, narrated
by Salman al-Farsi:"The Messenger of Allah said:"I am the city of
knowledge and Ali is its gate."29 When the Kharijites heard this Hadith,
they envied Ali for that, and ten of them met and said: Everyone asks Ali
one question to look at how to answer us, and if each one of us is
answered by one answer then, we will find out that Ali had no
knowledge. One of them asked, "Oh Ali! knowledge is better or money?
He replied... knowledge is better, and he asked him, "By what evidence?
He said: Because knowledge is the heritage of the prophets and money is
the heritage of Qaron, Haman and Pharaoh. So the man went back to his
companions with this answer, so the second asked him as the first did "O
Ali... [Delete]... The tenth asked, "O Ali! knowldge is better or money?
He said... knowledge, he asked, "By what evidence? He said: Because the
owner of the money is arrogant and glorified himself, and the owner of
the knowledge is modest, so he went back to his companions and told
them that, and they said: Allah and his Messenger are true, and there is no
doubt that Ali is the gate of all knowledge. That's when Ali said... I
swear by Allah, if all the creations had asked me as long as I was alive, I
would have answered each one of them with an answer different to the
other to the end of the world.
Then, the poem "The Birth of the Prophet" 30, which celebrates the birth of
the Prophet Mahomet, where he is accompanied by many miracles;
Taylor seems to have benefited from Irving's book (life of Mahomet) 31, as
some of the divine miracles described in the poem have already been
referred to:
For the oracles of Nature recognize a prophet’s birth –
Blossom of the tardy ages, crowing type of human worth –
And by miracles and wonders he is welcomed to the earth.
(16-18)
Then, the poem "The Sheikh"32, which reviews the monologue of the
Sheikh to his creator in grovel and refraction:
When the might of Evil threatens,
Throw Thy shelter over me:
Let my spirit feel Thy presence,
And my days be full by Thee! (31-34)

Taylor's collection, then, emerged at a time when the Orient was an area
of Western commercial and political activities, and an interesting subject
in 19th-century occidental literature, which made the oriental motives
were seen widely in Western literature in general including American,
which was common in this century, the collection is a response to a
general Western exotic view of the Eastern elements, but Taylor was able
to largely free himself from that superior view that dominated western
literature, This made him with a great success, touching the spirit of the
orient as it is.

Moore.. and Ramadan songs.

Daniel Moore is one of the most prominent poetic voices of the second
half of the 20th century in America, and through his prolific production,
and his spiritually oriented poetry, he was able to impose his name on the
American literary scene; He started with “Dawn Visions” collection in
1964, adopted by a well-known publisher in San Francisco 33, which
means that the 24-year-old Daniel began his poetic career with a strong
start34. For the poet, the 1960s was a very turbulent one, in which he lived
a lot of volatility, where he was negatively affected by the tragedy and
cruelty of the Vietnam War, and, like many rebels, rejected this unjust
and savage "America"; In the late 1960s, Daniel Moore founded in
California a theater, which lasted for three years (from 1966 to 1969), in
which he performed many of his plays, most of which were associated
with period’s events (notably the Vietnam War). Among them are:
The Walls Are Running Blood, Bliss Apocalypse... His influence remains
with Jalaluddin Rumi, Daniel Moore's most prominent link to the Islamic
Orient during the 1960s. He has often been reading his Mathnawi, and it
should be noted that, with the exception of his aforementioned volume,
along with another volume entitled: " This Body of Black Light Gone
Through the Diamond » of 1965. All of Daniel Moore's divans were later
published under his Islam35.

Focusing on the spiritual aspect, Daniel Moore lived a spiritual void in

the 1960s that made him open to many faith experiences, which were
associated with ancient doctrines, sects and spiritual rituals: (The
beginning was inspired by the person of Jesus, as a high human model -
the conversion of Zen Buddhism, Yoga, Tibetan Buddhism,
accompanying the Guru36, Hindus), To end it with a Muslim, which
opened the gate to a very different poetic path.
Moore's story with Islam began when the writer and artist Ian Dallas
(later known as Sheikh Abdul Qadir Al-Sufi) 37 came to meet him in
Berkeley, with the aim of collaborating artistically with moore's theatre
group38. It was an occasion for Sheikh Abdelkader to invite Moore to
islam, who immediatly accepted islam that day, and then, they both went
- along with new adherents of Islam- to Morocco in pursuit of a spiritual
adventure. So, Daniel Moore converted to Islam on his 30th birthday, in
late 1969, and became Daniel Abdulhay Moore a Sufi Muslim. This time,
he finds himself closer to the poems of Jalaluddin Rumi, a Sufi poet who
has long admired his poetry, how not, and he has become a follower of
the beloved Shazly Sufi Tariqa39. in a Zawiya of a moroccan city Meknes,
and he expressed his admiration of the sheikh of Tariqa Muhammed ben
Lhabib, in his first visit to him, and He says, "When I sat in his presence,
may Allah be pleased with him, I was in the shadow of a giant mountain
of light, an overflowing of that God consciousness, a manifestation of
Allah’s Mercy, Compassion and Knowledge in human form," 40 Moore
was influenced by a sufi poetry volume written by His Sheikh ibn al-
Habib, called “bughyat almuridin alssayirin watuhfat alsalikin
alearifin”(The Desire of the Travelling Murids and the Gift of the
Wayfaring Gnostics), He read it as part of what he reads from Orad, he
says about his sheikh's poetry: " In his Diwan I saw poetry in its true
function as a joining of beauty with truth." 41 Through this poetry, in
particular the poem "The Visionary", Moore shaped the aesthetic and
artistic theory he adopted in his works42.
After converting to Islam, Ian Dalles (Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Sufi) asked
him to stop writing poetry43, a pause that lasted nearly a decade. In 1972
Moore performed Hajj with his wife, the same year he published his new
volume (Burnt Heart/Ode to the War Dead)44, after which Moore sought
to increase spiritually by travelling to many countries, starting with
Morocco, Spain, Algeria, and Nigeria.
Moore resumed writing poetry in the early 1980s45, publishing several
books with a clear sufi soul, including: " Desert is the Only Way Out -
The Chronicles of Akhira - Haley's comet...) These works were published
in limited hand editions, because his publishers46 (did not like the new
Daniel Moore)47, and in 1986 Moore visited Morocco, Where he spent the
month of Ramadan, and he wrote dozens of poems (sonnets) under the
spiritual influence of this month, he found himself, on the morning of Eid
Al Fitr, In front of sixty-two sonnets, a group of them were first published
in the magazine "American Muslim", and later collected in a volume
entitled " Ramadan sonnets", In 1996, it was republished in another
edition48 in 2005, and this collection was a (spiritual space of his
experience in Ramadan, in a poetic description for the world of fasting,
and the world among Fasting)49.
The collection (Ramadan sonnets) consists of sixty-four sonnets 50,
different in length and in short, some of these included only three poetic
lines51, most of which revolve around the theme of Ramadan and fasting,
In his chosen title, Moore found the best expression of the interaction of
the two frameworks: “Islamic” and “American” in his collection, where
he liked (the clash and melding of cultural meanings in the pairing of the
words "Ramadan" and "Sonnets")52 This volume was well appreciated by
scholars, with Alain Abdul Haq Goodlas 53, in his introduction to the first
edition of the collection, noting the depth with which the Islamic and
American frameworks were combined. He says: "Moore is the poet of
America today and he is the poet of Islam (In english) Undisputed. He's
attractive with his American roots and his Islamic spirituality.. its reading
is a journey. And Travelling with him raises questions: Where are we?
What world? What America? Who is the Muslim? Who am I ? Ramadan
sonnets are like a traveler's guide to the worlds of multiculture and
diverse civilizations.)54. Lawrence Ferlinghetti55argues (that the
extraordinary manifestations of Ramadan's sonnets may seem to be
opposed to the Khiyam quartets, but the both poets' goal is the same. It's
the freedom, and their talent is like two horses bet) 56. Carl Kempton57
considered his diwan one of the finest books he had read to
contemporaries, and he glorified his poetic depth, which was based on the
poet's suffist experience, The poet immersed deeply, transcending the
limitations of the physical senses to allow himself (for a direct knowing
rarely found in today's American poetry) , He also noted that, they are
58

poems close to the ordinary audience, which attract him in their daily
details to the transcendence of its sufi narrative. In the end, he admitted
that these poems have created (an outward stretch far beyond the usual
and sad condition of today's American poetry.) . 59

What is striking about the collection’s sonnets is Moore's willingness to

interact with many prophetic hadiths and Dictums, as parallel texts that
come after the title of the poem, they have entered into an interactive
relationship with the volume sonnets, to illuminate many aspects of the
world of fasting during the month of Ramadan, and to give - through the
high consideration that it enjoys among the muslim population- the nature
of honesty on these poems, as it helped us, through the guidance they
have achieved, to reveal the ambiguity that has plagued many sonnets,
and to seek a fruitful interpretation.
The presence of prophetic Hadiths, especially those related to Ramadan
and fasting, remains a remarkable presence in the volume, and the
diversity of dealing with them in the sonnets has varied between invoking
Hadith once as a parallel text following the title of the poem. Then,
returning to interact with him within it, (as in the eighth sonnet 60, the
ninth sonnet61, and the tenth sonnet62...) Once, Moore merely quoted the
Hadith within the board in a textual quotation, whether complete or
partial, as in the eleventh Sonnet63, and the Fifty Sonnet64. And the Fifty
five sonnet65 Thus, the Eighth Sonnet has been brought up with a holy
Hadith in which Allah almighty says:" Every good deed of Adam's son is
for him except fasting; it is for Me. and I shall reward (the fasting person)
for it."66 And Moore entitled The Ninth Sonnet by a Hadith that says: (die
before you die)67. The tenth Sonnet a quoted Hadith says: ("There is
a zakat for everything and the zakat for the body is fasting")68, Moore
quoted in the eleventh Sonnet a Hadith in which the Messenger of Allah
said:"There are two joys for the fasting person: the joy when he breaks
his fast, and the joy of when he meets his Lord."69. and he is conjured up
in the twenty-third sonnet, a Hadith that says:"the dangerous enemy is
yourself between your sides."70 In the Sonnet fifty, he quoted a Hadith by
Salman al-Farsi, concerning the month of Ramadan: " is  a Month Whose
Beginning is Mercy, Whose middle  is  Forgiveness  and Whose End is
Freedom from Fire."71 In the Fifty fifth Sonnet, Moore also quoted a
prophetic Hadith in which the Prophet said:"Women and perfume have
been made dear to me, but my comfort has been provided in prayer.'"72

The collection also included sonnets in which Daniel Moore imitated

other Hadiths by reworking them in a poetic way, in a form that is closer
to translation73. This gave space for narration in these sonnets, for
example in the twenty 2nd Sonnet, which reproduced a much-circulated
sufi Hadith, and whose authenticity was contested between scholars of
Hadith74. The Hadith says: " When Allah created the intellect, He said, "O
intellect, come near," and it came near. He said : "O intellect, go away!"
and it went back. He said : "O intellect who am I," and it said, "You are
Allah, the Lord of the universes." … Then He created the self, He said,
"O self come nearer," yet it didn’t. Then He said "O self go away," and it
didn’t. Then He said "O self who am I?" and it said, "You are you and I
am I." He was tormented in fire… and then He imposed hunger upon
it…” He said, "O self who am I?" and it said, "You are Allah, the Lord of
the universes. ", then it come nearer.
It is noteworthy that Moore has conjured up in his volume Hadiths,
whose authenticity was contested between scholars of Hadith, and it is
not surprising that, because the Sufists were known historically by their
lack of knowledge of the Hadith terminology, So their books have been
filled with a lot of fabricated Hadiths, and they have even put a lot of
them, under the pretext of being interested in good and being intimidated
by evil, They do not deviate from this deed as long as the purpose -in
their view- is to get closer to Allah and to self refinment, and Moore was
not an exception, as long as his guidance to religion is sufists.
we can sums up the extent to which Daniel Abdulhay Moore is familiar
with Islamic culture, where he was able to successfully interact with a
series of prophetic Hadiths, that are concerned to fasting, He also
employed many religious heritage data, particularly those related to the
heritage of Islamic suffism, which helped us to reveal much about
Moore's creative background in the collection as a whole.

Conclusion
This contribution presented two poets volumes from the American Poetry
circle, one from the 19th century and the other to the 20th century,
through which we draw two sides of America in its dealings with the
Islamic Orient, one side presented by Bayard Taylor, who lived in
America which was relatively late for Western Europe, but ambitious and
seeks to catch up the difference, a racist America that is an extension of
Europe, and recognizes only the white man. This "America" made Taylor
adopted that exotic view towards the Orient, so his direct contact with this
Orient played a major role in ridding him of many of the assumptions that
hung in his mind. The other is Daniel Abdulhay Moore, an American
Muslim, who lived in a superior cosmopolitan America leading the world,
and at the same time suffering from the inside, many contradictions and
displacements, made Moore more realistic, more sympathetic to this other
(Orient) perceived by America as an adversary.


Footnotes:

 this article is a translation of an arabic article :(the World of Islam in American Poetry) by

Abdelilah Kasraoui, published in Center of Arab Unity Studies website, in December19 th 2019.


 Abdelilah Kasraoui: Researcher from Morocco, University of Mohamed V.

Email- adress : dr.kasraoui.abdelilah@gmail.com

1

1
In the twenty-eighth song of Hell, Dante made the character of the Prophet is one of the pissed
off character, and deserved the torture as a punishment for his defection from Christianity, and
his coming with a false religion, see:

- Dante Alighieri . la divine comédie (l’enfer), Translated by: Louis Ratisbonne, 4th edition, paris
1870, p: 379.

22
We have already addressed many aspects of the Qur'anic influence in Western poetry in our
study: (Arab-Islamic influences in European literature: examples of Qur'anic influence in poetry.
Abdelilah kasraoui, Journal of Islamic Literature(Majallat al-adab al-Islāmī), N 99/2018, p: 64-
71.).

33
It is meant to be the poetry of the United States of America.
44
It was delayed compared to French, British, and German Orientalism...
55
The word “Aaraf'” in the title, is a Qur'anic word, indicating a place between paradise and
fire, concerning people who survived from the fire, but who do not deserve paradise. The
“Aaraf” is also the title of a long surah in the Qur'an.

66
Edgar Allan Poe began his poem with words that he thought were a Qur'anic verse.
77
(Edgar Allan Poe) (1809-1849) is an American critic and writer.
88
(Ralph Waldo Emerson) (1803-1882) is an American writer and thinker.

99
(Herman Melville) (1819-1891) is an American writer.
1010
Dorsey Kleitz, “Bayard Taylor,” in Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth
Century, Ed. Eric L. Haralson (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998), pp: 420–23.
1111
Ibid.
1212
Ibid.
1313
( James Russell Lowell) (1819-1891) is an American poet and writer.
1414
(Richard Henry Stoddard) (1825-1903) is an American poet and critic.
1515
Dorsey Kleitz, “Bayard Taylor,” in Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth
Century (op.cit), pp: 420–23.

1717
Muna Al-Alwan, the Arab Muslim World of Bayard Taylor’s Poems of the Orient, translated
from English into Arab by Abdelilah Kasraoui, Poetry Letters Magazine, N 11/2018, United
Kingdom.
1818
Dorsey Kleitz, “Bayard Taylor,” in Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth
Century (op.cit), pp: 420–23.

1919
Muna Alwan. The Arab Muslim World of Byard Taylor (op.cit).
2020
Taylor, Bayard. Poems of the Orient. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1855. p: 19.
2121
Ibid., p:22.
2222
Ibid., P:50.

2323
(Washington Irving) (1783-1859) is an American writer and historian.
2424
Muna Alwan. The Arab Muslim World of Byard Taylor (op.cit).
2525
Poems of the Orient. P: 41.
2626
Ibid., P: 44.
2727
Ibid., P: 77.
2828
for example Pushkin in his poems "imitations of the Qur'an", and George Friedrich Daumer
in Diwan (Hafez) and (Mohammed)... Daniel Moore adopted it in one of his sonnets as he will
come later; We discussed this particular concept of imitation in my Phd: (imitation of the
Qur'anic text in poetry: George Friedrich Daumer as model (translation and study). Abdelilah
Kasraoui, Dissertation in Arts, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Mohammed V University, Rabat,
2018, p: 15.)
2929
Weak hadith(Ḍaʻīf) : the series of weak and fabricated hadiths and their bad impact on the
nation (Silsalat al-Hadith ad-Da'ifah wa al Mawdu’ah). Nasir Aldin al-Albani, Dar Al Maarif,
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, first edition/1992, Volume 6, No. (2955). P: 518.

3030
Poems of the Orient. P: 105.
3131
Muna Alwan. The Arab Muslim World of Byard Taylor (op.cit)
.
3232
Poems of the Orient. P:121.

33
33 Lawrence Ferlinghetti, founder of City Lights Booksellers and Publishers.

34 Daniel Abdelhay Moore devoted an important space to providing rich documents and data
34

on his poetic website, in which he wrote about his path before Islam, and after Islam, from which
we extracted the data on his biography, see:

http://ecstaticxchange.com/blog/

3535
This note does not include the poetic manuscripts written by the poet before Islam, which
remained in his possession, and which he did not publish to the public until later.

3636
Spiritual guides.

3737
(Ian Dallas) converted to Islam, became a follower of the Sufi Sheikh Muhammad ibn al-
Habib in Meknes(Morocco), named Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Sufi, and was a represented of his
sheikh to the followers of the Tariqa in London.

3838
The poet's personal website, see:

http://ecstaticxchange.com/2015/07/04/shaykh-dr-abdalqadir-as-sufi-al-murabit-1930/

3939
An interview with the British magazine q-News, N 367, 2016, see the poet's personal website:
http://ecstaticxchange.com/2015/04/11/q-news-interview-a-sweet-interrogation /

4040
The poet's personal website :

http://ecstaticxchange.com/2015/05/10/authors-introduction-to-laughing-buddha-weeping-sufi/

4141
The poet's personal website, see:

http://ecstaticxchange.com/2010/09/29/the-ecstatic-exchange-words-on-my-life-and-poetry
4242
Ibid.
4343
An interview with the British magazine q-News, the poet's personal website:

http://ecstaticxchange.com/2015/04/11/q-news-interview-a-sweet-interrogation/

4444
It is more likely that this diwan was a ready manuscript before his Islam, because he stopped
writing poetry since 1970 under the guidance of Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Sufi.

4545
The British magazine q-News' interview, the poet's personal website:

http://ecstaticxchange.com/2015/04/11/q-news-interview-a-sweet-interrogation/

4646
Lawrence Ferlinghetti who published his first two diwans.

4747
Munir al-Akash. American poet Daniel Moore (op.cit). The website of al-Sham Writers
League, which was visited on 20 July 2019:

http://www.odabasham.net

4848
Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore. Ramadan Sonnets (The Ecstatic Exchange, 2005).

4949
Munir al-Akash. American poet Daniel Moore (op.cit).

5050
he added two sonnets to what he wrote during Ramadan, it becomes the total of the diwan
sonnets as a whole sixty-four sonnets, and the sonnet is a European lyrical form, in the form of a
small song, Or a poem that was put to sing, according to a particular rhythmic structure, that
appeared in the 13th century. This poetic form later became famous with Shakespeare through
his sonnets. Abbas Mahmoud Al-Akkad - while talking about Shakespeare's poems- translated
the sonnets with Mouwachahat . (Seen: Abbas Mahmoud Al-Akkad. The complete works of
Abbas Mahmoud Al-Akkad, Volume 19, Translations and Biography -5- Introduction to
Shakespeare, Dar Al-Kitab Al-Lubnani, Beirut, first edition, 1981, p: 208.); Henry George
Farmer the Arab music historian thinks that the Arabic equivalent of sonneta is the word '
aljuljul' (see: Munir al-Aksh. American poet and writer Daniel Moore (op.cit).
5151
The 33rd Sonnet:

Ramadan Sonnets. p: 60

5252
The introduction of Daniel Abdelhay Moore's diwan:

Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore. Ramadan Sonnets (The Ecstatic Exchange, 2005).

5353
Alan Abdal-Haqq Godlas is a professor of religion at the University of Georgia.

5454
Munir al-Akash. American poet and writer Daniel Moore (op.cit).
5555
Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet, writer and publisher.
5656
Munir al-Akash. American poet and writer Daniel Moore (op.cit)

5757
Karl Kempton is an American poet and writer.

58 Kempton, Karl. Book Reviews The Ramadan Sonnets, American Journal of Islamic Social
58

Sciences; Plainfield, Ind. Vol. 14, N° 1,  (Spring 1997): 129.

5959
Ibid.
6060
Ramadan Sonnets. p: 23.
6161
Ibid., P: 25.
6262
Ibid., P: 26.
6363
Ibid., P: 27.
6464
Ibid., P: 84.
6565
Ibid., P: 94.
66
Sahih al - Bukhari. Book of Fasting, Chapter: Should one say, "I am observing Saum (fast)"
66
on being abused?

6767
A fabricated Hadith, seen: Secrets Raised. Ali al-Qari, supervised by Mohammed Amin al-
Sayed, Dar Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyah, 1439 H, First Edition, Beirut, p: 236.
6868
A weak hadith, see: Sunan Ibn Majah. Book of Fasting, chapter fasting is the zakat of the
body.

6969
Sahih al-Bukhari. Book of Dress, Chapter: What has been mentioned about musk.

70 A fabricated Hadith see: the series of weak and fabricated hadiths, Volume 3, No. (1164), p:
70

308.
7171
A Weak hadith see: the series of weak and fabricated hadiths, Volume 4, No. (1569), p: 70.
7272
Sahih (( Al-Jami Al-Saghir Wa Ziyadatihi)) ( Al-Fath Al-Kabir). Nasir al-Din al-Albani, Al
Maktab Al-Islami, third edition 1988, vol 1, p: 599.

7373
Previously speaking of this particular meaning of the concept of imitation, see footnote 28
about the poem 'The Wisdom of Ali'.

7474
A weak hadith, al-Albani stated: "All the hadiths in the virtue of reason are not true, and
they revolve between weakness and fabricated,". the series of weak and fabricated hadiths,
Volume1, p: 53.