Naeem Baig’s “Letter To My Kin”

DC MIST (Muslim Inter-Scholastic Tournament) 2011 encouraged youth in the DC area to create, memorize, act, volunteer, and read, among many other things. What it encouraged Naeem Baig to do was write, and what he wrote has now become a YouTube video that is tweeting, tumbling, and facebook-ing its way across the nation and the world.

“Letter to My Kin,” Naeem’s poem about “loyalty to God superceding all other loyalty” that took DC MIST by storm, was picked up by a group called Voices of Tomorrow shortly after MIST weekend. They spent two days filming a video to accompany Naeem’s recitation of the piece, and the resulting YouTube video has had over 10,000 hits.

(Watch it – or watch it again! – here:)

I recently interviewed Naeem about his inspiring poem and the video, and this is what he had to say.

How would you summarize the poem to someone?

I would summarize the piece as an appeal to every human, and especially every Muslim’s socio-moral obligation to preserve the sanctity of human life, and to ensure as well the cultivation and flourishing of that life, through the lens of despair as well as hope. In short, loyalty to God superceding all other loyalty, and loyalty to your brethren in faith and mankind as a result of loyalty to God.

You start the poem by recalling a moment you were watching Family Guy. Is this an actual moment that inspired you to write the poem?

As far as it being a moment where I was literally watching TV and picked up a pen consequent to what I saw, no. However when I was sitting down to write, I did recall that episode, and I did remember it coming off as funny. When I put some thought into it, I realized the detestable nature of what promoting or tolerating a message like that stood for.

What (else) in your recent experience inspired you to write this?

The piece was inspired mainly by the hadith of the Prophet (s) in which he said, “The believers, in their love, mutual kindness, and close ties, are like one body; when any part complains, the whole body responds to it with weakfulness and fever”. (Muslim)

This in addition to, of course, the Peter King hearings, and basic observations and reflections concerning the state of the ummah and the world as a whole.

How do you feel about the response this video has received?

It’s received much more attention than I ever anticipated, Alhamdulillah, and I’m glad to hear reactions of inspiration, because the videos focus was never meant solely to be entertainment.

However, it baffles me to receive responses of admiration. As if, simply because I wrote a poem, I’m somebody all of a sudden. I think it just goes to show how as Muslims, we need to raise our standards of who and what is deserving of veneration.

Do you have a favorite line from the poem?

If I had to pick a favorite line, it’d have to be, “I however will continue to please the Owner of all pleasure and all He decrees, and as the degrees of hardship increase, I know two fold that so do the ease.”

You’re still quite young; what motivated you to direct this piece to your “kin”? Why focus on your relationship to that generation?

The poem was written for the DC MIST tournament, and the theme was Loyalty. So, when trying to find common ground between all aspects of what loyalty entails, I found that in truly being loyal to God, all other priorities and obligations fall in place. I decided to question the standards for our ties of kinship today, and present them from that perspective because I felt it was most pertinent to today’s challenges.

Read the poem “Letter to My Kin” here.