They tell me “Say He is One”
But I reply “He is not One, He is Zero”
He is not One
For one is divisible
Can you divide zero?
He is not One
For One has an end
And an origin
Zero is
Constant
Continuous
Eternal
Sourceless
All inclusive
And one day
Everything shall return to Zero
He is not One
(Dedicated to the storyteller who opened my eyes to this possibility)
SONYA KASSAM 
Shunyata (the Vedic concept of zero) is indivisible, is it not? And they say He is indivisible, so your thought provoking words stand to reason in my mind. Leaving the splitting of hairs aside, beautiful verse!
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Your poem cannot be given poetic license., as many poetry is accorded, You translated Qul howallaho ahad” ( قئل ھئواللہ احد). here it says” say He is Allah the one”. so what is the need for bringing novelty in this simple statement. Any way, mathematically, a zero can be divided. You cannot divide anything by a zero. Again mathematically, zero is an entity and is different from void, nothingness.
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I am sorry you feel offended about me “bringing novelty” to a statement from the Quran. Perhaps if you read the very first line, I clearly specify “They tell me…”
This poem is in reference to what “they” have been telling me. Any translation is not in fact my own.
As for your mathematical input, I wish to clarify that I am no mathematician and do not argue with your concepts. However, I am writing poetry and so have taken some liberty with a play on words. Please feel free to stretch the zero towards infinity and you will see the meaning of my poem does not change. I have not limited zero to a mere mathematical symbol.
I thank you for the time you have taken in reading my poem and leaving me with your thoughts.
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“I Am” says it all. I absolutely get your perspective in not quantifying that which cannot be comprehended as such. This shouldn’t be interpreted as anything less than the powerful statement it is.
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Happy to know you appreciate this.
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For a minute I was starting to judge your words… until I remembered a mystic text that attempted to explain the origin of the word Allah… Allah, according to this text, originates from two words… “Al” meaning “The” and “Lah” meaning “Nothing”… I hope I am not beheaded or confined for this comment ;-)
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Al Lah – The Nothing is something new I have learnt, thank you
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Amazing perspective. Thought provoking. Love it.
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I wasn’t quite sure how it would be received Sean, happy to know that you loved it :)
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He is truly ∞
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Oh yes :)
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It’s interesting the way you wrote your poem.
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Thanks Ranu, it was completely spontaneous. I remembered a conversation from out of the blues, and just started typing.
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Dear Sonya,
Thank you for this poem. When we humans attempt to describe God, we *often* create Him in our image, dumb Him down to *our* comprehension, attribute all manner of things to Him, and justify many of our actions (many quite destructive).
Tierno Bokar, a sufi from northwest Africa, used to say that “God is that which confounds the mind.” We always remember that, and it comes to mind here as you point out the Sourceless.
All good wishes,
robert
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Very interesting comment you have shared here Robert, thanks. To me, the Zero is just confounding as well it can be simple.
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