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Hagar Poems
The central matter of this daring new collection is the story of Hagar, Abraham, and Sarah—the ancestral feuding family of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
These poems delve into the Hajar story in Islam. They explore other figures from the Near Eastern heritage, such as Mary and Moses, and touch on figures from early Islam, such as Fatima and Aisha. Throughout, there is artful reconfiguring. Readers will find sequels and prequels to the traditional narratives, along with modernized figures claimed for contemporary conflicts.
Hagar Poems is a compelling shakeup of not only Hagar’s story but also of current roles of all kinds of women in all kinds of relationships.
120 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2016
10 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
About the author
Mohja Kahf
15 books96 followersPoet and scholar Mohja Kahf was born in Damascus, Syria. Her family moved to the United States in 1971, and Kahf grew up in the Midwest. She earned a PhD in comparative literature from Rutgers University and is the author of the poetry collections Hagar Poems (2016) and Emails from Scheherazad (2003) and the novel The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (2006).
Kahf’s experiences growing up in the United States shaped her perceptions of the differences and similarities between the cultures of her home and adopted countries. Her poetry is an amalgam of both Syrian and American influences; Lisa Suhair Majaj commented in ArteNews that Kahf’s work “draws on American colloquialisms and Quranic suras; it is informed not only by American free verse … but also by a lush energy that draws on the heart of the Arabic oral tradition and Arabic poetry.” Kahf sometimes satirizes stereotypes about Muslim women—she has tackled hairstyles, sex, and clothing. In Emails from Scheherazad, she locates Scheherazad in 21st-century Hackensack, New Jersey. Majaj observed that Kahf “unsettles assumptions about Scheherazad while also emphasizing aspects of the traditional tale that often get overlooked in western portrayals.” Kahf has also written about the hardships of immigration; The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf depicts a Muslim girl’s coming of age in Indiana.
Kahf co-writes a column on sexuality for the website Muslim Wake Up. Her nonfiction work includes Western Representation of the Muslim Woman: From Termagant to Odalisque (1999).
Kahf is a professor of English at the University of Arkansas.
Kahf’s experiences growing up in the United States shaped her perceptions of the differences and similarities between the cultures of her home and adopted countries. Her poetry is an amalgam of both Syrian and American influences; Lisa Suhair Majaj commented in ArteNews that Kahf’s work “draws on American colloquialisms and Quranic suras; it is informed not only by American free verse … but also by a lush energy that draws on the heart of the Arabic oral tradition and Arabic poetry.” Kahf sometimes satirizes stereotypes about Muslim women—she has tackled hairstyles, sex, and clothing. In Emails from Scheherazad, she locates Scheherazad in 21st-century Hackensack, New Jersey. Majaj observed that Kahf “unsettles assumptions about Scheherazad while also emphasizing aspects of the traditional tale that often get overlooked in western portrayals.” Kahf has also written about the hardships of immigration; The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf depicts a Muslim girl’s coming of age in Indiana.
Kahf co-writes a column on sexuality for the website Muslim Wake Up. Her nonfiction work includes Western Representation of the Muslim Woman: From Termagant to Odalisque (1999).
Kahf is a professor of English at the University of Arkansas.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 6, 2020
All Good
They see it as far-off,
but We see it as near.
Quran, The Ways of Ascent 70:6-7
I.
Out in the blue infinitude
that reaches and touches us
sometimes, Hajar and Sarah
and Abraham work together
to dismantle the house of fear, brick
by back-breaking brick.
With a broom of their own weaving,
they sweep the last remains
away. They sit down for a meal
under the naked stars.
Ismaïl and Isaac come around shyly,
new and unlikely companions.
Hajar introduces them
to her second and third husbands
and a man from her pottery class
who is just a friend.
Hajar's twelve grandchildren
pick up Sarah's twelve at the airport.
The great-grandchildren appear,
set down their backpacks,
and tussle to put up the sleeping tents,
knowing there will be no more rams,
no more blood sacrifice.
II.
Sorrows furrow every face.
This, in the firelight, no one denies.
No one tries to brush it all away
or rushes into glib forgiveness.
First, out of the woods, shadows emerge:
the dead of Deir Yassin,
killed by Zionist terror squads,
the Kiryat Menachim bus riders
killed by Palestinian suicide bomber.
They face each other, tense up.
Some of them still do not have gravestones.
The ghosts of Mahmoud Darwish
and Yehuda Amichai begin to teach them
how to pronounce each other’s names
in Hebrew and Arabic. The poets
will have a long night. Meanwhile,
a Hamas sniper, a Mosad assassin fall
to their knees, rocking; each one cries,
“I was only defending my—my—”
Into the arms of each,
Hajar and Sarah place a wailing
orphaned infant. Slow moaning
fills the air: Atone, atone.
III.
The grieving goes on for untold ages,
frenzied and rageful in the immature years,
slowly becoming penitent and wise.
When an orange grove is given back
to its rightful owner, the old family drama
finally loses its power, withers, dies. A telling time
for new stories begins. Housekeys
digging bloody stigmata into the palms
of Palestinians cast from their homes
turn into hammers and nails for the rebuilding.
Hajar pours water that becomes
a subtle, sweet, and heretofore unheard of wine.
Sarah laughs again, more deeply.
Abraham is radiant. Everyone, this time
around, can recognize
in the eyes of every other,
the flickering light of the Divine.
They see it as far-off,
but We see it as near.
Quran, The Ways of Ascent 70:6-7
I.
Out in the blue infinitude
that reaches and touches us
sometimes, Hajar and Sarah
and Abraham work together
to dismantle the house of fear, brick
by back-breaking brick.
With a broom of their own weaving,
they sweep the last remains
away. They sit down for a meal
under the naked stars.
Ismaïl and Isaac come around shyly,
new and unlikely companions.
Hajar introduces them
to her second and third husbands
and a man from her pottery class
who is just a friend.
Hajar's twelve grandchildren
pick up Sarah's twelve at the airport.
The great-grandchildren appear,
set down their backpacks,
and tussle to put up the sleeping tents,
knowing there will be no more rams,
no more blood sacrifice.
II.
Sorrows furrow every face.
This, in the firelight, no one denies.
No one tries to brush it all away
or rushes into glib forgiveness.
First, out of the woods, shadows emerge:
the dead of Deir Yassin,
killed by Zionist terror squads,
the Kiryat Menachim bus riders
killed by Palestinian suicide bomber.
They face each other, tense up.
Some of them still do not have gravestones.
The ghosts of Mahmoud Darwish
and Yehuda Amichai begin to teach them
how to pronounce each other’s names
in Hebrew and Arabic. The poets
will have a long night. Meanwhile,
a Hamas sniper, a Mosad assassin fall
to their knees, rocking; each one cries,
“I was only defending my—my—”
Into the arms of each,
Hajar and Sarah place a wailing
orphaned infant. Slow moaning
fills the air: Atone, atone.
III.
The grieving goes on for untold ages,
frenzied and rageful in the immature years,
slowly becoming penitent and wise.
When an orange grove is given back
to its rightful owner, the old family drama
finally loses its power, withers, dies. A telling time
for new stories begins. Housekeys
digging bloody stigmata into the palms
of Palestinians cast from their homes
turn into hammers and nails for the rebuilding.
Hajar pours water that becomes
a subtle, sweet, and heretofore unheard of wine.
Sarah laughs again, more deeply.
Abraham is radiant. Everyone, this time
around, can recognize
in the eyes of every other,
the flickering light of the Divine.
May 25, 2017
Warning: God has slipped the noose.
We must confirm the worst
of our righteous fears—
God has escaped the mosque,
the synagogue, the church
where we've locked God up for years.
We repeat unto you:
God is on the loose.
Henceforth beware.
You may find God in heathen beauty.
You may stumble upon God unaware.
Take appropriate measures:
you may have to behave
as if each human being
could reflect God's face.
-Most Wanted, Mohja Kahf
We must confirm the worst
of our righteous fears—
God has escaped the mosque,
the synagogue, the church
where we've locked God up for years.
We repeat unto you:
God is on the loose.
Henceforth beware.
You may find God in heathen beauty.
You may stumble upon God unaware.
Take appropriate measures:
you may have to behave
as if each human being
could reflect God's face.
-Most Wanted, Mohja Kahf
January 24, 2022
This book was literally everything
Read
January 10, 2017I picked this up when I saw it displayed at the library and noticed that the poems combine Islamic and Jewish religious symbols with contemporary situations. I usually find the mixture of ancient religious symbols with modern problems and language thrilling and these Hagar Poems were clever and insightful.
Mohja Kohf used the archtypes of Abraham/Ibrahim, Hagar/Hajar, and Sarah with ease as if, as she described in one poem, they were all inside her. She embodied Hajar most often and as the following title suggests she does it with such ease and humor- "Hajar Writes a Letter to Sarah as a Cathartic Exercise Suggested by Her Therapist". Throughout the collection she used the relationship of the three to express jealousy between the women, kinship between the women, and unjust dominance of the man. Kahf displays the complexity of Sarah and Hagar's relationship by showing how Sarah's frustration with Abraham's love for Hagar turned to kinship:
Throughout, Kahf applied other stories from the Qu'ran (and Torah) to contemporary observations to create poems with the gravity of biblical events.
Kahf pontificated describing corruption of our world. And then with playful dexterity Kahf also wrote a poem called "Khadija Gets her Groove Back" which opened with the line "So Khadija comes in to get her corn rows done-". In this collection, Mohja Kahf hit all the notes from playful to grave, from ancient to contemporary, and from personal to political.
Mohja Kohf used the archtypes of Abraham/Ibrahim, Hagar/Hajar, and Sarah with ease as if, as she described in one poem, they were all inside her. She embodied Hajar most often and as the following title suggests she does it with such ease and humor- "Hajar Writes a Letter to Sarah as a Cathartic Exercise Suggested by Her Therapist". Throughout the collection she used the relationship of the three to express jealousy between the women, kinship between the women, and unjust dominance of the man. Kahf displays the complexity of Sarah and Hagar's relationship by showing how Sarah's frustration with Abraham's love for Hagar turned to kinship:
Isaac came to play and replay
the Hagar videos for me
Isaac came to squawk like Ishmael
when Ishmael kept us up nights
and I wished to God they'd both go away
Then I became the patient one like Hajar
Understanding welled up in me like milk
Throughout, Kahf applied other stories from the Qu'ran (and Torah) to contemporary observations to create poems with the gravity of biblical events.
But it's Pharaoh who's crazy
It's the gods that accept
libations for murder
who are crazy
It's the upside-down order
of yours that's dangerous to human life
Kahf pontificated describing corruption of our world. And then with playful dexterity Kahf also wrote a poem called "Khadija Gets her Groove Back" which opened with the line "So Khadija comes in to get her corn rows done-". In this collection, Mohja Kahf hit all the notes from playful to grave, from ancient to contemporary, and from personal to political.
September 20, 2024
4.5 ⭐️
This is one of the most beautiful collections of poetry I have ever read. One of my favorite poems is Zuleikha Ionic because of the way the author crafts the story of this woman who loves and yet is hurt over and over again.
I hope everyone takes time to read at least one poem by Mohja Kahf in their lifetime because she has a way of blending the ancient with the modern while adding insight that cuts to your core.
This is one of the most beautiful collections of poetry I have ever read. One of my favorite poems is Zuleikha Ionic because of the way the author crafts the story of this woman who loves and yet is hurt over and over again.
I hope everyone takes time to read at least one poem by Mohja Kahf in their lifetime because she has a way of blending the ancient with the modern while adding insight that cuts to your core.
May 7, 2020
"to stand alone at this frontier:
where the shape of the cup of morning is strange
and dome of sky, mat of earth have shifted,
where God does not have a house yet
and the times for prayer have not been appointed."
A magnificent collection of poems. The first section written about the Hagar story from the perspectives of Hagar and Sarah and modern day Hagars and Sarahs. And then a collection of poems about or from the perspectives of prominent women in the Muslim tradition. All bringing to light particularly feminine concerns.
"I used to carry around a little mosque
in the chambers of my heart
but it closed indefinitely pending
extensive structural repairs."
where the shape of the cup of morning is strange
and dome of sky, mat of earth have shifted,
where God does not have a house yet
and the times for prayer have not been appointed."
A magnificent collection of poems. The first section written about the Hagar story from the perspectives of Hagar and Sarah and modern day Hagars and Sarahs. And then a collection of poems about or from the perspectives of prominent women in the Muslim tradition. All bringing to light particularly feminine concerns.
"I used to carry around a little mosque
in the chambers of my heart
but it closed indefinitely pending
extensive structural repairs."
July 6, 2020
This book is wonderful in that it is delightful and entertaining in some ways but is also challenging and thought-provoking as well. Kahf takes women from the Quran that Jewish and Christian readers would also know and writes about their experiences instead of always from the point of view of the men they are involved with. Not only does Hagar speak, but Sarah, the Egyptian princess who rescues Moses, Solomon's lover and others also get their chance.
I especially love the poem where Hagar encourages Sarah to run away with her and start their own catering business, giving Abraham the boys every other weekend.
I especially love the poem where Hagar encourages Sarah to run away with her and start their own catering business, giving Abraham the boys every other weekend.
December 10, 2017
this is cool. mohjah kahf places ancient women, religious figures such as hagar, mary, and aisha, in to both ancient and modern contexts, as immigrants or writers or therapist patients or college students... i also found the cross overs of judaism, islam, and christianity quite cool, as i definitely learned much more about islam.
June 26, 2020
I really enjoyed the first series about Hagar. Towards the middle to end of the book, it was a bit hit or miss. But overall really deeply enjoyed it. I love Kahf's free-flowing form. I also super super super loved the last poem. The way it ends! mA. Incredible.
August 15, 2025
Poems to revisit: The Caseworker Visits Abraham and Sarah, The Threshold, All Good, The Red Fish, Arab and Hebrew Flow and Cross Over, Balqis Makes Solomon Sign a Pre-Nup, Mary’s Glade, Not the Same, The Near Eastern Goddess Alumnae Office . . ., Most Wanted, Little Mosque Poems
May 5, 2017
So this is stunning.
November 1, 2017
Beautiful and imaginative poetry. I want to learn more about other Middle Eastern ancient stories
October 1, 2018
"My page is torn in two like a parted sea, I somersault into the blank ripped space between the things I used to believe, and wake up not where I thought I was."
August 5, 2020
I think this is a bit more uneven than E-mails from Sheherezad.
March 25, 2022
3.5 stars
June 27, 2022
I think if I had been more knowledgeable of the women referenced in the poetry I would have enjoyed it more.
January 26, 2023
3.5 rounded up
Read
December 21, 2023Mixed Feelings🤔
November 20, 2020
I never get Biblical references in literature. They go right over my head. So it's amazing to read a group of poems built around the stories of women in the Qur'an. These stories are always fascinating and confounding. Why did Abraham drop Hagar and Ishamel in the desert? for example. ⠀
⠀
In the case of Hagar, I have gone between Safa and Marwa, the two hills she ran between looking for water for her infant son. I have seen men as well as women retrace her steps in reverence for her persistence and bravery. Kahf's inspiring and often funny poems bring Hagar, Mary and other women of the Qur'an to life.
⠀
In the case of Hagar, I have gone between Safa and Marwa, the two hills she ran between looking for water for her infant son. I have seen men as well as women retrace her steps in reverence for her persistence and bravery. Kahf's inspiring and often funny poems bring Hagar, Mary and other women of the Qur'an to life.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews