Dawud Wharnsby
Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, performer, educator and television personality.
"There are a lot of grown ups who, should be sent up to their rooms, and told they must stay there, until they learn they can play fair."
"Dear God I've heard your name from teachers family and friends, you made the universe and so will live on when it ends. Everyone I know admits they’ve never seen your face, they’re not sure where you live and have no map to the place.”
"If we only knew, the sacred value, And if the might of our pen, is stronger than the swords of men, let us unsheathe our minds, write with our hearts again."
"We all want a simple song. We all want to get along. We all want to just belong. We all want to know right from wrong. We all want to love and be loved strong."
“Your bombs and pens like swords, held high, up to my throat. You have made the cost of blood, as cheap as ink and all I think.”
“Teachers and pop icons, empty drums beat loudest noise. We swap their quotes and CDs like children trading toys. Follow along, bite the barbed hook deep in our jaw...”
"My intention is to use music as a tool for social change...Extremism comes in many forms. Some people are extremely capitalistic, extremely reactionary, extremely lazy, dogmatic, pessimistic, hopeful, fearful...I believe, extremism is not always bad — depending upon what sort of "extremism" one allows themselves to indulge in. As a human race, I believe we should be extremely good neighbors, socially conscious, passionate about justice, fairness and truth."
"Words can never really help you say, what you want them to anyway. And words can never really help you see, what you really want to be."
"Can you hear the rhythm of all/Allah's creation? The rhythm of the clapping of the thunder and the rain? Can you see the rhythm of all creation? The lightening and the leaves and the seasons as they change?"
“I was never so much ‘interested in Islam’, so much as I was interested in trying to find out about God; I wanted to discover my purpose in life and a way to better the world I share with others.”
“We have dealt with all these idealists in the past, I’m sure we’ll find a way to deal with them today... Rid our world of all these fanatics one by one, won’t let not prophet lover ruin my fun. We’ll string ‘em up and shoot ‘em down.”
"Truth as clear and blue as the sky we walk under."
"I believe the spiritual journey that each of us takes on is a personal one, and I feel religion is a delicate road to be on. I don’t like to belong to one religious community as I don’t want people to feel excluded from asking for my help or learning with me. It’s all about bringing people together to celebrate their various interpretations of scripture. I am a Muslim and I worship in mosques when I am in Pakistan. I also worship in Unitarian churches when I’m in the US. Such spiritual freedom is very important to me."
“Fences and forts with walls and flags, caw caw - they’re so funny."
“There’s always work that must be done...Life’s so simple when we simply work to make it fun.”
“Someday we’ll realize, perhaps much to our surprise, the keys to free a smile have been with us all the while: look for good, and spread that good around.”
"Watch the grown ups all twirling with the clock throughout the day. Watch them spinning through the hours while the time hands tick away. They talk and grip the world, as they would catch a falling knife. Reality deceives them ’neath amusing games of life."
“You and I, wonder at the sky, call God a different name. As we try, learn and long to fly - you and I are so differently the same.”
“What of wars we have survived, genocides and hollow costs/holocausts? Have our hopes for humankind like scriptures and mass graves been lost?”
“Put all our pride away, always find a gentle word to say, you know we shouldn’t be full of ourselves when we should be full of humility."