I woke up at 5 a.m. today for no particular reason. I knew something was wrong; it was the same feeling I had when other people close to me had passed away in the night. I dragged myself out of bed and opened up Google News. I took a deep breath. There it was. Nelson Mandela had passed away. I sat there staring at the screen battling with my own thoughts and the feeling of emptiness that began to engulf me. Why was I so affected? My family was safe, the people close to me were ok, Oman was ok, Mandela was so far away. He was someone else's president, someone else's father, grandfather, husband,..... but no. Those thoughts didn't win. I went back to bed and stared at the ceiling for over an hour. Judging from my Facebook newsfeed, pretty much everyone I know was feeling exactly the same.
We all knew he was ill and old. It was inevitable. But even
that didn’t prepare us for his death. For a few hours or days the whole world is
mourning the same person for the same reasons. Forgiveness, peace, humility,
love, that’s what he stood for. I remember in junior high in Salalah writing an
essay about him for my “Amazing Leaders” project. I couldn’t think of anyone
else in the world alive at the time that I would consider a true leader. Since
then I have been fascinated by Mandela. I recommend you read some of his speeches
and even his book “Long Walk to Freedom” if you are not familiar with his life.
Unfortunately, I was able to hear the Friday sermon at my local mosque today as well. The sermon was about selling our souls to the devil. It was one of the most negative horrible sermons I have ever heard. The word 'devil, sin, punishment, hell' were repeated at least a dozen times each. In an ideal (but not unrealistic) world the Imam would personalize the sermon. He would gather his congregation and talk about the passing of Nelson Mandela. He would discuss the ideals that Mandela stood for. Forgiveness, humility, love. and how they very much reflect the true message of Islam and all religions. In an ideal world, that would have been our Friday sermon. Instead, we got a load of negativity. I felt even sadder.
II spent the afternoon reading up on Mandela's life. It was a privilege being alive while he walked the earth. Despite spending 27 years in prison, he remained a symbol of
everything good in this world.
Rest in Peace Madiba.
Yours from Salalah,
Dhofari Gucci
Nice blog girl
ReplyDeletetrue. We're all mourning him for the same reasons and for the same values that we're too afraid to uphold
ReplyDeleteHi Nadia. I browse your blog from time to time and for some reason I always feel the negativity and bad sentiment against anything to do with Islam.
ReplyDeleteIt’s up to you to publish this comment or not but as a thought, we do have some positive examples to showcase if we want to be fair.
Not necessarily towards Islam. I find the message of Islam to be pure, peaceful, and humane. My negativity sometimes is directed towards Muslims who I feel have messed up the pure message of Islam. Furthermore, it's not really my job to be objective in everything I write. In the end, it's a personal blog. I represent no one but myself.
ReplyDelete