in memory of Dr Daoud Khailallah (1937 2020)
Many friends will reflect on Daoud "departing his body" and floating back to join the lights of the sky. Many have been writing about his valuable contributions and his multidimensional personality as a thinker, writer, activist, pioneer in the fight against corruption, and a "closet artist" with a love for our music and our poetry and our dancing.
Family and friends:
In my celebration of Daoud's life, I have opted to focus on what turned out to be a farewell discussion between us which summed up Daoud’s essence, beliefs, concerns, and wishes.
A few weeks ago, I visited with him for several hours. It was a very emotional visit during which he talked about leaving behind his body with courage and faith. However, the most touching part was his guilty feeling that he was departing this life while a lot of things still urgently need to be taken care of. He wanted to be sure that Syria will be resurrected as a powerful regional nation. He wanted to witness the victory of the resistance and the fall of the ruthless despots who have polluted "both Islam and Arabism". Lebanon, to him, was a painful subject where sectarianism has eclipsed a genuine grass root uprising against its confederation of sects and their corrupt leaders.
We talked about our pain and our resentment over the success of the colonial powers, with the help of their regional proxies, in persecuting minorities along with all others, oppressing and suppressing their people. "The optimal time to promote secular regional cooperation as a necessity for survival" is being intentionally sidetracked by shortsighted ethnic sectarian and religious differences/ fights/ wars/ etc. to obstruct and divide our people to keep control of their water, gas and oil, and other natural resources. The ruthlessness of the super powers did not surprise Daoud, however, he was very angry at their local proxies who have been contributing to the dismantling of the region, which is an Israeli objective, along the withering away with the Palestinian right of self-determination.
Throughout this 2-hour discussion, Daoud was alert; he wanted to be kept updated about all ongoing developments. However, due to his stroke, he had difficulty articulating his thoughts, and he relied more on facial expressions and on using his hands to express himself and his smile to express his agreement with a statement or an analysis.
Nothing made him happier than the success of resistance to occupation. It expressed his ideological conviction about the prerequisite and the necessity to liberate the minds and the land to be the compass of any political action and struggle for a just society, for human rights, and for the liberation of men and women from oppression.
We both agreed that Syria, the last strong nation/bastion of Arabism, is recovering from a world war against it. Its recovery will have important impacts on the future of the Lebanese mercantilist sectarian system... a confederation glued together by corruption.
Daoud wanted to know what I have been writing about, and I wanted to benefit to the last drop from this meeting, our last meeting. I shared with him that I have been revisiting a number of assumptions that we have taken for granted in our genuine attempt to analyze the causes of these problems and adopt the remedies to emancipate our societies and lead them towards modernity.
He insisted on hearing a synopsis I told him after a long period of research and analyzing the tools the thinkers have used to address political and economic issues. I have come to the conclusion that most of the analysis was short-sighted and the tools were alien to our culture and our heritage. For nearly a century, we ended up debating the wrong issues. We debated secularism versus religion; we debated Arabism versus Islam; we debated socialism versus capitalism. It was outside the issue of identity, and we missed the lessons of our heritage that provided the necessary tools and principles long before the West got involved.
Our lack of a deep knowledge of the Oriental Christian culture and of the Islamic principles (not practices) made us look afar when the available recipes were already a part of our heritage. Saadat Al Inssan (man) was the objective of Islam, not only that of Muslims. Al Wasatya provided a clear recognition of and respect for our differences and the necessity to compromise.
Due to the westernized educational systems, we were overwhelmingly exposed to western history, which we did not live. We did not colonize, we did not have centuries of religious wars, we did not have an industrial revolution, we did not have two World Wars.... yet we were digging into the ideologies of western civilization for recipes and solutions to our problems.
At the turn of the century even our enlightened religious and secular leaders who visited the west were delighted with "western civilization" – forgetting that the progress they witnessed was at the expense of the blood and resources of third world countries. The paradox is that the west ignored the deep contributions of Oriental heritage to their own renaissance.
How many of us know about the social contract established by the Sahabi Salman Al Farsi a few centuries before Rousseau? How many of us know about the establishment of trade unionism in early Islam? How many realize that al adl assas al sulta / al hikm? How many of us know of the depth of the contributions of Jewish and Christian thinkers to the Islamic renaissance? How many of us know about the major impact of the Persian and Byzantine civilizations on our societies?
Daoud looked at me and said “you sound like an Islamist”, though he knew better.
I replied that fundamentalist Islamists have usurped the tolerance and openness of Islam and established themselves as the judge of what is Islam, thus claiming the role of the creator as the judge.
After a few exchanges of different perceptions, we both agreed that we need to disseminate the values our heritage in order to block the negative dogmas from both western cultures and from those who have hijacked Islam; i.e., the concept of justice for all versus the concept of western freedom (for the privileged). The concept of the social contract is an ideal basis for participation and establishing rules not dictated by the rulers but as the result of consensus. The word consensus is more participatory than the rule of a majority
David agreed that in seeking adequate paths for change and modernity, dogma, whether political or religious, has no place. To add some humor, I said “Of course – otherwise we are accusing the Creator of being a racist and a segregationist by identifying the ethnic groups and people that will be saved, versus all others!!”
The importance of our exchange is that we both agreed that there is no answer in any dogma to all problems. However, no progress will be made without establishing processes and mechanisms that evolve through time and scientific progress. Here, the element of knowledge, of new discoveries, and differences in values will interact to achieve consensus. We both agreed that our heritage, once it has been cleansed of the ruler’s accounts, has the ingredients to formulate realistic participatory progress.
What has prevented us from exploiting such a path before is the questionable emphasis on ethnicity and sects instead of on what brings us together, which is individual and social responsibility within the framework of a sustainable national entity. Thus the importance of a strong Umma that transcends ethnicity and sects is a must. Daoud said, “call it Syrian nationalism, call it an open-minded Arab nationalism, who cares (what it’s called)!” That is why Daoud and his friends are keen on the resurrection of Syria from the world war against it – to revive the concept of the Umma.
I was glued to my chair; however Feriel and I realized that we had overstayed and we stood up to leave. Feriel and I kissed Daoud on the cheek. Daoud and I had tears in our eyes. Without realizing it, we had reconfirmed our progressive views, which were very similar. It was my last opportunity to tell him that we loved him.
I am sharing this personal exchange to highlight that Daoud, even in his agony and his readiness to leave this world, was alert, concerned, and clearly committed to his beliefs, and wanted them to be shared. I am sure the many of his friends will help spread his qualities and his thinking. I am grateful to Daoud for making me feel that I came out of every encounter with him less ignorant and more aware.
bil reda wa al tasleem,
Allah yerhamak. Enjoy the real life, full of love and serenity
Melhem Salman
