January 17, 2011

to burn or not to burn

some people are debating whether what bouazizi did was right or wrong ... talking about does he deserve to be called a hero ... is he going to heaven or hell ...
first of all before i offer my own take on the issue let me say a couple of things ... what he did was commit suicide ... there's no debating that ... and suicide is a very grave sin ... there's no debating that either ... i think even atheists would agree that suicide is a serious transgression so it's not a religious thing ...
having said that ... context is very important ... considering all the events that led to him taking his life it's kind of understandable why he did what he did ... i'm not saying it justifies his actions however it does help us see him as a victim of a brutal regime that drove him to despair ...
and so here's the way i see it ... what he did was not right ... in the sense that it was suicide and suicide is a grave sin ... however to talk about heaven or hell is not for us to decide ... God is merciful and we pray that He will forgive him for what he did ... as for the question of is he a hero ... absolutely ... his sacrifice was the catalyst that set off the revolution ... rest in peace comrade ...
and while we are on the subject of suicide and it being a sin ... let me close with this ... if it wasn't such a huge sin ... i would've done it a long long time ago ... i'm just sayin ...

4 comments:

Dawn said...

Noone wakes up one day and says: Today, I'm gonna burn myself alive.
Taking into account what led to his act, being stripped of his only source of income and then of his basic human dignity when he went to try and get it back, and he caved in!
God forgives, I'm sure of that, who am I to judge what he did?!
I don't think he's a hero just because I don't think that he aspired to be one, and I do feel with his mother, oooh how i feel with his mother, no mother should see her son die before her, I know he's a witness, allah yer7amo!

Dreamer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dreamer said...

What he did was not commit suicide but protest by setting himself on fire. If his intention was merely to rid himself of his miserable life he could've chosen a discreet less painful and more sure way to go...he could've slit his wrists for example or swallowed poison. His intention and thus his action was not to commit suicide; it was to draw attention to his and thousand others' misery and poverty and oppression and that is how it should be regarded; as an act of great will in the face of an even greater injustice.

As to the question of him being a hero; I think that the extraordinary way he chose and the pain he endured to make himself seen and his voice heard are the very definition of heroism. Even if his action did not spark the revolution, his death still has a great value and meaning.

Jundi said...

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/01/19/134081.html