What is “رحمة"?
Just like everything in today’s world, the definition is debatable, controversial, culturally and religiously conditioned, gender explicit, “it depends on the situation” , and what have you. The heaviness of the word is parallel to the lack of its availability. It has lost its graceful connotation. It’s unspoken weight. It’s form and character are now too visible to the eye when they should be absent. Silent gestures . Yes, in time of crisis we see the reinforcements, the convoys of tangible aid, the endless calculated gab of monetary donations. One dollar can make a difference. But do we really have to wait for a crisis to practice رحمة? But of course. Most definitely. With the cameras rolling, PR team in gear, and the ill practiced facial expression of mocked empathy and perhaps forced waterworks if at all possible to the extent of your acting career, congratulations, because you have made an absolute ass of yourself.
I was wrong to believe that the world would transform into a more forgiving place. That we would be cleansed by witnessing a revelation of unity just because we lived in an era of common hardships. I thought that the wars, poverty, social feuds and pandemic will mold us into becoming the mentally compassionate beings of the century that younger generations will read about in years to come. But no. We have meticulously lost fear and hope. We simply don’t care and have no desire to. We don’t want to wear masks. We don’t want people to stay home and care for their young and old. We don’t even want them to have a home. We don’t want people to feel safe or healthy. We don’t want to be socially neutral to all races. We want money. We want to be greedy. We want them to feel jealous , lacking, small and unessential. We want them to drown in their problems and debt. We want them to second guess their integrity, their appearance, their accomplishments, their upbringing, their God.
We can see judgement day approaching in the distance and we want to scoop up whatever that is left from the midsection down . We want to carve into our own brother’s flesh and look them dead in eye as our hardware combines into the blood of a soul that is imperfect, just as we are. But we are privileged . We are sheikhs. We are of a higher force.
We make people kneel down to us. We brainwash and reprogram them. We lie and steal and cheat. We want to watch you die on television, in real time, on social media platforms. We choose your friends, and your friends are your enemies . We see swirls of smoke and hospital stretchers and at some point, we know that you will emotionally surrender as you take your last permitted gasp of breath to acknowledge that this place is not and never will be for you. It is not your platform.
