Keep going on Qais, Do not give up!

Photo from Kabul Press

As September came, a cold autumnal breeze entered into and touched inside my bones signaling me of the autumn, a season for separation; first the season themselves one goes and the next one comes,then begins the separation of leaves from trees and the separation of friends from friends. It got colder when November came then December is on its way with witness of snow and other occasions.

This November, actually these days, feeling so solely I remembered of a friend I never was friend of him neither he was of mine but I got to know him, after he was no more on this dusty ball, a friend I knew after he died, better to say after he embraced death by his own wish.

His name was Qais or is Qais, Qais Dehzad. Two years back, he did a suicide, one early morning of the same kind, perhaps a cold morning in November he was found dead leaving behind a letter as his will for his friends and beloved ones.

It is horrible though to remind of a sad happening, flying of a soul, but sometimes life pushes us to touch even up to the border of life and death or just to peep into the other world, that is when we remind of the ones who left us behind some days or years earlier than us.

When reminding such stories, sometimes fear takes over, but if we see the end of the story, there is no way, soon or later every one has to depart for the same destination to join their ancestors though the routs differ one from the other, remembering this fact, then fears fly away instead of soul flies.

People like Qais, may have been so much aware of facts on this dusty ball that we are unable to see and feel them or perhaps they have darken their world by their own hands, no one really knows except God.

The reality is that life is hard in itself thus every one may have his own problems and difficulties of any type and the only way to experience it is to live, have more patience, breath to keep going on and to fight with the difficulties until you reach to the last moments.

Last year, I translated his "Will" and wrote some lines about him that comes in the following.

24/1/2008

How poetic he flew and left all his friends alone!

How difficult was it for him, but he did it. How disappointed he was in this world, but he succeeded to fly up happily and by his own wish.

Hearing about Qais e Dehzad, I assume every one's heart would throb for him who knew him and who was familiar with his characteristics and his activities for the youth of his society.

I assume it might be late although to write about him now, but I couldn't take it easy when I know more about him even though very late.

It was once in mid August last year, I saw him in an event but yet we were not friends.

****

Some three months after that event, when I had already left my home country, suddenly one day, I saw somewhere in the internet a very sad news headline" Eventually Qais e Dehazd has left us as well! " seeing the photo, I knew it was him but I didn't know how and why this young poet died and nothing else I could do except praying for him to Allah, that was some two and half months ago.

****

Again these days I was searching in the internet, when I found that his death was a suicide. A willingly suicide that he did to be free as said by in his will! How horrible it is when someone commits a suicide I thought, sometimes it confuses us when some body does a suicide and it may seem totally fool or nonsense for us but he might have reached to the end I assumed.

He was a young poet, writer, human rights activist and vice president of a cultural Foundation in Kabul called Bonyad e Arman Shahr "The Ideal City Foundation".

I was more curious to read more about this recently deceased* young Afghan poet- writer and reading some pages about him written by his colleagues, friends, lovers and some other poets and writers I then recognized him better what kind of person he was, but unfortunately it was too late.

There are three things that make me interested to write these lines about him; first to let the people of the world know why a young Afghan poet committed suicide and finished his life, the second reason is the difference between his Ideology for a suicide and the ideology of the other suicide bombers who kill many innocents along with them through terrorist attacks and the third thing is some of the similarities of my own ambitions with his which he didn't succeed in his life regarding what we can contribute to our generation, to our country and then to the world.

****

His "will" that describes his reasons for a suicide, was published in some blogs and websites in Dari Language then I thought the only thing I could do for him was to translate his "will" into English and post it in my blog for the readers of my blog.

Quoted by his close friends, he was partly palsy after receiving a apoplexy* just one week before he does the suicide.

****

Below is the translation of Qais e Dehzad's "Will", the young Afghan poet, writer and cultural activist who did suicide in November 25 2007 with open eyes and very thoughtfully after he thought that he is not going to be very useful for his people, but not ignorantly like the blind Taliban who do suicide and take the lives of other innocents too.

His "Will"

Minutes before walking towards his death, he picked a pen and wrote all these:

“Crying is Haram (prohibited) on my death. Any one wants that my soul* would be peaceful should take a pen and fulfill* the goals I had. I do suicide and kill myself to criticize all those who do suicide to take the lives of the others and thus I want my family to bury me with the same cloths I am wearing just right on the way of the latest innocent who is martyred by the suicide attackers.

I ask them to bury me very late at night so there should not be traffic jams and problems for other people, so that my death would put a full stop for the people who do suicide ignorantly to kill the other innocent human beings.

I do suicide to defend the poor and to tell the international community to take care of them and that there should be no borders in the world in between the men of different lands. I ask the most expensive or the richest football player of the world to help the poor of Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Iraq and Palestine.

I do suicide to shake the world of Islam and to criticize on its people that why they do not fight against ignorance, illiteracy and poverty.

I want Saudi Arabia to allocate all of the benefits of this years "Haj program" for a bank that would feed the poor of Afghanistan and makes them houses and shelters, and I want all the Afghans not to go to the Hajj until there is no poverty in their vicinity, until they do not demolish injustice and brought social justice welfare in their country.

I hang me doing a suicide to show my solidarity with the women movements and to tell the world to stop hanging executions.

To tell the world to stop torturing in the prisons, I do suicide.

I hang myself to show my correlation to the people who have been oppressed and no one have ever rescued them.

I am fed up with injustice, administrative corruption, oppression, discrimination, racism and NGOism* I hang myself and through this way, not humbly but proudly give my message to the whole world that it is enough, no more fights, no more killing of human beings ,stop all these bloodshed!

By hanging myself, I want to tell Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Ahmadi Nejaat and other leaders of the world to stop investment on nuclear weapons that takes the lives of humans instead invest on the culture of peaceful living, eliminating the borders in between countries and eliminating the illiteracy and poverty in the world.

To criticize the forced marriages, paying BAD* (BAD*:a tribal tradition of enforcing a girls to get married with a person in exchange of blood, when someone kill some a person, his daughter or sister will be forced to get married to close relative of the victim) superstitious traditions and thousands of other pains I have about the human beings with me, and to show my sympathy to the people who beg in India, who die of hunger in Africa, who are born partly disabled in Hiroshima*, who are born palsy in Shelimcha* and who beg in Kabul streets, which I can not tolerate anymore I hang myself.

And I hope my friends continue my works and my activities in Bonyad e Arman Shahr. ( The Ideal City Foundation) I want Ms. Zhelaa Bani Yaqoob and Mr. Jaadi Merani my best friends to assist my other best friend Guesu Jahangeri and I want all other firends and collegues while I can not write their names as grudge and my emotions enables me to do so, to fight against injustice, ignorance and illiteracy.

I want my brother Sayed Merwais Dehzad to follow the Shahnaama reading programs with instruction of Ms. Jahangeri and cooperation of Qadeem, Shoala,Ms Diana Saqib,and Ms Veda Saghari.

And I don't want that many mullahs attend on my funeral prayer and I don't want any Holly Quran reading ceremony for me, they should not put me shroud on and they should not make types of food on the funeral ceremony so that my death would create a new page of a new culture so that on one's death ceremony there should not be many kinds of food while there are many hungry and poor people begging on the streets.

I don't want to make traffic because of my funeral, because I want to finish the luxe* and fashionable funeral ceremonies that has become a part of our daily culture of nowadays.

The person who did the funeral prayer for Mr. Alemi in Qom, I want him to do my funeral prayer, whether at home or any where he prefers.

I hope other scholars would struggle against, illiteracy, ignorance, superstitions, nonsense traditions, forced marriages, suicides and self burnings and would work and invest their time on instructive lessons for the people.

I do suicide to show my sympathy to the Dolphins* that did suicide in group because of the oppression of the human beings.

I do suicide to say no need for World War 3!

I do suicide that my family, relatives and my people stand against all those problems that force a human being to hang himself.

I suicide so that no mother would quit her daughter as Zohra* did to her innocent daughter, and no father would witness his daughter without mother, as I did.

I hope my death will finish the culture of divorce* in Islam so that there should be a never ending commitment in between the married spouses.

I ask Ms Jahangeri* to say my words to the people of my land and then to the world and tell to my mother that crying is Haram (prohibited) on my death.

I ask Guesu Jan to take the responsibility of Nastaran (my 6 years old daughter) and bring her up as you, a brave, intellectual, hardworking and struggling woman to fight for human rights

I kiss the hands of my mother and my father, the hands of my brother and the face of Nastaran Jan to forgive me for what I am doing, and I wish they do not cry after me at all, that is it.

I just want every member of my family to live as the men of the history as always they did up to now, they should avoid fighting, instead they should try more and more for education, knowledge, professionalism and fulfill my goals so to make my soul happy.

I want my friends in KASHANA* to establish their student movement as soon as they can and some one should be my successor to speak instead of me.

I correlation with* those who do not have a shelter, who have been oppressed with, who have been discriminated ethnically or racially I hang myself.

I want my friends in Bonyad e Arman Shar to assist Ms Bakhtari with her programs about Maulana (The great Rumi), and send her the list we (I, Mr. Amini and Ms Jahangeri) made.

I have written the programs which are all in my computer and I hope you will all give hand to each other to conduct them. I hope Kaka Noor, would train good researchers for the Afghan society by conducting his research methods trainings in Bonyad e Arman Shahr.

I thank Guesu Jan for all she has done for me and I have learnt many things form her.

I thank Zhela Jan, who has assisted me a lot and hope that she keeps cooperating with Bonyad e Arman Shahr, and I do defend your women movement this way.

I thank Mr. Ibrahim Yazdi who promised to give me some books. I hope Ms Jahangeri follow it up and built the library I had in mind, with the help of my brother Merwais Jan, this way they can make me happy.

Just deliver my letter to Shiekh Tavasol. My father is my proxy/advocate. I request him to allocate my land property of Behsood to Nastaran (daughter) and Zohra (separated wife). The other piece of land property I have from Mosavi Gul Tapa my father should give it to Nastaran. I wish my father tries a lot to nurture and train Nastaran and to keep my mom happy. I again emphasize that crying is Haram in my death.

Regarding Nastaran talk with Guesu how she can bring her up.

Oh, I forgot to say that I hang myself to criticize the predator private sector system.

I hang myself to show my sympathy to my dear daughter who is suffering without mother and to say that I can not tolerate that someone dies in Africa, in India or in Iraq how would I tolerate to see my dearest ones dies before my eyes.

Yes, I am a man who hasn’t slept for three day and nights and has been thinking about all these. I wanted to write a letter to President Karzai to tell him about all these problems, to tell him that an advocate has received seven hundred dollars as bribe from us in order to release my brothers*, I hope my suicide would end bribery, oppression, suicide bombings, forced marriages, self burnings, discrimination against women, homelessness, The New Liberal Capitalism, the ethnic, religious and sectarian wars, superstitions, executions, torturing and all such problems.

My brother, Merwais Jan, you and dad both should take the responsibility of the children and keep working for Bonyad e Arman Shahr so that to fulfill my goals.

I kiss your hands, my mother Gulali Habib that you cried for me from the core of your heart, I respect you a lot Mrs. Habib!

I should not forget that I hang my self to object on turning off the microphones of women in the parliament.

I do suicide to struggle against injustice and inequality that exist in this world while I want to say that we have not been able to introduce Islam correctly to the world and we did not do enough for it.

I want to say we need justice, brotherhood, not crusade and the geographic, religious and sectarian wars.

I wish some one would reach my voice to the world and let the world know that one person hanged himself for humanity, and defending the human rights.

Guesu jan, Ms Zhela jan, Ms Bada Paima, doctor sahib, Mr. Nadir Jahangeri and Ms. Safi nia jan, Maryam Atta Khorrami, Mr. Dawood Naji, Mr. Amini, Negah jan, Masoud jan Qiam and all other friends of mine, please tell every one in the world why I did this.

I wish I lived longer but sometimes non existence is necessary for a long existence. If I have fulfilled one of my goals this way, with this decision, I am sure my soul will be with you for ever.

While thanking I apologize all those who proposed to marry me. I apologize all of those who I promised to do something for or to find jobs for but could not do so for. I thank all those who had helped me and seek pardon from all those who may have been offended or somehow hurt by me or if I made a mistake to and I hope they will pray for me to God.

I wish Hiroshima takes three seconds for silence for my death because my heart has throbbed a lot for all disabled people, I wish people in Shalamcha* would pray for me because all nights I cried for the those who are born disabled. I want all the rich in the world would help the poor and I want the entire world be friends with each other.

I want there would not be any suicide attacks in the human’s history. I want every one would wake up and I want to shout that all what I was going to say is left, but my goals will not be buried along with my body, I am going to save the life of someone in this world.

I want all the Muslims pray to Allah for me, and when my grand parents Zahra and Ali (daughter and son in law of the holy prophet) welcome me in he paradise, it is enough for me.

I am to cry and I have sob in my throat, I wish I had time to tell you all my pains.

I am with you and I did this for humanity, for love and welfare of the humans.

I wish they forgive me whose names I forgot to write, Oh, I want Ms Sabarina Saqeb to take my message to the parliament to work hard and to do their responsibilities better.

I want to say to all the organizations or individuals who we asked for humanitarian assistance for our organization, no to give up your support to Bonyad Arman Shahr (The Ideal City Foundation) which is one of my ideals, I believe this organization works to bring positive changes not only in Afghanistan but world wide.

Merwais Jan, first of all contact my friends; Dawood Naji, Ruhulamin Amini, Diana Saqib and Malik Shafii to inform them about my death and then they would let the media know about it.

Take the car of Mohaqiq Zada and take me over night to the place I have recommended, only with a few number of people and bury me with the clothes I am wearing. I am again repeating that crying is Haram in my death.

I recommend not taking any funeral ceremony for me and only the person who has prayed on Alemi in Qom should read my funeral prayer, and there is no need for any Holly Quran chanting or additional fortieth day ceremony of my death.

Actually I did not renovate extend the expiration date my passport so that I was going toward the real Arman Shahr or The Real Ideal City.

My greetings and good bye to all humans in the world

Sayed Qais Dehzad

Click to read more about Qais Dehzad
Qais Dehzad 1
Qais Dehzad 2
Qais Dehzad 3
Qais Dehzad 4
Qais Dehzad 5
Qais Dehzad 6

Life is full of forks and crossroads

The fragile life is very tender and sensible. This sensibility is easily seen when are on a fork, or on a crossroad on its map, especially when we are to make a decision to chose one of the ways.

Here one “YES” or a “NO” can change the whole direction of life; if this fragility is not seen carefully the outcome of a “YES” or a “NO” could be full of regrets.

Here you see, just a little word with three letters or two, could change the whole life sometime.

There are always forks and crossroads ahead of you on the map of life and it is you to be genius enough to choose the right path; in work, in love, in travel, in friendship, in studies and in any parts of life there are two ways to choose one.

Throughout your life, it may have been very hard for you to observe the real meaning of life as everyone has his own definition of it; the same is as everyone leaves for his own purpose though there might be many people who just live to take their share of oxygen that is it.

Not yet, you understand the real meaning of life, one said one thing the other said another thing, made you so confused, but as you many times faced the forks and crossroads of life, you have easily noticed only this point; you don’t know what life is but you know it is very tender, fragile and sensitive, that is it.

There are always times when you arrive in a fork where there are two ways in front of you to choose one, there is where you are two careful to play with your cards of “YES” and “NO” with it. Here a little word of two or three letters is worth a lot for you, for your destination and direction you are going to move towards.

Saying “YES” or “NO” how far you could go for instance or how different you could be then by either of the words. In fact there you play a gamble with these little words, you may win or lose.

Sometime it comes to your mind that the fragility of life is just a matter of time that one can be brought to an exam, where a word could play an enormous role in his life, what a fragility you think, how weak you are, you feel when you are a loser in this gamble on the fork of life and you may find you too far distant from what you expected you to be because of using a word inappropriately or not thinking about it carefully.

When you don’t know how to decide about it, which way out of the fork you have to choose, you may tend to take help of anything or anyone you can think of; here is when your mind is blocked and you refer to your head, scrolling your memory back and forth, refer to your heart, that is sometimes as big as Caravan Sara, and sometimes as hard as stone, you refer to the eyes and looks of the person you loved the most to take help choosing the right path on the fork, you refer to the blinks of the stars in the dark sky, the ones once you marked them to be your friends at nights of loneliness, you refer to what so ever you think of to help you make the right decision and finally you decide; you may be right or wrong then, but it is done already and something would happen then.

Latter after it, you may blame yourself for why you did it, why you made a blind decision to move on a path of life if you had mistaken, but better would it be to keep going on with what so ever has happened. Even if wrong, you did right, even if making a mistake, still you proved your existence; that you still exist to decide no matter if right or wrong.

Or you may come to blame the world, or to make fun of it, what a funny world it is, only a little word could change the entire life of a human being?! What a game it is being played with the humans?!

May be here you come to know the importance of you, and you come to know there is no need to blame you for making a wrong decision, but you also come to know that the whole life is ahead of you to make mistakes and learn, and another secret you get to know is that, there is a proportion between you and the world outside of you. As you get nearer to the world, you may get distant from yourself, then again you would be on another fork to choose which one; as a result not to lose yourself, not to give up, you choose to get distant from the world to be yourself and since then although you may seem to be moving to the opposite side of the normal stream, but you remain happy to remain yourself then.

It is the loneliness that gives you time to study yourself and think deeply.

At the end you may have fear of the unknowingly happenings, but then only liberation is to save you, and you already liberated yourself from uncertainty and you can bear the consequences as well, that is it.

Keep smiling!

How much it costs you to smile once?

“Nothing.”

And how much it is worth when you smile?

“A lot, even a world, even a life.”

Then why don’t you begin each day with smile to profit with the deal of “with no costs is worth a lot.”

So let’s smile for ourselves and for the others and let’s let the others smile, this way, with a smile let’s blossom like flowers and define the world differently.

Let’s forget that for long we had forgotten to smile.

With a smile, let’s grow up once again with a smile let’s plant the seed of hope into the heart of the others.

With a smile let’s cover our sadness and not transfer to the others the burden of the pains and sorrows each of us carry in our own hearts.

With a smile let’s make a silence full of unspoken words through which only hearts are put in contact via the links of dazzling looks of eyes.

With a smile let’s surround our world with tenderness and protect us from aggressiveness.

With a smile let’s alter badness into goodness, with a smile let’s transfer energy to the others.

With a smile let’s open a path for the ray of light, with a smile let’s open a window into another ideal world for each other.

With a smile let’s transfer sense and warmness into the other. With a smile let’s reflect the inner beauty we believe in.

Over all, when you smile you look nicer, and more important, when you smile you give me a new life, so please keep smiling so I would live longer with it.

Yeah, I am talking to you, keep smiling always this way at least for me if possible.

Funny people, funny world!

There was sometime that hardly people asked for Alda Merini’s books but once the other day many people came one after the other and asking for Merini’s poems which were among the other poem books in a corner in the poetry section.

The night before that day, we heard that the seventy eight years old famous female Italian poet died on November 1st 2009, and thus the day after many people came to ask for her books hearing about her death on television.

In the library "bookstore", there is a section, that is filled with books or works of the recently deceased literary figures such as writers and poets as well as famous artists and celebrities of cinema, television, theater or music and as a joke we called that place the table of the dead.

Until a few months ago I didn’t know that it was a table for the occasions because no one had told me about it, then I discovered after Michael Jackson died on 25th June, then died Fernanda Pivano a famous Italian writer, journalist, translator and the table was filled with her works, then on September 8th died Mike Bongiorno and there were all books on him on this table and this time Alda Merini but not known who else will be died so the people would come to ask for his books?!

Here, on this piece of land, where I live, people asking for the titles of the books by the recently deceased authors, seems a bit funny for me, but I don’t know if the other parts of the world is the same or not.

The writers, novelists, poets live with hardships, in their own designed world to live longer after going under earth, but how funny the people are; not knowing the values of their works until they are dead. And when they are dead, bluff begins and every one cries after them, and then their remnants gets worthy.

As the death of an artist, an author calls people’s attention, towards him and they will begin to search to know him which in reality is crying for the spilled milk.

Wow, seeing this I thought, what a business it would be for a bookstore, “Let’s suffocate the writers to get their books quickly sold. It is totally a new idea in this funny world with funny people!!”

Read more about Alda Merini here