When demise causes a nationwide shock [Archives:2008/1120/Opinion]
Ali Al-Sarari
Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein Al-Ahmar died. But such a short sentence can not clarify any traces and allegations emerging in the wake of the Sheikh's demise. What we can say in this respect may have something to do with the past only. But, how things will go on in Yemen without Sheikh Al-Ahmar entails that Yemeni people still need the power of inspiration in order to be enabled to exercise imagination. In short, decease of Sheikh Al-Ahmar shocked the whole nation.
The Late Sheikh has spent an age full of military and political events, developments and conflicts, and during which time, Yemen saw great transformations, some of which forward while others backward. During those transformations, Al-Ahmar has been demonstrating a key role in their progress, and he used to move to another braver and riskier role, as soon as he finishes the previous one. His movement from one role to another proved to leave behind a great influence in time and place until the extent of making it impossible for anyone to imagine the late man's life without hearing the sounds of fire shooting, sound judgment or brave positions.
When Imam Ahmad killed his father and his brother Hameed in 1961, the destiny selected Sheikh Abdullah, who was at that time a youngster having no experience in politics and political conflicts, to place him on the frontline of the theater of Yemen's dramatic events, the rhythm of which has not slowed down since that day. The jail penalty, which Sheikh Abdullah faced following the execution of his father and brother, prepared him psychologically to quit the hard life he led during the early days of his age.
Those surrounding the Sheikh used to push him toward the political theater, and lights remained being shed on the social dignitary from different directions.
Regardless of the various positions of those surrounding him, be they proponents or opponents, all of them agreed that the Sheik was not that simple, nor was his role secondary in the sequence of events and developments. Rather, his proponents viewed him as the bystander and supporter of their issues while his opponents were seeing Sheikh Al-Ahmar as a powerful man with a stronger influence on the trail of transformations.
The most important thing is that Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmar remained an intimate and honest friend for his proponents, as well as a noble rival in the eyes of his opponents. As a result, the man retained the same unique living style, thereby leading observers to label him as “an uncomplicated character that gives no wrong impression about its reality”. Reality of the late man discloses that both his opponents and proponents unanimously acknowledge that honesty and credibility are the most prominent qualities of his actions and sayings. When he says, “This is wrong,” he used to do so innocently without any trickiness. And, when he says, “I differ with this,” he used to do so without any exaggeration.
In general, the Sheikh remained a unique political and social phenomenon, having its own an uncontainable context, throughout his life. He was not a separated or enclosed phenomenon. Over decades of his political and social activities, he had demonstrated a pioneering role in the formulation and direction of events.
The scene of his funeral services was unprecedented in the history of Sana'a, especially as his funeral combined the official style with the popular one. Thousands of tribal leaders and ordinary citizens came from different governorates with the sincere intention of attending his funeral services, praying for him and carrying him to his final resting place. The unprecedented event implied the prestigious status the late Sheikh had in the Yemeni society and his demise is judged by all means as a great loss for Yemen, particularly amid these critical conditions in the country.
In fact, Sheikh Al-Ahmar was not careless about the tragic fate Yemen is awaiting because of the corrupt and random policies pursued by the government. That was demonstrated in his description of the government's policies a few years ago, saying “they took Yemen into a gloomy tunnel since this government neither review its plans nor assess its performance”. In the wake of Sheikh Al-Ahmar's death, talk about avoiding or escaping an inevitable catastrophe for Yemen has become useless.
Ali Al-Sarari is a Yemeni Journalist and a well-known politician. He is the head of the information department at the Yemeni Socialist Party.
Source: Al-Thawri Weekly.
——
[archive-e:1120-v:15-y:2008-d:2008-01-14-p:opinion]
