“It is the duty of the world to see and witness what we are documenting and what we are reporting. Maybe the world won’t act, maybe the world won’t help us but there might be a motive to stop this war—every time I document a massacre or event or bombing, I think that maybe through this bombing or this image that the war could stop and this war would end. This drives us to continue in our coverage to our last breath.” – Anas Jamal Mahmoud Al-Sharif (rahimullah)
A correspondent in the north of Gaza recorded
News coverage in a steady and steadfast voice from and for his people.
Attentive, anchored in principle, and memorizing both
Script and Scripture, he wore a press vest, helmet and mic as his armor.
Journeying from Jabalia to journalism,
Anas Jamal Mahmoud Al-Sharif, may Allah have mercy on him,
Must have felt there was no real choice. He was a product of his time and became
An expert at fact-checking Zionist lies. Living hunted and hungry, he
Lay bare the fangs of genocide from the heart of the wreckage in Palestine.
Martyrdom was framed as an occupational hazard for his kind.
At just 28, this promising face of Al Jazeera Arabic was away from family and
Home very little. His father had been killed in an earlier airstrike meant to
Muzzle Anas and dissuade him from reporting.
Over the many months he lived in marked media tents pitching them
Under the light of the moon outside hospitals in hope of safety
Dreaming of when he could live again with his Bayan, his Sham, his Salah.
A graduate of Al-Aqsa University, he majored in radio and television
Longing to become a photojournalist, like the ones he had seen growing up. Shell
–shocked, I whispered “Inna lilaahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon” when he was
Silenced in a “Strike That Killed 5 Journalists Was Aimed at One of Them”
Headlines captured the terror even as news deemed fit to print in the complicit NYT.
Anas chose eternal courage, instead of following threats to stop reporting and evacuate. Rejoice and reunite in Jannat al-Firdaws, ya Anas! I pray you greet Sham and Salah,
Inshallah, closer to the age they last saw you, and I
Film your children as they race to your embrace.
(Acrostic: anas jamal mahmoud al-sharif, rahimullah)
2 Comments
Ayesha has written this piece with due diligence an honest deliberation. I have read her articles in many places since sone years. She is a brave advocate of freedom of expression and just resistance to human atrocities.
Allahu akbar, what a powerful piece. I don’t know how I missed this! SubhanAllah it hasn’t even been a year since Abu Salah was martyred, may Allah have mercy on his soul… and yet his absence is heavy, and also his voice has never disappeared… May Allah cover his family with His mercy and reunite them in the highest levels of Jannah… and may He allow us to follow in his footsteps, however minutely, in our commitment to doing our part for the truth. BarakAllahu feeki Ayesha.