Abdulrahman an amiable, peace-loving soul

He found happiness in helping people

This is the 7th and last in a series of articles on Abdulrahman Sleman Al Thuaihi (1934-1996), a poet, playwright, pioneer of the Kuwait stage movement.

Special to the Arab Times owards the end Abdulrahman was suffering from a brain tumor.

All through his ordeal he bore his suffering with stoic resignation, never complaining about the illness.

Incidentally it was during this period, while still feeling strong, that he poured the whole emotional ordeal he went through during the invasion in the mowal he called “Thuahiat”.

In it the innermost soul of that humanity he witnessed was brought forth vibrant and alive in stanzas of precise rhyme, imbued with character and deep human portent.

By then he had also overcome the spiritual turmoil — that inborn fear of failure that haunted him from his early days of writing preventing him from publishing his work.

Finally, free of hesitation and trusting his feelings he not only published his work in the local paper, he also recited it on TV and on the radio.

The soul of his poetry reflects his nostalgia for the old Kuwait spirit of which he was so proud and which he tried to revive through his plays and through his poetry. But by then he was losing his grip on life. Abdulrahman was dying.

T— Editor

By Lidia Qattan

Despite of his growing suffering he kept a serene front that inspired with fortitude everyone who went to visit him. The same calm countenance was a source of moral strength for his children and loving wife who never left his side.

Towards the end, the pain was so agonizing that he could have screamed, but he was refusing any medication for fear of losing through sleep those few precious moments left to him with his family.

Seeing them around him and hearing their voice, was all the comfort he sought in those moments.

Time and again he told them that he was not afraid of dying, his only sadness was to see them crying when he was gone.

Finally he reached a point of such intense suffering that he could no longer bear it.

Memories

Morphine put him in a coma that kept him in the twilight zone of life for three days, allowing his soul to linger on through the great landscape of memories.

At last free from pain, those few moments left to him were blissfully peaceful, pervaded by an intense satisfaction of having lived a good life, filled with purpose, unmarred by regrets.

Suspended in a state of semiconsciousness in which all sensations

Lidia Qattan

Abdul Rahman

and feeling are projected into a dimension more tangible than the real, he was apparently asleep, but like in a dream he could hear and feel, even see what was going on around him.

Unmarred by fear or pain, he felt a blissful glow sweeping through his being, carrying him high into the infinity of creation, taking him closer to the source of all that is, of all that ever was, or will ever be, making him one with the Whole.

Enveloped in the light of that spiritual glow Abdulrahman felt yet a strong incentive to return back to his beloved ones, if only for an instant before his final departure. In that supreme moment of longing blood-stained tears appeared from his eyes, accompanied by a dismal sigh as he left this world.

Hala, his elder daughter, who had been talking to him in those moments, could not fail from noticing it. It was then that she felt certain that her father had been reaching out to them with his heart and his soul while he was in a coma.

That night Hala dreamt of her father. He appeared to her in a lightblue robe his face was glowing with a serene, peaceful smile. The same vision was reported by other members of the family. Apparently love had conquered death.

All those who knew Abdulrahman remember him as the amiable, peace-loving soul he had been all his life, from early childhood till the moment he left this world.

Abdulrahman was a giver who found happiness in helping others.

At work, or at home, or in any circumstances or gathering his amiable disposition made everyone feel comfortable and respected in his compassion.

He was a good listener and a sympathizer, who loved to putt a smile on people’s lips.

Gifted with a strong sense of humor, his jokes were imbued with grains of wisdom that helped others to look at the brighter side of life.

The same sense of humor and subtle wisdom is reflected in the repertoire and dialogue of his plays and special poetry.

Loved for his humility and compassion and admired for his literary contribution, for which he received recognition and many honors during festivals, Abdulrahman Sleman Al Thuaihi ranks among the brightest stars in the galaxy of Kuwaiti pioneers in the cultural development of his country as a gifted poet, playwright, director and actor. His passage was not in vain