Nobody knows what Mohamed Bouazizi was thinking as he prepared to set himself on fire. Some say he was only threatening to do it. Maybe he was training himself for death and not for martyrdom?

Nobody knows what Mohamed Bouazizi was thinking as he prepared to set himself on fire. Some say he was only threatening to do it. Maybe he was training himself for death and not for martyrdom?

To choose one’s own death in a moment of insanity or absolute despair is to become filled with one’s emptiness or void; to rotate between two ends in his fragmented self, or so it seems to me, to go back and forth within one’s self, balancing his soul on one hand against his life on the other; to walk where there is no road, and roads are made with our footsteps as a Spanish poet once said; and to be departed without a journey, as we say about someone who dies: “S/He has left our world”, but the truth is that no one leaves, for we are forever in or on this earth; dead or alive.

While the fire was eating his flesh, Bouazizi maybe was still breathing the strong smell of tobacco in the garage he rented – as I learnt from some of my students who come from Sidi Bouzid – after a fight between him and some members in his family. Or maybe, at that defining moment, he was inhaling the smell of the soot surrounding him while he was screaming and curdling in his flesh like yogurt or balling like gypsum curd. He might have been hearing his soul suddenly falling in the water of his body, making a ‘poof’ sound. He might have felt a hand – his hand – pulling him like an embryo into the ground while holding his feet. He might have regretted it at that very moment. He might have tried to control himself as he was heading toward his death: his hand is in his hand and his fingers are in his fingers.

That the martyr of freedom bet on freedom as his aim for martyrdom is taken for granted. That he then become a symbol or an icon is something that happened more than once in the history of peoples.

Freedom vs Martyrdom

In this sense we can wonder: what is the rank of freedom compared to martyrdom? And before that: what is the situation that a martyr is supposed to liberate himself, or us, from?

Such an approach which is based on the two notions of martyrdom and freedom must be from the beginning based on a problematic situation since both notions are not crystal clear in mind if we want to precisely define them. It can also be some kind of an outworn repetition to remind of the debate about the difficulty of defining the meaning of freedom due to reasons that have become very common in the philosophical literature, both old and new.

So, it may be better to directly test the relationship between those two notions through the last question we asked a while ago, since it sounds a more specific question, which would allow us to avoid some difficulties from the very beginning and to be cautious not to get involved in the risk of generalization: what does a martyr liberate himself, or us, from?

Answering such question may however compel us to investigate the life of the Tunisian ‘martyr’ Mohamed Bouazizi, which would exceed the specified size of this article. Bouazizi belongs to Islam, but which Islam? It’s undoubtedly the simple, popular Islam. Thus, he is unlikely to have considered the religious consequences of his action. To be honest, no crystal-clear text in Quran speaks about the afterlife punishment for those who kill themselves, but there are Hadiths that stress depriving those who commit suicide from heaven or sending them to eternal punishment in hell.

The holy words

One of those Hadiths was narrated by two scholars, Bukhari and Muslim:

“Amongst the nations before you, there was a man who got a wound, and growing impatient (with his pain), he took a knife and cut his hand with it and the blood did not stop till he died. Allah said, ‘My Slave hurried to bring death upon himself so I have forbidden him (to enter) Paradise.’

Another Hadith also reads: the messenger of Allah remarked about a man who claimed to be a Muslim, saying, “This (man) is from the people of the (Hell) Fire.” When the battle started, the man fought violently (on the side of Muslims) till he got wounded. Somebody said, “O Allah’s Messenger! The man whom you described as being from the people of the (Hell) Fire fought violently today and died.” The Prophet said, “He will go to the (Hell) Fire.” Some people were on the point of doubting saying: (how could that man go to Hell). While they were in this state, someone suddenly said that he was still alive but severely wounded, so when night fell, he lost patience, took his sword and committed suicide. The Prophet was informed of that, and he said, “Allah is Greater! I testify that I am Allah’s Slave and His Messenger.” Then he ordered Bilal to announce amongst people: ‘None will enter Paradise but a Muslim, and Allah may support this religion (i.e. Islam) even with a disobedient man.”

There are also so many other texts; so, what does that mean to us! Bouazizi’s suicide turned into a sort of martyrdom amongst so many Tunisians. Most of Arabs don’t use the word ‘freedom’ clearly, but usually it would be implied in there speech so we don’t recognize the meaning of freedom unless we interpret that; such as this case: interpreting the suicide as martyrdom, then as a political mechanism then making Bouazizi a symbol or an icon. The interpretation here may allow us to admit that this mechanism is not linked to an absolute indication to freedom, but basically to removing what is considered to be the opposite of freedom, i.e. ‘delusion’, which in this context is fear; Tunisians’ fear of Bin Ali’s police apparatus.

This very mechanism which quickened the depart of Bin Ali’s regime, is what has made Bouazizi what he is, though that young Tunisian, who wasn’t known for any political, union or rights activity, and who had gone to complain about his circumstances to Bin Ali administration – which was appointed by and supportive to his ruling party –could have never bet to be free; meaning to liberate himself from being an ‘instrument’, or a means to someone else. Bouazizi’s ‘martyrdom’ doesn’t include the meaning of freedom in any way; however, it’s a medium for purposes apart from it.

To demonstrate that, it’s enough to pay attention that while it has turned into icon, it has been dedicated to serve others, namely political powers, including Islamists who consider Bouazizi’s suicide as a forbidden action. It’s ‘martyrdom’ that gains its value not from itself but from his ‘icon’ which is the source of his value and nothing else.

Despaired, disappointed and agitated, Bouazizi went to Sidi Bouzid Prefecture to complain not to commit suicide or to get martyred, because there was no will or freedom of choice. Hence, the lesson to be learned by us – the Tunisians who have been this time plagued by another hegemony that take religion as a pretext, not security as Bin Ali used to do, nor the legitimacy of liberation from occupation as Bourguiba had done – is to understand our dire need for a philosophical activity that can liberate ourselves from a dogmatic confidence in ourselves.

The tool for this is constructive criticism that is able to ‘define’ the capabilities of the mind, in particular, and then enrich them with experience so that control over the world could be more comprehensive. In other words, a mind that can’t free itself from delusions about itself cannot be free. What a large number of delusions we have about ourselves!