In Memory of Jamal Khashoggi

According to the Good Old Book – The Holy Bible – God created man in His Own image after forming man from the dust of the ground. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life before man became a living soul.

Thus it can be concluded that God is man, and man is God, so that any bad thing you do to a fellow man, is against God, so who can offend God and go scot-free.

Against his background, those responsible for the painful and agonising death of Brother Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi Arabian journalist, must expect their nemesis, no matter how long it takes.

Khashoggi was reported to have visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018 to transact business and never returned alive, a victim of “premeditated murder” by “rogue killers” (apologies to US President Donald Trump).

According to the authorities in Istanbul, he was murdered in the Consulate by Saudi agents, which initially was denied by Riyadh.

There are conflicting allegations regarding how he was killed. According to a Saudi official, Khashoggi “was drugged and killed by a chokehold after resisting.”

One of those who allegedly killed him, 15 in number, then put on the victim's clothes, and exited through a back door to indicate that he had left the Consulate unharmed.

Another allegation was that, after he was killed, the body was “rolled up in a rug.” The “parcel” was then given to a local cooperator to be disposed off. There was a suggestion that he was dismembered, the body parts dissolved in acid, and drained off.

Two media groups also came out that Khashoggi had been “cut up” with his face “disfigured”, while another source said Khashoggi's body parts had been found in the garden of the Saudi Consul General's home.

The latest story had it that his body had been dissolved in acid to obliterate all traces.

Does the world care about such a gruesome murder, which can easily earn the tag of being the most cruel murder in recent past. Yes, indeed, it does.

The United Nations (UNO) has asked Saudi Arabia to indicate where Khashoggi's body is. Additionally, UK's Treasury Secretary, Stephen Mnuchin, and UK's International Secretary, Lian Fox, were reported to have pulled out of an Investment Conference tagged “Davos in the Desert” being held by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman, to promote his agenda of reform.

The fiancée of Khashoggi, Hatice Cengiz, has called on world leaders “to bring the perpetrators to justice” as captured in the editorials of five newspapers, including the Guardian and Washington Post.

“If we have already lost Jamal then, condemnation is not enough. The people who took him from us, irrespective of their political positions, must be held accountable and punished to the full extent of the law,” Hatice lamented, probably with her eyes suffused with tears.

Whatever crime did Khashoggi commit against Saudi royal rulers that such painful retaliatory measures can only be found in the realm of savages, and not in the court of royals held in high esteem.

The Chronicle believes that it is part of God's image that has been cruelly dismembered, and that nemesis, backed by the punishing hands of God, will soon overtake the agents of Lucifer who perpetrated such a callous act in taking God's breath of life from Jamal Khashoggi at 59.

Brother Khashoggi, our most heartfelt sympathy to you for such a painful exit from this sinful world.

In support of Hatice Cengiz, we call on all Muslims across the world to say funeral prayers for the murdered journalist in all mosques in general, and particularly, in the Prophet’s Mosque in the Saudi city of Medina, Khashoggi’s home city, this Friday, November 16, 2018, as suggested by Hatice.

May your soul rest in the serene bosom of our heavenly Father till the Day of Judgment, when you will meet your murderers in Allah's court.