Dead Man Acts Sick
The Miracle of the Burial of Professor Abu Lughod
This story is an example of the modern format of Palestinian oral history — stateless Palestinians find their history and stories in little shreds and fragments on online forums and social media.
Ibrahim Abu Lughod was born on February 15th, 1929 in Jaffa to a working-class family, his father was a metal manufacturer. In 1948, when Jaffa fell, Abu Lughod was on the very last boat leaving Jaffa and was turned a refugee at the age of 19 years old. Jaffa had formed the young man but he was forbidden, as the rest of the 97% of the Jaffans to return.
Ibrahim Abu Lughod was a professor of politics at McGill University, then at Northwestern University, and later he was a professor and vice-president of Bir Zeit University. Bir Zeit University named the Institute of International Studies after him. Ibrahim was also the founder of the Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights and the journal Arab Studies Quarterly. He held two UNESCO posts, one in Beirut and one in Paris.
According to Edward Said, Abu Lughod established a reputation as “the leading Arab academic activist in North America”, with “an encyclopedic knowledge – of the third world, Arab culture, history and language, and the western tradition of rationalism and humane understanding…”
After receiving his American passport and fifty-six years since Jaffa was lost, Ibrahim was able to visit his homeland. Abu Lughod returned to the city of Ramallah and became vice president of Bir Zeit University.
Ibrahim had three daughters and a son, and he made it clear that he must to be buried next to his brother, his grandfathers, and his great-grandfathers in Jaffa. No other option. On Wednesday the 23rd of May 2001, Ibrahim passed away in Ramallah at the age of 72 from a lung disease, 60km away from his birthplace. Israeli law prohibits the return of Palestinian refugees even dead. Israel also prohibits even the burial of Palestinian refugees, in their hometowns or in historic Palestine.
Ibrahim’s daughter Lila, was with him when he died. Professor Lila Abu Lughod was determined to fulfill her father’s wish. He has to be buried in Jaffa. Lila refused categorically to bury her father’s body in Ramallah or for his body to be returned to America. She remembered her father’s friend, Muhammad Mi’ari. Mi’ari was a Palestinian member of the parliament in the Israeli Knesset. Lila called Mi’ari and said that she wants her father buried in Jaffa. Mi’ari told her that that was impossible because the State of Israel saw it as a fulfillment of the right of return of the refugees. He suggested cremation and promised that he and other Palestinians would spread the ashes in the Abu Lughod family graveyard. Lila said “No”.
The MP said: “If you can change the law then do”. Lila said: “There is always a way”. The MP was silent for a while: “Wait, there might be one way, a little odd but, Ibrahim was an American citizen, right? …. According to Israeli law, if a foreign tourist, not a Palestinian, dies while visiting, they are allowed to be buried in Israel.” The idea was left in the air. Ibrahim was dead and Palestinians bury the same day. Lila had her dad’s body and only a couple of hours to bury Ibrahim Abu Lughod, time was ticking.
Lila put the phone down and started preparing her dad for the ride home. She changed her father’s clothes and dressed him in a suit. With the help of friends, they carried Ibrahim Abu Lughod quickly to her car. Lila tilted the chair back slightly and fastened her father’s seat belt. She set out from the city of Ramallah driving with her dead father beside her. Soon, they were at the Israeli Qalandia checkpoint. The Israeli soldier stopped the car and asked for her identity documents and Lila, an American, gave him both their American passports. The soldier looked at the passports and at her father who sat with eyes shut. Lila told the soldier that he was a very sick American, and she needed to get him very quickly to Al Maqassad Hospital in Jerusalem. The blond soldier waved the car to cross. Lila and Ibrahim parked at the emergency at the Maqassad hospital and the ambulance crew rushed her father inside. After a doctor examined Ibrahim, he told Lila that her father had died hours ago. Lila sobbed for many reasons. The doctor issued a death certificate. Now came the most complicated and vulnerable stage. Ibrahim Abu Lughod was a big public figure not only in the US, Paris, Beirut, and Birzeit, he was the admired and loved son of Jaffa. Lila immediately called MP Muhammad Mi’ari and told him that she was on her way with her father’s body to Jaffa. Someone had to arrange the washing of the body, the prayers, and prepare the grave. Ibrahim Abu Lughod was arriving from Jerusalem in less than an hour. Lila was with her father, this time Ibrahim did not have a seatbelt. Lila did not want the Israelis to come last minute and exile her Ibrahim a second time, this time as a 72-year-old body.
Muhammad Mi’ari had made some phone calls and the news reached Jaffa, its neighborhoods, and all of historic Palestine. Jaffa was on fire. When Ibrahim reached the Al Ajami neighborhood, thousands of Palestinian Jaffans came out with astonishment, joy, and pride to welcome the first refugee returning home.
The body of Professor Ibrahim Abu Lughod was washed and shrouded, and thousands of Jaffans and other Palestinians, Muslims, and Christians were at Al Ajami Mosque praying for him. The casket was covered with Palestinian flags and carried on the shoulders from the big Al Ajami Mosque to the cemetery, around 2 km away. “Ibrahim’s soul rose from the coffin, calling on the road stones in Jaffa and the Jaffa Sea” wrote Jaffans on social media. It was a solemn funeral that was also a demonstration of love, defiance, hope, and belonging that Jaffa had not witnessed since its fall in 1948. Abu Lughod finally came home, Ibrahim was buried in Jaffa, next to his brother and his ancestors.
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