Abdel rahman Khaled El-Deeb
Abdelrahman was a dentist who graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry at Tanta University in 2010. He participated in the Egyptian Revolution since its beginning as a field doctor and chose the hardest location to work in: the field hospital that bordered Tahrir Square which was attacked by thugs numerous times.
He participated in most of the initiatives of the Revolution even as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a son of former parliament member Khaled El-Deeb of the Freedom and Justice Party.
Abdulrahman was at the top of his class throughout various stages in his education and memorized the Qur’an when he was a third-year student in middle school. He also was an Imam leading prayers. He is one of the activists in the fields of student and youth work at his university.
Abdelrahman was responsible for student activities along with Da’wa and he helped start up Al-Mostakbal. He was awarded the narrative literature award by Tanta University. He participated in the first “For Youth” forum in the Bahrain Kingdom. He was also elected as “alumni trustee” for his class year—the “revolution class year”.
After his graduation, he was elected a member of the public trustee and a trustee for youth in the Freedom and Justice Party at Mit Ghamr. He also made numerous political and public service contributions.
His professor, Dr. Tamer Nasr of Tanta University describes him thus:
“I testify that he was different from anyone I ever knew in my life. I keep looking through my memory to find someone like you. I find that all of them have perks and faults, except for Abdelrahman, I was never able to find a fault with him throughout the eight years that I knew him. He were a friendly student, a quiet one, he was a friend, showcasing the highest levels of politeness and self-respect. A genius in life, he was a unique personality in terms of politeness, knowledge, insightfulness of opinion, and wisdom of the mind despite his young age.” His coworker, Dr. Nehal Abol Fadl, adds: “His motto has always been “reform yourself and guide others.” Everyone that interacted with him found him unforgettable, he would always do what was in his power to save someone.”
His mother recalls one event that happened during his exams when at the middle school: Abhelrahman heard a classmate helping another cheat by providing answers to questions. Abdelrahman changed his answer accordingly but felt so guilty after handing in the paper he asked for it back. The supervisors refused and he cried so they called the floor supervisor who gave him his papers so he could cross out the correct answer. That supervisor visited him later and informed him that his reaction changed him a lot.
These are the words that martyr Abdelrahman had written to his unborn child:
“Dear son: That heaven you see right in front of you was nothing but an abandoned kingdom a few years ago, a repulsing land of ruins. This justice that you see in front of you, my child, was only a few years ago a fascist tyranny and an oppressive injustice. This friendliness that you feel now, my child, was only a few years ago a cruel bitterness and aggressive cruelty. What you enjoy now are the fruits of plants that we have planted years ago and flowers of purity that we have watered with rethe d blood of beings that are the utmost purity themselves, who have departed from our lives, leaving us alone, battling with our yearning. All of that, my child, is only possible because one day we said, “No”, and because in a split second we have sacrificed everything, so Allah has blessed us with everything. On that day, my child, enjoy plenty, and have joy, my beloved offspring, for a long time; as your father and uncles have lived long years full of drought until Allah would bring forth the heavens of bliss from within the perseverance, patience and trial. Tell the tales of these years to your children from their uncle Abdelrahman.”
His mother wrote a letter for him on his twenty-fifth birthday on the 5th of April 2014: “Today, my child, you have reached 25 years of age, over which you have moved between statuses of religious, scientific and social excellence. I sat after Fajr prayer today, going through a strip passing in front of my eyes filled with memories of you:
I remembered, my child, when you were a young child, you would hurriedly climb down from the sixth floor with your brother Mohamed to pray in the mosque. Our neighbors had later told us that they could tell the prayer times from the sound of you footsteps on the staircase. I also remembered when you would come home from school and hurry to do your homework. We would tell you to change your clothes first, but you would say no. I remembered you surrounded by kids on the stage of your elementary school reading the Qur’an and they would sing “Sing, O’ cub of faith, sing and praise the Qur’an.” I remembered as you were receiving your excellence award from the Doctors’ Association of Dakahlia in all three certificates. I remembered you at your Faculty of Dentistry in Tanta as you went about in the Students’ Union and Al-Mostakbal Family, and in your outstanding relationships with your professors and peers. I remembered your peers electing you the Alumni Trustee. And on your graduation day, your words were a letter that you brought along from Tahrir Square to your peers; your letter brought me to tears along with many others. I remembered in my conferences when I would ask the people around me for their feedback they would praise me, so I would say: “Someone bring Abdelrahman,” and you would tell me I was wrong in this and I repeated that… and I would find your notes useful. I remembered when you were assigned to the countryside during parliament and it would’ve been easy to change your place of assignment to somewhere closer to home, but you inspired me to set ourselves as a role model. You spent your term in the far away Assiut and Minya so that it could not be said that you used your father’s authority. I remembered in the last period when we took a tour together to choose a bigger clinic, one that had a section for ophthalmology and the other for dentistry—your field. But Allah had chosen a new status for you by His side. I ask Allah to grant him the highest of places and keep us in this vanishing life; bearing the lies of the liars, the injustice of the oppressors, battling the invalid, or to leave this world as martyrs so we would meet on the basin of our Prophet and we would be reimbursed for what were deprived of, the good company that our duties have taken us away from. To the next time we meet you, my child.”