Monday, February 7, 2022

Rayan of Chefchaouen and the tragedy that united Arabs from the Gulf to the ocean

When the Arab TV channels announced late Saturday night that the Moroccan child Rayan was rescued and retrieved from that deep well in a remote area in Rif Mountains’ Chefchaouen , it was a moment of hope after nearly of 100 hours of anxiety.

Rayan and a small goat in happier times
Rayan and a small goat in happier times "Twitter"

The video of the rescue members team transferring Rayan wrapped in a foil blanket gave hope to many that the 5-years-old boy can make it after four days in 32m deep dry well.

Little Rayan in the foil blanket after his retrieval in the outskirts of Chefchaouen
Little Rayan in the foil blanket after his retrieval in the outskirts of Chefchaouen 
"Mosaab El-Shamy for AP" 

After all , the Moroccan media gave us information that medical teams hours earlier were looking after him.

It was a short moment of hope unfortunately like the many moment of hopes in the Arab World. It ended by a statement issued by the Moroccan Royal Court. 

The Moroccan Royal Court announced 20 minutes or less after the initial hopeful moment that Rayan passed away and that rare moment of hope turned into the a moment of sadness and despair

King Mohamed IV who did not issue a single statement about the incident in those four days presented his condolences to Rayan’s Parents via mobile phone as Moroccan TV cameras recorded the moment in unbelievable scene showing the faces of the sad grieving and extremely tired parents !!!

Why would the Moroccan state-owned TV record that sad moment ?? What do they want to prove !? That Mohamed IV was too human and cared for his own people !? If he and his men really cared , he would not have allowed the TV to air that private moment.

Another thing in this tragedy and unfortunately no one wants to bring it up.

As someone who stuck by a glue in front of Al Jazeera TV channel on Saturday and million others across the Arab world saw another moment recorded lived hours before Rayan was retrieved from the well.

I remember seeing his father and mother leaving the ambulance in front of that makeshift trench to stand in front of TV cameras.

We could not see what they did or said coz the cameras were in front of us from a far.

That moment as millions saw live and we did not know what was happening !!

Already watching the video of that Royal condolences again with sound on , I hear the prayers of the villagers which were hours before the official statement of the Royal court was issued.

I apologized for sharing it but it is important.

Here is the video of the prayers.

I do not know if that was the moment they got the Royal call or not 100 percent but if it was the Royal call then the Moroccan authorities knew about Rayan’s death hours before the original announcement !!

Did they know that he was dead in the well and waited to get his body to announce it !? Why to wait then and gave false hope for millions !? 

Could not the King wait till the parents get their son’s body and then call them !? Many questions run in my mind. Rayan had a huge public funeral in his hometown on Monday. 

Many Moroccans are wondering the same.

Anyhow King Mohamed IV wanted to get his moment but his overshadowed by a simple farmer boy who is mourned by millions of Arabs sincerely.

Egypt’s Football fans brought his photo to the final game of the AFCON 2022 between Egypt and Senegal.

Here is a Rayan Graffiti in the heart of Upper Egypt , in Sohag.

In Tunisia , A Tunisian baker presented a free bread in tribute to Rayan.

A absentee funeral prayer was held for Rayan in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Pope of the Vatican mourned him.

More important , farmers across the Rif region in Morocco are covering the dry wells to make sure that small children do not end up like Rayan.

Needless to say , I wonder why those rural villages in Morocco like Rayan’s village lack basic needs just like any Arab North African country.

It was noticeable thing for me that journalists did not make reports about Rayan and his family or his village in depth in those four days.

The village women who supported the family of Rayan and the rescue team
by cooking for them for free during their research for Rayan
"Mosaab El-Shamy for AP"

Will there be any question or inquiry in the parliament in Morocco about the incident !? I highly doubt it.

Another thing I can’t ignore in Rayan’s tragedy is how it spread like fire across the Arab world without any state or official intervention.

It was through the social media and not in the Franco-Arab North Africa countries as some claimed.

I think on Wednesday or Thursday Rayan’s story began to go viral on social media in the Arab world with hashtags #SaveRayan in Arabic and English.

I open Facebook Thursday morning to find it flooded with prayers from Egyptian moms and grandmas that the young boy returns to his mama’s safely.

The prayers were shared across the Arab World reaching to Al-Azhar and Haramain Sharifien , Sunni Islam’s highest institutions in the World.

Rayan’s story in the well stroke a cord with its similarity to the Youssef/Joseph’s story in the well and Younes/Jonah’s story in the Whale in the Bible/Quran. Those similarities were reflected in the prayers called God to protect Rayan just like Prophets Joseph and Johan.

The anxiety and anticipation reached to the climax on Saturday when millions of Arabs not only Moroccan glued in front of the Arab news TV channels and social media network to follow live the latest updates of rescue that farmer’s little son.

It was one of the rare collective moments I felt that we are as Arab citizens truly united despite all our difference , in fact in those moments we found ourselves not so different and the same complaints, hope and simple dreams are the same from the Gulf to the ocean.

Arab Tweeps shared many comics mourning Rayan showing him being welcomed to Heaven by none other than Palestinian Mohamed El-Dora and his friend Syrian Alan Kurd.


Arab children are not really living their childhood whether especially in areas like Syria and Yemen.

By the way , currently there is a case of a Syrian boy who was abducted in Daraa for a ransom. The kidnappers sent an awful video showing him beaten naked while screaming “For the sake of Allah do not beat me”. The boy’s name is Fawaz and he is 6 years old.

According to my knowledge , he was kidnapped in a regime-controlled area. His father announced on Saturday that his clan gathered the ransom to save his son.

Yup , this is another Arab child in Syria.

Anyhow May God bless the soul of Rayan , bring patience to his family and return Fawaz to his family.

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