When a scholar a dies, many of us feel as though a part of us has
died. I’m sure this is how some of us felt when Zaki Badawi, or Ali
Jaber, or Edward Said, or Clifford Geertz died. And, when they die,
we also feel that sense of loss, because we understand that an era of
our own lives has closed.
And, when these great masters leave us, many of us feel a taste of
that deep sorrow that Abu Bakr felt, when he realized that the sweet
taste of new revelation was at its end, because we know that we’ll no
longer see new works by them.
Such is how I felt when Marlon Brando died a couple of years ago, and
such is how I feel with the death of Robert Altman. I think the first
filmmaker I ever studied was a person named Luis Bunuel. I think
Altman was the second.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that these individuals, like Altman,
affected my growth in ways that some of our great Islamic scholars did
(or did not) affect me.
By the way, Altman’s long time collaborator was an Iranian, Reza Badiyi.
From God do we come and to Him we return.