It’s been a mixed week on Twitter with the intense sadness aroused by the death of Emirati soldier Hazim Obaid Al Ali who was training in Saudi Arabia, a quirky hash tag exploring our commitment to suhoor and much talk of clever inventions.
Death of a soldier
Those who doubt that a social network can genuinely feel anything at all, let alone grieve, may change their mind after this week. Everyone – and I mean, everyone – paid tribute and mourned the death of the 40-year-old non-commissioned officer.
It became a regional story with the regional Twitterscape describing it as a sad day for the GCC as a whole. Not only was he serving his country, he was safeguarding the whole region’s shared interest, many tweeted.
Al Ali died during exercises as part of the UAE Armed Forces’ involvement in the Saudi-led Operation Restoring Hope in Yemen.
Many were admiring of the soldier’s love for the UAE, with @dhayalriyadh and @Ghalia1moh among several who quoted Al Ali’s brother’s remark: “I saw a smile on my brother’s face and he was glowing.”
Abdualaziz @mr_abdualaziz1 prayed for the soldier and others who died in similar circumstances and Rakan @R55h tweeted his fervent hope that “Allah accepts him as a martyr in this holy month of Ramadan”.
@shsm_ said that Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had asked Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to convey his condolences to the bereaved family of the soldier.
A strange hash tag
The hash tag #what if your lover was suhoor prompted a lot of humour. And the occasional bit of sarcasm.
But that’s hardly surprising. After all, who can imagine their beloved as suhoor?
There’s been a lot of discussion about who thought up this hash tag and why. The consensus is that they were fasting. And possibly light-headed for lack of food. Or perhaps it’s about that basic truth – what we like to eat at suhoor before a whole day of fasting is the food we like the most in the world. Perhaps this was the idea sought to be conveyed through this unusual hash tag.
Anyway, it prompted a lot of Twitter-chatter. Some played a straight bat and genuinely listed what they liked. Rashid @Rashid0876R said he would imagine his lover as Vimto; @h_n_RM_ fantasised about fruit salad and Shabeeb @shabebalrumaihi desired salted caramel.
@aooomr wondered if people without lovers could join in the conversation.
But @lair444 said it was a pointless exchange. “This hash tag is absolutely ridiculous,” he tweeted.
Ghadeer @_Ghadeer96 agreed that it was “kind of dumb” and Ahmed @Ahmed_moha_s said the only reason anyone even noticed this “silly hashtag” was because school was over.
@mutayymh tweeted to whoever invented the hash tag: “I can’t imagine that fasting is affecting you this much.”
@2Generalinfo advised tweeters to stay clear of silly topics. “Boredom makes humans hallucinate.”
And Fawaz @fawaz_080 tweeted an angry emoticon, saying the culprit behind the hashtag deserved worse.
If I were an inventor
Perhaps it was something to do with the special reflectiveness that comes upon most people during the holy month, but Twitter really got going on the “what if” question.
Not counterfactual history but “what if” I were an inventor? What would I invent?
@zafermeem said: “I will invent a device that can reveal racists so that we can put them in jail and try to come up with a vaccine to cure them.”
@beso2014hammam said he would invent a device that would “help remove the following impurities from the heart: envy, hate and grudges”.
Asma @asma_alrajeh wanted to create a device that would allow her to take control of her life remotely, so that she could “mute some people and rewind the good times and fast forward time rather than waiting.”
Noha @noha__abdeen wanted to invent something that would help beat the scorching summer heat. “A huge air conditioner that can cool the air in the streets and reduce the heat to 23 degrees Celsius for the whole year.”
Ahmed @A_HM_E_D agreed, tweeting “I want to invent a huge umbrella that can cover the whole city”.
But @abomshaab1990 thought the most magical invention of all would be a moneymaking machine. “A magical device like a microwave, which would turn newspapers into money, wood into money and sand into money.”
Sarah Khamis is The National’s social media editor
salalawi@thenational.ae
On Twitter: @SarahKhamisUAE
