It's been a few weeks since discovering the body of Abdullah Alkadi, and I still think about him non-stop. I'm sure many have read the articles about him. He was a Saudi student that mysteriously disappeared after selling his car on Craigslist. He lives in the same town as I do, which makes the case even more terrifying to me. I was so upset by the lack of media coverage on his disappearance, I wanted to take matters into my own hands. Surely, I couldn't do anything, but that was how angered I was by the situation. Although I understand he is not American, I do not feel that the media coverage or information should have been distributed any differently.
A few days ago there was a Denver Bronco's fan that went missing in the middle of the game, leaving his stepson alone completely. That made the front of AOL news and many other media outlets. He was found five days later outside a Kmart and just "had his fill of football" so decided to leave.
Abdullah was gone for an entire month without being found, very little media coverage, and not a trace. His brother and family were here in the States trying to assist in any possible way and they had to do plenty of their own digging to get answers. I'm very disappointed - as both an American and a girl with a heart that is undoubtedly half Saudi.
I barely knew Abdullah - just seeing him in passing - and I was not familiar with him. Reading through his Twitter - as fake as social media can be - I could tell he was genuinely a good person. He had a good heart. I knew that he didn't "have his fill of school" or something else and he wouldn't just leave his family out of nowhere.
Clearly, there was foul play involved.
When they found the murderers one month later, they found evidence of his murder in the car. They murdered him and dumped his body a few dozen miles from LA. The killer wanted to steal the car and ended up killing him in doing so.
You can Google the details if you'd like, but what is most important here is Alkadi's spirit. His words have a kindness about them, and a purity in my opinion that I was overwhelmed by the entire situation for the month. I felt like he was my brother, and I cannot imagine how his actual family is feeling.
The entire point of this post is this: Pray for Abdullah. Pray for Allah to have the utmost Mercy on him. Pray that he is granted shaheed as he was seeking knowledge as a student while he was killed. Pray that his family finds justice and that they find peace. Pray that this never happens to anyone again.
Also, I hope that we can in the future encourage the media to cover the disappearance of foreigners as they would do for the disappearance of Americans. I wonder, for example, how the media may cover my life should I be in a similar situation, as I am an American national, but I appear very different to other Americans.
If I could tell him or his family anything, as I'm fighting the tears while I type this, I would say that his purpose was to change the world, and I believe he fulfilled that. He had prayers from all over the world. His positivity greatly greatly impacted me in my personal life, and within just myself - a complete stranger - I will NEVER forget the way I felt about this story and the way I feel about him. He is in ALL of my prayers and I hope that I can have the absolute honor to meet him in Jannah someday, inshaAllah.
Allah yarhamo <3
