ANGELS ARE MADE OF LIGHT
from the EDITING ROOM FLOOR : interview : hikmat
Hikmat (right) talking with his friend, Nabiullah, who is featured in Angels Are Made Of Light; Hikmat’s interview - about the death of his younger brother, Naveed, in a suicide bombing - was not used in the film, but the transcript is available to read:
Hikmatullah - or hikmat - was 13 years old in December, 2014, when we RECORDED HIS STORY during a 50-minute audio interview
THE TRANSLATION FROM DARI IS EXACT, with some [notes].
T378_1.WAV - T379_1.WAV
INTERVIEW WITH HIKMAT
2014_12_04
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
INTERVIEW: SABOOR ARGHANDIWAL
SOUND: JAMES LONGLEY
18:47:41:21
We were riding in a car
and the driver was going so fast.
My father told him to “slow down
18:47:49:07
so we don’t have an accident,”
and the driver said “okay.”
18:47:52:10
18:47:55;22
When were near the gate of the ministry,
there was a gigantic boom.
18:48:02:02
18:48:03:13
I passed out.
18:48:05:03
18:48:05:21
Half the people were lying on the street.
18:48:08:15
Half the people were lying on the street.
18:48:11;19
Others were running.
Others were covered in blood.
18:48:16:04
They were lying on the street.
They could not stand;
their arms and legs were blown off.
18:48:20:19
..
Their arms and legs were blown off.
18:48:24:04
They were lying on the ground, looking around;
18:48:27:04
there was nobody to help them,
18:48:30:11
to take them away.
18:48:31:19
The ambulance came after 5 minutes;
18:48:34;17
They took everyone away.
18:48:36:19
18:48:39:11
My father and I walked away.
My head was wrapped in a neckerchief.
18:48:44:17
18:48:46:19
We were looking for Naveed -
18:48:48:12
- to take my brother -
18:48:50:15
My father took my brother out of the car.
18:48:55:06
When we went back, those soldiers pointed their guns at us.
18:48:59:12
18:49:00:22
We lay on the ground.
18:49:02:15
Some of the people knelt on the pavement.
18:49:05:09
Some of the people were standing.
18:49:06:19
The soldiers told us, “Don’t move.”
18:49:08:09
18:49:10:21
We raised our hands and my father told them
“We have a wounded person here. Can’t you see we are also wounded?”
18:49:19:08
By the time we took my brother out of the car
so many ambulances had arrived.
18:49:23:14
So many ambulances came and they took the people, and also us,
18:49:28:06
then the firefighters came and cleaned up all the blood and everything.
18:49:31:21
The ambulance was driving very fast.
18:49:35:14
18:49:38:18
When they took us
18:49:40:16
to the hospital
18:49:42:00
there were beds and doctors and everything.
18:49:46:03
They put us on the beds.
18:49;48:14
They inspected us and then took the martyrs to the morgue
18:49:52;07
and the wounded were written in the list of wounded.
18:49:58:13
They took me there [the room for wounded] and they stitched me up.
18:50:03:09
There was another man whose arm and leg had been blown off.
When they were sewing him the poor guy was screaming like anything.
18:50:12:07
He was yelling out: “Don’t do it, Mr. Doctor!”
18:50:15:18
The doctor answered him, “Just endure it if you want to survive.”
18:50:20:14
While they were sewing up his arm and leg
they were stitching up this place [points to right side of own face] because it was all torn up.
18:50:29:10
When it started hurting a lot I grabbed onto the railing of the bed until they finished.
18:50:37:20
They finished and my uncles came in after a few minutes.
18:50:42:11
18:50:47:08
They looked at the list of wounded
and he [Naveed] wasn’t there.
18:50:51:07
He wasn’t in the list of wounded so
they went to check the rooms for martyrs. [morgue]
18:50:59:05
18:51:02:23
My uncle went to the morgue
and they saw my brother as soon as they opened the door.
18:51:09:03
They started crying and yelling -
18:51:12:07
and I didn’t know because I was unconscious.
18:51:15:18
After they stitched me up -
18:51:17:11
18:51:21:12
Doctors were coming by every minute.
18:51:23:10
They said “Are you okay,”
and I replied “I’m fine, thank God,”
18:51:26:02
“how is my brother, Naveed?”
I was thinking about him constantly.
18:51:29:17
I loved his life more than my own.
18:51:31:22
I was asking: “Where is he?”
And they were saying, “He’s fine - you’re in worse shape than he is.”
18:51:36:19
“God willing, you’ll both be fine.”
18:51:39:06
18:51:42:11
They took him [Hikmat’s father] to his cousin’s house.
18:51;44:20
Then he changed clothes;
18:51:47:08
he changed into white clothes.
18:51:49:19
His uncle embraced him.
18:51:54:06
18:51:57:18
“Make your heart strong; your son has passed away.”
My father cried.
18:52:01:21
They cried, and then
18:52:03:20
they brought in [to the courtyard] the body.
18:52:05:22
For a few minutes my mother, grandfather and grandmother and the others
looked at him.
18:52:11:03
When they saw him like that
18:52:14:09
they fell senseless in the yard.
18:52:17:04
They took him away and buried him.
18:52:19:13
-
18:52:39:09
I barely heard the sound of the explosion;
18:52:43:02
it exploded with huge sound.
18:52:45:21
The car jumped high in the air
and when it landed
18:52:48:05
I was injured and fell senseless.
18:52:51:15
Some of the people were running away.
Some remained.
18:52:55:13
At the moment the explosion happened -
18:52:58:06
18:53:34:13
The car was stuck in traffic.
18:53:37:02
It was in traffic.
18:53:39:00
Suddenly the car jumped high in the air.
18:53:41:17
It jumped up high and landed hard.
18:53:45:00
All the windows shattered.
18:53:46:11
It was wintertime
so our windows were all rolled up.
18:53:49:12
The windows were shattered and the fragments flew at us along with gravel.
18:53:53:05
A piece of glass hit my brother in his vein [jugular?]
and he collapsed.
18:53:57:19
My face was also covered in glass and gravel.
18:54:01:06
My face was injured, and so was my father’s,
18:54:03:17
and the driver - everyone was collapsed on the ground.
18:54:05:21
At the same time, people were running away toward Murad Khani and 40 Meter Road.
18:54:11:00
Many people were lying on the pavement and the median.
18:54;17:09
They were lying injured from pieces of glass and gravel.
The policemen were coming at a run.
18:54:23:20
The policemen were looking out for other suicide bombers trying to explode themselves.
18:54:29:01
There was a lot of gunfire
and everyone scattered.
It was deserted;
18:54;32:11
there wasn’t a single soul,
18:54:34:10
just two or three passersby on the sidewalks.
18:54:37:06
Those people were running;
my father gave them a handkerchief to bind up my head.
18:54:43:14
18:54:44:19
When they bound it up
18:54:46;06
I felt hemmed in [claustrophobic]
and I pulled the kerchief down to my neck.
18:54;50;15
When I pulled it down to my neck it was covered in blood.
18:54:53:09
My father was jumping in front of cars. [trying to stop them]
18:54:56;13
There was no ambulance, and they were begging to be taken to the hospital, or home.
But nobody paid attention.
18:55:03:05
They were driving as fast as they could in their cars.
18:55:05:16
They were speeding past us.
18:55:08:21
My father held out his arms to them
but no car stopped.
18:55;12:13
They just drove past.
18:55:14:01
After five minutes
the ambulances arrived.
18:55:16:22
18:55:38:01
Those who are suicide bombers, or the like:
18:55;41:06
they will go to Hell.
They have no bright future, or anything.
18:55:47:11
They are killing the Muslims and their families.
18:55:50:03
No house has been untouched by this fire.
18:55:55:03
18:55:57:23
No house is left untouched
18:56:00:07
by sorrow.
18:56:02:05
[skip]
19:04:04:18
At the moment of the explosion
19:04:07:04
a piece of shrapnel went right into his brain and he died on the spot,
without even a whisper.
19:04:13:07
He couldn’t even say “Ah!”
19:04:14:17
When they took him to the hospital,
19:04:16:20
they said: “We’ve lost him now.”
19:04:19:15
Those doctors said.
And so they took him to the morgue.
19:04:23:05
My father also didn’t know about it for a couple of hours.
19:04:27:03
19:05:22:04
I felt so bad.
19:05:25:01
It would have been better had I died instead of him.
19:05:27:01
19:06:02:02
In that time,
I was in the hospital for four days
19:06:04:23
and when they took me home ...
19:06:07:17
19:06:15:12
They were just deceiving me:
19:06:17:09
“Your brother is injured and he’s in the same hospital.”
And others told me:
“Your uncle has taken him to be cured in a foreign country.”
19:06:28:17
“They’ll cure his legs.”
19:06:30:13
When I saw a crowd of people around [his house] -
19:06:34:10
When I saw the crowd of people I thought to myself:
“Maybe my brother was killed.”
19:06:41:03
I had different thoughts.
19:06:45:01
My cousin came and opened the door quickly.
I was sleeping in a room and all the people gathered around me.
19:06:53:20
Someone came, and they said:
“Come, she is here because of Naveed.”
19:06:57:14
The neighbor came because of Naveed.
[I thought] “Maybe Naveed has been killed, since everyone is coming because of him.”
19:07:05:04
She came because of Naveed.
My uncle told me - “No - she’s just stupid.”
19:07:11:15
19:07:59:14
I was sitting like that with my uncle’s mobile in my hand.
19:08:04:03
My grandfather told my father:
“Let’s tell the boy.”
19:08:08:19
So my father said,
“Come close to me.”
And when I did
19:08:11:15
19:08:13:05
my father told me there -
he said,
“By the will of God your brother was martyred and left this world.”
19:08:18:11
“My son, be strong.
19:08:20:05
You loved your brother a lot.”
19:08:22:09
And there I cried out loudly.
19:08:27:18
I could not contain it.
I said, “let’s go to his grave.”
and we went there.
19:08:32:22
19:08:43:21
We went to his grave,
19:08:45;21
we prayed there.
19:08:48:11
We recited the Holy Qur’an over him.
19:08:50:18
My father bought 14 kilos of oranges
19:08:54:17
and when the children and all the people came by
19:08:58:00
he gave them out as charity.
19:08:59:20
When we visited his grave on Fridays
we prepared sweets.
19:09:06:21
We went to his grave and handed out the sweets as charity on Fridays.
19:09:13:16
19:09:20:04
Sometimes when I remember him
my thoughts take me away.
19:09:26:04
19:09:34:02
We were always together.
19:09:35:19
We had a strong friendship.
19:09:38:12
Everywhere I went, he was with me -
19:09:40:21
everywhere we went, home or anywhere,
19:09:43:09
all my meals - everything was with him.
19:09:45:22
19:10:37:09
We were all sad - my father’s sisters,
my mother’s sisters,
19:10:41;10
but my father’s sister and mother’s sister were crying the most
19:10:46;11
with my father and mother.
19:10:49:13
When we went to his grave
my father’s sister beat the earth with her hands.
19:10:56:00
She put a handful of dust from the grave into her pocket
19:10:58:20
because she loved him a lot.
19:11:01:17
19:11:14;12
I get very sad,
and I wish he could also be with us.
19:11;19:20
19:11:36:11
I missed the funeral and the reception because I was in the hospital.
19:11;40;20
19:12:00:19
When my father tells me about it,
19:12:02:19
he says,
“Many people came to his funeral.”
19:12:07:18
19:12;41:07 [talking about his brother, Naveed]
His heart was always with the poor.
19:12:46;03
19:13:23:03 [day before the bombing]
That day it was a Friday.
19:13;26;01
He was very happy.
19:13;27;11
He was happy and walking together with all of his friends.
19:13:33;12
He went to his father’s sister’s house
to his mother’s sister’s house
and his grandfather and grandmother’s house.
19:13:38:00
He went everywhere and fetched water for everyone,
then went strolling
19:13:42:15
with his friends.
And the next day he was killed.
19:13:46;22
19:14;24:08
Every time I see a boy his age with his face
19:14:30:11
I am reminded of him.
19:14:32:11
19:15:27:22
When I’m alone in the shop
19:15;30:17
my heart grows heavy,
and I wish he were with me.
19:15:36:19
For example - when my father’s customers come,
19:15:39:10
when there’s a crowd,
I can’t fill their orders.
19:15:43:00
19:15:47:00
When he was alive it was good:
he would help me with the scales and bringing the sacks,
19:15:52:09
and he would take the peoples’ orders to them on a cart.
19:15:56:11
19:18:18:23
My brother was Naveed,
19:18:21;14
he was my brother.
19:18:23:03
He understood everything.
He was ranked second in his class;
19:18:26:06
he was intelligent,
and he kept second position until the fourth grade.
19:18:30:09
19:18:54;21
He was clever in English and the Holy Qur’an.
19:18:57;12
He was clever in all of his school subjects;
19:19:01:00
he understood and he studied.
19:19:02:13
19:23:45:03
My name is Hikmatullah.
19:23:47:04
I have a friend named Nabiullah.
19:23:50:08
They’re next to our shop. [Nabiullah’s father’s liver stand]
19:23;53;11
They sell liver kebab
and we sell groceries like flour and oil.
19:24:00:02
Their school is near Lahore Gate
and our school is in Ashakan-e-Arafan.
19:24:03:23
When we became friends [with Nabiullah]
I went to his house and he came to our house during Eid.
19:24;11;14
We have given each other the hand of brotherhood.
19:24:14:04
We’re always together,
19:24:16:07
every minute of the day.
19:24:17:23
19:24;54;21
We are good friends now.
He’s a very nice boy:
19:24:59:07
he’s very polite.
19:25:01:03
So we put our hands together in brotherhood,
19:25:04:20
and now we’re good friends and pals.
19:25:07:11
19:25:18:09
Little by little I got to be friends with him,
19:25:23;15
because I didn’t want to tell him straight away.
Maybe he would wonder what my reason was.
19:25:30:08
19:25:31:09
Little by little we became friends.
19;25:34;05
Friendship is good
- it’s enough.
19:25:36:19
Fighting with people and such …
19:25:39:11
We have seen so much pain and suffering.
Enough.
19:25;43:01
Now I want to have friendship,
19:25:45:00
to bring peace to Afghanistan.
19:25:47:20
19:26:03:00
I saw Nabiullah at his stand [liver stand]
19:26:06;14
on the first or second day I came to the shop.
19:26:09:16
I saw that he was smiling at everyone.
19:26:13:15
He came and greeted me.
I liked him.
19:26;17:20
I thought - he’s a nice boy - so I said hello.
19:26:21:04
I sat with him and our friendship slowly grew
19:26:25:06
19:26:34:00
Nabiullah ...
19:26:35:01
19:26:38:18
You can pass your time with him.
19:26:40:03
————-[NEW FILE]————-
19:31:32:07
I saw my brother in a dream.
19:31:34:17
19:31:49:09
I was sleeping at home, and I dreamed about him in the night.
19:31:53:17
I was sleeping, and I saw that
19:31:56;23
light was pouring down
and he was dressed all in white.
19:32:02:18
He was clean and spotless
19:32:05:09
when I saw him.
19:32:08:13
I said,
“Naveed, what are you doing here - you were martyred.”
19:32:13:04
He said “I was martyred, but I have come to see you once again.”
19:32:17:14
He said “I come to see you every night,
19:32:22:06
but you can’t see me.”
19:32;25:07
I spoke with him for several minutes.
19:32:28:16
He said, “You can’t see me, but I can see you.”
19:32:32:21
He was wearing clean white clothes.
19:32:34:20
He was standing in the garden
and an old man came;
19:32:39:09
he said, “Naveed, my child,
19:32:41:10
let’s go - it’s time to eat.”
19:32:43:23
When he went away I awoke.
19:32:46;19
I woke up to the morning call to prayer.
19:32:49:08
19:34:24:00
It had been a long time;
19:34:25:07
I had even forgotten his face,
19:34:27:23
and I hadn’t seen him,
19:34:29:18
and I missed him so much.
So I asked God to send him to my dreams.
19:34:34:12
19:35;17:10
He came to my mother’s dream every hour.
19:35:20:22
My mother saw him often in her dreams.
19:35:23:04
19:35:25:04
He would come into my mother’s dreams,
and though my father wept -
19:35:29:01
he didn’t appear in my father’s dreams.
19:35:30:18
19:35:59:02
He was wearing a white cap on his head
19:36:02:17
and his clothes were shining white.
19:36:05;21
COMPLETE FILE
Hikmat at 13, 2014, Kabul, Afghanistan