Some people, when they depart, do not extinguish a single light; rather, they change the very shape of darkness in the hearts of those who knew them. This is how the news of the passing of the noble educator Dr. Abdullah Ismail Al-Kandari appeared to me; he was not merely a name that passed through the news, but a man I met and whose sons and nephews I came to know, and in their faces I saw a calm extension of his character.
Those familiar with the history of education in Kuwait know that Abdullah Ismail Al-Kandari was not a passing figure. He assumed the presidency of the Kuwaiti Teachers Association at a time when issues of teachers and education were at the heart of public debate, and he carried the concerns of the profession into official forums, from local seminars to representing Kuwait in international educational meetings. He was of the kind who preferred his convictions to be known through his positions rather than through slogans.
Recent international research reminds us that the presence of a single teacher who is genuinely engaged can leave an impact that extends beyond the classroom. Educational reports and publications issued by organizations such as the OECD between 2021 and 2025 confirm that what a teacher does in the classroom, and the way in which he supports his relationship with students, are linked to improvements in students’ academic achievement and psychological well-being over the long term. Such findings lead us to read the lives of men of the caliber of Dr. Abdullah Al-Kandari not as names attached to positions, but as living examples of what one educator can accomplish when he takes his mission seriously.
Yet the image closest to my heart was not on platforms, but in the home. Recent research on character development among adolescents reminds us that a parent’s presence and style of upbringing are not secondary details; longitudinal studies have shown that parenting style, and particularly the warmth of the relationship with the father, are associated with the development of psychological resilience and more balanced behaviors during adolescence and early adulthood. When I look at his children and the relatives around him, I see a quiet translation of these findings: gracious morals, service to others, and a sense of responsibility that requires no announcement. This is a legacy not written in a curriculum vitae, but read in the conduct of the generation that emerges from a man’s home.
Loss, even if it appears in the moment as a sharp rupture, is presented more deeply by contemporary grief studies. The philosophy of “continuing bonds” in the attachment and bereavement literature, since the work of Klass, Silverman, and Nickman in 1996, holds that the relationship does not end with death, but rather reshapes itself in memory, behavior, and supplication. We do not “move on” from our loved ones; we learn how to carry them with us in another form.
Perhaps the most beautiful thing that can be said in mourning an educator like Dr. Abdullah Ismail Al-Kandari is that his impact was not buried with him. It still moves in a lesson explained by a teacher influenced by his words, in a student who loved his profession because someone respected his mind, and in a home from which sons and daughters emerge carrying his character in their daily dealings.
We ask God to grant him vast mercy, to reward him generously for his efforts in the service of education and humanity, and to make what he planted of knowledge and character in his children and students an ongoing charity that never ceases.
