Lesley Hazleton: The First Muslim author dies; pens a goodbye letter to the world

Chris Anderson, the curator of TED Conferences, shared Lesley Hazleton's last piece of writing on social media after her passing.

Seattle-based British-American author Lesley Hazleton, who intensely wrote about the blurring boundaries between politics and religion in her renowned works, passed away on April 29. But, before moving on to the higher plane, she penned a “goodbye letter," which she passed on to her friends via e-mail.

Still from What's Wrong with Dying? | Lesley Hazleton | TEDxSeattle.(TEDx Talks)

In her final written piece, Hazleton conveyed the “bad news, good news, and even better news,” detailing the cause of her demise as terminal cancer. Despite the startling subject of her letter, she addressed her journey leading up to her death as “a good goodbye” and asked her friends to be “glad” for her.

The three-tier revelation entailed the bad news that cancer had gotten the better of her. “I am officially six-months-terminal,” she wrote in the e-mail. The second bit of “good news” was that she felt “relatively fine. For the moment” despite a “couple of miserably bad episodes.”

The mentioned “even better news,” according to her, was that Washington state “has a Death with Dignity Act,” which meant that she had a choice over how she died. “I've been a pro-choice feminist for over six decades, so it should come as no surprise that I'll be exercising choice in this too," her letter informed.

Hazleton's goodbye letter, as shared by Chris Anderson, the curator of TED Conferences, on X/Twitter, is dated April 29, 2024 at 11:52:07 pm PDT. The First Muslim author clearly added therein, “By the time you read this, I'll already have exercised it. I'll have chugged down the prescribed meds, standing tall, then laid me down to sleep.”

Bursting with her distinctive energy, her final letter even takes us back to the mentions of her latest book, Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto (2016), and her 2017 TEDx Talk ‘What’s Wrong With Dying, as she confirmed, “I've lived far longer with the knowledge that this is the way I'd want to go.” Her final words are not of sadness, “but one of joy and amazement at how great” her life has been. Expressing her “immense gratitude” for the time spent, she also addressed the sensation of “wonderfully bearable lightness of being” in her farewell message.

Describing her life as one of “deep love and deep friendship,” she extended a message of being at peace. “I truly had the time of my life,” she continued.

Concluding her heartfelt address, she signed off by highlighting that the letter was being “sent on a time delay, so (she'd) be gone by the time you get it.”

“Please know that I'm writing it with a huge smile of love and gratitude, and sadness only at knowing that it will bring you sadness, and that I won't see you again,” ended Hazleton's letter.

About Lesley Hazleton

In 1945, the British-American author was born in England. Having spent a significant time of her life in Jerusalem, she eventually moved to Seattle in 1992. Her last work, Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto, came out in 2016 and was then credited as the New York Times Editors' Choice.

Lesley Hazleton wrote several other books on religion and politics, tracing roots of conflict, including her famed works The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad (2013), After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Hero Split (2009), Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen (2007) and more.

As a frequent TED speaker, the “Accidental Theologist” (her blog: AccidentalTheologist.com) took the stage in 2017 to humorously probe into “What's Wrong with Dying?” TEDx Talks described her take on the matter as “Hazleton uses wit and wisdom to challenge our ideas not only about death, but about what it is to live well.”

Honouring Lesley Hazleton's legacy

Chris Anderson, the head of TED, took to X/Twitter on May 2 (IST), to share the author's goodbye letter to the world. Linking yet another on of her TED talks from 2013 titled, “The doubt essential to faith,” he wrote on social media: “THIS is how you say goodbye. An astonishing woman. This talk of hers was so brave, so powerful. https://go.ted.com/6RaJ And this letter is simply stunning. Rest in peace, dear Lesley. Your words, your wisdom will be with us forever.”

In 2011, The Stranger honoured her with the Genius Awards in Literature. After her passing, the Seattle-based media outlet's Charles Mudede celebrated her esteemed presence, writing “I Will Miss Her Terribly.”