by OMID SAFI for RELIGION NEWS SERVICE on DECEMBER 6, 2013: 
Omid Safi
The whole world is mourning the passing away of Nelson Mandela, affectionately known as Madiba. Many of us are listening to powerful and poignant eulogies, and we should. These are moment to pause, reflect, mourn, and recommit oneself to the healing of humanity.
However, I am also concerned that we are doing the same thing to Madiba that we have done to Malcolm X, and to a lesser extent, to Martin Luther King: whitewashing their radical prophetic legacy into nonthreatening champions of “reconciliation.”
As a corrective, here are three points to keep in mind:
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Omid Safi is a Professor of Islamic Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in contemporary Islamic thought and classical Islam, and a Carnegie Scholar. Above is an excerpt from a post from his regular blog “What Would Muhammad Do“ for Religion News Service.