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True to Covenant… in His Eyes

True to Covenant… in His Eyes
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Nour Rida, 16-02-2010

"Of the believers are men who are true to the covenant which they made with Allah: so of them is he who accomplished his vow, and of them is he who yet waits, and they have not changed in the least, Almighty Allah has spoken the truth. Sayyed Abbas Moussawi was true to the covenant and died a martyr,"


He was the man who motivated people, young and old, to resist against the brutal Zionist occupation of Lebanon. 

 

True to Covenant… in His Eyes

 

On the memory of this great leader's martyrdom, which coincides with the resistance week, we visited his son Yasser, and recalled together through an interview Sayyed Abbas the father, the leader, and the guide. 


Yasser sat on a sofa with his father's photographs above his head, the son of a leader who for two hours spoke with pride, yet with pain, and longing for his father.

True to Covenant… in His Eyes Sayyed Yasser, in his late thirties and a father of three, seemed as if time traveled and went back to the times he shared with Sayyed Abbas. 


"Talking about my father revives different feelings inside me, those of passion and longing, as I lost my father at the age of fifteen." Sayyed Yasser said. 


"Despite the pressure and loads of work my father had to deal with, he was always there for the family, in the very different ways."


As the son recalls, Sayyed Abbas was often away from home due to hard and constant work on founding the Islamic resistance. "I remember very well he had to stay away from home for maybe a month or more due to work each time, but he would still pass by to check up on us." 


He recalls an incident, as if re-living the moment... "I still remember once, I woke up and saw him kissing me in the early morning, but I quickly dozed off again. When I woke up later, I asked my mom if our father had really passed by or it was just a dream, she confirmed he was there, and it was not the only time he did such a thing." 


Being a leader with chores and woes of a whole nation to worry about did not stop Sayyed Abbas from being a father or following up with his children and family. 


Sayyed Yasser remembers saying "our father, despite the heaps of work and pressure he had to take, still had moments to live; these were pivotal moments to us. One of which is the Friday prayers where he used to preach the people in Baalbeck. He also taught us to keep up with reading the different prayers and strengthen our bond with our creator the Almighty. 


The most beautiful thing we did with dad was reading a Du'a (prayer) every Friday morning in the martyrs square in Baalbeck, which later became sort of a tradition in other regions of the country." 


True it is he was a man of leadership and religion, but he also never neglected his chores as a father.
"My father was consistently following up with the different aspects of our life. I still remember, he would surprise us sometimes with a question like: so where did you reach so far in mathematics? He would even ask us to solve a couple equations with him or recite a lesson we had to learn by heart." 

 

True to Covenant… in His Eyes


Sayyed Yasser continued with a soft smile. "He was always concerned about our well-being. He also gave us advice on friendship, on how to choose our friends who we should stay faithful to for life. My father taught us how to take part in the resistance path he paved, simply through donating for the resistance movement, even if with a penny of our personal and humble allowance." 

 


"This phase was the phase of founding and launching the Islamic resistance, it was one of the most difficult yet beautiful stages. Now, after we have grown older, we realized the importance of Sayyed Abbas's teachings and advices, and we realize how hard our father strived so that we would follow his lead." 


"When we grow up, we take part of our childhood with us to another level. On this note, Sayyed Yasser said that his childhood is always present with him "As I move on in life, the experience I had still lives with me and I try to deliver it to others. I am very proud that I

 

lived through that phase and realized that all I learned to do was for the sake of God the Almighty and for the sake of the plight. I lived a phase of unlimited and unconditional giving and sacrifice."

 

True to Covenant… in His Eyes


Sayyed Yasser, the eldest among his siblings says that his father had left him many recommendations that were all delivered through incidents and not necessarily through words.
"Through living with Sayyed Abbas, one can conclude a number of advices or recommendations." He said. 


"I recall one time I accompanied my father in his trip to a poor area known as Wadi Abu Jamil. When we arrived, my father said: I brought you with me today so that you would feel the agony and suffering of the people. I wanted you to see with your own eyes the suffering of the people in the occupied region." 

 


"He taught me to share with people their distress and problems and to help them." He continued.
Sayyed Yasser joined his fathering many of his journeys with the resistance fighters, and the lesson he extracted from those trips was that resistance is a promise he must keep and that it is a path that should last until the end of time. 

True to Covenant… in His Eyes

Being the son of a leader did not give Yasser a privilege to ask for whatever he wanted, or order guards to do him favors and services. "I was not allowed to ask any of my father's personal guards for a favor or service. On the contrary, Sayyed Abbas taught me to be at the service of others."

 

 
"I also learned from the few years I lived with my father that dealing with people is something very sensitive. It is a big responsibility especially that these people are supporters of the resistance."


And then came the time when we spoke about the leader's martyrdom, Yasser's eyes flooded with tears. "I was supposed to be with my family in that car the "Israeli" helicopters targeted, but I was sick and had to stay home. Right before my parents left, dad entered the room and asked if I wanted to go with them, but I was too sick and weak to go. He kissed me on the forehead and said "this is a chance you are going to miss!"

True to Covenant… in His Eyes
"The car in which my father, mother and younger brother rode was bombarded. Soon my uncle arrived to our place in an attempt to take control of the situation, especially that people had started to know by then that Sayyed Abbas was assassinated. Right away, I felt uneasy, something was wrong. Upon asking my uncle about my father he burst into tears. At that time, I understood things were not going well. By the time it was 7:00 p.m., news about my father's martyrdom were everywhere." 


Silence filled the air; words were inadequate for Yasser to express his feelings.
Within a few seconds his voice rose again as he said "We were taught that no calamity is greater than that of Imam Hussein's, and so we shall be patient and endure the pain. Another precious lesson we learned from our father." 

True to Covenant… in His Eyes


"The "Israeli" enemy was mistaken when though that such a step would weaken our society, and would devastate its confidence in the resistance. On the contrary, my father's martyrdom was a motive for many people to pursue the path of the resistance." Sayyed Yasser added. 


"I am the eldest son of Sayyed Abbas which increases my responsibility. Of course I am a human being and I have my flaws, but I try my best to work with all I have learned from my father, through every move I make and every step I take. Not only I try to give a good image, but also I work according to everything my father taught me even if I were in a place where no one knew who I am. I try to please and obey my Lord, and practically set a good example to others." 


At the end of the interview, a message from a loving son to his father and leader, renewing the pledge to follow the path of the resistance and keeping a promise to strive in defense of the resistance and its cause. "Thank God the resistance has achieved divine victory, and is uneatable in the face of all the Zionist and American schemes that were doomed to failure. We have kept our promise, and will do so as you have recommended. This resistance was like a precious child that you brought to the world and raised, and now, it is tough in the face of the Zionist enemy, strong and up straight."



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