From Sheikh Ragheb, to Sayyed Abbas and Hajj Imad...Epic Stories of Resistance Leaders

Linda Ajami

From Iran the Revolution to Palestine the Cause, one sole polestar scintillates the ultimate path of the nearing liberation...

From Jibshit to and throughout Nabi Shit, an old love story of a blessed land, which God's devout men will inherit one day...

And from the do-gooders, a clique of those who had gone, yet still utterly vivid and present...Sayyed Abbas, Sheikh Ragheb, and Hajj Imad, the everlasting heroes.

The Leader of the Resistance and the Master of all Martyrs...

"He was the humblest, yet the most active, not giving the impression of a Chief with thousands of fighters at his command," says the Imam of Sidon's Al-Quds Mosque, Sheikh Maher Hammoud, as raking up some memories of that stiff yet beautiful time, the time of earnest strive, when he spent with him long years of communication and decampment.

Little did Sayyed Abbas condone mundane choices; he instead renounced worldly pleasures and lived through modesty and humbleness.

Once, he felt drowsy while on a visit to Sheikh Hammoud. As humble as he was, he slept on the rug and resisted tiredness as he had numerous chores to achieve and as little time was left for him to sleep.
Sayyed Abbas was not typically a Chief for the Mujahedeen. He was rather their brother and their fellow. He always asked about them and checked on them. He was as close and cordial to each of them. He even shouldered them on the fronts and kept contact with them though operation rooms and contact devices.
In fact, the landmark site of Mlita, once-upon-a-time a confrontation front, is nowadays a witness of the said presence.

Neither the fanciness nor the weal of life meant a thing to him. Flatly standing apart, he slammed scholars interested in mundane aspects. Once, he received as a gift a brand-new armored Mercedes, which he turned down and returned. He considered that he wouldn't even use any vehicle, had it not been for security reasons, cleaving to the fatality and inevitability of death. Indeed, he was martyrized by gruesome missiles, which no armors or reinforcements could have warded off.

On another visit, an affordable toy in some store drew the attention of his son Yasser and the boys there bought it for him. When Sayyed knew, he amply apologized to Sheikh Hammoud and said he wouldn't have paid such a price for a toy, because he sought to raise his children on simplicity and humbleness.
On a third visit, Sheikh Hammoud was still sleeping and Sayyed Moussawi refused to wake him up; he preferred to wait for him.
As if he knew he didn't have much left to live. He never lost his time. Instead, he devoted himself and his life to serving the Islamic action and Jihad. He didn't even like jokes, but used to say that major missions and great duties were pending. These were the very missions and duties that prevented him from sleeping at night and gathering with his family and relatives.

Once, he was meeting with Sheikh Hammoud at the headquarters of the General Secretariat. As discussions remained unfinished, the pair decided to continue their talks on their way to Damascus the day after. But Sayyed Moussawi felt asleep and did not wake up until he reached Damascus. With a sense of humor, Sheikh Hammoud said, "But we haven't talked." Sayyed replied that he could only sleep in the car, because he didn't have time to do it elsewhere. Moreover, flu or so were good news to his family, because they would then have the chance to spend some time with him, away from his work and many concerns.
The Sayyed, who was extremely merciful and clement to the devout and do-gooders, was nonetheless cruel to whoever crossed the limits of respecting God. Once, he grabbed one Lebanese official from his clothe in front the bare eyes of a huge crowd, and threatened him if he didn't respect the limits. On another occasion, upon the commemoration of the Islamic Revolution, he said what the Soviet ambassador at the time disliked. The envoy then left the place in objection to the Sayyed's words. But the Sayyed corroborated that he wouldn't compliment anyone whosoever, and that he would only speak according to his conviction and beliefs.
The Sayyed was open on everyone. He kept in touch with them, albeit divergences and differences with Hizbullah. It was him who brought those different from him closer. He had once been to Tripoli, accompanied by Sheikh Hammoud. This was back in the time of the Lebanese civil war. He left his convoy and sat next to the Sheikh in his car, which he drove all the way, after he took off his turban for security reasons. He seemed glad to meet the Head of Islamic Tawhid Movement, Sheikh Saeed Shaaban, in Tripoli, because he saw the complementarity of the Resistance between its fighters and its supporters.

The Sheikh of Martyrs, Ragheb, Another Story of War and Peace

"Position is weapon, handshake is recognition, and death for "Israel!'" This was the catchphrase of just another striving leader, Sheikh Ragheb Harb, and the undying caption Sheikh Maher had added on the photo of Sheikh Ragheb upon his detention in 1983...

It was in the year 1982 in Iran when both men met. Many meetings were subsequently held in Lebanon. During the civil war, Sheikh Maher leveled incitements against Bashir Gemayel and was thus pursued by the "Israeli" intelligence services and their agents in Lebanon. He then went to Sheikh Ragheb, and slept over at his place. When news about Sabra and Chatila massacres started to run in the South, the mayor of Jibchit town came to Sheikh Ragheb and warned him that the Zionists were asking about him. "They are asking about you, Sheikh Maher, because you are from Sidon and you are close to the Palestinians," the mayor said. He advised him to hide in a mosque afar. It was later revealed that the Zionists were after Sheikh Ragheb to intimidate him and investigate with him under the pretense that he had refused to shake hands with the "Israelis" and leveling incitements against them. In February 1983, Sheikh Ragheb was detained for those same reasons. But the occupation forces were then obliged to free him under the pressure of incensed locals. This very incensement drew the attention of a leftist leader who wondered how it would be like if Sheikh Ragheb was martyrized, now that he had seen how the South got infuriated by his detention!
Sheikh Ragheb was a goodhearted modest man, and very kind to the poor.

In the summer of 1983, he traveled to Africa with Sheikh Maher Hammoud, where he was cordially and warmly received. He was called to speak at a conference. Upon the dais, he stood without his turban and gown. Asked about this, he said he felt as if people overestimated him when he put on his religious costume. Also in Africa, he went out after prayers, and found African children to whom he gave money. He expressed tremendous joy to help the little and poor ones. He had always loved the poor. He lived with them. He died among them. In the summer of 1984, the two Sheikhs went together to the Iranian-Iraqi front. There, Sheikh Maher discovered many of Sheikh Ragheb's qualities. He was simple, unsophisticated.

About Martyr Imad, Most Beautiful and Striking Stories to be Told

"He was one of the borders' guardians. He protected the borders from the Zionist hostilities, at a time when the ruling Arab regimes were defending 'Israel' and working on shrugging off the Palestinian Cause," says Head of the Cultural Movement in Lebanon, Bilal Sharara (Abu Hassan), in reference to Hajj Imad Moghnieh. He goes back to the days when they were together in a Resistance group that insisted on staying in east Bint Jbeil, nearby the Lebanese-Palestinian borders. Back then, he was responsible for the Maroun-Aitaroun-Mhaibib axis. The group left this prefecture during the "Israeli" invasion. Some of them were martyrized, others were injured.
After Sabra and Chatila massacres, Sharara moved to Bekaa, where he met again with Hajj Imad. He told him that he was there to brandish explosives intended to be used during martyrdom operations against Zionist occupiers. That day, Sharara was stunned and asked him if there were really Fedayeen who would conduct such operations.
Yes, said Hajj Imad.

On February 5, 1985, Hassan Qassir, was just one of those.

Martyrdom operations are considered the toughest messages to "Israel:" in Lebanon, there are young men who seek to die in order to vanquish the Zionists and force them out of the land, who seek to satisfy the Almighty, who couldn't care less about death...
One day, as Sharara was walking down the streets in the southern suburb of Beirut after he had left his workplace at a magazine affiliated with Amal Movement, a car stopped behind him. Hajj Imad stepped out of it. They shook hands and lengthily spoke. They later met at al-Istiqlal Hotel in Tehran, where they spent an entire night just venturing into talking about common concerns. No further meetings and discussions took place afterwards. Encounters were restricted to sheer coincidences, until Hajj Imad was declared martyr.
Sharara got to know Hajj Imad on two stages, when he was still a young fighter. He considered him as one of his sons. And so did martyr Imad. He considered Um Hassan as his own mother. When remembering him and the news of his martyrdom, Sharara fails to hold his tears back. He was the first to eulogize him. He gets himself together again to recall that despite the bitterness, the victories made by Hajj Imad and his comrades remain the consolation on the way to full liberation.

On the Road to Palestine...

"It is no secret if we say the liberation of the South was not a goal as much as the liberation of Palestine is. Palestine was his major concern," says the representative of Islamic Jihad Movement in Lebanon, Abu Imad Rifaei, about the relation of Hajj Imad with the Palestinian Cause.
"Resistance is complete when its experiences and roles couple all together. The achievements of the resistance in Gaza today are just the extension of Imad's experience and strive. Victory was owing to his military savvy," he adds.
For his part, Sharara corroborates that Palestine was Imad's key cause. "Our eyes and hearts will still hanker after al-Quds, the capital of the earth and the sky. Any compass that doesn't point at Palestine has been shattered upon the brainpans of those who veered it," he says.

"Ever since I've known him, Hajj Imad was special and calm. He was close to the others and was not a fan of brawls, quarrels, or complicated discussions. He never missed a guard shift. He was noble and had a beautiful voice. He used to chant national and revolutionary songs of Marcel Khalifeh and Sheikh Imam. Then he became an unpretentious leader, who was always keen on training along fighters," he relates.
Abu Imad Rifaei agrees with Sharara.
Many who had known Hajj Imad confirm that he was noble-minded, serene, and managed to mix humor and strictness. He was very shrewd, sharp-sighted, and perspicacious. He was a unique personality.

Rifaei maintains that everyone knows well that targeting the leaders and the symbols of the Resistance, from Sheikh Ragheb, Sayyed Abbas, Yehia Ayyash, and Fathi al-Shuqaqi, shall not undermine the determination of Mujahedeen. "Despite the divergences and the rifts currently existing, Palestine will remain the sole unifying headline. Victory is near. Martyr Imad had confirmed that Palestine would return from the abomination of the occupation," he stresses.
"What is happening in the region today aims to efface Palestine and suppress the Palestinian Cause," Sharara says, calling for unity and closing ranks. He sees that the life and martyrdom of Hajj Imad are a bequest for us all, a call upon us to keep on his method and walk his way, until Palestine is finally liberated.
In turn, Sheikh hammoud says that he had shared with Sayyed Abbas the concern of the Islamic unity and the Palestinian Cause and that they both worked on reviving Islam among people, in deeds and in practice.
Both Sayyed Abbas and Hajj Imad were moderate and centrist Islamists. They were keen on spreading the real open and moderate Islam. They were also as keen on doing justice to the downtrodden Palestinians.
The martyr leaders have put the liberation of ravished Palestine in crosshairs.
International Relations' responsible of Hamas, Ossama Hamdan, says that Hajj Imad lived moment by moment the condition fighters in Gaza and Lebanon endured.

He would get hungry if they did, and suffer if they were in pain. He was concerned with every single detail that had to do with their comfort, and humanitarian and military problems. "Jihad was a major concern for Hajj Imad all the time. He lived Jihad throughout every moment in his life, his behavior, his conduct, as if every modicum of his body was all about resistance. He dedicated himself to resistance. The love for Palestine filled up all his senses. I can never forget the overwhelming joy he felt when he heard of the capture of Gilad Shalit," Hamdan recounts. "There are too many stories and memories of Hajj Imad...it is true that martyrdom is envisaged at any time, but his martyrdom was a big loss for us," he continues, noting that he hadn't seen him for weeks before he was martyrized.

The martyrdom of the leaders carried the Resistance from a time of defeat to an era of victory, from a time of escape to an era of attack. Hamdan underlines that the Resistance shall carry on its path and that the enemy is well aware that assassinating these leaders only buttresses the determination of the Resistance.
The Resistance has become the miracle of the contemporary history, he notes.
The leaders and fighters of the Resistance took the long path of Jihad, and met over one way, the way to Palestine, and one sole dream and goal, the dream and goal of liberating Palestine.

Blessed is a nation whose leaders are fallen martyrs! For thanks to them, this very goal and that very dream are within reach!

Source: al-Ahed news, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org