The following is the historic speech by the
sheik of all martyrs, the scholar Dr. Muhammad
Ma’shuq Al-Khaznawi on 8/4/2005. That was only 5
weeks before he was abducted by the Syrian
regime on 10/5/2005. This great martyr was
subjected to barbaric torture until his death
for pronouncing these words of truth and justice
and his disfigured body was handed to his family
on 1/6/2005. God bless his soul and paradise be
his place:
Was it a goodbye speech?
Was he talking about himself?
Yes, he spat in the face of his killers in
advance.
By the name of God, the merciful, the
compassionate
Dear brothers
Dear friends
Everyone knows that I never participated in
funerals and those close to me know that I don’t
even participate in my late father’s death
anniversary. I am one of those people who do not
need to celebrate death like some others do,
unless we could turn death into life. That is
why I am here today among you: it is not for the
first anniversary of Farhad’s death, not for
grieving for his death. I am here to celebrate
his life and the life of his people and nation.
I am very happy to be among you to celebrate the
life of this man. However, I am also very sad
because we have some more than twenty martyrs
with their first anniversary passing without any
celebration by their nation of their lives.
Farhad is dear to us all. I am saying this with
outmost respect for the feelings of his father,
mother, wife and daughter. Yes he is dear to us,
but who can say that the other twenty and some
of our martyrs are not on the same level of
Farhad.
Why there anniversaries passed by and you were
motionless, sleeping. What is it that makes you
sleep? Why don’t you believe that live could be
given even to the dead like me and you? The
rights, dear brothers, are not given as a
charity, but they are gained by force.
Every drop of the blood of the martyrs should be
there to water the plants of your rights and we
should not allow from now on, forgetting your
martyrs. The Shiites are not mistaken when they
celebrate Hussein every year, a man who was
martyred one thousand four hundred years ago,
but still his nation, the Shiites , celebrate
his blood, not because the man died, but because
they want to revive a group, a nation, the
Shiites by the power of his blood.
May be I don’t understand the details of what
happened to Farhad.
I am one of those people who are very afraid of
whips and I don’t want to remember them. But
since his father invited me to this meeting, I
don’t know why I am remembering Yasser and
Summayah. Yasser, one of the glorious apostles
whose torturers promised him all the comforts
and freedom if he agreed just to insult
Mohammad, but he refused and Summayah also
refused, and Summayah, moreover spat in the face
of Abu Jahel. That is how the story was told to
me. Farhad also was asked to insult his own
people and I don’t know if he had spat in their
faces, but in truth, anyone who demands that
someone should insult his own people should be
spat in the face..
Allow me to burden you with some details as I am
the only clergy man who will speak in this
meeting.
Farhad, I have written some words for you, I am
not a poet but I can feel my pain and the pain
of my people and nation through you, Farhad
All our youth are you
All our women are grieving after you
All the blood vessels of our men are bleeding
All the blood vessels of our men are exploding
with pain and wounds
But our men should either die like you or
nothing, a dead nation is revived by a man, a
nation feeling like dead needs a person who
tells her to stand up: you are not dead, that
was you Farhad.
I tried to imagine you, who are you? Is it
reasonable to go to some man’s anniversary
without knowing him? Who are you? I tried to
imagine your features but I couldn’t. Every time
I started to imagine your features I heard your
cries under the whip and every time I started to
imagine your figure I heard the electricity
shocks going through your tender body. When I
tried to listen I heard your cries. I don’t know
may be I underestimate you when I say you cried
as your likes do not bend and do not cry, but
stand tall as mountains against executioners.
However, allow me to tell you Farhad and all
martyrs of this nation that we are all
participants in the crime of shedding your blood
because we were asleep for a long time and we
handed you over and we all let you down you and
your comrades, we did not enquire about you, we
did not pursue your executioners and did not ask
for their trial. It is easy to issue an order to
release prisoners from prison but it is
impossible for any order to bring back to life
Farhad and the other twenty something of our
martyrs, but you and only you could insist to
live and stand strong to ask for your rights as
human beings.
When the officer asked the soldier: who are you?
He had to say: we are dogs.
But instead he said: we are humans, and that is
why he hit him with his military boot.
Your orders can bring all those to life. If you
want to be humans you the people of Farhad
I know that the Allah’s victory is close, but we
should hope that we are not all dead before that
our weakest man stands on your grave and says
that here we are reviving our martyrs to revive
ourselves with them. Let your mother allow me,
Farhad to say: if I had the choice from the
angel of death to substitute Farhad with others,
probably half of your people should go instead
of you because they are already dead and there
is no use to call the dead/
Today I am saying that we intend to revive all
those you killed, rebuild what you destroyed and
put right all what you disturbed. Farhad and
others like him will be the seeds for things to
come and every one seed will bring a hundred
like it and God multiplies for all as He wants.
Our women will give birth to thousands like
Farhad and those who transgress would find out
when they reap the whirlwind.
