We were taught distance and friendship from childhood, I don’t know who is the creator of this sentence, who said that distance brings friendship? Distance brings sadness, pain and suffering, fatigue and longing, I have been away for a year, the extent of my distance reaches this world and the other world, I am in this world, my wife is in that world. In the eyes of people, it is a year, those who see your beautiful photo and sometimes maybe less than a year, when they see your anniversary photo, they say how quickly it passed, as if it was just yesterday that you were buried in this alley, but for me, a It took years, not years, maybe a century. All these days, I talked with the beautiful photo frame next to the window of the room, I cried and said, O people! Believe me, distance does not bring friendship. Tell everyone to change this sentence and say that distance makes people tired, which cannot be relieved by any rest. Happiness and bearing all these hardships is beautiful when I know that my wife is with my Lord. The wife of Martyr Abdul Hossein Yousefian, Mrs. Maryam Saeedi Far, has given us a brief glimpse of her short life together.
Abdul Hossein and I were both born in 1365 in Dastgerd Barkhor, Isfahan province. In the spring of 2018, we went to Syria with my parents, in the shrine of Sadat’s aunt, I asked her for happiness and a good companion. Before the trip, every proposal came and I refused. I couldn’t deal with the mindset of either one, and I dismissed each one with excuses. There, I asked Hazrat Zainab, when we return, the first proposal that comes to me, I understand that he is your messenger, and I answer yes.
Two months have passed since our trip, one night I dreamed that I was sitting inside a shrine and a tall and radiant lady whose face was not visible at all came and sat next to me and said: “Recite Surah An’am right now, you have achieved your wish.” The next night, we had gone to Friday prayers with my mother, and there I recited Surah An’am because of the dream I had seen, (by the way, my future wife was also praying on the same day.)
After the Friday prayer, we sat together with the whole family and chatted a lot and prepared the iftar table, and we had just finished breaking the fast, it was Imam Hassan’s (peace be upon him) birthday dinner, when my father’s phone rang. Abdul Hossein’s uncle was my suitor, he got permission from my father and came to our house. and proposed the marriage of his brother’s son, Abdul Hossein. When he left, I said: “Dad, why did Mr. Yousefian come to our house?” He said: “For a good thing.” I said: “You know I have no intention of getting married.” He said: “It was not for you.” I was curious to see what the matter was and why they had come. I said: “So who did the suitors come to our house for?” He said: “It was for you, but I also told them that Maryam was firm and determined not to marry.” In my heart, I said to myself: “Maybe this was the interpretation of my dream last night.” I said to my dad: “You shouldn’t have said that I don’t want to get married, how can I see and like that boy?” My father had seen him because he was related to Abdul Hossein, but I only knew their family, but I had never met them. Until a few days passed and Abdul Hossein’s mother called that if you allow us to come to your house tonight so that the boy and girl can talk to each other. Before they came, my parents talked to me and told me about Abdul Hossein’s good qualities. He is a good boy, very faithful, his job is military, etc., until Mr. Yousefian’s family came to our house. I fell in love with him the first moment I saw Abdul Hossein, without even talking to each other.
When we went to the room and talked to each other, I fell in love with Abdul Hossein’s honesty, I will never forget his words that I have nothing, but in my life I only trusted in God and God has made everything as I wanted. He also told me a little about his job. said : “I am a soldier and every day of my mission I must always be ready for a mission.”
When we finished talking and left the room. My mother and Abdul Hossein’s mother were looking at us with stress, what was the result of our conversation? Abdul Hossein and I were both troublemakers. Unlike all girls, I fully recognized my future wife at the first meeting and with the initial conversation. I had a strange anxiety that night. A few days later, we went to the test together, and after receiving the test results, we got married on 14/08/1988, which coincided with the birthday of Imam Reza (peace be upon him) .
We went out together just one day after our wedding. Abdul Hossein was driving very fast. I said to him: Take it easy, we will have an accident, we will die on the first day. Abdul Hossein laughing and saying that I will die as a martyr, just pray for me to become a martyr. I said to him with a satisfied smile: OK, my dear, whenever there is a war, you go and become a martyr. We got married on 30 June 1389, which coincides with 13 Rajab, the birth of Imam Ali (AS). Including the engagement period, Abdul Hossein and I were together for six and a half years
. His strong and firm faith, stewardship and patience were famous. During the time of Abdul Hossein, the first prayer was never left. I knew that life with a military has its own difficulties . Maybe his absence caused me to miss him, but the mission that he had ahead of him as a soldier was the strength of my heart. I fell in love with his purity, honesty and modesty . I fell in love with Abdul Hossein and his behavior on the same night of courtship. Decency and modesty were seen in his words, looks and behavior. It can be said that I fell in love with a martyr.
When they found out that I was pregnant, they were very happy and they were sure that our baby is a girl and they were always waiting for Zainab’s arrival until seven months passed and I went to the doctor because I felt very bad and my doctor said: “I have to give birth to you and you probably won’t have a baby.” I cried a lot and was sad, but Abdul Hossein always comforted me that no leaf will fall from the tree until God wills it. God willed and our little Zainab was born, healthy and safe. Ms. Zainab was born on 2/2/92, both of us were very happy, and with the arrival of Zainab, our happiness doubled. Zainab’s name was her father’s choice. From the beginning of our marriage, he used to say: If our child is a girl, I will name her Zainab. »
Abdul Hossein had a special devotion to the martyrs to the point where we used to go together to the graves of the martyrs of our city most of the nights, and our outings were always in Golestan of the martyrs. We used to sit by the martyrs’ graves for hours and worship, especially the last year when we were together, the pilgrimage of Yemen’s martyrs had reached its peak. We kept going to the cemetery of martyr Kharazi and martyr Turjizadeh and the unknown martyrs of our city.
The first time he told me about going and becoming a defender of the shrine was in July 2014 . Abdul Hossein told me: “Registered, if Bibi Zainab (pbuh) agrees, he will go to Syria to defend the shrine of Aghili Bani Hashem (pbuh).” He asked me to pray for him so that his name will be released as a defender as soon as possible and he will be on his way. And it was decided that no one would know about their departure except me and themselves. I was very upset at first. From the moment of registration, my heart was in turmoil. He should be ready to leave by November 14, 2014, when they informed him. They asked me that no one knows where they want to go. Three days later, on November 17, my wife and life partner left voluntarily. This time was the first and last time he was sent, I was under a strange stress and at that moment I was inspired that he should go to Syria, there is no going back. I was satisfied, but I cried a lot. We were very dependent on each other. I did not want and could not bear his distance. His words satisfied me a little.
My wife said: “I am going to defend the sanctuary of Allah and to defend the sanctuary of Ahl al-Bayt (AS). If you don’t let me go, how in that world will you raise your head in the presence of Hazrat Zainab (pbuh). We are going to defend our honor. This war is our war and if we do not defend ourselves, the enemy will attack our soil and honor. War should not happen in our country, we go to the other side of the borders to defend Islam, Quran and Ahl al-Bayt. We are going so that Aunt Sadat does not go into captivity again.” The last night we were together, I was awake until morning. I used to cry and expressed my longing and fear, I used to say: If you go and become a martyr, what will I do with Zainab? What can I do alone? My wife would calm me down and say: “You and Zeinab have God. This is enough for you. God who loves you more than me and will love you. Then he sat down and started writing his will. My wife was writing and I was crying . I would hold his hand and say: “I don’t want to write anymore, I can’t bear it anymore and I kept crying.” Zainab was two and a half years old and did not have a proper understanding of her father’s journey. But Abdul Hossein said to Zainab: “I want to go to Hazrat Roqyah and bring you a doll.”
He wrote in his will for our daughter Zainab : My daughter, follow Velayat Faqih and take care of your mother. Know that I am not oblivious to your memory even for a moment, but I am going because of the children who are your age and are under the torture of the enemies.“
They wrote the will. I collected his things, on the morning of November 15th, they went to Lashkar to leave from there. It was around noon when I called them and they said: “I am coming back. Our trip home has been canceled for now. I was very happy, I said: “May God allow him to stay with me and our daughter for a few more days.” Zainab had a cold that day. When he came back, we took Zainab to the doctor together. But my wife was still waiting for the call to leave, and I was not relaxing for a moment. Until the evening of November 16, they called to be with the army tomorrow morning so that we can go to Tehran and leave for Damascus from Tehran.
The morning of Aban 17, 1994 was the last meeting between me and my beloved. That night, I was awake until morning, and I was crying, and I got up in the morning, I prepared water and Quran, and the three of us had breakfast together, and they left home forever. When they arrived in Syria, they called me: “I arrived and went on pilgrimage first, and I won’t be able to call until next week.” But they still couldn’t stand it and called me every other day and asked me and Zainab how I was. until they called from Syria for the last time on 27 Azar. They had a special mood that day, the sound was completely different from other days, they took care of everyone.
He talked to Zainab for ten minutes and Zainab said to her father: “Come on daddy, I miss you so much. At the end, he said, “Daddy, I don’t want any more dolls, just come!!” And this was their last call. After their contact, according to their comrades, they went for an operation, and two days after their last contact, they were martyred in Khan Tuman, south of Aleppo.
Some of their comrades were surrounded when they went to save them, when they were shot and the left half of their body was shot. They were martyred on the 29th of Azar 94, coinciding with the martyrdom of Imam Hassan Asgari (AS). One day after Yalda night, I cleaned and dusted the house completely, my wife had a 45-day mission and was supposed to return to Iran.…. I cleaned everything and was waiting for them to come, when suddenly the doorbell rang at my house; And some relatives came to tell me about his martyrdom. Unfortunately, I received very bad news.
We always went out together after Maghrib and Isha prayers. It may have been a simple purchase, but it was very good at the same time. I was having a good time, shopping with Abdul Hossein was my friend, my companion. He listened to my words so well that no one else can be like him for me. I always miss him… After my prayers, I talk to his picture, I cry more than I can talk, his picture calms me down. I say : “What should I do with your Zainab?” What should I do with his longings? How can I deal with my problems without you? I wish you would come to my sleep… I wish…! And now the martyr’s wife wants a dream in her heart, despite all the unsaid words …
