Mohammad Tahhan: A leap into martyrdom

He was standing on his scooter, pointing his fingers toward the sky, with Hezbollah’s flag hoisted on the bike. Mohammad Tahhan wanted to capture the moment for posterity. It was moments before he headed to the southern border — his last journey before he took a leap into death.

“There is no doubt that he went there to die as a martyr,” a female neighbor of Mohammad said as she showed his last video with a martial song playing in the background. “He told us he was going to travel and asked if anyone would like to join,” a cousin of his said on condition of anonymity.

In the afternoon of May 14, Israeli tank fire hit the youngest of the Tahhan family’s four children as he tried to cross the Lebanese border with Israel. The young man succumbed to his wounds. Within hours, hundreds of people hailed him as a martyr for “the cause.” Photos of his, with Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound appearing in the foreground and Hezbollah’s flag as the backdrop, were hung around his hometown, Adloun. He became a source of pride for his family, friends and neighbors, and was dignified with full honors by the party with which he was affiliated.

At the age of 21, the avid biker that everyone characterized as kind and helpful, and “unable to hurt anyone,” was consumed by the idea of becoming a martyr — of fulfilling the destiny laid out for him since he was born. “Everyone knew that he wanted to go this way, so that his mother would throw him ‘a wedding’ celebration and be proud of him,” his neighbor Lara recounted.

His father, Kassem Tahhan, considers his son’s life to be an allegory of “the Resistance,” as perceived and promulgated by the Iranian axis.“My son was born on the same day Mohammad al-Durrah died — [Durrah was the 12-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot and killed in the Gaza Strip at the onset of the second intifada on Sept. 30, 2000.] — and on the birthday of Imam Ali, according to the Islamic calendar,” Kassem said, with a smile on his lips and tears in his eyes, during condolences for Mohammad,

Kassem perceived that as a sign indicating that provenance would accompany his son throughout his life. Mohammad was buried on Saturday, on Nakba Remembrance Day, which commemorates the 1948 forced exodus of Palestinians from the newly created state of Israel. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from him. Nothing scared him. I am the same. My children are the same as well. Even my daughter, when she was little, wanted to have a plastic gun, just like her brothers. For us, freeing Palestine is tantamount to an obligatory prayer,” he said.

“We were raised to take the road to Jerusalem,” Kassem added. His entire family is affiliated with Hezbollah. “Their goal in life is to resist,” as a cousin of his summed it up.

Their hometown, Adloun, is located in the Zahrani district, which came under Israeli occupation for several years in the 1980s. During this period, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps created Hezbollah, putting Lebanon’s Shiite community at the core of the rhetoric of “Resistance” against Israel.

“The Israeli occupation has traumatized the people of southern Lebanon,” Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center said. “Adloun has a large number of martyrs who fought against the Israeli occupation in the 1970s and 1980s, and even the conflict of 2006,” he added.

‘He yelled at me when I went to Syria. He wanted to go with me.’

Mohammad was immersed in this world from childhood. He joined Hezbollah’s boy scouts at the age of 4, he underwent military training in the Shiite militia at the age of 15, and he fought against the “takfiris” (a term used by Hezbollah in reference to Syrian rebels and Sunni jihadists) in Aleppo, Syria, at the age of 17.

Hezbollah joined the fighting in Syria in 2013 in support of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Thousands of young fighters fell in the offensive there and were hailed as martyrs when their bodies were returned to Lebanon, as Hezbollah widened the concept of “Resistance”to include the fight against “the takfiris” in support of Assad.

“He yelled at me when I went to Syria. He wanted to go with me. But he was still 14 back then,” Kassem said, proudly adding, “Although he joined the war there, God chose him as martyr for Palestine. I hope that his passing marks the beginning of the liberation.”

Children growing up within Hezbollah’s circles are indoctrinated from an early age to believe that seeking martyrdom for the liberation of Jerusalem will save them a place in heaven. “All of Hezbollah’s institutions, be they schools or universities, promote the concept of martyrdom,” Hage Ali said.

Just like the rest of his family members, Mohammed worked in banana cultivation — the country’s largest banana field is located in the Zahrani district. “We worked in the mornings and went to cafes in the evenings. We spent our free time in the mountains and at the beaches,” his childhood friend Daniel recounted.

Mohammad studied at Adloun Public School until grade 9, and thereafter pursued his studies at the Amjad Institute in Sur. He wanted to become an electrician. “He was the aaris [a term of affection used for the youngest male of the family],” his brother said. “He was everything a man should be. He never refused to do anyone a favor.”

‘Do not cry. Your son is a martyr.’

Mohammad’s remains were carried to the family house on Saturday around noon. The coffin was draped with Hezbollah’s flag. Women wearing chadors and men wearing the keffiyehs were among the audience, while the flags of Palestine and Hezbollah were raised and hung everywhere — and all marks of Khomeini’s Shiism.

The audience chanted slogans, such as “Labayki Ya Zainab,” [at your command Zainab] “Labayk Ya Hussein,” [at your command Hussein] “Labayki ya Quds,” [at your command Jerusalem] and “Labayk ya Shahid” [at your command martyr]. A lady there softly chanted supplications in reference to Ashura, a solemn day on which Shiites mourn the martyrdom of Hussein in 680 AD at Karbala. Some of the audience were in a state of trance. “Do not cry. Your son is a martyr,” a woman told Mohammad’s tearful mother.

“I can’t believe it happened. We were together a couple of days ago. I hope that we all end up walking the same path as him. We are ready to free Palestine,” his friend Mohammad, 21, said.

“He’s a warrior. I am happy to see that someone from Lebanon died for Palestine, because we are one,” said Youssef, who is barely 13.

While the coffin was taken out of the house, the crowd chanted “Death to Israel,” “Death to the United States,” “Labayka ya Nasrallah” — the last in reference to Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.

“He died so that his country could live in peace,” his neighbor Lara said — unable to explain how the passing of this 21-year-old man, who was killed the moment he set foot in Israel, would free Palestine.

This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translation by Joelle El Khoury.