The Syrian Social Nationalist Party and the people of the town of Sharoun and the Mountain bid farewell to Amin Hafez Al-Sayegh (1943 – 2024) in an official and partisan funeral in his hometown of Sharoun, in the presence of the Director General of Sessions and Committees at the Parliament, Dr. Riad Ghannam, representing Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri; the Minister of Displaced, Issam Sharaf El-Din, representing the head of the Lebanese Democratic Party, Talal Arslan; MP Faisal Al-Sayegh, representing the head of the Democratic Gathering, MP Taymour Jumblatt; Esmat Al-Oraydi, representing the head of the Arab Tawhid Party, former Minister Wiam Wahhab, and a large gathering of sheikhs, prominent figures, mayors, village mukhtars, and a nationalist and popular crowd.
Also participating in the funeral was the President of the Supreme Council of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Samir Refaat, and a central delegation including a number of department heads, members of the Supreme Council, officials, and the former President of the Party, Fares Saad, in addition to the general executive, the Western Executive Board, unit officials, and a number of Amins and members of the National Council.
Family Eulogy
Journalist Yousef Al-Sayegh introduced the speakers and delivered the family eulogy, stating:
Because fate has had its say, we meet today at the beginning of March with Amin Hafez Al-Sayegh without an appointment... but he decided to bid us farewell in the month of the birth of the revivalist thought and the social nationalist doctrine, embodied by its leader, Antoun Saadeh.
It is as if he wants to send us a message that those who belong to the national revival are linked to it in this life and the hereafter.
What can we say about our great departed, and can we recount the achievements and stances of honor that Amin Hafez Al-Sayegh recorded during his life filled with struggle and giving? He was a role model in every sense of the word, having established with his wife, Comrade Nidaa Majaes, a social nationalist family that included their daughters Hala, Maha, and Rola.
He was a true guardian of the doctrine and its principles, a man of integrity and honorable stances at critical junctures, whether on the partisan level through the responsibilities placed upon him, or at the level of public affairs.
He said: Amin Hafez Al-Sayegh adorned his journey with letters of the light of truth and reality, so he was a beacon by which we are guided and upon whose path we walk.
From here, from the town of Sharoun, the town of heroism supported by the correctness of the doctrine... the town of Hussein Al-Banna, the first martyr on the soil of Palestine, and the town of the martyr Wajdi Al-Sayegh, who watered the soil of the South with his pure blood, the journey of Amin Hafez Al-Sayegh began, where he formed one of the pillars of the Revival Party and an example of the social nationalist struggler who never begrudged his nation anything and gave it everything he could. He participated in the Second Social Nationalist Revolution and was subsequently arrested, being the youngest among the detainees at that time.
In conclusion, a word of thanks must be said on behalf of Amin Hafez Al-Sayegh and his immediate family, represented by his wife, Comrade Nidaa, and their daughters Hala, Maha, and Rola, and in the name of the Al-Sayegh family, to everyone who participated and sympathized with us today in saying goodbye to our late Amin, whom we bid farewell today in the body, but who definitely remains among us and with us at every station and juncture.
And because great men do not end with a funeral, the memory of Amin Hafez Al-Sayegh and his struggle will always remain present whenever hands are raised in a right-angle salute, and at every victory for our country and our nation, to which Amin Hafez gave his youth and his life, and for whose cause, which equals existence, he worked. All thanks again to everyone who attended and offered condolences personally, by phone, or through social media, with the hope that our meetings will be in seasons of glory and victory. May God spare you all from any harm. To God we belong and to Him we return, and long live the nation.
Sharoun Municipality Eulogy
The eulogy of the Sharoun Municipality was delivered by the Mayor, Muhanna Al-Banna, and stated:
The spears of departure and the neighing of our blood are still echoing in the arena of struggle, and we are still riding the horse of death to reach life, glory, and dignity.
We still stand before the departure of our loved ones, as the story of their spirit, which they wove with their honorable history, unfolds before us—knot by knot—and a strip of memory passes, carving its icon into our souls with beautiful engraving that we pass on to those after us, a new generation that builds upon their experience a country that deserves them and a future they draw in the image of the great ones who made its history.
And you, Amin Hafez, depart today carrying your prophetic cross, girded with an inexhaustible history, with stances of values, with the traits of a leader and a role model, with the power of word and deed, with the depth of integrity and ethics, with the steadfastness of pure strugglers, embodying the meaning of unity, tolerance, and firmness.
O President Hafez, and you were a mayor in a difficult time, which passed with its history, stances, and achievements—in a time when the country was rising from a time of laxity to the rule of law—you were in that time keen on the unity of people in your town, keen on achieving reconciliation between its residents and families, keen on re-regulating institutions, and achieving development goals in which your fingerprints are still clear today.
O Professor Hafez, you were a school as you stood on the podium with your resounding voice, your improvised words and stances, your sensible language, your exceptional eloquence, your insightful vision, your accessible ease, and your sea of beautiful meanings.
O Amin Hafez, that beloved word remains in the ears of your admirers and comrades; you only accepted to adhere to your history, in which you were faithful to your oath, persevering in implementing your belief with all the knowledge and ability you were granted, and a guardian of your nation and your principles.
Distinguished mourners and comrades of the deceased..
The one we bid farewell to today has imprinted in our memory a journey of glory that a funeral does not end; he imprinted in it the image of those who enter battles and do not count their enemies, and who do not care how battles end, but rather stand firm and are not pained by wounds. He drew in our imagination the image of those who carry their blood and head where believing heroism should be, and he carved into our history the image of those who fight with the controls of awareness, enlightened by its pillars of freedom, duty, order, and strength.
We stand today before the great as they depart, they who contributed to building our glory and victory, contributed to weaving our country as we dream, contributed to arranging our days as they should be, and wrote their journey with foresight for a bright tomorrow. Those great ones are the generation of Hafez Al-Sayegh.
O Amin Hafez, as you leave us today to your glorious immortality, we bid you farewell as a great man who contributed to building the new human, practiced the values of truth, goodness, and beauty, and left behind a generation that follows your struggle and your history filled with stances of glory.
The Municipality of Sharoun bids farewell to one of its most prominent distinguished heads. Sleep in peace, full of the legacy and impact you left behind.
In my name and in the name of the Sharoun Municipality and our people, we offer your loved ones our sincerest condolences, hoping that God may envelop you in His vast mercy. Immortality and mercy to you, O dear great one.
Parliament Eulogy
The representative of Speaker Nabih Berri, Dr. Riad Ghannam, delivered a word from the Parliament staff, stating: "It is difficult to write in a time of sadness; sadness is the other side of the joy of life, but a word of truth and thanks must be said, and a necessary testimony is performed with sorrow, and its words are almost unable to emerge from the folds of the lips.
Ever since he felt the illness, and I am one of his closest friends, I have been overcome with choking and the burning of sorrow; it was an ominous foreboding of a long day of sadness, and sorrow paving the way for this grave calamity."
He added: "Excuse me, my brother Hafez, for the soul is closer to you than I am, and feelings of affection and memory are buzzing with sweet memories, pleasant imaginings, and visions that never leave the mind. Your heart was with every tired person, and your hand was extended to help every requester and needy person. You were an integral part of a doctrine, of a history of upbringing and education, testified to by hundreds who were mentored by your hands, or graduated to embark on the journey of life. They walked its paths as migratory bird flocks walk, never losing the way or missing the home. For the homeland to you is an extension of the human's being in vision, borders, and existence, in a national history that gathers and does not scatter, unites and does not divide, and rises forward without retreat from the principle and the doctrine."
He continued: "You were, Hafez, the educator, the teacher, the struggler, the intellectual, and the human. You became aware of education early on, and you struggled before you were twenty and spurred high, conscious spirits. You preserved the path of the doctrine and protected it from the impurities of exploiters and parasites, so you were the tolerant, kind educator who rose above trivialities, protecting the truth and its people, opposing falsehood and its followers. You spent your life in obedience to your conscience, moving in its sanctuary, a guardian at its door without fear, excess, or verbosity."
He said: "At the age of fifty, you landed in the Parliament, so you were a help to its knights, with your insightful view and sound thought. You were a help to them, regardless of which political party they belonged to and which podium they ascended. You wrote speeches and words for them; some of them spoke with your tongue and lectured with your phrases and legalized with your sharia, and when their eloquence was marred by mistakes, you were behind the curtain, correcting them with the appropriate vowels and proper articulation of the classical letters."
He added: "Hafez, you great departed, if you left your functional seat in the Parliament, your seat in hearts will remain full of their affection, friendliness, love for you, and appreciation for your giving. You will remain present and residing in their hearts, dear in their memory, generous in your love for the national fabric that links you to everyone who knew you, so you were closer to them than you were to yourself.
The eighty-year-old departed, but he did not leave, for he is the one residing with the cozy moments and pleasant times, and they are all points of intersection between love, familiarity, and self-transcendence."
He concluded: "Hafez, you who are resistant to forgetting, you will remain in hearts as long as the Creator does not close the door of remembrance and memories, and the authenticity of loyal brothers. In the name of the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Nabih Berri, and the Council staff, we extend our deepest condolences to the family of the deceased, the Al-Sayegh and Al-Majaes families. May Hafez have mercy, and may you have long life."
Party Center Eulogy
The President of the Supreme Council of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Samir Refaat, delivered the Party Center's speech, stating:
The party leadership honored me to speak at the funeral of the great departed, whose life does not end with a funeral, the highly respected Amin Hafez Al-Sayegh... and in a time when our Syrian South—Palestine—is bleeding hundreds of martyrs every day in the battle of existence.
How cruel life is when a friend, comrade, and struggling Amin, who kept affection throughout his giving years, leaves us in body.
How cruel life is when we are forced to stand before his coffin with his noble immediate and extended family to recall together his struggles and stances that were always characterized by manliness.
How cruel life is when the farewell is eternal, with no return except through the beautiful memories he wove with his comrades, acquaintances, and lovers.
How cruel life is when we are forced to stand a farewell stance for a friend who I wished would be in my place while I am in his..
How cruel life is that the loss of the highly respected Amin Hafez Al-Sayegh gathers all his comrades who are scattered here and there, and they do not gather for the sake of the blood of tens of thousands of our people in the Nation's Flood in Palestine, the Levant, Lebanon, and Iraq. A single drop of blood bleeding here or there should have been enough to gather the wounds of the nation's party and restore its cohesion, as the party leader, the highly respected Amin Assaad Hardan, announced that party unity is first, second, third, and tenth.
We all stand as one man who forgets his personal wounds to heal the wounds of his party and his bleeding nation, perhaps this sacrifice will find living ears among the honorable members of this party so that it may return—as it was and will remain—the vanguard of the resistance axis in our nation.
And because our fate in the Syrian Social Nationalist Party is to ignite the boiler of the revolution of glory, and to be its fuel since the martyr of independence through Sanaa Mehaidli, Wajdi Al-Sayegh, and their comrades, and following the example of the living martyr Antoun Saadeh, whose birthday we celebrated yesterday. He who taught us to uproot the thornbush no matter how it grows, and the bramble no matter how strong its thorns, for they are destined to wither. He taught us to plant cedars, olives, and oaks, because our leader is towering in his Syrianism like the cedar, giving to his cause like the olive, and solid in the national right like the oak.
Therefore, we must light the path of dignity for our living nation, not be content with cursing the darkness while we see blood flowing as a sea in Gaza of Hashim.
Finally, in the name of the party leadership and the Supreme Council, I extend condolences to the noble family and the comrades of the dear deceased,
And long live the nation.
Poem by Poet Faisal Al-Sayegh
There was also a poem by the poet Faisal Al-Sayegh about the achievements of the deceased, his struggle journey, and the principles he believed in.
Farewell and Accepting Condolences
After the prayer, a farewell greeting was delivered to the body of the deceased before the coffin, draped in the party's flag, was lifted on the shoulders of the nationalists and the body was laid to rest.
Many wreaths were placed, including a wreath in the name of the party president, Amin Assaad Hardan.
After the funeral, the family accepted condolences.
