Journalist Moufid Sarhal writes:
The testimony of the late Sheikh Salim Ghazaleh from Ain Ata, Rashaya District... a testimony etched in memory and conscience, never to fade in the depths of time.
Place: Rashaya Court. Time: The 1950s.
Call it what you will: chivalry, masculinity that sharpens minds, a virtue revered by people of honor and intellect, a dedication to establishing unity in life through contentment and patience, an embodiment of all values of truth, justice, and humanity, or all those virtues combined in one man.
As for the facts: A dispute occurred between the young man Hassan Ghazaleh and a young man from the Al-Khoury family over land boundaries, which escalated into a physical altercation. Both parties were summoned to court, and the only witness to the dispute was Sheikh Salim Ghazaleh, the father of the young man Hassan Ghazaleh.
The judge turned to Sheikh Salim Ghazaleh with the question: "Will you tell me what happened between the two young men?" He replied: "It was a dispute between brothers and sons of the same town, but I hold my son responsible, for he was angrier than necessary, without malice or ill intent." The judge was stunned and said to him: "Are you testifying against your own son?" Sheikh Salim Ghazaleh replied: "I testify for truth and reality, driven by conscience, soul, and a sincere, sound intention." This incident became a story passed down through generations for its grandeur and the nobility of its author, whose motives for the testimony were, firstly, to speak the truth—for a mind that does not restrain from error is a repository of sin, and all virtues follow the mind—and secondly, his keenness to prevent any sectarian dimension from being cast upon the incident.
As it stands, if only we were in this difficult time, burdened by hatred, ingratitude, arrogance, envy, anger, misguidance, ignorance, futile arguments, malice, cruelty, corruption of speech, foolishness, mocking through backbiting, and competition, the sister of enmity.
In the end, the most deserving of respect is a patient, wise person with sound judgment... May God have mercy on Sheikh Salim Ghazaleh.
