The Algerian Embassy in Manama Celebrates the Day of the Martyr: On the Martyr Path
On February 18 of each year, the leadership and people of Algeria celebrate the Martyr’s Day in honor of those who embraced the death fearlessly and tuned away from material gains by restraint. It is a memory and a lesson that urges all Algerians to linger for a moment at the act of martyrdom, its greatness, as being a pillar of the nation’s spirit, that, through it and by instilling it in the identityof emerging generations, will live and ensure its survival. It is also a moment of gratitude to thefeats made by the legions of Algerian martyrs, and another to contemplate the meanings and dimensions of martyrdom.
Truly, through his martyrdom, the martyr creates a precedent of resistance, without which nations would lose their heritage and personalities. This is destined both to the people surrounding him and to those who will come after him. Even if his martyrdom does not lead to the desired victory, it will stir the flame of resistance, leave it burning in the souls of his people, and even engrave in the collective consciousness of his nation the attachment to freedom and the rejection of servitude. When thousands of Algerians were martyred in the epics of resistance in unequal battles such as the jihads of the leader of Algeria, Emir Abdelkader or the victorious confrontations that Ahmed Bey waged against the perfidious hordes of French armies, or during the many uninterrupted popular revolutions, the jihad action of all of them paved the way for the victory that will be achieved subsequently by the Glorious Revolution of November 1954.
The many defeats that our people had to suffer during his long resistances in the beginning of colonization, since no decisive victory had been achievedhitherto against an usurping enemy, they rather turned into anasset of experience, challenge and determination. Theyalso became moments for considering the strengths and weaknesses of the efforts exerted before, to bear in mind by those who will come after and take the torch to prepare the nation later to fight the decisive battle in which colonialists were driven out of Algeria while dragging their tails between their legs.
It can be said that the martyrprovides, through his martyrdom, the driving force for those with him, those around him, and those who will come after him, or offers an ideal model to be emulated, as he is the one who creates the behavioural standard that translates into action the meaning of belonging and represents it in the reality not in imagination.
If we contemplate the history of human nations in general, we will find that the latter was a history of wars, conflicts, and ebbs and flows of the right and the wrong, and justice and injustice. In order for any human nation to survive, it must defend its existence and the components of its identity- belief, and material and spiritual heritage. If it is exposed to aggression and invasion, it will have only two options, not a third- either to defend itself and maintain its survival, or tosurrender to the aggressors and be subjected to destruction or dissolution into the dominant tyrannical entities. If these nations chose to defend their freedom and sanctity, it would be necessary for them to sacrifice what was most precious and for their children to sacrifice their lives as an offering for the existence and survival of their nation. This is the situation of nations in general as for the Arab and Islamic Algeria, the act of martyrdom has great meanings. It is what act which will enable generations to survive and raise its martyrs to the heights of eternal life, since the Holy Qur’an refused to describe as dead, when Allah said:
﴾Think not of those as dead who are killed in the way of Allah. Nay, they are alive, with their Lord, and they have provision﴿.
Surah Al Imran verse 169.
Martyrdom, then, is altruism in its highest sense and a sacrifice that turns oneself into an oblation that is willingly, and joyfully made in order for the nation to live, its faith to live, and its existence to continue. It is the ultimate level of self-renunciation and selfishness and the highest level of altruism and determination. Martyrdom is an act that represents the highest types of valor, sacrifice, and altruism. The ultimate courage is to sacrifice yourself for your lofty ideals, including your homeland, religion, and the components of your identity. The ultimate sacrifice is to die in order to give a life to others, and to reject a life in which you see no motivations for survival and no place for your ideals and high values.
If the legions of martyrs in our Algeria are innumerable, then theirleaders of jihad embodied all of these values. Ben Boulaid, Amirouche, Ben M’hidi, Badji, Haouas, Lotfi and others are examples of the high determination of the Algerians and their magnanimity.The paths of lives of those giants could have been different, especially those who had wealth and status amongst them. They could have distanced themselves from the troubles of struggle, and dangers and chosen safety and tranquillity. Had they wanted a sweet life, they would have enjoyed it, especially those of them who were materially comfortable and plenty money. However, they preferred to take risks and push themselves to the heights of glory due to their firm belief that what is in the eternal abode is better than what is in the perishing one.
Even it impossible to pay the martyrs their full right of gratitude and honor, God has offered them the greatest honor. In our nation’s faith and moral referential, the martyr was called a martyr because The Almighty God and His Messenger bore witness that he would go to Paradise. Our greatest duty towards them is to follow their path: the path of the martyr. Today the entire nation is loyal to its martyrs and will remain so forever.
Long live a strong and free Algeria.
Dr Mahmoud Braham
Ambassador of Algeria