When facing the “Autumn has Arrived” which narrates the memories of Fakhr al-Sadat Mousavi, wife of martyr Ahmad Yousefi, the pleasure is mostly embraced by those who still have revolutionary passion and have concerns about defending the truth and fighting for it; those who still enjoy listening to the memories of the triumph of Islamic Revolution and years Sacred Defense against Iraq’s invasion; those who feel in debt of revolutionaries.

The life of a warrior couple

When facing the “Autumn has Arrived” which narrates the memories of Fakhr al-Sadat Mousavi, wife of martyr Ahmad Yousefi, the pleasure is mostly embraced by those who still have revolutionary passion and have concerns about defending the truth and fighting for it; those who still enjoy listening to the memories of the triumph of Islamic Revolution and years Sacred Defense against Iraq’s invasion; those who feel in debt of revolutionaries.

If you have decided to read this book which is published by Soureh-Mehr Publications Co., you should first put aside prejudice against family/emotional relations of Iran’s martyrs with their families. You should accept that describing the delicacies and softness of their souls not only doesn’t affect their sublime position, but even helps us understand the mercy of “martyrdom” has been endowed to them because of the same delicacies and softness of the soul. They have been gifted because they loved their families. You must believe that merely holy and unachievable portraits of martyrs which are carved deep in our brains, is just part of the bigger picture.

Reader must realize that martyrs are also human beings. They have the same needs as every other individual. Expressing these normal human-characteristics heartens the redear and encourages us to try and become as similar to them as possible. It helps us to feel closer to them and imagine an equivalent position for ourselves to which, we can reach by endeavor and self-improvement. Meanwhile, many of those who still adhere to the Islamic Revolution, pretty much sympathies the same mentality of those who actively played a role in days of Revolution and Sacred Defense. They believe in righteousness of those who fed their body with few, but their soul with much. Men and women who honored to cloth up for the battle and wished for martyrdom. They lived ordinary, even had some flaws, but sacrifices their lives for what they believed.

In “Autumn has Arrived” Mousavi tells the story of her life and provides important details about her relationship with her spouse, Gen. Ahamad Yousefi who was the commander of IRGC’s Zanjan division – details so beautiful and enviable that in some parts of the book, reader probably will feel jealous of her and of their love for each other.

The rocky path these revolutionary heroines have been through in their lives, in comparison with flashy and luxurious material lives of many other men and women who consider themselves nothing more that a makeup model, is inspiring. It reminds us to widen our perspectives, see beyond daily concerns, step over the ordinary life and redefine individual and collective values of our lives once again.

The “Autumn has Arrived” introduces the spirit and morale of a woman who is also a combatant. We get to know her life, from childhood to adulthood. The book’s literature, using a fluent wording, establishes a background for the reader to help them understand how Fakhr-al-Sadat resists against so much problems and difficulties all alone. Reader will sink deep in thoughts to find out what is the source of this resistance? How can she overcome various fears? What kind of faith or belief makes her so brave and daring?

Undoubtedly, there are some amongst the readers of this book who have tasted the sweetness of love and know that a true lover will never abandon his/her beloved. They know that even if a true lovers would abandon their beloved ones, they will pay a significant expensive: part of their souls. In this biography, we get face the description of two loves in one woman’s life: love of Fakhri for fighting for Islam and her love for her spouse. Her spouse shares the same emotions. These two loves mean the same for the couple and it’s obvious that they never gave up on their loves. Fakhri hoped that her husband would be still alive, until faces with his body in the morgue. Who knows, but maybe Fakhri consented to let her husband go for a probably irremeable mission once they were on pilgrimage to Mashhad. In between the pages of the book, we read about the dreams Ahmad has had sometimes and has told the story which for Fakhri. He believed that he will never achieve martyrdom, unless the consent of Fakhri is achieved. Though, God knows that a lover, keeps the beloved in heart until the last breath.

The woman we see in the “Autumn has Arrived” is a sweet and hearty combination of femininity and combatant-ship. She stands for her husband to the same extent as for her beliefs. Her divine love is so deeply rooted and wide-awake that she never desists from it in favor of a material love. She is quite sure that her husband will be martyred one day, not because she possesses foreknowledge, but because she is right in the middle of the battlefield and has lost most of her friends to the battle against villainy. She is not alien to the concepts like martyrdom or to-leave-everything-behind. There are certain implications surrounding her, like the struggle of the country in a long-imposed war, which make the soon to be arriving moment of her husband’s martyrdom a certain fact. The irony, though, is that despite the implications, she doesn’t’ prevent her husband from going to the battlefield and consents to what God consents. A noble and generous surrender by a woman who is in love with her man; a woman to whom we are indebted. She really does stand for her beliefs, even if she has to grow her children alone while she is still way too young.

Honestly, if the writer of the book, Golestan Jafarian, had a poor pen the book would have got caught in sentimentalism. But I believe that if mere emotional highs and lows is the only thing a reader understands from the story, he/she has got stuck in the surface of the narrative and so involved with the dramatic descriptions of the book which had failed to extract the real essence of the subtext. Regardless of any flaws or weaknesses the book might bear, perspicuity of the narrative is its most significant strength which has saved the book from falling in pitfall of cliches we hear about lives of our martyrs. A Muslim woman in this story is not a passive puppet. On the other side, a Muslim man doesn’t play the role of a boss. Fakhri is not imprisoned in the house. She sings, does what other ordinary women do, and holds on to her motherhood roles tight and well. Ahmad, also, has not defined all his tasks and duties outside the walls of his house. He is a Muslim man who serves his wife and provides his family with as much comfort and welfare as possible. Ahmad encourages Fakhri to not to be passive and to have a positive influence on the society.

Yes! We have heroes and heroines like this who can be a perfect example for young couples.