TEHRAN – Fakhr os-Sadat Musavi, the widow of Ahmad Yusefi, an IRGC commander who led several major reconnaissance operations during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, has released her memoirs “Autumn Arrived”.

The book published by Sureh-Mehr, a major publishing house affiliated with the Art Bureau of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization, was written based on interviews writer Golestan Jafarian conducted with Musavi.  

Musavi and Jafarian attended a session held by the Mehr News Agency at its office in Tehran on Tuesday to introduce the book.

The aim of the book is to record a spiritual and emotional background, which will keep the widows of martyrs in contact with the ideal emotional and spiritual condition of the wartime and their marriage, Musavi said at the session.

She noted that their emotional connections with their men are not severed after organizing a memorial service and they would suffer from it all their lives.

“The war has ended, but its wounds still remain and its flames still burn in the hearts of the martyrs’ children and widows, and these feelings will remain forever,” she said.          

Musavi lamented that the memories of the martyrs’ widows have not been given sufficient attention to be recorded, and added, “We could not record what happened to us in our marriage and afterwards… Nobody asked about the memories, and the widows refused to recount their stories, most of which have now been consigned to oblivion.”

Speaking at the session, Jafarian said, “‘Autumn Arrived’ belongs to Fakhr os-Sadat Musavi, who was hopelessly in love with her man and has still kept her love alive.”

“In our first interview, which lasted for two and a half hours, I was captivated by her fascinating accounts of her life during childhood at her paternal house… however, when she recalled her memories of her marriage with Ahmad, everything changed; she recounted the happiest moments of their marriage with such tearfilled eyes that I lost my concentration,” she added.

Yusefi was martyred while leading a reconnaissance operation in the Lari Baneh Heights in western Iran on September 28, 1986.

“His martyrdom happened very fast,” Musavi has said earlier. “He came home in Zanjan on a Thursday; he along with Ali [his elder son] attended Friday prayer next day; on Saturday, he returned to the frontline; on Sunday, he was martyred, and his remains were buried in a cemetery located in a slum area of his homeland Zanjan on Monday.”

Yusefi is also survived by his other son, Mohsen.

About the title of the book, Musavi said, “I met Ahmed for the first time in autumn and his martyrdom fell in autumn, therefore the book was entitled ‘Autumn Arrived’.”

Photo: IRGC commander Ahmad Yusefi’s widow Fakhr os-Sadat Musavi (L) and writer Golestan Jafarian pose after a session held at MNA office in Tehran on September 28, 2021 to introduce her memoirs “Autumn Arrived”. (Mehr/Ali Haddadi-Asl)

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