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The Priest Who confessed him
By said Taky Deen
I am not concerned how I die but rather about what I die for. I do not count the years I lived, but rather the works I carried through to achievements. With these words, Sa'adeh closed the final chapter in his life. At the time, he was in Prison al-Ramel, waiting to be taken away for execution after the Lebanese government had decided to waive normal judicial procedures or to grant him an amnesty. The Priest Who Confessed Him is an eye-witness account of the final hours of Sa'adeh's life described in a dialogue between the priest who attended the execution and Sa'id Taki Deen, the distinguished Lebanese Litterateur.
In my fifth attempt to meet and question the priest who observed Sa'adeh's last hours, I finally located him at night, as arranged by appointment. He was different from the image that I had brought with me in my mind. I found not so much an aged figure with a white beard or a trembling voice or impressive dignity and fatherly speech that would accord with that special life that clergies live within society.
We sat, with my patience sorely tried by that small talk that strangers who have met
for the first time must exchange. Our conversation dragged on the margin of the subject
and I finally interrupted those present to raise it directly: "Could you please tell
me Father about the night of the 8th of July?"
I was a bit upset that this man of religion did not at first assume a solemn demeanour but
rather talked in a detached manner. Yet as he narrated the events that he observed [on
that night], his voice, his tone, and his humility became tinted with emotions and real
grief. He became like a master musician playing a moving piece on a piano, his fingertips
lightly cherishing the ivory keys, until his discourse soared to an elevated music not of
this world. We felt that the walls of the room had opened up and that it was lighting up
those within it. We became there with Sa'adeh in his prison, in the church, in the
cemetery addressing the world, among his people in the diaspora, in palaces, in court, in
diplomatic missions, in the hearts of all who knew him and grieved for him, in the pride
of struggles standing in the presence of the arrogant or in the face of executioners, in
the calmness of the faithful, in the cave of treachery as bayonets that pursue criminals,
flags that urge armies on, as the tempest that crushes and the cry that makes history
pause in its forward march. The priest brought out a paper from the folds of his
voluminous black cassck taken out of an exercise book, and was about to read it when I
said: "Talk to me instead, don't read your papers even if they are memoirs."
He began to speak:
When I opened the door at the sound of the bell, around midnight, I found myself before
officers of the Army who asked me to quickly get dressed and bring along my cross and
clerical particulars. I said: "What is going on?" and they replied "we are
to execute the traitor Antun Sa'adeh tonight and we want you to confess him and offer him
the last rites before his execution." I said: "I cannot do something of that
kind until you bring permission from the archbishop as our church laws require." They
said: "We do not have the time. We will take the responsibility for it." Once
more I excused myself, but they continued to insist, repeating that an infraction against
church laws is less harmful than sending a Christian to his death without having complete
his religious obligations. I finally gave in and reluctantly rode in their jeep through
streets crowded with security forces both military and police patrolmen and with weapons
held ready to fire. We saw Prison al-Ramel appear. It was brightly lit up both from
without and within. We got down at a place where other officers were waiting for us.
The director of the prison walked up to me and introduced himself and informed that
this would be his 13th execution and just a routine matter. I replied: "I have spend
thirteen years in clerical garb and this is the first time that I am to view an
execution." It was also the case with the doctor who was joining in our conversation.
The prison director only replied: "This condemned traitor Antun Sa'adeh is a man who
committed treason. He is an unbeliever atheist who actively propagates his atheism. Do you
think such a man would pay any heed to you, Father - that atheist anti-religious
traitor?".
We then went into where they had put Sa'adeh, a small cell that would not have deserved
the title of a room. We found him laying down on a patched and grubby carpet that was
shorter than him. He had made his jacket a buffer between the bed and the wall so that his
two feet would not jar against it. He was sleeping in a normal position, his head
supported by his left arm which he made a substitute for the pillow he did not have.
We woke him up and he got up at once greeting us first and saying to me "welcome,
Reverend." In reply I told him that no amnesty had been issued for him and that the
execution would now be carried out against him. Almost at once he thanked us with a
composed smile and asked for permission to put on his jacket which was bunched up under
his feet. They let him do so, he thanked them again and put it on.
When I was alone with him I asked him if he wanted to carry out his religious obligations
and he answered why not. I asked him to confess, and he replied, " I have no sin that
for which I want forgiveness. I have not stolen, I have not been a charlton, I have not
bore false witness, I have not killed, I have not deceived, and I have not caused misery
to anyone."
After I concluded the religious rites, we left the room and they handcuffed him. Then we
went out to the prison office. There he asked to see his wife and daughters but was told
that was out of the question. They offered him a breakfast which he refused with thanks,
although he did accept a cup of coffee which he drank with his right hand and supported
with his left. The handcuffs would glint and cling every time they knocked against the
cup.
Sa'adeh smiled quietly as he ran his eyes from face to face as though he was farewelling
us without getting anyone uptight. At this point, I burst into tears as did some of the
officers one of whom sobbed violently. After he drank his coffee, he once more insisted on
meeting his wife and daughters. He was asked to whom did he want to leave the four hundred
liras that had been found with him. He replied "that and a patch of land in Dhur
Shweir are all that I own." He left them to his wife and daughters in equal portions.
He asked to address journalists but they told him that was impossible. He asked them for a
paper and a pen but they refused. He said I have something that I want to put down for
history. One of the officers shouted out to him in warning: "beware not to attack
anybody lest we harm your dignity." Sa'adeh smiled once more saying "you cannot
do that because no one has the power to degrade somebody else, though a person can degrade
himself." He repeated: "I have something to say which I want history to
record." We all felt into a dense silence that was itself almost audible.
Speaking honestly, I was in a vortex of emotions and I don't think I can remember every
single word he said. But I vaguely heard him saying:
"I am not concerned how I die but rather about what I
die for. I do not count the years I lived but rather the works I carried through to
achievements. This night they will execute me, but those dedicated to my ideology will
triumph and will then avenge my death. All of us die but few among us have the honour of
dying for a belief. The shame of this night for our descendants, our overseas communities,
and the foreigners. It seems that the independence that we watered with our own blood on
the day we planted it must now draw new blood from our veins."
We walked to where the cars were waiting for us, Sa'adeh walking with strong quiet steps
and smiling unperturbed as though an execution was something that he had undergone many
times before. He did not burst out into hatred or vengefulness or bluster like somebody
hiding fear.
At that moment I would have liked to hide him with my cassock, to have been able to hide
him in my heart or between the leaves of my bible. My bones tremble whenever I remember
him. When we walked into the yard I saw a coffin made of fir wood which looked quiet white
despite the night gloom. Sa'adeh looked at his coffin without his expression or smile
changing. Before getting into the jeep, he asked for the third and last time to see his
wife and children. And for the third and last time he had the same answer. His features
sharpened and in that brief instant of that night, alone, the lightning of emotions
appeared through the storm of his manhood.
The jeep carried Sa'adeh surrounded by the officers and behind him his coffin and a convoy
of cars and trucks behind him and before him filled with armed officers. I had fallen
perhaps into a bit of a trance for I thought that the execution might be postponed or that
a pardon might come. This delusion calmed a bit until we drove off the main highway to a
sort of a path between some sand dunes. We stopped in a space between the sands that
opened like an entrance to non-existence. He leaped down from among them in his handcuffs
to the post that had been set up for his death. They drew near him to blindfold his eyes,
but he asked them to leave him with his free sight. He was told the law, and he replied, I
respect the law. They made him kneel down and tied him to the post. The gravel under his
knees pained them and he asked the attending officers if it was possible to remove it
which they did. He said to them thank you twice, the third time being cut off by the
bullets.
There Sa'adeh was with his head hanging down and his right lung splattered out and his
left arm shattered: it was now only held to his shoulder by some skin so that it hung
down. They put the corpse in the coffin and the convoy then headed for the cemetery. There
they were about to bury it without any prayer had I not shouted out. At last they said to
me pray but make it snappy.
We entered the church and placed the coffin on the altar and I began to pray while the
blood dribbled from the cracks in the wood dripping down onto the floor of the church in
small dots which then started to join together and flow under the altar. We left the
church and I paused at its door facing the rising dawn, talking to God, and hearing the
sound of the shovels as they dug into the gravel and through earth down then cut into more
gravel and dropped more earth.
The priest who confessed him then suddenly said to me:
"I can tell you all the earth in the world cannot cover that hole. I can tell you
that the sound of the shovels on that dawn will become the resounding trumpet summoning
this nation to awake.
I can tell you that the beacon of life has arisen above the abyss of non-existence".
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A List
of Sa'id Taky Deen's Works
Plays:
1. Lawala al-Muhami, (1924), Dar al-Ahad, (Beirut, 1951), 140 pp.
2. Qudiya 'l-Amr, (Beirut, 1926).
3. Nakhb al- Aduw, Maktabat al-Kashshaf, (Beirut, 1946), 344 pp.
4. Hafnat Rih, Dar al-Ilm li-'l-Malayin, (Beirut, 1848), 280 pp.
5. Al-Manbudh, (Beirut, 1953), 32 pp.
Short Stories:
1. Al-Thalj al-Aswad wa Qisas Ukhra, Maktabat al-Rashshaf, (Beirut).
2. Ghabat al-Kafur, Dar al-'Ilm li-'l-Malayin, (Beirut, 1951), 132 pp.
3. al-Kharif, Dar al-Sharq al-Jadid, (Beirut, 1954), 140 pp.
4. Taballaghu wa Ballighu, Dar al-Jil al-Jadid, (Beirut, 1955), 168 pp.
Speeches:
1. Sayyidati Sadati, Dar al-Sharq al-Jadid, (Beirut, 1955), 160 pp.
Essays:
1. Ghadan Tuqfil al-Madina, Dar al-Sharq al-Jadid, (Beirut, 1956) 2. Ghubar al Buhayra,
Dar al-Sharq al-Jadid, (Beirut, 1956), 160 pp.
Memoirs:
1. Riyah Fi Shira'i, Dar al-Majani, (Beirut, 1960), 240 pp.
Miscellaneous:
1. Ana wa al-Tannin, Dar al-Majani, (Beirut, 1961), 270pp.
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Articles
The following articles do not necessarily reflect the SSNP's opinion. They only reflect
the personal opinion of their auther. If you have any comments about these articles, or if
you would like us to publish your own please feel free to contact us any time.
Sa'id Taky Deen: 1904-1960 By Dr. Alfred H. Howell
Sa'id Taky Deen was born 15 May 1904, in Ba'aqlin, a Druze village located in the Shuf,
about sixteen miles south of Beirut center, less than four miles east from the Bustani
village of Dibbiyeh, where his future friendly rival in AUB Alumni Association matters,
Emile Bustani, was born three years later. His family were prominent among the Druze
landowners of that time. As to the importance of family and other traditional values,
Sa'id himself noted in his memoirs: ...a strange incongruity in the Lebanese character.
Outside their country the Lebanese are often people of the world, as urbane and
sophisticated as any people can be. Back in their mountain villages, even those among them
who had achieved the highest distinctions abroad immediately shed all sophistication and
revert to type, becoming thoroughly and shamelessly immersed in the pettiest mountain
feuds. William R. Polk notes, in his The Opening of South Lebanon, 1788-1840, (p. 52) that
oral tradition among the Druze required each of four categories to marry within their
respective ranks. Amirs (the Shihab family alone) were in the first rank, muqataajis in
the second, shaykhs in the third, and peasants below that. In the Shuf, the shaykh rank
included at that time, perhaps 20 families, including the family Toqqid-Din (sic.). Polk
goes on to list the muqataajis: Junblat, Arslan, and a dozen others. And finally he
observes (p. 60) that the society of the area recognized three other basic splits:
village, party, and religion. In no case do these coincide. Then after a long discussion
of the complications that could arise, he adds: "this interlacing of social ties and
of opposition is perhaps the most important single aspect of the society of the
Shuf." Polk is writing of a period that ended 150 years ago. Modern family names
might be somewhat different but the general structure of society would not have changed
very much. Important for our purpose is that the family Takieddine (however the Arabic may
be transliterated) was long-established and respected in the area - and always involved in
political issues or government service one way or another. Sa'id was eldest of six
brothers. An older sister, Adele, had married Khalil Alamuddin, who became director of the
American University Hospital. Sa'id himself later became involved in political issues as
we shall see, but his only elective office was as President of the Alumni Association. At
heart he was a writer. Historian Kamal Salibi speaks of him as "the Druze man of
letters." Desmond Stuart refers to him as "distinguished Lebanese
litterateur." His list of publications follows at the conclusion of this monograph.
Sa'id's early education was at local schools, enhanced by the guidance of his uncle, the
well-known poet Amin Takieddine. This was followed by admission to AUB Preparatory Dept.
in 1918. He graduated (B.A.) in 1925, the first member of his immediate family to attend
AUB. Later many others followed, including a younger brother Munir (B.A. 1951; M.A. 1952)
and his daughter Diana (B.A. 1957). Although Sa'id wrote mostly in Arabic, his command of
the English language was excellent, as attested by the many spirited (sometimes vitriolic)
articles that came from his pen in the columns of Al-Kulliyah, his letters to the American
Board of Trustees Chairman, Harold Hoskins, over the Alumni Club House issue, reproduced
at the end of this monograph, and on other occasions. Almost immediately after graduation,
i.e., in September 1925, he left for the Philippine Islands, where a relative was serving
as a civilian employee in the Medical Service attached to the U.S. Military Force (in
occupation there since 1898). The place-names Iloilo (district capital and chief
commercial center on the island of Panay) and Cebu (district capital and chief commercial
center on the nearby island of Cebu), both are mentioned in connection with these early
years. He was twice bankrupt, got rich three times. Sa'id there met an attractive young
Lebanese lady who had come out "the other way" (Sa'id had come by way of the
U.S.A. and she by way of Singapore). Her name was Beatrice Joseph, of a Roman Catholic
family. They were married. Diana was born at Davao (major commercial center on island of
Mindanao). Later, the family moved to Manila, where he conducted a thriving business. This
was interrupted by the Japanese army of occupation which landed in the Philippines
simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor, 8 December 1941, local time. Corregidor
was overwhelmed 6 May 1942, but guerilla fighting con- tinued throughout the war. The Taky
Deen family remained in Manila for a time. Sa'id was mistaken for an American and interned
for a period of 53 days in Intramuros (the old Spanish walled city). Fortunately, his wife
and daughter were not interned and were allowed to visit him and bring small amenities.
Later they moved to Baguio, the "summer capital" 125 miles north of Manila at an
elevation of 5,000 feet, and itself a scene of bitter fighting before the war was over.
The naval battle of Leyte Gulf, 23-26 October 1944, had opened the way to U.S.
reoccupation of the Philippines. On 5 July 1945, Douglas MacArthur announced, "All
the Philippines are now liberated." Formal independence began 4 July 1946. Sa'id and
his family returned to Lebanon arriving early in 1948. His father had died, so technically
he was head of the family and family matters may have required his attention. Some of his
younger brothers were already well established; Munir, the fourth, was in school at AUB as
noted above. Returning with a considerable fortune, some say "a millionaire," he
threw himself into local causes: village politics, national concerns (of which the
unwelcome creation of the State of Israel by western powers and Israeli treat- ment of the
Palestinian natives was most inflammatory - and he was inflamed). Always he continued
writing, but AUB Alumni affairs were central to his interest at this time. He was elected
President of the Association late in 1948, and served four years, 1949-1952, inclusive.
1952 may mark a sort of watershed in Sa'id Taky Deen's life. Reportedly he suffered a
severe heart attack that year, but this did not slow him up. More importantly he became
fully active in the affairs of the political move- ment known then as SSNP. Emile Bustani
followed him as President of the Alumni Association during 1953-55. Then Sa'id
dramatically entered the lists against Emile for election to that office for the term
1956-7. The election, held
4 December 1955, was the most hotly contested in Association history. Vituperations were
traded freely. The Al-Kulliyah wrap-up story (January 1956 issue) reports that Bustani had
characterized Takieddine (sic.) as "a dangerously political man." Other quotes
from the article underline Shaykh Sa'id's "politicization" at this time:
Takieddine promised that if he were elected, he would make Al- Kulliyah an organ of
propaganda for one cause -- Palestine... affirmed that if he were to become president he
would, if necessary, sell the chairs and tables of the Association to send members abroad
to lecture Europeans and Americans about this part of the world...Takieddine's
"supporting party" [SSNP?] argued and talked. Bustani's "planes and
cars" stood by [to bring voters to the polls].
However, they remained warm personal friends. The article carries a two-column photograph
of Taky Deen and Bustani deeply engrossed in a game of parchesi while waiting for the
votes to be counted. When the tally was completed, 357 were for Bustani, 234 for Taky
Deen. Because this Syrian Social National Party (SSNP), known later in Lebanon as Parti
Populaire Syrien (PPS), was such a major factor in Sa'id Taky Deen's life during the next
few years, and an important though relatively unknown factor in the lives of many AUB
undergraduates and young alumni during those years, we turn aside to examine it more
closely: The founder was Antun Sa'adeh (1904-49), born in Brazil, son of Khalil Sa'adeh
(M.D. 1883). The latter practiced medicine and also was editor of two magazines, published
a two-volume Arabic-English dictionary, was a correspondent of the NY Times, and had other
literary accomplishments to his credit. Nothing is known about Antun's education or early
influences (sic). In 1929, at the age of 25, he returned to Lebanon and gathered a group
of young intellectuals and idealists around himself. It was Antun's vision that all
inhabitants of geographical Syria (defined as excluding Arabia itself but including all
the Fertile Crescent from the borders of Iran in the east, from the Taurus mountains in
the north and the Mediterranean Sea on the west and including Sinai but not Egypt in the
south) constituted a single nation with a common cultural heritage, not Arab nor Muslim
nor Christian nor even a combination of all three. Unique! One pauses to admire the
breadth of this vision -- sweeping away the religious and tribal barriers that, then and
now, divide the area into so many irreconcilable fac-tions. Sa'adeh himself was a man of
courage, decision, and powerful intellect. This evaluation taken from Albert Hourani's
Syria and Lebanon (p. 146), was written in 1946, before Taky Deen's return to Lebanon.
A.L. Tibawi's Modern Historv of Syria (written in 1969), also gives a favorable notice to
this party. Leonard Binder, Politics in Lebanon (1966) - a collection of papers given at
Univ. Chicago 1962 -- includes a paper by Labib Zuwiyya-Yamak (AUB alumna Salah Labib
Hikmat Zuwiyya, B.A. 1947; M.A. 1949) who writes: "...The distinctive characteristic
of this party has been its emphasis on doctrine rather than on political maneuvering. It
was the first party in Lebanon, and in fact in the entire Arab world, to think out the
national problem in its entirety and to develop a program of action to modernize not only
the political process but the entire life of the people..." (p. 157), and in footnote
28 (p. 165): "...failure of SSNP to participate actively and constructively in the
democratic process in Lebanon derives from its negative attitude toward the political
entity of Lebanon and from its total commitment to modernism...rejection of traditional
values [including traditional religious values]. It has alienated all who believe in
Lebanese nationalism and/or Arab nationalism as well as those who do not subscribe to its
concept of modernity." Jamil Sawaya, a close friend of Sa'adeh and a founding member
of SSNP (though he later broke away) reported that a group of idealistic young men under
the spell of Antun's vision and personality met around the tennis court of the Shuwayr
High School. During that summer of 1929 they hardly ever missed a game of tennis and it
was rare not to find Sa'adeh seated under an oak tree nearby, reading a book or talking to
a group of young men. Sawaya lists seven fellow students at AUB, with whom he discussed
these matters, and five others (non-AUB-ites apparently) who were added to the group next
year making a core in-group (might one call them apostles?) of twelve. The AUB group
included: George Abdel-Masih, B.B.A. 1933 Raja Boulos Khawli, B.A. 1934 Fakhri Boutrus
Ma~luf, B.A. 1934 Wadi Jamil Talhuk, B.A. 1934 Fuad Habib lists two other names not in
1966 Alumni Directory -- apparently did not graduate. He does not list Nasib Hommam, M.D.
(1932), who probably should be included.
In the summer of 1931, Sa'adeh went off to work for a newspaper in Damas-cus. In autumn
1932, he left Damascus and took up residence in Beirut. There he and his faithful group of
twelve determined to draw up "statutes." At first they wanted it to be a secret
organization, since to apply for permit was to be denied. And so it was done. For
admission to the organization, one must be between ages 18 and 40, must be screened and
accepted by the inner circle, must take oath to obey the party principles and the commands
of the leader. One could not resign but might be expelled. Thus the Syrian Social Nationa
Party was founded "officially" (though unknown to Government officials) late in
1932. According to a letter written by Bayard Dodge on 27 September 1940 in response to an
inquiry from the U.S.Consul General,1O Sa'adeh applied for a position as tutor in German
in 1933, but was turned down. Both Rarpat and Munro assert that he did in fact tutor AUB
students in German, but this may have been merely a smokescreen to cover comings and
goings on party business. The party appealed widely to young idealistic intellectuals for
its positive, clear-cut if somewhat impractical platform, but also for a certain mystique
that seems to appeal to young post-adolescents everywhere, involving fraternal commitment
to a leader or cause. The same seems to be at the core of certain Sufi orders, or Islam
itself. It may be found everywhere: in the Arthurian legends, in the Iroquois tribal
long-house, in secret fraternities at modern colleges, in missionary societies and street
Qangs, and so on. It was an active, demanding party, with meetings and training programs.
The latter included, so one former member informed me, para-military drill with wooden
guns. Members contributed as much as they could (either time or money) to its leader's
objectives. Sa'adeh devoted full time to its affairs. Membership increased. By 1935, it
had become so large as to attract attention of the French mandate authorities. Sa'adeh and
his lieutenants were arrested but soon released. Then in 1938, after his movement was well
established, for reasons which have not been disclosed, he went back to South America,
apparently to Argentina. When Sa'adeh departed for South America, Ni'ma Thabit (one of the
twelve) became leader. When WW II broke out (Sa'adeh being absent) SSNP declared for the
German side. This act as well as certain of its "principles" and the mahdi-like
nature of its leadership, may perhaps have given rise to Hourani's and Tibawi's
observations that it was perhaps a bit too close to fascism, despite its commendable call
for secularization, modernization, and political reform. He returned to Lebanon for the
second time in March of 1947. In 1949, he called upon his followers to rise against the
unpopular and corrupt govern- ment of Bishara al-Rhuri, then beginning a second term. The
rising aborted. Antun, betrayed by his supposed ally Col. Husni al-Za'im, then newly
installed as dictator in Damascus, was sent back to Lebanon, summarily tried and executed
on 8 July 1949. As to the events of 1948 and 1949, Edgard Milhim Abboud (B.A. 1942; B.Sc.
1945), now living in suburban Washington, D.C., told me much about the exciting and tragic
events of these two years, in which he himself had been an active participant. He too was
condemned to death but remained in hiding until amnesty was granted. These events did not
affect Sa'id Taky Deen in any way and must be omitted here. Mr. Abboud also informed me
that he (Abboud) was very close to the small inner circle that controlled SSNP, both as an
undergraduate at AUB and later. He also became a close friend of Sa'id Taky Deen soon
after the latter's return to Lebanon in 1948, and secured the necessary special
dispensation from Antun Saadeh to admit Taky Deen (then over the statutory age of 40). The
date must have been soon after Taky Deen's arrival, prior to Saadeh's death. It was at
first a provisional sort of affiliation. As noted above, Taky Deen had nothing to do with
the abortive uprising in June 1949. Edgard Abboud recalled also later events - centering
at the Taky Deen family's large and graciously hospitable house on Abdul Aziz Street in
Ras Beirut. There, during the mid 1950's, Sa'id pursued some business interests, his
all-consuming writing interests, and, especially after 1952, SSNP (or perhaps known
locally as PPS) party interests. He apparently became a sort of consultant on the party's
public relations, though it is not clear whether he ever held any formal title in the
party's hierarchy. Abboud remembers him as a chain smoker, a "regular chimney,
throwing one cigarette away half- finished as he let another." His daughter remembers
him as always busy with his writing -- or talking to someone but she could never hear what
was being said because he always shooed her off to practice her piano lessons. Having met
and come under the personal influence of Antun Saadeh years earlier, and having later
become much involved in the cause for which the latter had died a martyr, Sa'id wrote (in
Arabic) a moving half-factual, half- fictional account of Saadeh's summary trial and hasty
execution on 8 July 1949, under the title: "The Priest Who Confessed Him."
Political events reached fever heat in 1958, the year when U.S. Marines landed in Lebanon.
A bomb thought to have been thrown by pro-Nasser (i.e., anti-SSNP/PPS) partisans had
exploded (harmlessly) on the lawn of Taky Deen's home during May 1958. For this and
perhaps other reasons (there is a report that he had been condemned to death in abstentia
by a Baathist courtmartial in Damascus and was in fear of his life) Sa'id thought it wise
to move about, never spending two nights in the same bed. Later that year, Edgard Abboud,
now married and established in his own home in a distant, more peaceable part of Beirut,
arranged for him to occupy the ground floor of the gracious Abboud villa. There Sa'id
could write to his heart's content and there he received numerous visitors including
cabinet ministers and others who sought his opinion on pressing matters of the day. He
sailed for America in September 1958, a little more than ten years after his triumphant
return to Lebanon, settling first in Mexico, then on San Andres Island, a dependency of
Columbia far out in the Caribbean Sea. The story of his life during those last few years
is not at all clear. Some have said that the fortune he had brought back from the
Philippines was gone, and for that reason he was depressed. Whatever the circumstances, he
died in San Andres on 10 February 1960, apparently bankrupt. Eventually his body was
brought back and buried with those of other members of his family in his village of
Baaqlin. A large representation from PPS was there to do him honor. Nevertheless, even
then some elements in the party tried to have his body delivered by the air line to
Damascus instead of Beirut, apparently intending to exploit its presence there, because of
the honor and the affection in which he had been held, as an occasion for an emotional
political rally. A short biographical sketch such as this cannot do full justice to the
achievements and drama (in this case tragic drama) of a life such as that of Sa'id Taky
Deen. There is need for a Lebanese writer who would be familiar with the complex social
and political forces at work at that time but yet able to analyze impartially. Taky Deen
was, as his daughter has said, a symbol of what Lebanon could be if there were more
dedicated idealists like him. He was a patriot and a philanthropist. He had been attracted
to SSNP/PPS by that party's original idealistic stand against sectarianism in favor of
secularism, by its condemna-tion of "feudal" characteristics (war-lordism,
Zu'amism, personal and/or family aggrandizement, tribal loyalties against the interests of
the common weal). Taky Deen gave himself to SSNP/PPS - invested all he had in it -- and it
ruined him. One must understand of course how the party itself had changed as time went
on. Men with other doctrines had joined it. Perhaps the original young idealists had lost
their idealism in favor of "realism," as they approached middle-age - willing to
compromise with principles for reasons of political expediency. Perhaps other elements had
entered the party with other motivations. We have already alluded to the golden plaque in
the Alumni Club House, dedicated 10 February 1961. He will be remembered among AUB Alumni
and others who know the full story as the one to whom credit and honor is due for having
revived, one might almost say refounded, the modern Alumni Association, virtually defunct
since Shehadi days. The Alumni Club House, the revived Al-Kulliyah and its one-time
running mate Middle East Forum, are monuments to his vision and energy. Perhaps more
importantly, he also has a permanent place in the hearts of those many Lebanese who know
and love his widely popular plays, short stories and other writings. One evaluation of his
work has kindly been provided by Dr. Nadim Naimy (B.A., 1953; M.A. 1956), Chairman of the
Department of Arabic and Near Eastern Languages at AUB. Chairman Naimy writes as follows:
Sa'id Taky Deen started his literary career as a dramatist and a journalist while still an
undergra~uate at the AUB. He succeeded towards the middle of this century in becoming one
of the prominent Lebanese prose writers. His works, almost a dozen in number, fall mainly
into the dramatic, the fictional, the autobiographical, the aphorismic, and the
journalistic socio-political essay. Though in many ways pioneering in the light of
Lebanese litera- ture at the time, Taky's main contribution in these works, lies not so
much in their originality of conception or profundity in content, but in his style: a
biting sarcasm, assisted with a quick moving language, a strong sense of humour, a
remarkable ability of detection and of drawing scenes and sharp contrasts, a tremendous
skill in drawing on Lebanese life, particularly village life: its customs, practices,
beliefs and feuds whether political, religious, social, cultural or other. A11 these give
Taky Deen a distinct way of writing which is entirely his own, and for which he is
remembered.During the latter part of his career, however, Taky Deen un- expectedly decided
to throw his lot as a writer and figure with the Syrian Popular Party, a secular movement
working for a united greater Syria. This sudden move on the part of Taky Deen succeeded at
the time to arouse in the local press a good deal of publicity around his name and
literature, but it can be said almost with certainty that not much was added, as a result
of the move, to the basic literary achievements of Sa'id the writer.
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