Nasrallah: new biographical info

I just found this fascinating “autobiography” of Hassan Nasrallah on the web.
It was apparently published August 10 by Ya Lesarat Ol-Hoseyn (Tehran), described as “in Persian — extremely conservative Tehran weekly. Organ of Ansar-e Hezbollah”.
It would be good to have someone go through it and re-render all the mangled Lebanese place-names into ones that are recognizably Lebanese. For example, near the beginning there, “Qarantina”, “Bourj Hamoud”, “Nab’aa”, etc…
Qarantina and Nab’aa were two of a number of majority-Shiite areas of East Beirut that were completely “ethnically cleansed” of their Shiite residents during January 1976 by those lovely democrats (strong irony alert!) of the so-called “Lebanese Front”. Hasan N. would have been 15 at the time. He writes in Ya Lesarat, quite blandly, “Hence, I left [Karantina] and returned, along with my family, to the village of Bazuyeh, where I was born. After that, I finished my high school education in one of the state schools of the coastal city of Sur.”
We don’t, alas, know when these recollections were penned. I found these paras very interesting:

In 1992, the Israelis assassinated Seyyed Abbas Musa [a.k.a. Abbas Musawi, who’d been secretary-general of Hizbullah till then]. Hence, the members of the Consultative Council arranged a meeting to choose his successor, which turned out to be me. The day I was chosen by the Consultative Council, I had a lot of fear and anxiety, because I was much younger then. Up to that point I had only been in charge of the internal arrangements of the party and I had no experience with the party’s external affairs. But, the council insisted that I take the job. At first, I refused, but later, when the experts insisted again, I accepted this responsibility finally.
In 1978, I married Ms. Fatemeh Yasin from the Abbasiyeh neighborhood of the city of Sur. Besides my son Hadi, who was martyred at the age of 18, I have three other children: Muhammad Javad; Zeynab; and Muhammad Ali. When I set foot in my house, I leave all of my work and difficulties at the door, in order to become a caring husband and father at home. I try to value my private life and my faith. I read a lot, especially about the adventures of politicians. I have been reading Sharon’s biography for a while now, and I am going to read the book again.
… I would not deny that Hizballah’s wish is to establish an Islamic Republic system one day, because Hizballah believes that establishing an Islamic government is the only way to bring stability to a society and is the only way to settle social differences, even in a society that is composed of numerous minorities. Nevertheless, establishing an Islamic Republic is not possible with force and resistance. It requires a national referendum. A referendum that wins 51 percent of the vote is still not the solution. What it needs is a referendum for which 90 percent of the people vote. Hence, with this assumption, and in view of the status quo, establishing an Islamic Republic system in Lebanon is not possible at the present time.
Death is nothing but a gateway between the two worlds. Some people pass through this gateway with difficulty and agony, and some do it with ease and willingness. Martyrdom is the best way of passing to the eternal world, because martyrdom is one of the glorious gifts of god almighty. When a martyr dies (moves from one place to another), it is like a person who goes to the heavens with precious gifts. This is why martyrdom is so valuable to other people (Muslims). Even in those nations that do not believe in god, when people dedicate their lives for their homeland, their nation, and a goal in which they believe, it is laudable and admirable. As a father who has lost his son, I have no worries; I am sure that my son is in paradise with god almighty.
Before his martyrdom, Hadi’s picture was only found in our house. However, today his picture is found everywhere and in every house. It is true that my family and I have lost our dear and beloved son, but we are confident that we will meet him in the eternal life some day.

Anyway, there’s a lot more there that’s worth reading, too. It gives a much fuller picture of Nasrallah than I was able to provide in my BR piece on Hizbullah last year.
Hat-tip to Democratic Underground for having pinpointed the Ya Lesarat piece. If only they had an accessible comments board I would have thanked them there in person.