Al Hajja Amal Dib

Em Ali Atwi

Al-Hajja Amal Dib, known as Um Ali Atwi, or as her village calls her, the Mother of Martyrs, is the mother of three martyrs, each of whom became a symbol of a different war.
In the July War, her son returned wrapped in dust.In the war on Syria, she bid him farewell with a patience the night could not comprehend. And in the latest battle of support, she tasted the same sorrow once again, yet she never wavered.
But her pain didn’t end with her sons.Her 17-year-old grandson, the one who was always by her side, the closest to her heart, was martyred in the battle of "Ouli al baas", Her brother was lost in the "Pager Incident."
It’s as if she was destined to carry a caravan of martyrs. Her voice carries the humility of prayer, and in her eyes, a spark that does not resemble defeat. When she speaks, she does not call them "my martyred sons," she calls them "Ansar al-Hussain" (Supporters of Hussain), as if redefining motherhood not as tenderness alone, but as a testament to dignity.
She never sought titles. She never waited for honor.
All she ever wanted was for their blood to remain alive, not in framed pictures, but in a generation that knows there was once a woman in the South, named Um Ali, who stood alone…
and was, by herself, a front line.

Captured by Zeinab Fawaz - group photo of the martyrs

She began her journey as a cleaning worker at Al-Mahdi School. She also sewed and embroidered school uniforms for students and teachers. Her life was simple in every way.
And yet, she gave everything she had to raise her children.
She never knew that the outcome of this upbringing would be the highest of honors.
She was both mother and father to her children,
as her husband remained bedridden until the day he passed away.

The first martyr — Mohammad, or as she calls him, her pillar — was the one who, from a young age, always sought to help her and tried in every possible way to shield her from life’s hardships.
"My son Mohammad was very athletic," she said, her eyes fixed on the large photo hanging on the wall — the one that brings together her four angels.
But “athletic” didn’t just mean he liked to run or swim. Mohammad would walk to school every single day so his beloved mother wouldn’t have to pay for transportation.
He was the kind of child who, despite his young age, took on hard labor jobs just to earn money and hand it to his mother.
How could a mother forget such an innocent soul — a child who ended his short life with the honor of martyrdom, defending his homeland?
She couldn’t cry when she lost him — it was his final wish.
And indeed, she didn’t weep or collapse.
She sent him off with pride, strength, and the unbearable weight of loss carried in silence.

Captured by Zeinab Fawaz - image of al Shahid Mahdi Atwi

And from there began the story of the Mother of Martyrs. She never imagined that her son Mohammad would open the door of martyrdom for his brothers to become, from their place on high, her eternal guardians.
The second martyr was her little angel, as she calls him — Al-Hani. "Mahdi was pure joy , he never even got sick," she says.
He stayed by her side day and night, often accompanying her to her workplace. He could no longer bear to be apart from her. If she wasn’t home, he wouldn’t even enter the house. He would wait outside for hours until his mother returned. But she never imagined that life would cruelly reverse the roles that one day, she would be the one waiting… waiting for him to return, but only in her dreams. When he was martyred, she was given the title Mother of Martyrs.
But she never thought Mahdi would be the one, he was still so young. Unlike everyone else, this Zaynabi woman began to sing to her little boy, just as she used to in the past.
She couldn’t bear the thought that he would be the only one reciting poetry to her, so she sang to him,one last lullaby.

captured by zeinab Fawaz - Al shahid abbas atwi

She endured and remained steadfast, once again earning the title "Mother of Martyrs", as she bid farewell to her third son Ala Tariq Al Qudos , the martyr Abbas Atwi.
"Abbas... he broke my back," she says, her eyes burning like embers from the intense longing and yearning for all of them.
This southern woman, inspired by Lady Zainab, was proudly mentioned by the Master of the Martyrs of the Ummah , a testament to her, her sons, and their struggle. Sayyida Zainab of Karbala was her role model. She affirmed her unwavering commitment to this path, expressing that she wished she had not six, but twenty-four sons, so she could offer them all in sacrifice for Imam Hussein (peace be upon him).
Speaking of Karbala, she referred to a phrase often heard during Ashura: "If only we were with you." But for her, this was not merely a slogan. It was a lived truth. Women like her , the Zainabi women of the South , say it not out of passion alone, but through word and deed, offering what is dearest to them for the sake of this cause.

Al Hajja Amal Dib

archived Photos of em ali atwi and their sons