This testimonial appeared in Al-Lewa’ Magazine (Lebanese magazine), issue 89, October 11, 1964.
This is Marie Hadad, the woman behind the black books directed against the late Lebanese president Bechara El-Khoury!
Because of her faith in Dr. Dahesh, this woman had to tolerate being accused of insanity and then remained helpless in a mental institution for several months. She followed a similar fate as that of the immortal author, May Zeyadeh.
Because of her faith in Dr. Dahesh, the doors of the penitentiary for women opened for her so that she can complete a one-year sentence beginning in 1945. Also, because of her faith, she suffered like no other woman from the cruelty of her relatives.
This is Marie Hadad, the woman behind the sixty-six Black Books directed against the late Lebanese president, Bechara El-Khoury!
She is now seventy-five years of age…a wise elderly lady that has not abandoned her literary skills and rarely meets with visitors. She frequently remains in her room of a quiet house overlooking the Watwat neighborhood of Beirut, dreaming about the arrival of a new book from Paris, and trying to free herself from the agony of past memories.
The name of Marie Cheeha Hadad came to fame between the years of 1933-1940. In 1933, the London Daily Mail Newspaper of the Conservative Party, wrote: “The paintings of this artist were so beautiful and lifelike that if given the ability to speak, they would have. Many artists tried to study at length the light reflections or the still-life samples for people. The paintings reflect the Syrian skies drowning in twilight colors, its mountains, pine forests, orange trees, and its large cedar forests that Lamartine admired. Le Petit Parisien, a French Newspaper, wrote on the 21st of December of the same year: Madame Hadad forces her personality through her art and leaves one of her paintings to the village of Ashqoot as a token of her passion and love.”
That was her then and she still remains one of the Lebanese artists who became famous across the Mediterranean Sea, the English Channel, and the Atlantic Ocean. The French government purchased two paintings from her representing village people and placed them in the Luxembourg Museum where they are placed on exhibit until this day. She was one of the first to head the society of Lebanese artists for painting and sculpture. Qaisar Al-Gemayel—who died several years ago—took over this position after she had vacated it. She still remains one of the knights in French Literature. Her book “Lebanese Hours” created buzz in the literary circles.
The peach tree:
Marie Hadad was not just any person who is forgiven by relatives for having faith in Dr. Dahesh. This week we disrupted her isolation and asked her:
Q: Can we talk about your memories?
A: Leave me from past memories…they are very painful to me!
Q: Even the memories of Dr. Dahesh?
A: On the contrary, those memories are dear to my heart.
She proceeded to tell us the story of how she first met Dr. Dahesh. She was one of seven children fathered by the late Antoine Chiha and they are: Laure (the wife of Bechara El-Khoury), Alice (the wife of Marquis De Freij), Adèle (the mother of the millionare Sami Shouqair), Matilda (the mother of Pierre Hadad and the grandmother of Khalil Khoury’s wife, Michel Chiha (the founder of Le Jour (newspaper), and Joseph Chiha. They all passed away except for Marie Hadad. We had mentioned last week that the child born to André Hadad (the daughter of Marie Hadad) at Rizq’s Hospital was the reason for the Hadads to meet Dr. Dahesh. Listen to Marie Hadad tell us about the first miracle she had witnessed be performed by Dr. Dahesh. She said:
We went out to the garden of Dr. Dahesh at his house in the Nuwairy Station. There, Dr. Dahesh picked-up the pit of a peach fruit and placed it on the ground. He said: “by the name of God that this pit turns into a blossoming peach tree.” As soon as he finished his words, we saw a peach tree grow from the pit, little by little, until it became full of blossom and then the blossom turned into fruit. We ate some of this fruit and it was one of the best we ever had. The tree is still alive in the garden until this date.
Q: We said to her that this is a very unusual thing!
A: She replied: Do not be puzzled by the truth…the tree is available to you!
Then, Marie Hadad told us about another miracle. She said:
One morning, Dr. Dahesh told me that I have seen a nightmare and that I was very shaken by it. I told him “this is true.” He told me that as a result of this dream, my foot will slip and my head will hit the wall. However, through a Spiritual assistance, I will survive it. He then asked me to write the sacred Daheshist Ramz asking for the harm to be lifted from me and I did. Indeed, after several hours, my foot slipped and my head hit the wall, however, I walked away from this incident without any harm.
A bird comes to life from a painting:
This is not the last miracle that Marie Hadad witnessed. She told us that she had painted an oil painting of a nature scene with a tree and a bird resting on it. Because she heard that Dr. Dahesh made objects in an oil paintings speak, she asked him to bring her the singing bird from the painting. In few moments, the singing bird came to life. Marie Hadad took the bird into her hands where it felt safe. She then placed it in a birdcage where it lived there for two full years then died.
The lost coat:
Then she told us of an even more astonishing miracle…The incident took place with her husband George Hadad, the merchant, who departed to Palestine in 1941 and where he purchased a coat. For some reason, he lost the coat or it may have been stolen from him. He returned to Beirut sad about the loss of this coat. When he was introduced to Dr. Dahesh, others had told him that during a Spiritual Session, Dr. Dahesh can retrieve the coat to its owner. He took the opportunity of being in a Spiritual Session and asked Dr. Dahesh to return the coat to him. Dr. Dahesh told him that it is not wise to specify the exact date for the retrieval of the coat, nonetheless, it will return to its owner one day! A few days have passed and while passing through an area of Beirut called “Bab Idris,” he suddenly felt a weight pulling down on his right arm and when he looked, he saw the coat resting on his arm.
Here we had to ask Marie Hadad a very important question:
Q: Do you believe in these things—especially when you are very educated and the sister of Michel Chiha, the famous author?
A: While stressing on every syllable she uttered, she said: What can a person do when faced with such truths other than believing in them? I believed in what my own eyes had seen and not by what I had heard with my ears. I believe and I have the ability to distinguish between things…that Dahesh is a prodigy…the prodigy of the 20th Century!