Book Review: “Sign of God”

The life of Ayatollah Haj Sheikh Ali Badri Dashti

Fereydoun Heydari Molkmian
Translated by M. B. Khoshnevisan

2022-7-12

“In memory of the valuable clergy elders who protected the fertile area of Abadan from the negative influences and misbelief, immorality and social evil of the employees of foreigners, westerners and corrupters, and spared no efforts to thwart the social destruction plots of Islamic Iran, so that with the grace of Allah and the standing of the Muslim and committed people and the blood of the martyrs of the clergy and the people, their long-standing wish was fulfilled with the victory of the Islamic Republic.”

The above-selected text is for the back cover of “Sign of God”. The book’s front cover has a beautiful, abstract and imaginative design: a piece of white cloud floating in space and a sweat hat that is shaped like a bowl and contains Arabic letters and words engraved on an oval-shaped background decorated with flowers and plants. It seems that these letters and words, which can be seen with the same frame at the end of each narration and other sections, are taken from a hadith of Imam Ali (PBUH): “Whoever leaves his work to God, God will take care of his work" (Ghurar al-Hikam or exalted aphorisms and pearls of speech, 8070)

The book "Sign of God" first begins with the reference of the compiler. Then, there is the message of Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, in which the warm and martyr-nurturing region of Abadan and Khuzestan is mentioned and the high position of its martyrs, especially the martyred clerics, is honored. After that, a foreword by one of Ayatollah Badri's children is included, in which he states: "A collection of his (Ayatollah Haj Sheikh Ali Badri Dashti's) memories and life description has been compiled in this book from his own words and those of his companions," which of course contradicts what is written on the book’s front cover and only introduces Ayatollah Badri Dashti as the narrator; but as it is clear in continuation of the list, the book’s text of consists of seven different narrations by seven narrators! In continuation, the attachments, writings, memoirs and bibliography have been included. The final part of the book is also related to the black and white images, which are of good and acceptable quality and include several permissions.

In the first narration, Ayatollah Haj Sheikh Ali Badri Dashti first talks about his hometown village Kordavan Olia (from the Kaki section of the town of Dashti in Bushehr province): “Our village was the cradle of Islamic culture and ethics. In the month of Muharram, traditional rowzeh-khani (religious sermon) was held; a person was brought to narrate the events of Muharram from the beginning to the day of Ashura. When I was a child, they used to bring a horse that looked like Zuljanah (a grey Arabian stallion that belonged to Imam Hossein); I looked into his eyes and saw that he was shedding tears just as people were beating their chests. Kordavan Olia was the cradle of Ulema. Thanks to the blessings of my great grandfather and the students he trained, it became the cradle of Ulema.”

Then he mentions his great grandfather, Haj Sheikh Hossein Badreddin, who made a living by praying for rent; and he even built a seminary where he trained the students of theology. He also talks about his parents, birth, childhood, education and studies. "I was interested in Quran, poetry and... We used to read poems by Hafez and the like... Our mother always taught the children the books of Hayat al-Qulob and Dua Mustajab by the late Majlisi with her kind tone how to sit, get up, eat, say hello, read and so on... I studied the risalah of Ayatollah Naeeni … I went to an old school and finished the holy Quran. I started studying political affairs at the age of 15…”

He was seventeen or eighteen when he left for Najaf to continue his education. He was given a room in Sheikh Kazem Bokhari School. He was the prayer leader of a mosque. He was attending the classes of Molla Najmeddin Abdollah Behabadi Yazdi. He learnt religious studies before the masters such as Sheikh Abbas who was his uncle, Sheikh Mujtaba Lankarani, Seyed Abdolali Sabzevari, Mirza Baqer Zanjani, and Mr. Kouhi. His masters if the field of “Sat’h” were Seyed Abdolali Sabzevari and Mr. Sistani, Mr. Malakooti, Sheikh Abbas Qoochani, Mirza Baqer Zanjani, Ayatollah Khoee, Ayatollah Madani and so on. His education in Najaf took twenty years. Even when he married his cousin, he took his family with him to Najaf. Sheikh Ahmad Bahraini was his wife's father. They were kicked out of Iraq in 1352 or 1353 (1973 or 1974). They inevitably migrated to Abadan. His fellow citizens built Khadijeh Kobra (AS) Mosque in Abadan. The mosque set the stage for strengthening faithful people. They made revelations and fell out with the Shah. From information and counter-intelligence, SAVAK and the police keep a watchful eye on him. Wherever he made a speech, three officers followed him and... until the Islamic Revolution became victorious and he became the ideological political leader of the Revolutionary Committee and took over the ideological training of the IRGC... and then, the war began as the Iraqi jet fighters bombarded Iranian airports…

The second narration is the narration of Ruqayyeh Bahraini, the daughter of Sheikh Ahmad and the wife of Ayatollah Haj Sheikh Ali Badri Dashti. First, he tells about his grandfather, Ayatollah Sheikh Hossein Bahraini, that in order to get rid of the oppression of the King of Bahrain, he boarded a ship with his brothers and reached himself to the port of Dayyer, and then they came to Kordovan and settled in this village. Sheikh Hussein's children were born and raised in Kordovan. "Sheikh Ahmad married a woman from Badris, and his wife was Fatemeh Badri, who became Haj Agha's aunt, and from whom he had three sons and four daughters."

He further mentions the two marriages of his father, his full-blooded and step brothers and sisters, and his mother. In the course of his memories, he returns to his childhood which he spent in a brick-made house. In a period when there was no water and electricity. They lived with a hurricane lamp and well’s water. They took the water out of the well and put it in a container to settle. And it is in this recollection that he mentions their palm grove, get-togethers in the holy month of Ramadan, Ta'ziyeh in the homes, learning the Islamic principles before his father, her marriage at the age of seventeen with Haj Sheikh Ali Badri Dashti and going to Najaf, and then mentioning their expulsion and compulsory migration from Iraq and living in Abadan.

The third narration is narrated by the senior son, Mohammad Badri: “After studying in the seminary, our father cut off his connection with the society and was involved in the issues of revolution and revolutionary struggles and the meetings in which he participated. Here, the role of our mother was very influential as she played both the role of father and mother. If we went out, even at school, we had to tell our mother where we were. Our father was involved in our teaching, but he didn't know what grade we were in, but our mother knew. The father enjoyed a strong authority in the house and this strong authority made us to be brought up in the path he drew. He did not oppose the children going to university and never told them "You must become a clergy."

In continuation, Mohammad Badri says that his father never confiscated any asset and never rode in a confiscated car, and he describes his memories of the war and his father's inspection from the combatants' headquarters, as well as his morals and other characteristics.

In the fourth narration, it is the turn of Sheikh Abdul Razzaq Badri, the fourth son of Ayatollah Haj Sheikh Ali Badri Dashti. He first mentions the mosque that his father built in Abadan in 1341 (1962), and that both before the revolution, during the revolution, and after the revolution, this mosque was a base where activities were carried out to advance the goals of the revolution, and even speakers were invited from Qom. He also mentions his father's debate with the Christians and Kasravis and the struggles he had with the irreligious elements in Abadan. Sheikh Abdul Razzaq Badri remembers that during the war, his father used to go from 6 AM to religious classes of the Martyr Foundation, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Basij, Revolutionary Committee and other organizations that invited him. During the war, he was always the prayer leader and the interim Friday prayer leader. Besides these, he also used to judge. He was the first religous judge who was able to reactivate the judiciary after the war by settling in Abadan after it had become inactive during the war.

After mentioning other memories of his father, each of which was indicative of his special character, he finally mentions his father's emphasis on studying: “He always consider two things, one was to insist on the right in the path of work that we undertook, to work hard, to insist on the right and not to fall short of the rights of the people, God and the treasury, and secondly, to complete our scientific progress day by day and not to stop. He also emphasized a lot on studying and never thinking that we do not need to study.”

The fifth narration belongs to Malek Qanavatizadeh the custodian of the mosque. He entered Khadijeh Kobra (AS) Mosque, which was previously known as the former Dashti Mosque, but the mosque was not yet ready for worship. Until then, at the request of Haj Agha, they performed noon, afternoon, Maghrib (evening), and even Esha (night) prayers in Ayatollah Monzavi Mosque, and morning prayers in the Bani Taraf mosque known as Sahib al-Zaman Mosque, which was next to Ayatollah Badri's house. Until one day, Haj Agha asked Qanavatizadeh: "Can you take over the mosque?" He said: "With the help of God and the wisdom you have, yes." At that time, the foundations of the mosque and the walls built around the foundations had no ceiling. Thus, from then on, under the supervision of Ayatollah Badri, they started building the mosque until it was almost ready in 1373 (1994) and they were able to hold the first Eid al-Fitr prayer there.

Qanavatizadeh also mentions his special relationship with Haj Agha in his narration: “Haj Agha and I were as father and son and I know their habits more than anyone, maybe more than his children, he does not speak in despair. He says, “Don’t say everything before anyone.” I mentioned all the issues to him. He answered me with a pause. I said, "Sir, why did you pause?" He said, "I was pausing, why did you come and tell me?" I said, "Sir, by God, I trust you." "I know," he said.

The sixth narration is dedicated to Baqer Ghaffari, one of Haj Agha's companions (former head of the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee of Abadan and head of the Prisoner Support Association and Ayatollah Badri's representative in the affairs of combatants). His father, known as Sheikh Ali, lived in Haj Agha neighborhood in Ahadabad, Abadan, and he already knew him:

“Before the revolution, we went to Vali-e Asr district and settled there. During the rallies and issues of the revolution, with the consultations I received, our relationship with them was established and the intensity of our interest in them increased during the war. Whenever we ran out of defense, we would visit him, and he would tell a hadith, and we would be recharged, and we would go back to work and continue”.

The seventh narration belongs to Nasser Hosseinpour, the bodyguard of Haj Agha. Before the revolution, he knew Haj Agha as one of the great clerics of the city and used to pray behind him in the mosques where Haj Agha was praying, but after the revolution, his activities were strengthened. “At first, he was protected by the forces of the Islamic Revolution Committee, with whom we were friends and had a relationship. After breaking the siege of Abadan in 1362 and 1363 (1983-1984), when he became the interim Friday prayer leader of Abadan city, the sensitivity of his protection increased and this job was handed over to the IRGC and the honor of being the head of the protection team of Haj Agha was given to me.

In continuation, Hosseinpour also mentions his small and large memories of Haj Agha. For two years, he was the head of the protection team of Haj Agha, who was the religious judge of six Khuzestan towns (consisting of Mahshahr, Abadan, Khorramshahr, Shadegan, Omidiyeh and Aghajari) and spent the period with him round-the-clock. In his opinion, although Haj Agha was very kind like a father, both in terms of patience, and guidance, if an official evaded his responsibility, he acted very firmly and sharply against him. He used to tell his bodyguards,” Don’t be hard on people in any way. If you want to be here, God forbid, don't do anything to create a distance between the clergy and the people!"

The first edition of "Sign of God" which was interviewed and compiled by Masoumeh Saberi for the Office of Resistance Culture and Studies of the Art Center of Khuzestan Province, was published in 1400 (2021) by Sooreh Mehr Publications in 192 pages and in 1250 copies.