The Book of “Militant Women”

Cooking in Neauphle-le-Château

Translated by Ruhollah Golmoradi

2023-1-10

Imam was in Najaf. Doctor [Ibrahim Yazdi] went Germany in 1978 so that he could go to Iraq, to the city of Najaf, and join Imam. When he had arrived Kuwait he was informed that to be aware not to be raided on the borders; anyway, we had friends in the Arab region. It was supposed the Shah’s regime to capture Imam between Iran and Iraq border and take him to Iran that fortunately they didn’t manage, and Imam headed to France and dwelt in Neauphle-le-Château.

Neauphle-le-Château neighborhood was similar to backstreets of Shemiran in the home; short and straw walls, small houses with one floor and sometimes one and a half floor. I was in Neauphle-le-Château from the beginning till when Imam’s wife joined him.

Wife of Imam hadn’t come with him due to the death anniversary of Agha (sir) Mustafa, and as the dr. [Ibrahim Yazdi] requested, I {Soroor Taliye} joined Imam to take care of him. I was the first woman who see Agha {Imam} at close quarters and sit next to him.

 There was an underground that I slept while I had Imam’s pot of food in my arms so that nobody could poison it. In this regard, there had been planted tomato, cucumber, and potato in the very small indoor garden of the house, and I used those fruits and veggies; so we were relaxed that nobody poisoned them. When I would go to the garden with a shovel and sickle, Imam looked at me from the upstairs and said: Mrs. Doctor, I bothered you much, you left your children and are taking care of me. I answered: I never had an opportunity to be with my father for a long time, help him, and taking care of him; now I consider you as my father and I hope he is also satisfied with me.

In Neauphle-le-Château, only Mr. Eshraghi and I were with Imam, and we talked with each other. At the beginning, Imam dwelt in the house of Mr. Asgari when he arrived Neauphle-le-Château. When his wife arrived, they rented a house for him at the opposite of the same building and Imam relocated there.

Many people visited Imam among them were women such as Mrs. Dabbagh, Mrs. Haleh Sahabi, and several Muslim women from Scandinavia who discussed with Imam and raised their questions. There were also Messrs. Motahhari, Khalkhali, Dr. Makri, and Khosroshahi. All dignitaries of Iran travelled to Neauphle-le-Château to visit Imam.

Source: Faezeh Tavakoli (ed.) (2020) Militant Women. Tehran: Urooj Publication, Pp. 169-170.