Books in prison, narrated by Martyr Seyyed Asadollah Lajevardi

The Study Journey of Hypocrites

Selected by: Faezeh Sassanikhah
Translated by M.B. Khoshnevisan

2025-5-21

Upon entering, the guys were given books like "How Man Became a Giant," "History of Ancient Iran," "Language and Cognitive Thought", "Introduction to Arianpour"[1], etc. Marxist and religious books were prohibited. Books by the late martyr Motahari, such as "The Method of Realism," were also banned and confiscated by the organization. Due to police pressure and special conditions in prison, we had to hide so that they would not be seen by the police.

This made the books inaccessible, and they were abused. For example, when I went to prison for the fourth time, I was interested in reading the Realism Method. I went to them several times and said I wanted the Realism Method book. At first, they said it wouldn't work now, the police would understand, we kept these books here with great effort. The police shouldn't notice the books, we shouldn't make the book public, and... I said that since you've kept the book secret and don't let anyone read it, what difference does it make if the police take it away? If the book is for reading, then there's a risk. Anyone who reads it takes care of it and keeps it away from the police. If the police take it away, what difference does it make if you hid the book? They had to agree to give the book away. But they said that because the book is secret, it's available for others to read at certain times, and the time for the book is full, and...

In short, after a lot of struggles, I managed to get an hour one night, late at night, from nine to ten, to read this book. I was certain that the book "The Method of Realism" was among the banned books and that not even a single page of the book could be opened. They would not allow anyone to know that such a book was in prison. I was certain of this, but I wanted to expose their actions. I would go at nine o'clock, stand in front of ward six, and someone would come and give me the book.

I would hide the book and take it to my room to study. I would sneak it to my room whenever I could, usually around ten o'clock. However, about ten days after this incident, I thought, "Let me untie these people's wrists because no one is reading this book at all." All the trickery they had done was to restrict me and prevent me from reading the book with the guys. They took great care to ensure that I had no contact with the guys. They had given me the book at a time when I couldn't actually read it with anyone. One night at ten o'clock, I didn't take the book to give it back to them. The next night and the night after that, I was left with a book that they claimed was always fully booked and only available at the end of the class, which was the busiest time. It turned out that the book they were promoting to me like this had no readers at all. They had also forgotten about these things. So, I confronted them and said, "What if someone is reading this book and the time slot is full? Why didn't you tell me to bring it? If the time slot for this book is always full and many people are reading it at different times, why has it been in front of me for two or three days without anyone looking for it?" This is where they were caught.

In this regard, we insisted and took three or four volumes of the book Methods of Realism that were there from them and read it with other children who were likely to be influential, of course not their children.

This book was boycotted. Not only Methods of Realism, but all the books of Martyr Motahari and all the books of Allameh Tabatabaei were boycotted, or for example, the book "Lessons from Marxism" by Mr. [Jalaleddin] Farsi, which had been sent to Evin Prison. They said that Mr. Farsi should be shot because it is anti-science, anti-Islam, anti-human, and anti-human! In short, they absolutely did not allow the books of the clergy to be read. One of their arguments regarding philosophy was that they said: "Marx has a philosophy, and it is practically applicable. Philosophy should be like this. What good is it that Mr. Allameh Tabatabaei is sitting in the corner of his room and writing that it has no relation to practice! This book is reactionary. This book is not philosophy." Philosophy is to explain my path and social movement, to set me in motion! Therefore, The Method of Realism is a book that is useful for reactionary idealists! Not for a revolutionary person."

The most egregious behavior occurred with the book Tafsir al-Mizan, where individuals would hurl severe insults at the author and the book itself. They would meticulously scrutinize Tafsir al-Mizan in order to find reasons to disparage it. For instance, they would mockingly point out perceived flaws in the author's commentary, undermining his credibility as a commentator. Essentially, they would encourage the guys to reject these books entirely, prohibiting them from engaging with their content. Their efforts were aimed at monopolizing the guys' attention, leaving them with limited opportunities for independent thought or exploration of alternative perspectives.

In order to study certain books with an intermediate level of difficulty, such as Engineer Bazargan's works, a specific method was employed. When individuals wanted to read a book, they would be instructed to read from a designated page to another. For instance, if a person typically read five pages in fifteen minutes, they were not given any extra time. There was a class before and after, and during the break between these classes, they were assigned the specific pages to read related to a particular topic. They were only allowed to read those designated pages. People were guided in a way that they believed straying beyond the assigned pages would lead to failure.

They [the members and supporters] were constrained by their own reluctance to engage in intellectual thought and were discouraged from thinking independently of the leadership. As a result, they limited themselves to reading no more than five pages and lacked the time to delve deeper into the subject matter.

A culture of intellectual monopoly was established, restricting individuals to a single dimension of thought and direction, thereby stifling any potential for personal research and exploration.