Wife Speaks of Martyred Husband

Narrated by Parvin Moradi (Taghavifar)

Fatemeh Moradi
Translated by Abbas Hajihashemi

2016-3-14

I married Hamid Taghavifar in 1989. Haj Hamid proposed to me in a meeting with his father. For Hamid, honesty and having a simple life were the criteria for marriage. In our wedding, he had just returned from a mission. He came after me with a simple car and the outfit of a serviceman. He then picked his father up from his work and took us to the IRGC promotional center for the wedding ceremony.

Mr. Shamkhani was the then-commander of IRGC forces in the southwestern city of Ahwaz. He spoke about the life and personalities of Hazrat Ali and his wife Hazrat Zahra. Later in the ceremony, Mr. Ahangaran and Mr. Panahi performed a comedy play. The refreshments were more than simple. The guests were offered sweets and fruit only.

After the ceremony was over, Haj Hamid did not show up at home for several days because the Islamic Revolution was still in its incipience and sporadic clashes took place in different parts of the country.

We lived in the city of Ahwaz at that time. When Haj Hamid returned home after some days, he said to me: "I am serving in this village where women are disallowed to take part in collecting prayer saying." So he asked me to go with him to the village and engage myself in cultural activities in the village's mosque. Only a session was held in the mosque and the following sessions were held in our house from then on.

Only a fortnight after our wedding, we had to move to this rich neighborhood of the city called Kian Pars in Ahwaz. After the Islamic Revolution, many of the rich had abandoned their houses already and had left the country.

After the Cultural Revolution, the MKO adherents besieged Ahwaz University and had sparked scuffles with the people. The IRGC forces had to interfere to ensure the citizen's security. One of the forces was hit by a stone from MKO and lost his eyes. IRGC forces, on the other hand, captured a number of them including women. Haj Hamid asked me to go inspect the detained women as female forces were very scarce at that time. I refused at first but was convinced to do so after Hamid mentioned this Quranic verse.

Before the start of the Iran-Iraq war the city of Ahwaz was gripped by a flood and this family of Mr. Irani, who had no other place to live and came to live with us for a while.

As the war broke out, Haj Hamid was specialized in Iraq's affairs and had mastered Arabic language and its Iraqi dialects. After the war was over, General Soleimani told him not to come to Iraq because he was already identified and could be targeted by terrorists.

In 1993, Haj Hamid was targeted by a terrorist attack in our house which he managed to survive. He was the one who masterminded a plan to assassin Saddam Hussein during which his son was injured.

He was a sociable, easy-going man. One time we had travelled to Mashad to pay a visit to the holy shrine of Imam Reza where Haj Hamid said this friend of his was about to see us in our hotel room. While I was waiting for our guest to come in our room, I called Hamid and hear the sound of dishes being washed. When I asked him where he was he said he had decided to help this waiter in the hotel while he was waiting for his friend while the lunch was being served.

In his retirement, he served Basiji forces in Iraq and played a significant role in unifying Shias and Sunnis in the country. Finally on Saturday, December 27, 2014, he was killed in Samera during an operation to defend the holy shrines of Imam Hassan Asgari and Imam Hadi.