An interview with memory writer of the book “Haj Qassem Guys”

We are worried about the memoirs getting away from minds

Elham Saleh
Translated by M. B. Khoshnevisan

2016-8-8

Note: People are drawn to a side on the basis of their interests. The writers often like a special genre and work in this field. Some of them pick out the area of the sacred defense. Afsar Fazeli Shahr-e Babaki is one of such writers; someone who has grown up in an environment which has caused her to understand the issue of the sacred defense well. Born in 1976 in the city of Shahr-e Babak in Kerman Province, she works in the fields of poetry, oral history and memory writing. The book “Haj Qassem Guys” is one of her works which has been republished for the third time since August 2015. The writer has talked about her interests in the area of the sacred defense and “Haj Qassem Guys”. She has chosen a clever method in order to get the satisfaction of Brigadier General Hossein Ma’roufi for interviewing about the book. The website of Iranian Oral History has interviewed Afsar Fazeli Shahr-e Babaki:

*How did you become interested in the area of memory writing of the revolution and the sacred defense?

*I was very interested in sacred defense. I took part in the funeral ceremony of the martyrs and cried for them. My late father was a scientific and cultural figure at that time (sacred defense); he was the memorizer and reciter of the holy Quran, poem, calligrapher as well as a panegyrist. He loved to go to the war fronts and to be martyred despite being very old. He asked several times from the local officials to send him to the war fronts but they refused to do so due to his age and lung disease. My father said, “Now that I cannot take up arms and fight, I can make tea for the combatants and to chop onions. My father failed to achieve his dream and passed away. My father always waited for one of his families or natives to come back from the front. He immediately sent me to invite them to our home. I obeyed his order and conveyed his message to them. Having a special devotion to my father, they came to our home at night and described about what had happened in the war fronts and talked about the courage and sacrifice of the war combatants. I and my sister and brothers sat and listen to them. It was since that time that I felt a deep love toward this.

*What was your first book in this field?

I started composing poetry at the age of 10-12. I have composed many poems about front, war, martyrdom and the release of the captives. So far I have released 15 books out of which 13 are in poetry and 2 in prose. The first book I published in the area of the sacred defense was a poetry collection titled “Just for those who know loving” released in 2009 by Farhang Gostar Tehran Publications. It was the first independent sacred defense poetry book in Kerman Province. My other activity was to read poetry in honor of the martyrs. I received my first Certificate of Appreciation from General Qassem Suleimani at the age of adolescence for the poem selected by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults of Kerman Province. I have received several certificates of appreciation from Haj Qassem each of which is worth a lot to me.  The second book I released in the field of sacred defense was “Alamdar-e Basir” which includes the biography and memories of the martyred Brigadier General Ali Alavian who was martyred along with Brigadier General Nour Ali Shoushtari in the terrorist attack in Sistan and Balouchistan Province. He is one of the main characters of the book “Haj Qassem Guys”.

*How did you get familiar with Brigadier Genral Hossein Ma’roufi and how did you think of compiling a book from his memoirs?

*General Ma’roufi is my hometown. I was fully aware of his courage since my childhood (war time). I’d better to say that it’s some 30 years that I have the honor of acquaintance with him. But his sincere cooperation in publishing the book “Alamdar-e Basir” at a time when he was the deputy head of the IRGC Ground Forces in Cultural Affairs caused this acquaintance to increase day by day. Afte the release of the book, I offered General Ma’roufi several times to publish his memoirs but he said, “Don’t hurry up, time is much.” One night, in his speech in a ceremony commemorating the martyrs of Qotb Abad, he referred to his martyred teacher and said, “I did not allow martyr Ahmad Pour to take part in the operations, because I loved him very much and did not want to happen something wrong to him. But he could get the permission for taking part in the frontline through writing a letter.”

*Certainly, you thought to write a letter for him.

*Yes, I thought to myself that the letter was a good option. I wrote a six-page letter to the general, recounting many problems of the society and asked him to leave his valuable memories behind as a reminder for future generations.

*What had you written in this letter?

*In part of my letter, I wrote, “I am worried; worried about the memories which are fading away from the minds little by little. If one day our children and grandchildren ask us what is the documented history of our city from the sacred defense. What should we answer them?” By reading this letter, General Ma’roufi decided to publish his memoirs. However, he had already provided a small booklet of his memoirs during captivity which gave it to me. It is worth mentioning that his most important reason for the release of his memoirs was the order of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei regarding the collection of the memoirs of the combatants.

*Tell us a little about the process of the book’s compilation.

*The biggest problem in compiling the book was the greatness of the distance. He was in Tehran and very busy, and I was in Shahr-e Babak. It was very unlikely to have face to face interview. Most interviews were conducted by phone. I talked to him by phone for several hours almost every day. He also wrote some of his memoirs and sent me via e-mail or fax. Whenever he came to Shahr-e Babak – which happened rarely – we had a meeting with each other which took several hours. He also had meetings with the war veterans and the freed POWs which was very influential and helped the process. However, it should be said that he was very busy and his chemical side-effects would relapse sometimes and his successive missions to other province intensified the problem.

*Was the book’s title was your proposal or general Ma’roufi’s? Did you consider other titles?

*After the book’s compilation, each of us offered several titles which matched the book’s subject which the general finally selected “Haj Qassem Guys”. The reason for selection of this title was that the Iraqis whether during the war or the captivity, addressed the guys of the Division 41 of Sarallah as the guys of Haj Qassem Suleimani. He believed that wherever the forces of Sarallah Division are now, they are still the guys of Haj Qassem. General Ma’roufi, however had consulted with a large number of the comrades and freed POWs about the title all of whom had confirmed.

*How did you conclude the current segmentation?

*From the very beginning, we had planned a general segmentation which was not changed by the end. But the chapters were changed sometimes.

*Did you face problems such as forgetting parts of the memoirs by General Ma’roufi?

It was natural that many years after the end of the war, you forget things sometimes.

*How did you remove this problem?

When the general faced with this problem, depending on which part or operation the memory was related to, he immediately contacted with the comrades and the commander of the battalions and freed POWs, and by reminding and reviewing the memoirs, he removed any hesitation. Whenever he came to Shahr-e Babak, he would meet them.

*Did you suffice his memoirs in compiling the book or did you carry out any research?

*It was based on his memoirs in general but sometimes, research was also carried out by necessity which had happened more about the name, date of operations and some other things. We contacted the comrades in such cases.

* Which part of the book is more attractive for you?

*As someone who has written this book and has lived with every moment of it for some one year, has laughed with its sweet memoirs and cried with its sad ones, it’s hard for me to choose a part. I like the whole book from the beginning till the end. I think that the attractive memoirs can be seen in the whole book. The sacred defense and captivity parts have its own charms. The most attractive part is the resistance and defending the values and leadership by the combatants who sacrificed their life during the sacred defense. Filling with spirituality, epical pride, proud of being Iranian and Muslim, approaching God more than ever, and fructifying the fervor of martyrdom inside the human are among the consequences of being in this atmosphere. During writing this book and other sacred defense books, I have been in this atmosphere many times.

*Do you have any other book under compilation?

*Yes, I have compiled a book in the area of the sacred defense which is in the honor of the martyrs of Shahr-e Babak. This book is ready for publication. The next book has been allocated to the memoirs of 360 martyrs of Shahr-e Babak and one third of it has been produced.