Memory Night at Hosseinieh Jamaran

Memories on Imam Khomeini and Victory of the Revolution

Maryam Rajabi
Translated by Ruhollah Golmoradi

2018-2-21

According to Oral History Website of Iran, simultaneously with Fajr decade and the thirty-ninth anniversary of victory of Islamic Revolution, memory night ceremony entitled "Mobashsher-e Sobh (morning annunciator)" was held at Hosseinieh Jamaran on evening Wednesday, February 7, 2018.

Why did the army Join Imam Khomeini and the revolution?
Ahmad Janati Moheb was the first memory teller of the program. He as one of preparators of the famous Homafaran meeting with Imam Khomeini on Feb. 8, 1979, stated: "On February 6, 1979, we received a circular from anti-intelligence of the army of the Pahlavi Army. It was obliged to sign for important circulars. The circular was that if it was seen the military officers cooperated with those who protested against the Pahlavi regime, they would be sentenced to death according to rules of the war time. We decided and signed that circular. This signature firmed our decision.

We had started planning. Our visit was scheduled to be on February 01 at the airport at the time of Imam's arrival, when the late Shahid Beheshti and Hazrat Agha (Ayatollah Khamenei) did not agree. When Imam was arrived and settled, he had promised to form the interim government and introduced the interim government on February 05. We planned for February 06. The last meeting was that if we went to visit Imam, to name the operation and plan climbing and if we went in military uniform, to say bringing with yourself climbing clothes too.

The coordinator officers were commanders of aeronautical trainings. At that time, all airborne trainings, including pilotage, electronic and all courses were in their series, except for flights that was done in Ghale Morghi and Isfahan. Training maintaining aircraft was in garrison No. 3 of Mehrabad, which now, because of Islamic Revolution grace, has become Shahid Sattari University and has several faculties.

On February 06, when we signed the circular, we immediately and secretly informed our friends that they should be informed with a secret, and said our program is mountaineering and to wear mountainous cloths; our appointment at Absardar intersection, at 8 a.m. in the morning of February 08. I went there, while last night I took my wife and two-month-old son to my father-in-law's house in order not to be annoyed. All the friends came and changed their clothes in Refah School which was close to Iran Street. That day was day of supporting the interim government. The demonstration took place and a lot of people came there. We made armbands and gave the people who were trustable, as company commanders. We reached Alavi School and in that tight space, each company issued command of parade for itself and did parade before Hazrat Imam. There became very dusty and breathing was disrupted for a few moments. A friend named Mr. Noorshahi, who had an eloquent voice, issued stop, decree and fall in to Imam, and we stood and we had read the slogan we had made: "We as national soldiers, by order of Khomeini, disjointed from the Regime, joined the nation." A heavy silence dominated. A photo of that visit was published by Mr. Partovi, photographer of Kayhan newspaper. This photo was taken from behind and nobody was known in it. Kayhan newspaper printed that photo and General Staff, Air Force Staff and everyone else denied it, but Hazrat Imam confirmed it, made a statement and on the morning of Saturday (February 10, 1979) that photo was printed as a controversial photo.

Anyway, we waited and Imam talked a few sentences with us. We went there to elect our commander by ourselves this time and until now we did not allow US to appoint a commander for us. We went to act according the holy verse "Allah does not change what is in a nation unless they change what is in themselves." Imam said: As you said, you have been serving Taghut (mentions oppressive Pahlavi Regime) until today, today you will serve Holy Quran, you are soldiers of Imam Zaman (aj). A few years ago, during a visit of Air Force with Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei which was simultaneous with birthday of Imam Zaman (aj), he stated that I can now dare to say that Baghiatollah, Imam Zaman, this air force is yours.

In 1979, when I was in charge of holding headquarters of air force personnel meeting with Imam, and we came to him, Imam said that we should also consider February 8 as Yomollah (God's day), and this indicates magnitude of that event. Hazrat Agha (Ayatollah Khamenei) also has memories; he says I was standing next to Imam, when the air force paraded in front of the Imam, and if I want to summarize memories of that day in a sentence, it would be that if a barrier against the revolution was to be created, it was destroyed and we won. He also said nobody could imagine that there would be 22 Bahman (February 11) after February 8, and it was a dangerous work; as well as he stated the air force did an Ashura-like measure and showed an essence that it was also evident in the war. January 8 has been joined eternity and history, and each year, members of Air Force visit Hazrat Agha on this day, called Air Force Day.

On February 10, we were at Air Force garrison in Hojjat Street, which was base of aerial trainings. We saw that last night, television revolutionary workers had shown Imam's entrance film, which had been stopped on the day of entering, at night of February 10. Students of Homafaran, who were watching TV, had raised and expressed their feelings and sent Salawat. Several tanks were set up to monitor and control these students who already had gone on strike. Crew of the tanks quarreled with the students at night. Homafars also demonstrated. One of them sat behind the tank and hit door, window and wall and ruined everywhere. None of them budged an inch. Commander of Air Force came and killed and wounded a few by his pistol, and even one died a martyr. People also gathered behind the wall, lit fire and chanted, and did not allow the martial law to send excessive troops and eradicate Homafars.

I served as a master in electronics with second-degree of Homafari. In the morning, when I arrived, the guys were standing in front of the door and narrated with tearful eyes story of last night. I gathered all electronics masters and staff and set up a demonstration. We came to the front of main door of the garrison and wanted to get out of Tehranno Street. When we opened the door, the martial law officers came in. They first fired into the air and then sprayed us. We don't have anything with ourselves. We took stone and brick to deal with them, but it did not work. Suddenly, I saw a man standing as a guard officer with guns behind the trenches. I went and wanted to take his gun, he did not give it and said he shot himself, but we saw that our hands were empty. I shut loudly: "Guys!" Go to the armory. Helped by the guard, we opened the door by kicking and shooting with G3 bullet. It should be noted that, that morning, when I woke up, I wore military uniforms with boots; while, it is not usual to wear boot with that uniform. I put a bayonet in my boot and said goodbye to my family. I said: "Inshallah, we are going today to finishing our work." It seems we had been inspired to have unfinished work that we had to finish it. We went on February 10 and struck coup de grâce at the regime because we had started armed war.

We took guns and interred to a six-floors building through the exit door. From there, we dominated the martial law and guardian vehicles which were located around and defeated them. A young man was shooting in front of me; suddenly a bullet was struck at him and fell in my arms. He was martyr trainee Shahmoradi and was our first martyr. We opened the garrison door and told people to come in and be armed. That day we armed all area of Tehranno.

At about 4 p.m., the martial law was announced and people emptied streets. Suddenly, several cars came from Imam and said Imam had completely abolished the martial law and said do not leave the guys of the air force alone. Once again, the crowd returned to streets and, within an hour, trenched all of Tehranno. I witnessed myself; it was winter and mosaics of an old woman's house had been separated. She gathered sandstones under them with sugar breaker and poured them into corner of a tent and gave people to make trench. People brought their busses, ovens, wardrobes and other things, and put them transversely at head of Tehranno Street and used them as trenches. Pursuing and escaping was continued until 7 or 8 p.m.

We were informed that a number are in a garage. We went and saw that there are about 20 to 30 people of guards. We shot under their feet, they became surrendered and we took their guns and gave them to people. We seized them and delivered them to the garrison while they wore underwear. Then we went to first of Ghasemabad Street and roof of a Chelow Kabab shop. We prayed and wrote testament. Each of friends formed a group, and each of the groups promised to not abandon each other, and there we ate the first Salawati (free for the sake of religious intents) Chelow Kabab. It was supposed that if the next day the revolution won, we would continue the work, and if not, the same group go office of Agha to receive instruction. About 12 at midnight we went to top of a building on Sabalan Street, it was my waking time with another soldier. All two sides of Tehranno Street were armed. People had determined Adineh Mosque, which was at first of Sabalan Street, as weapons and ammunition place. Our people had become war people. The rain had been started that I saw spotlight of tanks and armored personnel carriers from Si-Metri Niroo Havaei to Tehranno. I quickly sent the soldier to inform the rest. Friends came and we started fighting with them. They came two by two and each shot one side of the street. Until morning, eight tanks and personnel carriers came and all of them were destroyed. Voice of morning Azan caused us come to ourselves. A number of our friends died a martyr and we envied that we were not martyred.

At 10 a.m. on February 11, when general staff saw the situation, it formed an emergency meeting and a commanding council. It announced and neutralized and ordered military commands return to garrisons. The main element of the army absorbed by Imam and Revolution was beautiful and delicate tacts of Imam Khomeini. Between 1963 (1342 SH) and 1979 (1357), in any announcement and speech, he treated respectively with officials and the army officers. For example, in entrance of Imam Khomeini, Imam's welcoming headquarters had contacted with our friend, Col. Buyuk Seyedin, the helicopter pilot, his degree was Lieutenant and was trusted, and said to come: because the crowd is much and traffic may prevent us to reach Behesht-e Zahra. They wanted him to embark Imam somewhere and transfer him to Behesht-e Zahra. He stood in a corner of Enghelab Square to embark Imam. Hajj Ahmad Khomeini was very anxious for his great-grandfather, and this anxiety is obvious in the films. Mr. Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri and Hajj Ahmad accompanied Imam in helicopter and told Imam the pilot and helicopter are for the army, where does he take us? Imam like always raised his eyebrows and said everyone who is worried can debark, the pilot please move! This confidence of Imam led us to do those measures on February 8. Today, I remember the days that here in Hosseinieh Jamaran, each four mosaics were for one person, and we tried to bring even one more person to visit Imam; all considered themselves as a sacrifice for Imam."

Relationship between Imam Khomeini and his warrior children

The second memory teller of the program was Gholam-Ali Rajaee. He stated, "I was in Holy Defense from the beginning to the end, on the one hand, I am from South and have many memories. I have written a five volumes book on Imam, titled "Sira (Life Conduct) of Imam" that have been printed seven or eight times; this book is almost the only book about character of Imam."

He continued, "In Operation Fath ol-Mobin I was in charge of propaganda. They hardly assigned quota to Jihad Sazandegi, the army and IRGC, and we came to this Hosseinieh with some others. That day, Mr. Mohsen Rafighdoost also spoke and I, who was beside him, saw that his knee was shivering; everyone who talked with Imam as if that person would have been connected to electric current! If you hear Mohsen Rafighdoost memories of visit with Gaddafi, you would understand that he put Gaddafi on into his words, but that day his knees were shivering because of majesty of Imam. Even once, a person struck heart attack as he visited Imam.

That day, as Imam arrived, the warriors cried for about five minutes, as if when Imam began speaking, his speech was stopped for several times and he said that famous word that I enjoyed these your weeps for joy. Imam said on that day words that understanding it is still hard for me. He said we proud to breathe in the air that you warriors breathe in it. When Imam became ill in Qom, he did night prayer in his ambulance on his way to Tehran, despite snowfall. Such a person, who did not leave his night prayer at all, was so humiliated and kind with the warriors."

Rajaee said, "Hossein Saghafi was brother-in-law of Imam. When Mr. Khatami was Minister of Guidance, he was head of his office. He said we were before Imam, and he wrote a statement on the occasion of Holy Defense Week to read on the radio, but after a short time he said return the message. They asked Imam, have been you written fair your writing? He stated that it is the first writing; it is difficult for everyone to write in the first writing without scrawling. When they received that sheet, they changed it somewhat with fountain pen and said now give it to radio to read it. Mr. Saghafi asked Imam, what did he change? Imam said I had written in the message that my warrior's children! I pray for you with all my effort, but I thought with myself and I saw that this is not true, because all my effort is not pray for them and I do other things during the day, so I corrected and wrote with the most effort. Imam considered what he said. Ahmed Agha swore that my father as he appeared in Hosseinieh was the same way at home, except that he was not formal at home.

The deceased martyr Mehdi Araghi said that they wanted to get a simple food like Koko for Imam in Neauphle-le-Château, but Imam became upset and said that I ate rice yesterday; do you want to say that Khomeini is simple? This is not simplicity. A writer who I do not want to mention his name, said in description Imam's mother: "his scientist and scholar Mother..." Imam said, what are you saying? My mother did not educate even one grade and could not even write a word!"

He added, "I did not hear Imam tell before some people that I feel humiliated; for example, he said those days I kissed hands of the Marja', today I kiss hands of theologues. Imam only against the fighters said I felt humiliated; genuine warriors; this was a mutual feeling. I once came before Imam in the same room of Hosseinieh, and was bringing a bunch of headbands and coins for the fighters. Imam circulated his hand in the bag several times. I took that bag to the front before Operation Kheibar. As God is my witness, from that bag, only a few headbands were remained that the fighters pulled them too, and eventually they unraveled those a few headbands, and each one took a thread to get Tabarok (holiness or blessing)."

Gholam-Ali Rajaee told, "We were in Karbala headquarter in 1984. It was parliamentary elections and the fighters also had to vote. Imam had said that it was a religious duty and everyone must vote, but nobody had identity document. The Ministry of Interior insisted on all must have identity document for voting. I called and talked with Mr. Sheikh Fazlollah Mahalati who was representative of Imam in IRGC. He said very firmly that it is not possible. Then I contacted Mr. Mohammad-Ali Ansari, a member of Imam's office, and raised the problem and he said I would call ten more minutes. I called again and he said Imam had told they vote with the same war card; while Imam was highly regulation-oriented, as when a sheep was killed during decade of Muharram in his residency in France, and made Abgoosht with it, a person came and whispered Imam that this sheep should not be killed here; according to French rules, this sheep should be killed outside residency area​​ so it is against the law; Imam did not eat from the Abgoosht as soon as he heard it."

He also said, "We lost in Operation Karbala-4. We mourned and grieved in Khatam headquarters that how can we compensate this failure when troops returned? Immediately the war commander decided retaliate the operation and defeat, and in fact, Operation Karbala-5 was formed. On the one hand, we should tell the warriors to stay there, because we want to operate; on the other hand, if they stayed, Iraq would be happy because it remained as on its positions. I wrote a letter to Imam and told the story that text of that letter was published in book "Sharik-e Salavat (associate of Salawat)". Imam responded that based on that assumption they should stay on the front. Mohsen Rezaee conveyed the Imam's message to the combatants and said that nobody can go to leave. Notwithstanding all his greatness and majesty, and was Pir (is a title for a Sufi master or spiritual guide) of mystics, when Imam saw the warriors had a kind of enthusiasm, and perhaps one of the few places where his speech was cut was when he saw the warriors in this Hosseinieh. Most of the warriors did not see Imam; as they said, not seen Imam is beloved."

Identity and truth and spirit of sacrifice

The third speaker of the program was Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, the remembrance of Imam (his grandson). He stated, "During the high school, we had a teacher who once asked a question, his question was very impressive. He asked how much is volume of humans? He responded to that question and said human volume is amount effect multiply geography of the effect multiply time of the effect, and if you could find the answer to the problem, you can tell how much a person's volume is. In order to know how much an individual is effective, it is necessary to examine extent of function of his thoughts, and to see how much is his effect and also to see in how geography of time he has exerted this effect and how long that effect has remained. I think the most effective person or, in other words, the most voluminous person, according to this definition, is the blessed existence of the Prophet (pbuh). It is constantly added to this time and effect during history. In our time, it is easy to say that one of these examples is person of Imam (pbuh), and somehow, if we associate this answer with events, Islamic Revolution of Iran is also one of examples of this discussion. Magnitude of impact that the revolution has had in its time and beyond, and transformation that has created in Iranian society and on the four frontiers is significant. Notice impact geography too, echo of the revolution outside Iran's borders is not less than within borders of Iran. Return to realm of society and social life of humans is a fact that has formed after the revolution. The third part is also time of effect that it has lasted 40 years since the revolution. Islamic Revolution has a volume beyond what we may primarily consider and this also has some causes. Why such a volume was created for such a reality? I firmly believe that if we consider its causes and become serious, we could expand and amplify this influency. If we did not pay attention to its creator, God forbid, we could see that in parts and places, even near us, it decrease and fall.

One of the most important reasons that have made the revolution matter is sacrifice. Sacrifice is not necessarily associated with the sacred defense and its peak is in the sacred defense, but truth of sacrifice means not seeing yourself. This self-sacrifice has subjective contexts, that is, we must feel in an analysis that if I sacrifice my being, possession, honor and my facilities, I trust in God, do not fear, ignore my greed, in a larger process I would get bigger things, deal with God and God give me greater things. Of reasons that the revolution succeeded was to not see self. Spirit of sacrifice is devotion. Identity of the revolution is tied to sacrifice. If we want it would be effective, we have to raise this dimension in ourselves and first start from ourselves.

The revolution is very large, and this greatness is much more in the eyes of someone looking outside than those see it inside. This great has reason and it is an identity was formed within the revolution called sacrifice, and this self-sacrifice has an essence and truth, and that truth is that to have self-sacrifice, and Imam made spirit of sacrifice in society."

One of our best sessions

At the end of the ceremony Mohsen Momeni Sharif, head of Hozeh Honari, also stated, "In recent years there was an opportunity with some honorable writers to record memories of Supreme Leader on Islamic Revolution; one day when he came for telling memories, it was clear he was complained about something. I had understood over time that when Agha (Ayatollah Khamenei) speaks about Imam, he becomes different and transported, and since I asked questions in the interview, I asked him about Imam Khomeini. After this question, he forgot the complaining and talked with a certain manifestation on Imam. That meeting was one of our best meetings, as he wakened after hearing voice of Azan."

At the end of program of memory night of "Mobashsher-e Sobh" there was book launch of 21 works of memories of the holy defense warriors, which were produced in Resistance Offices of provincial centers of Hozeh Honari, and their writers and narrators were honored.