The 306th Night of Memory-2

Prayers That Were Granted in Iran

Maryam Rajabi
Translated by Ruhollah Golmoradi

2019-10-22

According to Iranian Oral History Website, the 306^th session of memory night of Sacred Defense was held in Sooreh Hall of Hozeh Honari on Thursday evening, September 26, 2019. In the session, Ali Sayyed Naseri, Sarbaz-e (soldier) Ruhollah Razavi and Mohammad Sarvar Rajaei narrated the impact of Islamic Revolution in Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Davood Salehi, the host of the 306^th memory night of Holy Defense, before the second narrator, stated, "Another person who has had a great impact on the relationship between Iran and Kashmir is Sayyed Qalbi Hossein Razavi. He was audience of Imam Khomeini's lectures and gradually became an Islamic republic missioner in Kashmir. When the sacred defense took place, those who were in his vicinity went to his house and said that we want to go to the front to defend Iran. They donated their jewelry to the Iranian embassy in India to support Iran. When liberation of Khorramshahr realized, our people were very happy, people of Kashmir and that area were also equally happy. His name is Qalbi (in English my heart) Hussein because his father regarded Imam Hussein (AS) highly and he named his son Qalbi Hussein. Years later, Qalbi Hossein names his son Sarbaz-e Ruhollah for his love and high regard to Imam Khomeini. His son was born on September 22, 1980, the day Iraq invaded Iran and a wave of disappointment was among the people. He chose his son's name in this way in order to alleviate this despair and to show his love and regard to land of Iran."

The second narrator of the 306^th memory night was Sarbaz-e Ruhollah Razavi. He said "Like my late father, whenever I speak of Kashmir, I believe that Kashmir is a piece of the Islamic Ummah (community). As many as it has had historical, cultural and religious affiliations with Iran, it hasn’t had with any of the Islamic Ummah countries. Kashmir is a piece of the Islamic Ummah that has learned Islam, culture, generosity and commerce from Iran. When the revolution took place in this land, its sound was heard in Kashmir louder. In the last four to five years I have told various loved ones to come and see Kashmir. At least fifty to sixty cultural figures have come to Kashmir who have my view after seeing there. Kashmir has had an old wound that has reopened and has caused the people to suffer. Today is the fifty-third day of the siege of about more than eight million Kashmiri Muslims. Communications have been disconnected, there is no report, and any protest and movement on the part of the people has been suppressed. A considerable number of Kashmiri activists have been arrested, many of whom were our friends and we do not know where they are now. Hundreds have been injured by firing pellets and tear gas. Fear and terror is dominated in my birthplace. This disaster has happened while many countries claim to be Muslim, especially the Arab world, have silenced and it is unfortunate."

Sarbaz-e Ruhollah Razavi began his memories and stated: "My late father had many memories and was very careful in memorizing history. He had notebooks that wrote many events. He had a regular mind. About the year 2004 the idea came to my mind that it is a pity that these memories are not recorded. I went to Qom Document Center and told grandees people at the Document Center that some memories about the Islamic Revolution's global identity had taken place outside these borders. These must be recorded somewhere, it's a pity. They welcomed and said, "Who are you talking about?" I said: “A person named Qalbi Hossein Razavi Kashmiri who is from Kashmir. They said: set a meeting so we visit him. I coordinated that meeting and after that meeting they found out that he was my father. They asked, "Why didn't you say he’s your father?" I said, "so as you not to misunderstand. After about twenty sessions of in-depth interviews, the Document Center published the book "Memories of Qalbi Hossein Razavi Kashmiri".

Qom document center staff and we decided that I coordinate the recording place and arrange the meetings, and that the interviews to be recorded. In many conversations, Hajji cried, especially when he heard name of Imam; though the room was empty and just I was there, and he told historical account of what he had seen. He liked Imam Khomeini strangely. My father was involved in many events, such as the bloody pilgrimage. He and some friends had a great courage in telling truth of cruelties that took place in Kashmir. Memories of Hajji had many ups and downs, but the culmination of his memories was in the midst of the sacred defense and event of May 24, 1982, and Liberation of Khorramshahr. When he heard the news on May 24, 1982, Hajji wrote it, and then people of Kargil were in gaiety for joy of Khorramshahr's release. The next day, security forces persecuted Qalbi Hossein and went exactly to the office where my father was in charge. My father had not come to Iran until 1982 and had learned Persian by listening to Iranian radio and making contact with Iranian students in Kashmir. He had a job and was busy and never thought of coming to Iran. They said head of the department was not that day, and my father was in fact the deputy head of Kargil Cultural Department in Jammu and Kashmir state, where now if we want to go there from any way, its mountainous route lasts seven hours; It was more impassable at the time. My father said I came into the office and saw an army jeep came and two people entered the office. We got the secretaries out. They said: “Someone named Qalbi Hossein is working here for the benefit of foreign countries. My father remarked that I resorted to Hazrat Zahra (sa) and said, "You have to know that if anyone here is doing this, he doesn’t it during office hours and on the other hand our office is not obliged to look for its staff outside office hours in order to see what they do. Secondly, you should know that kargil people are Shiite and their relationship with Imam Khomeini and Islamic Republic of Iran is not just political one. Imam Khomeini is their Marj’a. You have to be very careful not to do anything to stimulate people's feelings and make this border area insecure.

The father said: "God put a rationale in my word that the military officer confirmed and said you are right. I said to him, "Let me search and see who this person you are saying is. The army officer accepted and went. He went and I ran toward home. There were posters of Liberation of Khorramshahr and other items in the house. As I knew they might to look for me again, I gathered them all. I decided to go back to Srinagar. Hajji was originally from Srinagar. It lasted ten to twelve hours to arrive Srinagar at that time. There wasn’t any car. There were trucks that transported. I went to Srinagar by truck. This narrative has another story behind it. From the afternoon of May 24 to the morning of May 25, my father wrote until the morning memories. At the eve of morning Adhan, he was revolutionized and said, "I prayed three times and have fallen asleep." On the other hand, the conference of movements was held in Iran. Two names had been suggested from Kashmir. One of those was my father's name. He didn't know he was selected. My father said: “After 12 hours, I reached Srinagar and went immediately to my brother in-law’s house Mr. Sayyed Mohammad. Sayyed Mohammad was the first Alim (scholar) that seriously presented Islamic Revolution and ideas of Imam Khomeini in Kashmir. He was a theologian student of Najaf, where he met Imam Khomeini. Mr. Sayyed Mohammad’s house was hangout of revolutionary guys and students. His room was a place for political meetings. My father said: I arrived and saw that it was a meeting and all Iranian students sit there. They said to me, “Have you got the telegraph and come? I said, Which telegraph? They said: “We telegraphed you.” I asked: “Telegraph for what?” They said: “There is a conference in Iran, and you and Mr. Gholam-Ali Golzar have been invited to attend this conference.” Hajji said: I was tickled pink. He prayed two days ago in the morning, and that prayer was gradually being granted

My father said: in less than a few days I went to Delhi and got a visa and flew to Tehran and we immediately went to visit Imam Khomeini. My first prayer, that is to see iconoclast of the era, was granted. After that they said we take you to the liberated areas. They took us and we saw from Bostan to Khorramshahr. My second wish was also fulfilled. I wanted to see the liberated Khorramshahr that had changed the course of the war with my own eyes. They also said we would take the guests for pilgrimage Imam Reza. They took us to pilgrimage and I visited my grandfather there for the first time. We are Razavi and of Borghei Sayyeds; that is, we are generally from Qum. I think the first person of our generation that had the honor of coming to pilgrimage Imam Reza (AS) was my father and it was because of the prayer he had made in the escarpment of Kargil Mountains. My father said: "After the pilgrimage we embarked the plane to return to Delhi when I hit back of my hand. I said, my God, I prayed three times and you answered all three, but I forgot one! I forgot that pray to visit my aunt in Qom. I resorted there in the flight. He returned to Delhi after the conference and then came to Kashmir, and it didn’t last a year that the Islamic Advertising Organization invited him to cooperate. He came to Iran next year and then to Tehran and after that moved to Qom to continue his education and remained in vicinity of Hazrat Masoumeh for the rest of his life."

Sarbaz-e Ruhollah Razavi continued: "The memory book of Hajji that was published was a narration of the revolution memories and it has many details. Some dears, one or two, had criticized the book in Kashmir and said, for example, a part of the book is not appropriate. They had raised such objections. Hajji was informed of that a person had issued a booklet with a radical pen and had criticized his book. The point was that the person had attacked the author more than text of the book and had disrespected Hajji. Hajji was very impressed and for two to three days he was not feeling well. The book wasn't published in a large circulation, but I found a copy of it. Hajji wanted to write a reply, but time passed and he did not regard it expedient. His expediency was that to be silent and say nothing, but he hadn’t forgot the matter and had become sad and wished to tell it. One day a dear person called me and said, "Mr. Sarbaz-e Ruhollah?" I said yes. He said “I’m calling from one of the moral masters of Qom Seminary. A moral master who was of Ayatollah Behjat students is very eager to see you. I asked: “Why does he want to see me?” He said: “He has read a book from your father and there are some memories from you in that book and he likes to see you.” I said, “why does he want to see me? My dad is here.” He became very happy and wanted to arrange a meeting for the visit. The moral master ‘s house was near to our house. We went. He welcomed us warmly. There were also his students. That moral master had a special mood. He said to my father, "I read your book and recommended it to my students to read it as a moral book. Another issue that was emphasized was sincerity of Hajji and it had repeatedly showed itself in the midst of the book's narratives. I did not expect the book to be published as many as that it become available to the moral master and the grandee to be so influenced that recommend it to his students. When we got out of that meeting, it seemed Hajji was no longer upset like the last week and never answered the poor guy who had insulted. Later, when Hajji died, I saw that person and it was clear how much he was sorry to write those insulting words.”

Responding to a question about reaction of people to his name, Sarbaz-e Ruhollah said, "It was an ordinary name for people. My high school friends still call me Sarbaz. Living in Iran also had some problems for us because we were not and are not Iranians. Especially about issues of residence and passport renewal. My father was a very orderly and legal person and did not want that the passport to be delayed for even one day. When I was in high school, there was a delay in renewing our residence due to the administrative problems that came from where my father worked, and of course we were fined. We were told that you should go to court with your family. We went to court and the judge read everyone's name. He called me and asked about my name surprisingly. When my father answered, he was very impressed."

Sarbaz Ruhollah Razavi said at the end: "We lived in Azari region for a year when we were in Tehran and went to Behesht-e Zahra every week. Hajji quoted that once we went to Behesht-e Zahra and when he returned, the driver asked us do you have any buried here? Hajji spoke accented, and when he spoke others knew he was not Iranian. Hajji said: We have relatives; Martyrs Beheshti, Rajaee, and all martyrs who are buried here are our relatives. The driver did not say anything, but behaved with us inappropriately. My father always said another memory after saying this memory and it was that once we were returning from Behesht-e Zahra; I had read the poem "I am a soldier of Ruhollah ...". The driver cried until the destination and hadn’t received any money too when he heard my voice. Hajji narrated these two memories together. Everyone had some bitterness, but Hajji narrated the events so that the audience could see both sides of the story. My Father's tomb is now in the first row of Ulamma and Scholars cemetery part of Hazrat Masoumeh in Qom."

To be continued...