Parts of the memoirs of Hujjat al-Islam Khorasani

Opposition to Bani-Sadr

Compiled by: Faezeh Sassanikhah
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2021-6-22

I have been against Bani-Sadr since the day he was elected president because I did not see him in the path of the Imam and the system. Bani-Sadr had shown himself as a revolutionary man that everyone was forced to agree with him and even no one could say something against him openly. But before Bani-Sadr's hypocrisy became apparent, and at the height of his popularity, we spoke out against him wherever we could, and when Bani-Sadr went to Mashhad during Ramadan, she was extremely well received. Before evening prayer, the TV broadcast his speech in Mashhad. In that speech, Bani-Sadr tried to provoke people against some officials. He had put himself in the place of Imam Ali (PBUH) and the martyr Dr. Beheshti and other great men of the Islamic Republic of Iran and called other officials as insidious; Of course, he had stated his words and intentions implicitly and only those who were skilled in understanding understood what he meant.

At the same time, I was going to the pulpit and lecture in Baqiyatallah Mosque in Narmak for ten nights. It was the first night that I said to the people at the pulpit: "Did you hear the sound of the ax at the root of the tree of Islam?! ‌ I am talking about this French nightclub-man". The crowd realized that I meant Bani-Sadr. The first reaction was shown by one of the listeners, who has always had a prayer book or Qur'an in hand. He looked at me and shook the book in his hand and said, "They will not let this follower of the Prophet work." I came out of the mosque very calmly. The crowd followed me from the mosque to Damavand Street, chanting in favor of Bani-Sadr.

This filthy man did so works against the clergy that we afraid of Bani-Sadr's supporters would know that we have a car; therefore, I had left the car away from the mosque. When we reached the street, I said:" Gentlemen, are your slogans over or do you still have them?! If you have a slogan, then we are ready to hear it. If you do not have one, I would like to give you a sentence. "Remember, we have this program for nine more nights, this is the first night and there are still nine more nights," I said this sentence and left.

From there, I came to Shahrivar 17th St., martyr Ayatollah Saeedi St., and Mahdavi Mosque. In this mosque, the speaker was behind the roof of the mosque, and because there were more Hezbollah followers, I increased criticism of Bani-Sadr. Once, while I was making a speech, I saw a man who was sleeping on the roof enter the mosque wearing a T-shirt. From that moment on, he started shouting in the mosque, "Sir, why are you saying these things, why are you disturbing unity, why are you creating struggle?"

Hezbollah youths of the mosque stood up to fight with this person, I said, "No one has the right to deal with this man. We do three things:  I can come down now, if you have something to say, let's talk, or I can give you this microphone and you can share your words or let's discuss with each other as well."

That person sat under the pulpit and I said what I had to say. When my speech ended, there was an hour or two of discussion. The crowd was divided into two groups: one in favor and one against; and the verbal struggles lasted until near dawn.

I remember when Bani-Sadr was lecturing at the university and launching struggle on February 23, some of the same Hezbollah followers – whom I know their names personally - chanted one of their slogans during the speech: "Abolhassan Pinochet[i], Iran won't be Chile. »

Bani-Sadr's fans had beaten the Hezbollah followers. There, they were propagandizing against the Hezbollah movement and saying: O men, look! We took this knife and this wood from them, they brought them and showed them on TV. They wanted to create an atmosphere against them and in favor of Bani-Sadr and provoke the people. But these comrades persevered a lot, they even walked to the place of the speech, and unfortunately, the police were in the hands of the Bani-Sadr’s movement, but these comrades sacrificed a lot in the face of this sedition.

Bani-Sadr's betrayals continued even during the war. Martyr Mohammad and his comrades, who were from Abadan, when they came to Tehran, said that there were many weapons and ammunition; But they do not give the weapons to us and Basij (volunteer soldier) force. Bani-Sadr said that he did not have weapons, he did not give weapons to the Basij deliberately.

We opposed our comrades who were initially the followers of Bani-Sadr. Even in the meetings on the issue of Bani-Sadr, we sometimes had very harsh encounters with some of the comrades with whom I had good relation with him.

I remember there was a meeting attended by some of these men. I spoke for about half an hour at that meeting - when the Islamic Republic Party allied with the militant clergy over the election - and I offended my comrades with my harsh and critical remarks. One of them shouted, "Let's take him out," and he shouted again, but I kept talking and said what I had to say.

Later, Hujjat al-Islam, Mr. Nategh Nouri, said to me: "What did you do in the meeting that when Ayatollah Khamenei entered through the door, he stood up and said, "you didn’t see what did Mahdavi do and say?! He spoke well and he said good words."

Martyr Beheshti and the struggle against Bani-Sadr

I have a memory of martyr Beheshti from his place of martyrdom. On Thursday nights, every 15 nights, a meeting was held with comrades.

One or two months before the martyrdom of martyr Beheshti, about 150 clerics who come from  Tehran, Karaj, Damavand, and Varamin were present at the meeting at the same place of his martyrdom. Ayatollah Beheshti was talking when I entered the door, and I took on a chair, which was near the door, in his honor so that I would not come forward and his conversation would be disrupted. He was talking about the fact we reached a point where we either have to go and become friends with America or choose the red line of martyrdom. He explained in great detail that Bani Sadr was betraying us and said that we should go and make peace, even if we give Abadan to Saddam, and Bani-Sadr insisted that we should go and make peace with Saddam, and said that Iraq had set up about 2,000 long-range cannons in Abadan. Martyr Beheshti continued: "My opinion is that these are not cannons, these are woods to scare us, and they emptied the inside of cannons and set up there to scare us. Then he said that we have to choose one of two ways: we either have to go and become friends with America or choose the red line of martyrdom. "It is impossible to humiliate us". "We are not people to accept these humiliations, I chose the red line of martyrdom. Then he turned to the men and said, "If you are ready, say Takbir[ii]; everyone said Takbir." Afterward, he addressed me by the microphone and said: "Mr. Mahdavi, the road is one which you go walk on; everyone go on that road!"

After his speech, I said loudly: "Sir, we want to leave this country, give us our passport, why did you remain silent in the face of this traitor?!" Martyr Beheshti turned right and told me:" Mr. Mahdavi, we are followers of the Imam [Khomeini], the Imam has ordered us to be silent for now and he put his hand in front of his mouth and said:" yes!" We remain silent until the Imam commands us; "But whenever it is time to do something against him, we will do our works." When the meeting was over, the men surrounded me to see which way was the mean of Ayatollah Beheshti, and I said, "Go and ask him!" martyr Beheshti referred to my lectures in Baqiyatallah Narmak Mosque and other mosques.

Once I met Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, he was very kind and said: "Mr. Mahdavi, I heard the news of your plans, we only pray for you one after another in our assemblies and circles."

We had a meeting a while ago, Hujjat al-Islam Mr. Ebrahimi, the representative of the Supreme Leader in Afghanistan and Mosque Affairs, said: "I can still hear the voice of martyr Beheshti, who addressed me  "Mr. Mahdavi, the road is one which you go walk on; everyone go on that road!"

Bani-Sadr was a very serious danger to the revolution, and it was the miracle of the revolution that he escaped in that situation; because if Bani-Sadr was arrested and executed in Iran, at least one or two million of our youth would be cut off from Islam and the revolution. God took care of him to shave his beard and mustache and to decorate and to wear women's clothes and to go and hide in the toilet of the plane and to escape and reveal everything. When these young people realized the truth, they change their way and became a new force for the revolution.[iii]