Part of Dr. Sadegh Tabatabaei Memoirs
Imam Concern about the Status of Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqir Sadr and Actions to Transfer Him to IranFaezeh Sasanikhah
Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian
2021-12-14
Martyr Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Sadr, who was thrilled by the growth of Islamic struggles in Iran, was constantly busy compiling various treatises on issues related to the movement based on jurisprudential principles and even the primary issues of the Islamic government. As I have said somewhere else, he had a governmental attitude towards jurisprudence and considered issues based on the fluid interests of society. His writings on the principles of interest-free banking and Islamic economics, as well as his theoretical foundations of society and its organs, had already been published. But there were also issues which had not been published because of the expediency and political necessity of the time. A few weeks after the victory of the Revolution, when his wife - my aunt - came to Iran, had brought about 14 or 15 treatises on government issues and problems and its jurisprudential solutions for Imam and Shahid Beheshti; and as far as I can remember, she returned Najaf with a long list of important subjects which should be studied. As his relationships with Imam and Iran increased, especially after the abduction of Imam Musa Sadr, Imam expressed concern about his survival in Najaf. In particular, he was harassed and even temporarily detained by Ba'athists in Iraq at several stages. Before martyrdom, when his last detention ended and he returned to Najaf, the preparations for his emigration from Iraq were made on the advice of Imam. This should be done without the Iraqi authorities being informed. In addition to the difficulty of taking care of family members during such a journey, the problem of his emigration was not without danger under any excuse - even as a pilgrimage. The Iraqi government, on the other hand, was worried about its internal situation and the uprising of the Shiites and the tribes of the Tigris and Euphrates; which were influenced by the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. I worked in the Ministry of Interior at that time. So, with the help of Seyyed Mahmoud Doaei, who ran the Iranian embassy in Baghdad after the revolution, I managed to obtain Algerian passports for him by making appropriate contacts. This passport, which was sealed with a residence permit and several seals of entry and exit to Iran, was issued with a photo of him in a nomadic local dress, and Mr. Doaei arranged his trip through Iraqi Kurdistan to the Iranian border.
All Necessary Actions Were Taken to Transfer Martyr Sadr to Iran, When...
Also, in Iran, with the actions of Haj Ahmad Agha and providing a helicopter and preparation for transferring Martyr Sadr from the border to Tehran, everything had apparently been prepared. In the last meeting with Mr. Doaei in my office at the Ministry of Interior, all aspects were examined to make executive arrangements for the transfer of Martyr Sadr and his family. No one knew about this journey except Imam, Ahmad Agha, Mr. Doaei, and me. Of course, Shahid Beheshti and his close friends were apparently aware of the plan, but they were not aware of the details and quality of it. Unfortunately, when Mr. Doaei returned to Iraq and was ready to go to Najaf, we heard about the arrest of Martyr Sadr and his wise and virtuous sister, Martyr Bint al-Huda. In a separate treatise, I compiled what happened to Martyr Sadr and his family during that period, as well as the quality of his martyrdom and that of his virtuous sister, so that I can present to the honorable and faithful human beings the supreme examples of patience, resistance, trust in God and the power to endure hardships.
At that time, I witnessed Martyr Sadr was very happy with the process of Islamic struggles in Iran. I have said elsewhere that I first heard his idea of forming an Islamic government in 1964. He even believed that, if possible, it is necessary to provide the financial resources for purchasing land or one of the islands that are usually sold in some parts of the world, to form even a small community with several thousand people, in order an exemplary Islamic nation to be formed. His message to the Imam following the victory of the Islamic Revolution showed his hope for the Islamic government.[1]
[1] Tabatabai, Sadegh, Socio-Political Memoirs (1) Dr. Sadegh Tabatabai - Iranian Student Movement, Institute for Organizing and Publishing Imam Khomeini’s Works, History Department, Publisher: Orouj Publishing (affiliated to the Institute for organizing and publishing), 1st Edition, 2008, p. 326.
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