Hajj Pilgrimage

Translated by M. B. Khoshnevisan

2024-4-5

I went on a Hajj pilgrimage in the early 1340s (1960s). At that time, few people from the army, gendarmerie and police went on a pilgrimage to the holy Mashhad and holy shrines in Iraq. It happened very rarely. After all, there were faithful people in the Iranian army who were committed to obeying the Islamic halal and haram rules in any situation, and they used to pray. They gave donations, went on a Hajj pilgrimage, fasted, etc. In the year when I visited the House of God, I saw a number of other officers and rank-and-files on that trip, and I recognized one of them. He was Colonel "Seyed Naser Ashrafi" who was from Kermanshah and had gone to Hajj with his wife, and when they saw me in Mecca, they were very happy and impressed. Of course, I was very young compared to him, about 31 years old. This colonel Seyed Nasser Ashrafi was our commander in Rezaiyeh Gendarmerie Regiment for a while and was from a religious and clerical family. I had also seen his father, who was one of the famous scholars of Kermanshah. When he came to meet his son and family in Urumia, I accompanied him from the town of Salmas and took him to the house of colonel Ashrafi in Urumia.   

The Hajj pilgrimage was very memorable for me. At that time, according to the army rules, if the servicemen went abroad, the permission should be signed by the Shah. I asked for a two-month leave which also took about two months to be signed! Because, the Shah had gone to the United States in that year and by the way, it was the days of Muharram and Ashura. Therefore, my permission to leave Iran took until the arrival of the Shah. This was the same Shah's trip to America about which Imam Khomeini later criticized a lot.

One day in the Gendarmerie, since I was upset that my leave permission took a long time and had not been issued, I criticized the Shah and said: “What the hell is this situation? If the Shah is going to America, why is he going during the days of mourning for Imam Hussain (PBUH), while his nation is mourning the tragedy of their imam and leader. If it is said that the necessity of the country requires that the Shah of the country go on such a trip these days, we have no idea, but why does he go to some places of luxury in America, as we even heard that some newspapers and press wrote that the Shah of Iran attended parties of potation, dancing and debauchery of the Americans!”...

Of course, these words created problems for me later, because all my words were reported to the gendarmerie's counter-intelligence organization. Our commander, Brigadier General Daneshvar was a good and benevolent person, and after the revolution, he became the commander of the Gendarmerie. He called me to his office at 10 PM. He put a letter attached to a report in front of me; It was confidential. I read it, Tehran had written a letter to the general that your officer has said such and such. The general asked: “Did you say these words?” I said: “Yes!”

“Have you said these things”, he asked again. “Yes”, I replied. He asked the question for the third time. And then he said, “How dare you said that”.

Then he added: “What answer should I write for Tehran? You must write your answer yourself, I will send it! I have been assigned to handle these matters personally”.

I fully explained the story to him. When the truth became clear to him, he wrote such a decisive reply to Tehran that after that no one had anything to do with me and I was free until 1349 (1970) without any trial or interrogation.

But after that, due to the pressure of the Gendarmerie counter-intelligence unit, they told me that you have to go to Lorestan (Khorramabad) and that you have no right to serve in Urumia.

Source: Mustafa Qolizadeh Ayar (editor), Pir Pishgam, Memoirs of Haj Hamid Nasooiyehchi, a pioneer of Islamic revolution in Urumia, Tehran: Sooreh Mehr, 1392 (2013), pp. 58-60.