Political Pulpit in the Earthquake Victims' Gatherings

Compiled by: Islamic Revolution Website
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2024-7-9

Among the other important gatherings that accelerated the revolutionary movement of the people of Birjand and I [Hujjat al-Islam Sheikh Ismail Diyani] took the pulpit there, was the commemoration of the victims of the Tabas earthquake. This assembly was held by the students on the occasion of the death of two of their Birjandi classmates "in the Tabas earthquake" and they invited me to the pulpit. One of the police officers called me the night before and said angrily: "I heard you and Aiti are forcing people to riot against the king!" I said: "The people themselves want to fight, I am doing my duty. I am going to go to the pulpit in the Muhammadiyah Mosque tomorrow too! When he heard this sentence, he started swearing and said: "...if you go to the pulpit tomorrow, I will trample you!" Regardless of what he said, I participated in the mentioned assembly and went to the pulpit. An interesting point to note is that; on the sidelines of the main discussion, I explained the social and political situation of the society that day, and at the same time, no one attacked me. In this way, not only did no one cause disturbance, but after the establishment of the memorial assembly, (even though that ceremony had nothing to do with political events), it took on a political color and caused demonstrations. A large number of attendees marched the distance from Mohammadiyeh Mosque to Aiti Mosque, saying political and provocative statements.[1]