A section of Maryam Behrouzi memories

Jewelry Gift of Brothers from South

Compiled by: Faezeh Sasanikhah
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2024-10-24

At the beginning of the [The Iran’s Islamic] revolution, I used to give lectures about the Islamic government in the Quba Mosque; many people attended the lecture sessions. Once, a group of women from Naziabad, Tehran, came to the mosque to participate in a speech session, among them were some of the martyrs' families, and they told me: "We are sad that we have not been martyred, and we have decided to donate our gold, jewelry and ornaments to "Let us offer it to the Imam so that it can be spent to advance the goals of the revolution." Those who were from the families of the martyrs said: "We gave our children, we want to give our gold too." They, who were not from the family of the martyrs, thought that we also want to have a share in the revolution. If they accept us, we will offer our gold and jewelry." I presented this proposal to Ayatollah Muftah. They said that they will talk to Ayatollah Motahari so that they can convey this proposal to the Imam. After two or three days, they announced that the Imam had accepted this proposal. Tell the ladies to bring their gold and jewelry. We announced this issue in Quba Mosque. For the first time, twelve buses went from Naziabad to Qom and presented all their gold, jewelry and silver.

The second time, eighteen buses left Hosseiniyeh Ershad, and the accompanying ladies had all brought their gold and jewelry. After arriving in Qom, we went to Faiziyah School to meet with Imam (RA). A large crowd of men and women had come to meet the Imam. We were supposed to have a short speech, suddenly I saw myself next to the imam. I had never given a speech to men until that day. That's why I turned and looked at the imam with surprise. Imam said to me: "Start. Please." With Imam's command, I started my speech and I can say that I had never spoken like that day. I spoke for 45 minutes about the authority of the province and the Islamic government. Then the Imam said: "Good luck. May God confirm you" The imam cheered and the expression of satisfaction was evident on their faces. I can say that this memory is one of the most beautiful memories I have from my life and speeches.

After the speech, it was time to collect women's gold and jewelry. Big plastic bags were filled with gold and jewels, we closed the door and handed them over to the late Ayatollah Eshraghi, who was the head of the Imam's office at that time. On that day, a large number of Air Force personnel also came to meet the Imam. When they saw the women presenting their gold and jewelry, they put their hands in their pockets and persistently presented the bundles of bills that were their salaries for that month. They were told that we were not going to take money, but they insisted: "Please accept these from us instead of gold and jewelry and deliver them along with the women's jewelry." A lot of money was collected that day. More interestingly, the women who attended the meeting with the Imam from Qom and other cities also removed all the gold and jewelry they had from their hands and neck and presented it.

After finishing the work, Ayatollah Motahari called me and said: "It was a very good proposal. It was a revolutionary move and something extraordinary was done."

Long after doing this, women from different parts of Iran would visit the Imam's (RA) office and present their gold and jewelry, thus contributing to the revolution.[1]