Mourning for Faiziyeh Seminary

Translated by Mandana Karimi

2025-4-9

In my speeches in 1963 after the 15th of Khordad incident, on one hand, I expressed the issues of the Husseini movement, and on the other hand, I strongly criticized the Shah’s politics and government, which led me to be severely persecuted by SAVAK agents.

I remember that in Tehran, on the day of Ashura, I went to the pulpit in the Lorzadeh Mosque. I turned to people and said, "People! What are you so afraid of? What are you afraid of? Of dying? Of being shot? Hey people! Being shot is much better than cancer! We take a bullet and die and feel relieved, but when we are captured by cancer, we have to suffer for a lifetime and then die. Which one is better? If we were to be martyred in the way of God and the Messenger of God (PBUH) with a single bullet and be saved in an instant, would it be better or would we suffer for a lifetime and then fall on the ground like a corpse? Where is this and where is that? Then I said that Yazid only brought gambling and wine to the Muslim community; but the Shah brought gambling, wine, and lottery tickets. I spoke many harsh words and publicly cursed the Shah on the pulpit. Although it was the decade of Muharram and the mourning period for the Master of Martyrs (PBUH); but because on the day of the martyrdom of Imam Sadiq (PBUH) on the 25th of Shawwal, the tragedy of the Faiziyah Seminary had occurred and the Shah’s commandos had stormed the Faiziyah School and beaten the students, the focus of the pulpits during those days was the issue of the attack on the Faiziyah Seminary.

On the day of Ashura, the mourning group of the youth of the Lorzadeh Mosque, which was one of the most important groups in southern Tehran, was organized, and one of their slogans was the attack on the Feiziyeh Seminary in Qom by the Shah’s commandos on the 25th of Shawwal. The Imam had said that this year in Muharram, the Feiziyeh incident should be recited in the form of a prayer so that people would realize the Shah’s crimes in the Qom Seminary. For this reason, we would repeat the incident of the 25th of Shawwal tragedy in the streets and even talk about the Feiziyeh incident while mourning, and we had a great impact on people’s feelings. Until then, it was unprecedented for a political incident of the day to be brought up in the form of lamentations and chest-beating during the days of Muharram and mourning for Imam Hussein (AS).

Source: Mohajer Sharif, Khaterat-e Hojjatuleslam va almoslemin Hassan Yazdizadeh, Memoirs of Hojjatoleslam Walmuslimin Hassan Yazdizadeh, edited by Alireza Nokhbeh, Tehran, Orouj Pblishing Company, 2010, pp. 87-88.