Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (9)

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (9)Edited by Mohsen KazemiSoureh Mehr Publishing Company(Original Text in Persian, 2000)Translated by Mohammad Karimi For some seconds it was calm. I went fast to that boy and lifted him. Some others also came to help me. I took his left arm and one his right hand and the other two took his legs and we moved him together. While we were passing across the street, the colonel ordered the soldiers to fire again. The one who was in front of me and was holding the boys leg was shot and fell down. The one who was in my right side was also shot in back and fell. The other two and I ran away. I took shelter behind the walls of the bank. I found my hands and clothes bloody. I was shocked and looking around dazzled and confused. I could not move or do anything and full of scare. Then I heard...

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (8)

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (8)Edited by Mohsen KazemiSoureh Mehr Publishing Company(Original Text in Persian, 2000)Translated by Mohammad Karimi The Everlasting RiseOn March 22nd 1963 Grand Ayatollah Golpaygani held mourning ceremony for Imam Sadeqs martyrdom anniversary. The regimes commandos and agents attacked this ceremony. Some students were killed or injured. Most of Iranian people particularly the clergy became sad for this catastrophe. The clergy, grand ayatollahs, bazaar shopkeepers, guilds, Islamic communities and groups, condemned this attack and supported Qum seminary school by issuing a number of statements.Among all these statements, the Imam Khomeinis was more revealing, braver, and more incisive. His holiness had asked preachers and speakers to reveal the Pahlavi regime genocide in the last...

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (7)

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (7)Edited by Mohsen KazemiSoureh Mehr Publishing Company(Original Text in Persian, 2000)Translated by Mohammad Karimi Meeting with Imam KhomeiniThe rise in opposition with "Provincial Councils" bill made an opportunity for me to have a visit with Imam Khomeini. From that day I became devotee follower of this knowledgeable old man. My brother did much better than me in this field. He had became member of "Islamic Coalition Party" and was completely under the obedience of revolution's leader and could have visited his holiness several times and hear his words.The idea of sending "Neday Haq" to the addresses of "The Saint Mary's Path" subscribers and its postal costs made us to really think about finding money and a solution.The day that I talked to my brother about this matter, he said:...

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (6)

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (6)Edited by Mohsen KazemiSoureh Mehr Publishing Company(Original Text in Persian, 2000)Translated by Mohammad Karimi Avoiding BoycottHojjatiyyeh Society’s goal was fighting against Baha’ism and for this purpose would use its own methods. The society would impede its members from being politicized and would try not to make the government unsatisfied. On those days, Baha’ism was expanding its corrupting ideas so fast and the fight against it was a necessity; but it was all the matter because the regime was the provenance of support and the growth of Baha’ism and as long as they had the government support, their growth was not stoppable. What the society was doing was fighting against the effect not the cause. As a result their degree of success to achieve their goal was...

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (5)

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (5)Edited by Mohsen KazemiSoureh Mehr Publishing Company(Original Text in Persian, 2000)Translated by Mohammad Karimi Unburdened SorrowsFollowing Imam Khomeini BeginsWhen Grand Ayatollah Boroujerdi passed away, the Shah’s regime tried hard to show that Ayatollah Hakim in Iraq was officially the most high-ranking Shia clergy in order to transfer Shia power core out of Iran; however, presence of Ayatollah Khomeini and subsequent events showed these attempts were useless.In 1962 when Asadollah Alam government ratified the bill of “Provincial Councils”.(1) The Clergy and activist groups including Islamic Coalition Party (Hey’at-haye Mo’talefeh Eslami) shaped a movement and many announcements were issued in opposition with this bill.The announcements and telegrams of Grand...

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (4)

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (4)Edited by Mohsen KazemiSoureh Mehr Publishing Company(Original Text in Persian, 2000)Translated by Mohammad Karimi Teachers' Strike and Dr. Abolhassan Khan'ali MurderIn 1960 I was in 6th grade of high school for the second time. In May 1961 a cultural protest was made by the leadership of Mohammad Derakhshesh. In the continuation of this protest, teachers gathered in protest in Baharestan Square for their low salaries and bad economic situation and went on strike.The protest trend speed up and there were clashes between the teachers and the military. They started to shoot and a teacher, Dr. Abolhassani Khan'ali(1), who was a teacher of Jami High School was shot dead. Two others were wounded. Many protestors were also injured among the crowd when running away while being scared from...

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (3)

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (3)Edited by Mohsen KazemiSoureh Mehr Publishing Company(Original Text in Persian, 2000)Translated by Mohammad Karimi The First Prison Experience Pass mark for 1st to 5th grade of high school was 7 and for 6th grade 10. In 1960 I was in 6th grade that I witnessed there was a protest among the students that changed to a guild protest.Education Ministry had announced that pass mark for 5th grade and the lower grades would higher than 10.  The students did not like that. So they reacted so fast. I was in 6th grade of high school and this new regulation had no effect on my educational destiny. However, since I saw that matter unjust, I participated in their protest. The students of Marvi High School had a big in this protest. I observed the silence was broken with these students and...

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (2)

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (2)Edited by Mohsen KazemiSoureh Mehr Publishing Company(Original Text in Persian, 2000)Translated by Mohammad Karimi Childhood and Elementary SchoolI was seven years old when my brother, Mahmood, who was mentally sick, and I went to Farvardin elementary school which was located in the same quarter and registered our names for the 1st grade.Since my brother was sick, I always had to be beside him. His condition was in a way that always someone had to be careful about him and even at nights one of family members had to sleep beside him to care about.(1)Because of our family’s bad economic situation we had some hardships for going to school. Once I remember because of not having a pair of trousers, I could not go to school for one week; until my brother, Mahdi, came home on furlough...

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (1)

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (I)Edited by Mohsen KazemiSoureh Mehr Publishing Company(Original Text in Persian, 2000)Translated by Mohammad Karimi Foreword:This book narrates known and unknown events and memoirs by people who sought the light and paid heavily for it; and also talks about the ones who lost the way and went astray and reached to a mirage.This narrative contains the sweet and sour memoirs by “Ahmad Ahmad” who has been interviewed for more than 70 hours in two years. He was patient with our repeated calls and meetings and answered our fair and unfair questions.For the old Ahmad it was hard to narrate the memoirs of more 40 years ago. However, it happened by referring to different and outnumbered interviews and also some historical books. He admits that interviews remind him of interrogation...

Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs

In the previous issue, we covered the last part of Mohammad-Rezā Hāfezniā's abridged memoires. The next issue will introduce a work considered groundbreaking for almost 15 years in the realm of memoires-writing of Islamic Revolutionary freedom fighters. It was an attempt to address the pre-revolution memories of a Muslim freedom fighter from a professional oral historic perspective. As admitted by the Islamic Revolution Documents Center, "A new window was opened to the studies on the People's Mujahedin of Iran," after it was published. Tapping the experience he had gained in his earlier works, the author sought to avoid propaganda and persuasion and act like a historian in discovering the truth free from common exaggerations. However, there are few words of propaganda and persuasion in his work. As he himself...