Imam’s Announcement in the Barracks

2024-11-7

It is interesting that I [Hujjat al-Islam Akbar Hamidzadeh Givi] did not know until that day when I was sent to military service and I entered the barracks that Imam had a well-known reputation in Kazeroon. [In answering] the question that how I received the Imam's announcements [I should say] that at that time, inside the barracks, we received the Imam's announcements through the guys of Kazeroon; it seemed young officers, noncommissioned officers and soldiers, especially local soldiers played an effective role in this measure.

Especially, I woke up one morning and saw a folded paper on the bed next to my military pillow, which surprised me. I slowly picked it up and went to the toilet to find a safe place to read it. When I opened it, I felt excited and my eyes lit up when I saw the blessed name of Imam at the bottom of the notice. In this declaration, it was stated, “You, students of religious sciences and clerics of the holy seminaries, especially the holy seminary of ​​Qom! Do not be afraid of these insults and abuses. You, who are the guardians of Islam and the Quran today, have a duty to protect this important fortress which is the target of foreigners and their puppets, and continue your task which is studying Islamic jurisprudence, refinement of morals, enlightenment of thoughts and guidance of the oppressed nation with full encouragement and trust in God Almighty and help of the holy spirits of the owners of the Sharia and guardians of the Quran; God Almighty is with you. You, the zealous soldiers of Vali-e Asr Ajal Allahu Ta'ala Farajaho who have been dispatched forcefully to the barracks! Consolidate military training in full courage; May it be that you also like Prophet Musa (pbuh) who grew up in Pharaoh's arms and smashed his oppression can cut off these evil hands under the command of a righteous authority, and eradicate these roots of corruption and oppression. I offer my condolences to all the Muslims for the calamities and tragedies that are inflicted on this oppressed nation by the tyrannical system every day. May Almighty God ouster foreigners in Muslim countries, especially Iran, and grant well-being to the Islamic nation.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.” Ruhollah Al-Mousavi Al-Khomeini

Now, whether the declaration was related to the military service of these seminary students or whether it had been issued in the past and had been reproduced by the revolutionaries and had become available to us is a historical discussion, but in any case, its content was that my children, they took you to the barracks, they stopped your studies and your scientific growth, but trust in God, learn military techniques, and just as Moses grew up in the lap of Pharaoh and played his part in the overthrow of Pharaoh and his entourage. You should also express your apostolate without fear and with all your effort. Let's assume that if this announcement had been issued in the year 1963, because it had an inspiring theme and followed one goal, which was to give morale to the seminary students  who were dispatched to military service, so it does not make much difference; and those who had distributed it, had reproduced it in the right place and time, and even  had sent it inside the barracks. In fact, I was so excited that even its date was not important to me and it was its content that was important and therefore I did not pay much attention to its date.

Now you imagine that in Kazeroon itself or even inside the barracks, they reproduced this Imam's announcement, which they put not [only] under my pillow, but also under other people's pillows. Of course, I didn't dare to talk to anyone, they must have put it under the pillow of others; they also didn't dare to tell anyone in the atmosphere of fear and suffocation of the barracks; [they may had put] for example [an announcement] under the pillow of one person; I don't know, because the atmosphere was not an atmosphere that We can tell [anything]. That day, anyway, when I read the announcement, it was as if I was on the ground and soared into the sky; that is, it was a cheerful spirit; it was no longer the squat jump as punishment. The very slow step was self-improvement. It was a kind of dealing with what Imam had stated. While we expected some action to be taken through Qom Marja’s, Alhamdulillah no action was taken. Well, all the seminary students who were in the barracks were not at the same level, neither they were equal academically, nor in terms of revolutionary belief and therefore they needed an injection of energy, which apparently was not existed at all. A few days had passed and people had actually adapted themselves to the new conditions, when they were told that a delegation have come on behalf of Mr. Shariatmadari and wanted to visit these seminary students. We went and found out that they had come on behalf of Mr. Sheikh Gholamreza Zanjani. He agreed the then head of endowments, Dr. Azmoun, and Dr. Azmoun had supposed that if the students want to be released and return to their studies, they should write a letter to His Majesty, give me a copy of it, and acknowledge their mistake and say that they had been deceived us and other changes, all of which were dictated and maybe a special propaganda program had been planned for it too. Given the declaration that we read from Imam and elevating the spirit of people like me, now they had come to suggest that you write a letter to His Majesty, that we sacrifice you our lord, we made a mistake, and they deceived us. See how much the difference of paths is. Well, some seminary students and I left that meeting, and some of the students were naturally influenced by the thinking of people like Sheikh Gholamreza Zanjani. I talked to some friends and we decided not to write letter, that is we saw it opposite of our beliefs toward Imam. Later, it became clear to us that some people had been influenced and wrote the proposal letter, unaware of the fact that “God’s Will (Be done)! And what He does not will does not happen [in Arabic: ما شاءالله کان و مالم یشأ لم یکن ]” is the will of God, which is effective in affairs, and as sage Sabzevari says, “everything is controlled by Him.”

That day, I mentioned the story of Joseph to my friends in that company, which is narrated in the Holy Quran; that Joseph said to one of those two prisoners, who was on the threshold of freedom, “... Mention me to thy lord. But Satan made him forget to mention him to his lord: And (Joseph) lingered in prison A few (more) years.” It means that when you visit The Prince of Egypt, remember me. Of course, Joseph (a.s.) was sure that God is pure, merciful and will meet his prayers; but the hardships of prison forced him to take refuge in a man instead of God, who himself continued his journey in the light of God's providence. It means that he thought when his imprisoned friend would be saved, then he could intercede for him with the king, but the devil caused not to remember it and Joseph remained in prison for several more years.

In any case, both we and those who wrote letters and suspected someone other than God can do something stayed there. They thought they will continue their life and studies if they said they were wrong, were deceived, and that they made a mistake and I apologized. In describing such people, the Holy Qur'an says, “Those whose efforts have Been wasted in this life, While they thought that They were acquiring good By their works?” [Quran: Kahf: 104).

What happened, I don't remember exactly now, but on an occasion, a birthday or a death, a society was formed of thirty or so people; I was allowed me to give a speech. As if they wanted to divide us; Yes, the time of division had come and a group of friends were present, I spoke about patience and persistence according to the occasion and that the end of the black night is white, and then I mentioned this verse, “(And God’s Message is):  If they (The pagans) Had (only) remained On the (right) Way, We should certainly have Bestowed on them Rain.” At the end of my speech, I said, “this time which is more bitter than poison will pass, another time will come like sugar. I remember that I made everyone cry. During this time, some friends ran away, but were arrested again and whipped in the morning ceremony square. Of course, whoever ran away was punished in this way and had nothing to do with the seminary students. They took away the runaway soldiers, whipped them, but one more thing they did, and that was to vent anger on Qom and the students, that’s why they collected our clothes and set them on fire in the middle of the morning square. Their argument was that the students don't have clothes to run away from and everywhere they went with military uniforms, keeper of the barracks was present and they could easily identify and arrest the fleeing soldier. After the Imam's announcement, I passed the military service as a training course, that is, I spent it happily. Whereas, before seeing the Imam's handwriting, I felt I was a slave and I think my friends had the same belief. Alhamdulillah, until the end of my military service, when I encountered strange adventures, I had the same spirit, without the least coming short in revolutionary behavior and actions.

Source: Hamidzadeh Givi, Akbar, Revolutionary Orator: Thoughts and Memoirs of Hujjat-al-Islam Wal-Muslimeen Akbar Hamidzadeh Givi, Tehran, Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's works, Oruj Publishing Institute, 2019, Pp. 120-124.