The people of my generation who lived through the 8 year war that Saddam imposed on Iran can catch the feeling of what I am about to say. Younger generations and those living abroad might feel the distance in time and place. Its now likened to a myth for many. They ask: could such noble and altruistic people really have existed ?
Last night I attended an important commemoration ceremony for two martyrs who were courageous commanders during the war. The Bakeri brothers, Hamid and Mehdi were both renown for their leadership during the different stages of the war and their unrivalled bravery. The speaker at this session was Eng. Mir Hossein Mousavi the nation's Prime Minister at that time(1983-1989). Mr. Mousavi has refrained from appearing in public for the past two decades. But he is back now, and this is very meaningful in the dire political circumstances we face. Rumours say he might also run for Presidency. Mr. Khatami and many other high level political figures from the reformist camp attended as well. He spoke about the relevancy of the concept of martyrdom and the last wills of these martyrs for young people of this generation. He read parts of the will: We consider martyrdom as a great salvation from God and reserved for His dearest people....
He spoke on the importance of bridging the gaps with the youth who have not witnessed those days.
I think the concept of martyrdom in Islamic tradition is quite fascinating since it has proved to be a major mobilizing power for defending the faith in face of devastating circumstances such as the Crusades or in Palestine and the 8 year aggression of Saddam. The legacy of Imam Hossein remains as the major inspirational motive in this regard. It exhibits a universal message of sacrifice for Truth , Righteousness and ultimately the Creator.
There is alot of misunderstanding and abuse of this concept during our era. Some take the aspiration for martyrdom to be synonymous with suicide or some have abused the concept to promote violence and terrorism like Taliban and related organizations. Others have politicised the concept in favor of their particular political tendency.
Actually, the intention involved is the defining line. Mehdi and Hamid Bakeri like thousands of Iranian martyrs fought for freedom, independence and dignity for Iran . They however, set an example worldwide for all those who have chosen not to remain indifferent.
9 comments:
Please write about shaheed Dr. Chamran too!
Was he martyred by Saddam's fire or perhaps by "friendly fire"? I never could decide who was responsible for his martyrdom (which I consider as THE MOST SACRED martyrdom in that whole entire period of 8 years) and whose hand pulled the trigger of the gun aimed at his saintly heart??!!!!
Was he martyred by the less than spiritual and altruistic men in his own camp who could not PRETEND to be "good" human beings as long as TRUE angels like Dr. Chamran existed on this Earth?! or was he martyred by Saddam's soldiers?!
Please post this comment, and please answer my questions, or at least write about shaheed Dr. Chamran in your next post here! and also if you can please, put a link here to that song which always makes me think of shaheed Chamran, and to this day, it will still make me cry if I hear it, which unfortunately I have not had the privilege of hearing it at least for the past 22 years!
kojaaeed ey shaheedaan-e khodaaee?
balaa jooyaan-e dasht-e Karbalaayee?
kojaaeed ey sabok-baalaan-e aashegh?
parandeh-tar ze morghaan-e havaaee?
kojaaeed ey ze jaan o jaa raheedeh?
...
At the beginning of Iraq /Iran war many young men religious or not volunteered to go and defend their country against the blood thirsty Saddam. However, as war went on and on and as the international community and Iranian people realized that many of these young lives are being lost in wane only two stubborn people did not understand the reality. One was Saddam and the other was Khomeini. Iran/Iraq war eventually claimed more than one million lives on both sides.
Today, more than twenty years passed but the enraged religious people like Ahmadinejad and his worshiper, Fatimah Rajabi are claiming that those brave young men such as Mehdi and Hamid lost their lives defending Islam and not their country’s honor.
I have and had family members who went to war, a couple came back whole but others died or lost either part of their body or a piece of their sole. All I know none went to war for defending Quran or Khomeini and for sure they did not go to war so a mindless person such as Fatimah Rajabi rant and rave against Democracy and Freedom. I wonder if Fatimah Rajabi has any Iraq war Shaheeds in her family, (I doubt it) because if she did she wouldn’t be so hard against Freedoms and Democracy.
To Mehdi and Hamid and to my Iranian heroes, we will never forget what you did and we will cherish your bravery once we get Iran to what you and other heroes fought for, a Free, Independent and dignified Iran.
THIS is my Seyyed-e Shaheedaan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsPBMkSxsJg&eurl=http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=chamran&vc=&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fp_ip=CA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHWQvicVZP4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drIEljS8f1U&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNTarODCu8g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeGVxsxmjgs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Zhc_lgnLw&feature=related
Martyr Dr. Chamran is my version of a modern day Imam Hossein!
Martyr Dr. Chamran is the TRUEST martyr ever, worthy of being called a TRUE legacy bearer of Aba-Abdellah!
Martyr Dr. Chamran is so SACRED and HEAVENLY that if the entire history of Islam is searched to find an equivalent soul to his, there can ONLY be found one, and that is Imam Hossein Aleyhe Salam himself!
I LOVE martyr Dr. Chamran as much as I LOVE Iran, as much as I LOVE Iran's revolution, and as much as I LOVE Imam Hossein (PBUH), his father Imam Ali (PBUH), and his grandfather Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)!
Martyr Dr. Chamran was their TRUEST follower and LOVER in the whole of Islam's history!
"aaberooyash raa hefz koneed"
There is also another Martyr about whom I feel just as strongly, and I consider him just as Spiritual, Angelic, True, and Godly as martyr Chamran, but unfortunately people don't call him a martyr!
In my eyes, even if somebody dies of food-poisoning, we should still consider a man who spent his entire life in service to his people, dedicated to the cause of JUSTICE, constantly promoting the praising of God Almighty, we should still call him a "Shaheed" martyr! because if not him then who?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJFLwvp4WMg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEukn06CW2k&feature=related
I Love You Ayatollah Taleghani!
I cried for you for hours when I was only 9 years old, listening to radio reporting your funeral for which MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of Iranians participated, walking from all and every one of Tehran's streets all the way to the "Behesht Zahra" cemetery, and mourning YOU, their MOST beloved spiritual leader!
I was soooooooo angry at my elders for not taking me with them on that funeral procession down to "Behesht Zahra", but I cried for you for hours!
I hope the WORLD will get to know exactly who martyred shaheed Dr. Chamran and shaheed Ayatollah Taleghani and so many other shaheeds of Iran's revolution, like shaheed Motahhari and shaheed Beheshti,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m2dr9CCGx8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8-xeq1xJcY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqsT5DujuQo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J_4iqt2i8s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZZRSpqjw8I&feature=related
I hope people will get to know EXACTLY who wanted these amazingly spiritual, highly rational, genuinely benevolent and righteous LEADERS of the revolution out of the way of their worldly HUNGER for amassing wealth and power!
I hope people will finally get to know THE TRUTH THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH, so that the Muslim Nation (Ommat) will be able to say to those "khabeess" murderers and EVIL beasts:
NEVER AGAIN!
NEVER AGAIN!
NEVER AGAIN!
A REMINDER:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK-_2G7MMgc
last time, the link I put here of this video didn't have these beautiful pictures.
LISTEN, WATCH, FEEL, and THINK!!!
Songs to Listen to, Videos to Watch, and Words to Make us THINK, FEEL, and HOPE!
Up Here In Heaven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1Yvfq4sSaE&NR=1
One World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96IpQDQf2HA&feature=related
Carry On
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Idux3_rcM
The Words I Love You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qorcMTvCokk
Lyrics:
Up Here In Heaven
Up on the hill I see it begin,
Marking the heroes where they fall,
In the stone, in the stone the names of those who have gone;
And over the river, there is a place,
Where they remember boys and men,
Widows talk, widows talk of all that they could have been;
We can hear you, we can hear you whisper our names;
We can see you, we can see you reading our names;
Up here in heaven, we stand together,
Both the enemy and the friend, 'till the end of time,
Up here in heaven, we are forever,
There is only on God up here, for all of the world;
What of the children caught in the war,
How can we tell them what it's for,
When they cry, when they cry are voices heard anymore?
Are you listening, are you listening men of the war?
There is nothing, there is nothing worth dying for;
Up here in heaven, we stand together,
Both the enemy and the friend, 'till the end of time,
Up here in heaven, we are forever,
There is only one God up here, for all of the world;
There is only one God up here, the God of the world.
One World
I can feel it in my blood, I can hear it in my footsteps,
I can see it all around, that everywhere connections
Are breaking away, and people know that something must change, must change;
There are better men than I, who with courage and conviction
Are patrolling the lines, waking up the sleepers who will not decide,
And do not think there's anything wrong;
But we are all living here in this beautiful world, sharing
Sunrises every day, we may have different lives, but for all of us,
Here we will stay;
We're living in one world, sleeping in one world, dreaming
In one world, and no-one's going anywhere,
We're living in one world, working in one world, breathing in one world,
We're just the same as anyone;
I believe there is a God, but it doesn't mean that my God is greater
Than yours, it only means we all have the right to believe, 'cos nobody
Knows it for sure, for sure; if there's a Heaven or Hell, or a sweet Paradise,
Or a place where we all meet again, 'cos with minimal change
Everyone here is the same;
We're living in one world, sleeping in one world, dreaming
In one world, and no-one's going anywhere,
We're living in one world, working in one world, breathing in
One world, we're just the same as anyone,
We're living in one world, sleeping in one world, dreaming in one world,
And no-one's going anywhere;
We're living in one world, working in one world, breathing in one world,
We're just the same as anyone;
Listen to the voice of millions calling me and you,
Take good care of everywhere 'cos this is my home too,
Laughing in one world, crying in one world, hoping in one world,
Praying in one world, trying in one world, this is my home too,
One world, one world, one world, one world,
One world, one world, one world
Carry On
Whatever the words that you hear,
Somehow the meaning is clear,
We're all on the same ship together, moving on,
From the first time that life could be heard,
To the last sounds of men on this earth,
The question is always the same, where are
we going, where are we going?
Love is the daughter of life,
comfort to trouble and strife,
She's always beside you to help you carry on,
Oh they say that the stars in the sky,
Are the souls of the people who die,
Will we meet them again when we reach our destination?
Ooh carry on, carry on,
There's a silver light beside you,
Take the hand that's there to guide you
Through this night to where we came from,
Carry on, carry on,
When the autumn leaves are falling,
And you hear the voices calling you away,
Then do not fear, you'll carry on, carry on,
Carry on, carry on...ooh carry on...
The Words I Love you
There are those who think that love comes with a lifetime guarantee,
But we know from those around us, that this may not always be,
It's the simple things that come between a father and a son,
But when they try to talk, the knives are out before they have begun;
Well that was me, and I have seen the light that shines for eternity,
Because I learned to say the words “I love you;”
So many hearts have been broken by the lies of history,
And so many arms are still open for that final mystery;
We must show respect for all the rest, and what a man believes,
And the one who died upon the cross, well he is the one for me,
And he said “Come with me and you will see the light that shines
For eternity, be strong and learn to say the words “I love you;”
And this endless road that we are on just keeps on going round,
But there's one destination that always is here to be found;
So come with me, and you will see the light that shines for eternity,
Be strong and learn to say the words “I love you,”
Be strong and learn to say the words “I love you,” the words “I love you,”
The words “I love you,” the words “I love you.”
Faryaad Bezan Begoo: Dooset Daaram Iran!
:-)
My last comment on this website is about Middle East Peace:
It was OUR Persian Cyrus The Great who once saved the Jews,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_(Bible)
it was OUR Muslim Kurdish brother Salahuddin Ayyubi (from neighboring Iraq) who once saved the Muslims,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saladin
doesn't Iran think WE as Muslim Persians bear the responsibility now of getting together with our Egyptian and Turkish and Iraqi and Jordanian and Syrian and Lebanese brothers and sisters to save BOTH Jews and Muslims in the Holy Land, with the help of Christian SAINTS like Jimmy Carter and Prophet Obama???!!!!!
and one more thing, ...
It was OUR Persian poet Hafez who inspired the German poet Goethe to write his West-östlicher Divan,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West-%C3%B6stlicher_Diwan
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/West-%C3%B6stlicher_Divan
http://www.readbookonline.net/title/3242/
http://www.fullbooks.com/West-stlicher-Divan.html
http://www.textlog.de/goethe-divan.html
so was it not a shame that the idea for this wonderful orchestra did NOT come from one of us children of Hafez????!!!
http://west-easterndivan.artists.warner.de/
???!!!!!
anyway, ...
Thank God for those who did come up with this beautiful idea, but I just have ONE last thing to say to my fellow Iranians:
Shame On You if you decide to NOT join this NOBLE cause for PEACE IN THE HOLY LAND!
Vassalam!
:-)
Thank You Mr. Roger Cohen for telling the TRUTH about Iran!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/opinion/23cohen.html?ref=opinion
Coming from an American journalist, it's quite refreshing to FINALLY read a fair and balanced report about the REALITIES ON THE GROUND in the Middle East and about Iran, especially after 30 years of the exact opposite picture being fed to the public by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and their bosses!
I'm an eternal optimist and happen to strongly believe that Barack Obama's New America is much more than a "change of guards" for the same old kings and their palaces, but a reaction to the realities you spoke about in your column,
"Double standards don’t work anymore; the Middle East has become too sophisticated".
I also HOPE and pray that what President Obama said in his Inaugural Address,
"the time has come to set aside childish things"
WILL indeed be practiced, and people like this uninformed or ill-intentioned lady who wrote this rubbish of an analysis:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/bronwen_maddox/article5811786.ece
will be told to go and open some history books, to go talk to Prof. Richard Frye, to go get educated and know what she's saying before she takes it upon herself to distort HISTORY and dare to write her worthless opinions about "Persian rule" and who wanted to "escape" it and who became who's "protectorate", as if such people as Ms. Bronwen Maddox were speaking from position of authority when it comes to Iran's History!!!!
Please Watch, Listen and LEARN:
(in Persian)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzT-s5brZMk
(in English)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUFwYLLuF1k&NR=1
St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthian church (Canonical Bible of the Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic denominations) at chapter 13 and verse 11 can be paraphrased for the Obama phrasing:
"When I was a child, I spoke and reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways"
Hallelujah! Praise The Lord!
:-)
Thank You Mr. Roger Cohen for telling the TRUTH about Iran!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/opinion/23cohen.html?ref=opinion
Coming from an American journalist, it's quite refreshing to FINALLY read a fair and balanced report about the REALITIES ON THE GROUND in the Middle East and about Iran, especially after 30 years of the exact opposite picture being fed to the public by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and their bosses!
I'm an eternal optimist and happen to strongly believe that Barack Obama's New America is much more than a "change of guards" for the same old kings and their palaces, but a reaction to the realities you spoke about in your column,
"Double standards don’t work anymore; the Middle East has become too sophisticated".
I also HOPE and pray that what President Obama said in his Inaugural Address,
"the time has come to set aside childish things"
WILL indeed be practiced, and people like this uninformed or ill-intentioned lady who wrote this rubbish of an analysis:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/bronwen_maddox/article5811786.ece
will be told to go and open some history books, to go talk to Prof. Richard Frye, to go get educated and know what she's saying before she takes it upon herself to distort HISTORY and dare to write her worthless opinions about "Persian rule" and who wanted to "escape" it and who became who's "protectorate", as if such people as Ms. Bronwen Maddox were speaking from position of authority when it comes to Iran's History!!!!
Please Watch, Listen and LEARN:
(in Persian)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzT-s5brZMk
(in English)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUFwYLLuF1k&NR=1
St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthian church (Canonical Bible of the Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic denominations) at chapter 13 and verse 11 can be paraphrased for the Obama phrasing:
"When I was a child, I spoke and reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways"
Hallelujah! Praise The Lord!
:-)
Dear Dr. Ebtekar,
I wrote a few comments on your blog site but you refused to post them. My comments were about Fatimah Rajabi, the Queen of Freedom of Speech in Iran or so she claims. So, I get the irony of this whole thing now. Your government is pro Freedom of speech only for those with connection to the government. Why people like Rajabi or Khomeini grandchildren or Hashemi's children can criticize Iranian government but an ordinary Iranian can't?
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