Bi’that (Journal)

After the uprising of June 5, 1963, when Imam Khomeini (ra) was arrested and imprisoned, a group of Qom seminarians decided to publish a journal, which they named Bi’that, to expose the political situation of that time and the autocratic rule of Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi. Its editors and authors were Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, Abdorrahim Rabbani-Shirazi, Sayyed Mahmoud Doaei, Mohammad-Javad Hojjati Kermani and Sayyed Hadi Khosroshahi.

Mr. Sayyed Mahmoud Doaei typed the written material in the house of Mr. Reza Sharifi-Gorgani and with the help of his wife, used to reproduce it with a stencil machine. Discussions and conversations about the contents of the journal and other matters such as its publication and distribution were taking place in Mr. Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s house in Qom, and Mr. Mohammad-Javad Bahonar’s house in Tehran.

Mr. Mohammad-Mahdi Jafari was in charge of distributing the journal in Tehran. In Mashhad, a number of young and combatant seminary students were distributing it. After the publication of the first issue of Bi’that, SAVAK was assigned to find and arrest its authors and distributors, but during the two years of its publication, it failed to identify the authors and the place where it was reproduced.

The first and last issues of Bi’that were published on December 14, 1963, and May 31, 1965, and in total fourteen issues were published. Later on, the publication of this journal ceased due to the disagreement between its organizers and managers. After Imam Khomeini’s stance on the Capitulation Bill, some people supported the revolutionary ideas of Imam Khomeini (ra), whereas others supported the moderate ideas of Mr. Sayyed Mohammad-Kazem Shariatmadari. Another reason was that after the assassination of Hasan-Ali Mansour, the Shah’s Prime Minister, which took place in revenge for the Imam’s exile in Turkey, most of the organizers and founders of Bi’that were arrested and imprisoned.

After the Islamic Revolution, Mr. Sayyed Hadi Khosroshahi published a number of this journal, which he had kept secretly and away from the eyes of SAVAK officers, in a book titled Bi’that.

Reference: The Encyclopedia of the Islamic Revolution