The New Arenas

A familiar invite, but secretly

After meeting with Imam Khomeini and knowing his point of view about the activities of Hojjatiyyeh Society, I stopped my activities there. However, I got acquainted with people such as Seyyed Mir Mohammad Sadeghi, Javad Mansouri, Hussein Sadeghi, Hadi Shams Ha’eri and … Each of them later became a protest activist. Some of them were noble, genius, devoted and good believer people. Among them, I had special and deep friendship with Seyyed Mir Mohammad Sadeghi.[1] Most of our discussions were about the social injustice, the Pahlavi regime tyranny, rise of June 5th 1963, fighting know-how, ….
In the middle of winter of 1965, one day Mr. Mir Mohammad Sadeghi asked me to go to Ja’fari Mosque. We prayed there. It was in Ramadan [1384 L.H]. We were not worried about lunch and were speaking with each other. After few minutes I felt that he was directing to something but he was not clear in speaking. When he started to talk about the necessity of a coherent move under a unique leadership, he said: “Ahmad! Today I want to tell you something but with a condition.” I asked: “What condition?!” He said: “the condition is that if you accept it or not, you should never talk about it to anyone to the end of your life.” He brought a Koran and out it in front of me and said: “Swear to Koran that you will not talk about this matter to anyone.”
I was quietly listening and looking at him till that time. At first, I became suspicious to his behavior but when I remembered our background of friendship, I warned myself not to suspect and then I swore. Then Mr. Mir Mohammad Sadeghi talked about a secret organization named “Islamic Nations’ Party (INP)” and explained their goals, believes, and ideology for me. I was listening carefully and at same time trying to analyze them based on my own ideas. My interest made him talk about INP’s manifest and rules. He briefly explained how someone can be a member and different levels of INP and repeatedly would insist that all these things were confidential. I felt some freshness in his words and they were compatible with my own ideals. However, I asked him to let think about the matter for some time and decide later.
After our dialogue in Ja’fari Mosque I had a good feeling and all the hours of that day my mind was busy with INP issues. That evening after saying my prayers and without breaking my fast I went to a clergy’s house named Nazem-u-shari’eh[2] in Shapour Street (today’s Vahdat-e Eslami Street) to do me a bibliomancy by Koran to clarify goodness or badness of joining INP for me. Mr. Nazem-u-shari’eh would collect all the requests and would do the bibliomancy after his night prayers. He told me: “Write!” I wrote on a paper: “His holiness Ayatollah Nazem-u-shari’eh, I ask your holiness to do me a bibliography for a vital affair for me.” I wrote at the end: “Sincerely yours, Ahmad” and signed. Two days later, I went there again to get my answer. He had written on a paper: “In the name of the highest, it is very good. Particularly, its future is bright and full of victory. You will reach high ranks.” He said the verse was in the surah of Joseph.
By this bibliomancy and considering the story of Joseph (being exile, imprisoned, and finally reaching to victory) I came out of his home happily. After few days I visited Mr. Mir Mohammad Sadeghi and told him that I was ready to be member of INP. He asked me to swear for the second time. After worshiping God, I swore that I would be faithful to the ideals and goals of INP and would never reveal the secrets of INP and would defend INP ideals.[3]
I even did not consult with brother who was an active member of Islamic Councils Coalition and pioneer in the fight against the regime. I did not inform him about the way that I had chosen. I was trustful to God and had begun a new way in fighting.