Teaching
It was a year passed his return to Mashhad. He continued his studies in fiqh (jurisprudence) and usul (principles of jurisprudence), teaching and having a scientific discussion with his father when he settled in Mashhad. Sayyed Khamenei used to attend the classes of Ayatollah Milani; he was one of those clerics who received 100 tomans of shahriyah (stipend) every month. According to his teacher, he was a virtuous teacher who deserves to receive the highest amount of shahriyah. He continued studying dars al-kharij until the year 1970. Most of his teaching was in Mirza Ja’far Seminary.
He learned some of his teaching habits from his father and respected them. He used to ask the clerics the lessons of the previous day, but not from everyone. Sometimes there were up to eighty students attending his class and taking notes. He reviewed the lesson he taught in the words of two to three of his students. His classes were held from late 1965 until the year 1977 when he was exiled to Iranshahr; except for the times at prison which cut off his teachings every now and then.
His First Child
At this time his wife was pregnant, about to deliver their first child. Everything was ready for them to hear the voice of their healthy child, except money. What should he have done? Sayyed Khamenei [probably] asked for his worldly helper, his mother. “Or maybe I borrowed some money from a friend.” Sayyed Mostafa was born; his voice embraced the ears of his parents.
In 1965, Sayyed Khamenei also finished the translation of the book “al-Mustaqbal li Hadha al-Din” written by Sayyid Qutb. He translated the title as follows: “Future in the Realm of Islam.” Sayyed Khamenei finished the translation of “al-Mustaqbal li Hadha al-Din” when Sayyid Qutb was in prison, but his thoughts had passed the borders of Egypt and reached most Islamic countries.
Sayyed Khamenei wrote the introduction of the book in April 1966. He wrote that “al-Mustaqbal li Hadha al-Din” was a theoretical opportunity for introducing political Islam; Sayyed Khamenei expressed his political views through writing footnotes to adapt them to new daily issues of the society and that’s what made trouble for him.
Sepideh Publications
In early April 1965, Sayyed Khamenei contributed to establishing a publication firm; according to its managing director, Mohsen Mohsenian, he was the head of its board of directors. The institute was not supposed to work illegally, therefore a statute was written in 43 articles and was registered as Sepideh Publication Corporation with the number 541 on April 29, 1965, in the companies’ registration office and was officialized.
The name of the board of directors, inspectors and supervisors are written in the statute as follows: Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Mohsen Mohsenian, Haj Kazem Tadayyon, Ebrahim Shayesteh, Haj Abdoreza Ghanian, Haj Ali Tousi, Gholamreza Qodsi, Ahmad Tousi, Hasan Qasemi, Haj Mohammad-Ebrahim Yazdian, Qasem Sarviha, Mahmoud Akbarzadeh.
Sepideh Publication started printing some books over time. “The Benefits and Necessity of Religion” by Mohammad Taqi-Shariati, “Islamic Hajj Congress” written by Ali Golzadeh-Ghafouri, “Wilayah and Insatiability” by Allamah Tabatabai and the fourth book was “Future in the Realm of Islam.” All the books were reprints except the last one. The agents of SAVAK were aware of the publication; they tried to take reports of its weekly meetings.
The fourth book which was printed at Sepideh Publications was the last one as well. “Future in the Realm of Islam” was recognized as a harmful book; they collected the book and arrested its publishers and writer.
The Consequences of Discovering the Statute
Following the manifesto in support of Imam Khomeyni in Qom which was supposed to be distributed during Norouz (Iranian New Year) of 1966, and later Hoseyn-Ali Montazeri, Ali Hojjati-Kermani, Abdorrahim Rabbani-Shirazi and Ahmad Azari-Qommi who were accused of preparing the manifesto were arrested on March 30. The inspection got to the houses of the arrested; the statute which was hand-written in six ages was found in the house of Azari-Qommi by SAVAK. The statute became very important for the intelligence services since it contained the mechanism of a political pragmatic organization based on “Applying the principles of Islam and the Holy Quran and the manners of the Infallibles.” This was the same classified organization that was established in autumn 1963 by eleven leading clerics in Qom. The issue was so important that its report was sent to Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi. “It was the plan of a big organization which could arrange all the efforts in one direction. We had also written a statute and paid membership fees; each one of us had a duty.”
The structure of the organization which included ‘The Founders’ Supreme Council,’ ‘Information and communication Organization,’ ‘Financial Department’ ‘Counselors Section’ and ‘Court,’ made SAVAK concluded that everything indicates a secret group. SAVAK concluded to investigate from people such as Ali Meshkini, Mahdi Haeri-Tehrani, Ali Qoddousi, Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Sayyed Mohammad Khamenei and Ebrahim Amini.
SAVAK started the investigation; the inspectors pressed Ayatollah Azari-Qommi so much so that he would write down the information he had regarding the organization. Among the questions was that: “Write down about your relations with Mr. Ali Khamenei and the way you got to know him.” Ayatollah Azari-Qommi explained as follows: “I got to know Sayyed Khamenei about ten years ago when I went to Mashhad. He knew Sayyed Ja’far [Shobeyri] Zanjani who had studied with me in Qom; we got to know each other through him. I didn’t see him for after a few days when I came back from Mashhad. Until a few years ago when he came back to Qom to continue his studies. I went to visit him due to the previous friendship that began in Mashhad; after that, our relations were in going over, more often to his dormitory room or every now and then, he would come over to the mourning sessions that I held at my house on Friday eves.”
But the main question was regarding the statute of the organization which was handed to Ayatollah Azari-Qommi by Sayyed Khamenei: “I received the statute from Sayyed Ali Khamenei; he didn’t tell me from whose thoughts were driven. Therefore, I have no idea of who the writer of the statute is; I don’t know to whom it’s related.”
The secret life of Sayyed Ali Khamenei had begun. He was unaware of SAVAK’s investigations regarding the statute, but he had received the news of the seizure of the book “Future in the Realm of Islam” and that they’re looking for him; a book which he had translated with the introduction and the footnotes that he had added, he had inflamed the anger of the regime.
The Incomplete Journey
Sayyed Khamenei left Mashhad to go to Tehran along with his wife, mother-in-law and his forty-day-old baby in March 1966. They went for a holiday. Then they went to Qom and Esfahan; they headed back to Tehran again. He was in Tehran when he received the news of the seizure of the book “Future in the Realm of Islam” in the publications of Khorasan and the arrest of the head of Sepideh Publications.
The Runaways Meeting
Sayyed Khamenei was passing by Shahreza street (currently Enqelab Eslami) when Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani suddenly saw him from a city bus. He saw his friend comfortably going through the bookstores in front of the University of Tehran. “I suddenly say Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani running towards me… when he got to me, he said: ‘You’re walking so comfortably! They will arrest you!’ I said: Why? What’s the matter? He said: ‘The eleven-member organization has been exposed and Ayatollah Azari-Qommi is arrested and jailed; we are also under pursuit in Tehran… He had been passing by in a bus, saw me walking by comfortably. He recognized that I’m unaware of being under pursuit. He came to tell me that we are under pursuit.” Ayatollah Hashemi was heading towards the place where Ebrahim Amini and Ali Qoddousi, the other members of the organization had a meeting.
Returning to Mashhad Secretly
One of the results of the meeting was that Sayyed Khamenei should go into hiding somewhere. Where? He didn’t have a place to hide in Tehran. He decided to go back to Mashhad. He didn’t tell anyone. He got on a bus and went. He thought that the agents might have been waiting for him in Mashhad. He got off along the way before getting to Mashhad at a road that led to a village called Akhlamad. There were ten kilometres left until they reached the village. It was at night; he had to walk the way in the dark without a light in that byway. He went to one of the relatives who was a storekeeper. He stayed one or two nights at his place. He didn’t want the villagers to know about his presence. He headed for Mashhad. He spent the first night at his father’s house. He spent the second night at his father-in-law’s house. He didn’t have an independent place to stay. He went put early in the morning or late at night. His brother, Sayyed Mohammad who was one of the eleven, was hiding in his father’s house.
Secret Life in Tehran
His secret life in Mashhad got him sick and tired; he headed towards Tehran. A place far away from Mashhad and Qom. “Me and Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani rented a house together; “Near the Peugeot repair shop, in Razzaqnia Alley, Naeb al-Saltaneh Street. We brought our children as well.”
Sayyed Khamenei lived on the second floor. The house was rented for 420 tomans per month by people who had the worst economic situation. The landlord was probably an orderly man who came to get his rent at the beginning of the month. 200 tomans of the rent was for Sayyed Khamenei and 220 of it was for Ayatollah Hashemi. “It was really hard... the month would pass very quickly and I had to give 200 tomans. We didn’t have any income. It was really hard for us. At those times, Ayatollah Hashemi wasn’t well either. He was almost like me; a little bit better than me. It happened a lot for me that I borrowed ten tomans from Ayatollah Hashemi. It also happened that he borrowed ten tomans from me. Why would someone borrow ten tomans? It’s evident that he’s in need for his daily use… fortunately we were together and this was helpful.”
Archive of Ayatollah Khamenei
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