It was in April 1972 that the news of holding the classes of the interpretation of the Holy Quran by Mr. Khamenei raised concerns and provoked anger among the security officials and SAVAK. These meetings began in the fall of 1971 at the Mirza Jafar Seminary, immediately after his release from prison. SAVAK ordered one or two permanent informers to be around him and report his speech and actions.
Although the summer holidays have been started in the Seminary of Mashhad, Mr. Khamenei’s lectures continued. He attended Mirza Jafar Seminary every day, and about seventy interested people, most of whom were the youths between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, attended his classes. The usual lessons were including his lectures for the students and the social lessons.
In the same year (1972), Dr. Sayyed Jafar Shahidi or Mohammad-Reza Hakimi asked him to participate in compiling a memoir for Allamah Abdolhoseyn Amini, the author of al-Ghadir, by writing an article. He accepted and wrote an article entitled “The Four Main Books of the Biography and Criticism of Traditions.”
It was this summer that Mr. Mortaza Motahhari travelled to Mashhad.
Due to his disagreements with Naser Minachi, Mr. Motahhari has not been able to visit Husayniyyah Ershad since the last March.
Dr. Ali Shariati was living in Mashhad. Dr. Shariati, Mr. Mohammad-Taqi Shariati, Mr. Mortaza Motahhari and Mr. Sayyed Ali Khamenei sat together to discuss this issue and find a solution. Two four- to five-hour sessions were held. Finally, they decided that Dr. Shariati, after going to Tehran, should force husayniyyah administrators to accept his plan. In this plan, Dr. Shariati had foreseen responsibilities related to the administration, propagation and research activities in such a way that it could be acceptable for both parties. It was also decided that Mr. Khamenei travels to Tehran to acquaint Mr. Motahhari’s party with the plan and to ensure him of its effectiveness. He went to Tehran a few weeks later.
His subsequent negotiations with his friends on Dr. Shariati’s plan were successful. But everything depended on the plan being registered by the Hosseiniyah officials. He told Dr. Shariati about the matter and returned to Mashhad. The authorities of Husayniyyah did not want or could not cope with this condition. With the failure of Dr. Shariati’s plan, Husayniyyah Ershad also lost its popularity. Even Dr. Shariati reconsidered his past collaboration.
Mr. Khamenei stayed in Mashhad during Ramadan 1972 and did not go to other cities for religious propagation. SAVAK’s willingness to arrest him was growing, and it constantly warned his officers to find evidence. The security agency was convinced that he would continue his political activities. What SAVAK sources have been provided included listening to his lectures and the classes of the interpretation of the Quran and other meetings held at his house. In addition to private home meetings, public meetings were also held on Friday nights at his house. Some of the conversations in his house were affected by the armed movement launched by some groups.
In the autumn of 1972, and during the month of Ramadan, the classes of the interpretation of the Quran began in Imam Hasan Mosque. This small mosque was founded by local merchants, such as Haj Kazem Vaziri, Haj Ali Tusi, and Haj Reza Moqaddam, and was very close to Mr. Khamenei’s house, but its prayer leader was far away and they wanted to hand over the responsibility of leading the prayer and giving speeches to someone else. When the local merchants offered Mr. Khamenei this responsibility he refused to accept. Also, two other mosques had asked him to be the prayer leader a request which was met with the same response. Finally, due to their insistence, he accepted the responsibility which at first was only limited to leading the congregational prayers.
Gradually, his short speeches, which were delivered while standing, were welcomed. He brought a blackboard to the mosque and began explaining the teachings of religion. Now at night, outside the mosque, it was full of bicycles and motorcycles with their young owners inside the courtyard. They wrote down Mr. Khamenei’s remarks on the translation and explanation of the Holy Quran.
It was in late 1972 that he established a seminary in Mashhad. He wanted the school to be established and managed through religious funds paid by Imam Khomeini’s followers. He even decided that in order to prevent SAVAK from interfering, the school should be apparently named after Shaykh Abolhasan Shirazi. In this case, Shaykh Shirazi’s consent has also been obtained. SAVAK became aware of this and decided to prevent the establishment of such a center in any way possible. When the news of the establishment of this school reached Tehran, Parviz Sabeti, who had recently become the director-general of the third department of SAVAK, emphasized preventing the establishment of this seminary.
Sending Religious Funds
It was in late 1972 that it became clear to the security agency that Mr. Khamenei is officially representing Ayatollah Khomeini in terms of receiving religious funds. In March of that year, he sent 60,000 tomans to Ayatollah Pasandideh, Imam Khomeini’s representative in Iran. On July 7, 1966, Imam Khomeini had chosen Mr. Khamenei as his representative in “receiving khums.” People used to visit him since 1967, but this was the first time that the security agency of the country had been informed about this issue.
The Quranic exegesis sessions were continued at Imam Hasan Mosque and also continued every week in 1972.
SAVAK’s intention was to obtain evidence to arrest and prosecute him. Hence, it carefully followed his lectures and were recording the points that reflected Mr. Khamenei’s political views.
It was at this time that the security agency of the country through the police found out that in his house, in addition to lecturing at Imam Hasan Mosque, he teaches social issues to some “young and eager” clerics who want to engage in political affairs.
It seems that Mr. Khamenei has appointed a number of experienced seminarians as the head of the group, encouraging them to recruit and attract other students; they included Mohsen Doagou and Sadeqi-Kashmari from Navvab Seminary, Gholamreza Asadi and Sayyed Reza Kamyab from Kheyrat Khan Seminary, Namdar from Haj Hasan Seminary, and Mesbah-Ameli and Ajam-Gonabadi from Mirza Jafar Seminary. These meetings were also held on Fridays.
Mr. Khamenei’s Quran commentary sessions continued, and he could explain the teachings of the Quran up to verse 109 of Surah al-Baqarah. On June 11, Sheykhan, the head of the SAVAK in Mashhad, asked the police chief to inform Sayyed Ali Khamenei that he should come to the office of SAVAK. It was in late July that he went to the SAVAK office and agreed to close his commentary circle held at Imam Hasan Mosque.
With the closure of the Tafsir course, the Arabic language course, which had been held for several weeks in the presence of Mr. Sayyed Hadi Khamenei at Imam Hasan Mosque, was also closed. Sayyed Hadi, who taught Arabic at a high school in Mashhad, began his class at the mosque by choosing the book entitled “Easy Arabic” as his textbook.
It was in the first months of 1973 that he decided to write two books on Quranic teachings. The closure of the classes of Quranic exegesis did not prevent him from studying the teachings of this holy book. One of his research works was the compilation of a Quranic dictionary and the other was writing a “Persian Kashf al-Ayat (discovering the verses)” so that Persian speakers could easily find verses of the Quran.
It was not until October 1974 that he was accidentally informed that both research projects were being carried out by Dr. Mahmoud Ramyar, a professor at Mashhad University and that the book “Kashf al-Ayat” also had been published. However, he has been studied a lot on Quranic teachings.
The commentary class was closed, but the news indicated the formation of other teachings classes. The Shahrbani forces once reported that he is interpreting Quran at the Qiblah Mosque on Thursdays and Fridays and that about 150 seminarians are attending his classes.
According to the Shahrebani reports, he also provided financial assistance to the students who gathered at the Qiblah Mosque and paid them 150 riyals each month, because “he is one of Ayatollah Khomeini’s followers. He distributes the money he receives from Khomeini’s followers as khums (Imam’s Share).” Mr. Khamenei travelled to Neyshabour one day a week. There he taught the principles of religion.
Of course, Imam Hasan Mosque did not remain inactive. Instead of interpreting, he explained and analyzed some narrations after maghrib and isha prayers. The Quranic interpretation sessions in Qiblah Mosque were also cancelled in June 1973 under the threat of SAVAK.
Ramadan (1973)
Before the holy month of Ramadan, he was invited to perform the congregational prayers at Keramat Mosque. Of course, this was not achieved easily. His first answer was no. He knew that the mosque, located in that busy area, would soon be under the magnifying glass of SAVAK. They insisted until he accepted to lead the prayer in the mosque.
He offered noon and evening prayers at Keramat Mosque and went to Imam Hasan Mosque for a speech. Before he reaches Imam Hasan Mosque, Sayyed Reza Kamyab has already held the midday prayer in the mosque.
The Popularity of the Karamat Mosque
In less than two months, Mr. Khamenei changed his focus from Imam Hasan Mosque in Ferdowsi Street to Keramat Mosque which was located in Naderi Street. Despite the potential dangers, he was pleased with this shift, as the new location was better than the previous one in terms of people’s attendance. Unsurprisingly, after about four months his lectures at the Imam Hasan Mosque were met with outrage from SAVAK, but here, the attendance of more people, caused the interpreter to be sent to the Joint Anti-Sabotage Committee.
Base on a series of reports sent to the third office of SAVAK since the beginning of the year which mainly addressed his commentary sessions, this office found out that Mr. Khamenei would not change his approach and his activities will attract more people. Therefore, from the point of view of that office, he had to be banned from delivering speeches or be exiled to Mashhad.
He used to recite hadith and talk about it from Sunday to Wednesday. On Wednesday nights, he used to translate and explain the phrases of the prayer, and on Thursday nights, he would recite, translate and interpret Quran. All of this, according to his intellectual policy, was mixed with addressing social issues.
On the second day of Esfand at eight o’clock in the morning, Haji Keramat was in SAVAK. The SAVAK agent informed him that Sayyed Ali Khamenei has no longer the right to speak or pray in this place.
Haji Karamat, the founder of the mosque, had informed Mr. Khamenei about the matter. He said that SAVAK had sent a message that he is not allowed to lead congregational prayers and give lectures. Mr. Khamenei also replied that if this is the case, they should inform me officially.
Mr. Khamenei’s last speech at Keramat Mosque was delivered on February 26, 1974. Up to the end of the year 1974, Mashhad Intelligence and Security Agency still was trying to obtain documents by which it could arrest Mr. Khamenei.
Of course, SAVAK did not need a court-approved document to detain people; whenever it wanted to arrest a person, it would detain him. The main concern of the Mashhad Security Agency was presenting evidence to the military tribunal to prove him guilty of a charge more serious than “acting against national security.” For the SAVAK office in Mashhad, the three-month prison sentence was not a heartwarming sentence, to which Mr. Khamenei had been previously sentenced two times.
Once again, Imam Hasan Mosque
In the evening of the same day that he was banned by SAVAK from leading prayer in Keramat Mosque, he went to Imam Hasan Mosque and offered congregational prayers. He gave up delivering his daily lectures, except on Friday nights, a program that continued.
At Imam Hasan Mosque, he began interpreting Nahj al-Balaghah for those interested. There was no place for newcomers in this mosque. During the speech, a number of people stood in the street. The mosque became full of people an hour before sunset, especially on Friday nights.
One night, during his speech, he spoke about the need to develop the Imam Hasan Mosque. He said that if the backyard is bought and the mosque is expanded, it would be a good response to people’s large attendance.
When they came to arrest him in January 1975, the roof of the mosque had been built and important sections had also been completed.
Ramadan (1974)
In Ramadan (September 18 to October 16, 1974) Imam Hasan Mosque witnessed passionate speeches and meetings. According to the documents, young people, especially students, were increasingly attending such meetings. In this month, Mr. Khamenei used to recite verses of the Quran at noon, explaining the Islamic teachings to the audience.
It was in early November 1974 that Mr. Khamenei published another book. This book was a compilation of his speeches during the holy month of Ramadan.
Archive of Ayatollah Khamenei
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