By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
(HYDERABAD) Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) while delivering his famous sermon on the advent of the fasting month of Ramadhan and elaborating on its bounties, wept, prompting his dear ward, cousin, son-in-law and heir, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), to ask the reason.
The Seal of Messengers replied, “O Ali, I weep for that which will befall you in this month. (visualizing myself) to be in your place when you will be praying to your Lord, and the most wicked person of all times, like the one who chopped off the feet of the camel of (the tribe of) Thamoud – the proof of Prophet Saleh’s mission – will strike you on your head and your beard will be dyed in blood.”
The first thought that occurred to Imam Ali (AS) on prediction of his martyrdom was not about the life of this mortal world but about faith, and he got the answer: “Yes, your faith will be secure.”
Last Saturday on Ramadhan 10, a devotee of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) and his descendent through Imam Ali (AS) and Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), attained immortal martyrdom in Tehran when two of the most wicked persons of our times, cowardly targeted his residence with bombs and missiles.
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei al-Hussaini, known as the “Living Martyr” for surviving an assassination attempt in the mid-1980s, attained the exalted state of martyrdom after 37 years as Leader of the Islamic Revolution (1989-2026), ably guiding Iran in the face of the most evil plots of the avowed enemies of humanity, the US regime and the illegitimate Zionist entity.
Earlier from 1981 to 1989, he was the popularly elected President of the Islamic Republic, serving two 4-year terms and even visiting the warfronts clad in military fatigues during the war imposed on Iran by the US through Saddam of the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Baghdad.
Born in the holy city of Mashhad in 1939 into a religious family and trained in Islamic sciences, he evolved into a conscientious youth resolved to liberate Iran from the West’s hegemony. As an ardent supporter of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), he was active in June 1963 (Khordad 15 Uprising) against the British-installed and US-supported Pahlavi regime.
In the late 1960s and the 1970s until the victory of the Islamic Revolution in February 1979, he faced frequent bouts of imprisonment, banishment to remote regions, and torture by the rootless Shah’s CIA/Mossad-trained SAVAK.
Such severe persecution, however, failed to break his firm faith or dampen his spirit of sincere servitude, which rose to new heights in the post-revolution era ensuring the liberties and welfare of the Iranian people, thereby sending shivers down the spines of terrorists, traitors, and their godfathers in the West.
Ayatollah Khamenei, renowned for his religious refinement with a sense of justice and spirit of resistance against tyranny, possessed scholarly erudition, political prudence, cultural capabilities, literary tastes, and acumen in economic-industrial-agricultural matters, that helped propel Iran into a self-sufficient paramount power in almost all fields, including medicine, defence, aerospace, and nuclear energy for peaceful purpose.
A brilliant orator, whose speeches and Friday Prayer sermons in a clear heart-soothing voice interspersed with Qur’anic Ayahs, hadith, Islamic solidarity amongst Shi’a and Sunni, were listened with rapt attention by audiences and reflected upon for days, months, and years. In addition to Persian (Farsi) he was fluent in the Arabic and Azeri (Turkic) languages with working knowledge of English.
As a qualified jurisprudent and authority (marja’) in religious matters, he groomed a great number of scholars with the firm belief in God’s promise of the establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity, and justice by the Awaited Saviour of humanity, Imam Mahdi (AS). He was also well versed in the intricacies of classical Persian poetry.
These dynamic qualities aroused the jealousy of retarded minds and the hostility of the enemies of humanity, especially the ‘Great Satan’ (the US) and its devilish surrogate Israel, whose unending genocide of the Palestinian people he firmly opposed and stressed solidarity of the Muslim world for liberation of al-Aqsa – Islam’s former ‘qibla’ (direction of the daily ritual prayer) .
If his insight foresaw the glories in store for the Iranian nation and the Muslim world, albeit with iron-resolve resistance in the face of hardships, his foresight predicted the eventual end of Israel – less than 25 years set in 2015.
Ayatollah Khamenei, whose epistles to the youths of the West drew wide applause from conscientious non-Muslim minds in Europe and the Americas, authored several books, such as “Outlines of Islamic Thought”, “Ashura”, “Jesus in the Night of Glory”, “Forgiveness”, “Discourse on Patience”, “Lessons from the Nahj al-Balagha”, “101 Tips for a Happy Marriage”, and “Muslims in India’s Liberation Movement”.
His most significant service to humanity, however, is his historic decree (fatwa) prohibiting manufacture of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), especially nuclear, despite the mastering of the nuclear fuel cycle by Iran.
As a steadfast follower of Imam Ali (AS) and Imam Husain (AS) – the Martyr of Karbala – he had frequently longed for sacrificing his life in defence of Islam and the dignity of the Iranian people, unafraid of the sinister plots of his foes.
The Almighty Creator thus granted his prayer in blessed Ramadhan lifting him to the heaven at 86 years of age, when the incarnations of Satan (American Donald Trump and Zionist Benjamin Netanyahu), cowardly bombed his residence, which he had refused to leave even when clouds of war were gathering on the horizon.
His innocent blood definitely strengthens the firmly rooted tree of the Islamic Republic, which is confident of defeating the joint forces of the US and Israel, as well as the other devils whose eventual destination is the fire of hell.
Like the Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), who continues to transcend history and historical developments for the past millennium and four centuries, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei remains immortal, in not just the annals of Iran but for all peace-loving and justice-seeking people throughout the world.
“Do not call those who slain in Allah’s way ‘dead’, rather they are living, but you are not aware.” (Holy Qur’an 2:154)
