Memory of Eternal People; Preserving or Filing?

When we speak about values of sacred defense and the necessity of preserving them, two basic questions are brought in mind. Why? And How?

News ID: ۱۸۹۷۴۸

پنجشنبه - ۱۲ فروردين ۲۰۰۹ / 2009 12 January

The answer to “Why”? is almost clear and we mostly agree that: Although there is no apparent exchange of fir between us and our numerous enemies at the present time but the enemy does not does not deny any invasion and enmity with out country as soon as it finds the situation suitable for this invasion.
It is absolutely clear what casts doubt for the enemy and takes the dare to invade to our dear Islamic homeland from this enemy is different preventing facilities that this nation has.
As for these preventing facilities, if we do not mention limitary equipments and “Basij”? Resistance Force, the experienced and glorious forces of Islamic Republic of Iran Army and Sepah Pasdaran of Islamic Revolution (Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution), we should refer to cultural preventing factor as the most important factor in this respect. And it is rooted in the culture of Ashoura (The 10th day of Moharram on which Imam Hossein was martyred) and believing in preferring martyrdom to an abject and disrespectful life [We Muslims believe that Imam Hossein preferred martyrdom in the way of God to abject life]. And the enemy has mainly focused on preparing fire for the stronghold of “Culture”? nowadays. The experience of years of plundering has shown the expansionist countries that passing from other obstacle will not be so difficult if they pass through this important stronghold.
Hence, if we want to present a picture of us in public opinions of the world’s people, we should necessarily present this picture from the window of art and literature. What forms the imagination of the people in other countries about us is the belief that is first formed inside us. And then we make efforts to spread this form and idea among others in the form of art.
It is obvious that the pictures will appear upside down and unclear if we do not use suitable cultural lenses for transferring these pictures. There was one day in past that the arrow shot by “Arash”? the great Iranian archer identified the territory of freedom of Iranian nation [There is an old Iranian legend that says Arash, a great Iranian archer shot an arrow and his arrow showed the borders of Iran. It is said in that legend that he died after shooting that arrow; because he had used all his energy to shoot as far as possible]. And now this duty is on shoulders of writers. They shoot the arrow by writing books. As “Arash”? devoted his life on shooting this arrow, writers should also use the essence of their lives in their pens and strengthen this belief in them that every word in their books works as constructional materials that construct and form our cultural stronghold; the strongholds that will used proudly by the next generations if they are built strong and firm. The next generation will take steps in the turbulence world of tomorrow with honor, respect and self confidence relying on memories and signs of greatness of today.
Now we go back to the second question which was “How can we preserve these values?”?
It completely depends on our thought maturity and also our knowledge about our surrounding world. We should keep our eyes open and leave demagogical words such as “Art for Art”? and “The Absolute Literature”? for the people who claim them. And we should pay more attention to identity maker and identifier functions of art and literature. We should pay attention to the fact that the works that are compiled in memory of high position martyrs should have the capability to explain the truth well and fulfill their missions in this regard. If honoring memories and epic creating of martyrs have provided us with the opportunity to write books, it is not right that we witness a large number of written books and articles which are mostly suitable for archives and being filed. And they lack required attractiveness and richness in order to feed the society spiritually and improve the level of thinking in the society at the current time and also to continue transferring messages to the far futures.
In the high speed world of today, we do not have the right to short a thousand arrows that maybe one of them hits the target; but we can witness efficiency in the battle field of culture and art by using a little knowledge and intelligence as well as considering the condition of fairness and observing some of the minimum requirements for creating literary and artistic works.
Considering what we discusses, in continuation of this article we will review the status of some types of documentary literature in the field of sacred defense.

A Review on Non- Narrative Biography, Compendium and Book Written in Commemoration of Martyrs
The Current Situation and the Favorable Situation

Before starting the discussion, first we need to present particular definitions about the elements in this article. Hence, the following definitions are provided which are derived from my practical experiences and direct understanding from the current works; the definitions that may need changes, development and reviewing.

Non- Narrative Biography

Non- narrative biography is a type of writing biography that relies on existing historical documents and sources and narrates the biography of a person. Non- narrative biography narrates all important parts of life of a character since beginning till end in the form of a report. In this type of writing, the writer makes efforts to be faithful to the existing sources and do not change the events and presents a touchable and real picture of events, scenes and story of life of a character without using his/her imaginations.
Not using the imagination does not mean lack of figures of speech such as description, allegory, metaphor and allusion, etc. Using these figures of speech can help to narrating the events in a touchable and effective way in condition that it does not result in exiting from the path of reality in our narration. It is obvious that diversity of sources and documents that are used is of special importance for prevention of presenting a unidimensional picture of the considered character. For instance, if we merely suffice to quoting from the family of a martyr when we want to write a non- narrative biography of a martyr combatant and neglect memories about him which can be narrated by his companions war, many important aspects of his character will be remained undiscovered.

Book Written in Commemoration of Martyrs

As it is clear from the title of such writing, “Book Written in Commemoration of Martyrs”? is said to the books which are written in commemoration of one person or a group of people. Hence, it is possible that such books are compiled by a person or by a group. “Book Written in Commemoration of Martyrs”? is usually briefer than biography. In such books, the writer usually introduces the person and mentions particular parts of the life of this martyr –not from the beginning till end- introduction and biography of characters are usually quoted from friends, relatives and families of these characters in “Book Written in Commemoration of Martyrs”?. Each of these people usually explains their imagination about that character in order to admire him; it means that in addition to direct quotation, the writer may use indirect quotation too and the personal understanding of a person about that character may be written in such books. Here, the diversity of views can contribute to explaining the dimensions of a character as well as possible.

Compendium

Compendium is a type of writing about a person or a number of people and also a special event or place such that its structure is not included in any common literary types such as story, poetry, memory, biography, note, literary text and other similar types. And at the same time it is the compound form of mentioned types.
In other word, compendium is a collection of diverse documentaries and articles which are collected about a particular subject. To write compendium, we can get help from any sources or documents that contributes to obtaining knowledge about the subject; sources such as photos, identification cards, school papers of that person, the inscriptions written on tombstones, maps, diagrams, will, literary pieces, poetry, interview (Interview conducted with the person or conducted with other people about that particular person) can be all the elements that form a compendium.
Converging, the unity of the effect and fluency of collected articles and sources are the most important conditions for compiling a good compendium.

A Review on Existing Weaknesses

As a person who has had the chance in several festivals to for study and judge non- narrative biographies, compendiums and also the books which had been written in commemoration of martyrs, I should confess the fact that more than 70 percent of books written in these three fields do not attract the ordinary audience to buy or study them.
And considering the fact that return of capital in the circle of business is an important factor for private publishers, it is impossible that a private publisher dares to publish such books in these three fields.
But unfortunately, maybe sue to the reason that many of these books are distributed in different libraries and foundations, the producers of these books – including writer, producing managers and cultural officials - have neglected the critic look at these books.
There is an accepted reality in the section of production that says: “80 percent of damages are rooted in 20 percent of factors.”? And it is famous to the law of “20 – 90”?. It seems that this law can be generalized to the production of books too; it means that it is enough to improve some factors in order that we witness the production of a high percentage of high quality cultural products. Some of these factors are as follows:

Prose and Language

The major obvious weakness in the studied books is the weakness in writing which is itself rooted in different factors. These reasons are namely weakness in editing, being full of mottos and introducing characters with direct and exaggerated admiration in a cliché and monotonous way, lack of benefiting from influential figures of speech such as description and metaphor and pictorial narration of events, lack of observing the harmony between volume and concept of the book such that we sometimes witness introducing a hundred martyrs in a one hundred page book which is written in commemoration of martyrs; the books which are not deep and have no functions beyond documentary files and they are mostly like descriptive phrases.
As for other weaknesses of writing, I can refer to writing biographies in a not complete way. It is rooted in weakness in research and being hurried for writing and finishing the book. It is like the old story that a person had lost something in the dark; but he searched for it in another place which was lighter. In many of these books, the compiler does not make any efforts to complete his/her information about the subject. He/she uses the incomplete information as the raw material for writing the biography. He/she suffices to writing some parts of life of the considered character and creating a book anyway.

Documenting

As for the other factor which causes unfavorable effect on the quality of books is the way of documenting. Most of writers refer to different sources without paying attention to the fact which of these sources can be referred which of them can not be referred. As an example, I refer to sentences written in one of the books which are written to commemorate martyrs. The sentence was as follows: “Martyr Akbari always fulfilled his religious duties and respected his parents very much…..”?
Then in reference part of the book, the writer had written:
1: Quoted from the file of biography research of the martyr in “Martyr Foundation and Isargaran Affairs”? of …. City.
To describe the martyr, this writer had given more than 50 references like the mentioned one. The writer had made efforts to show his/her work a documented work.
That is while I should emphasize that firstly, not any normal behavior and ordinary speech requires giving references and secondly, the source that is referred should be accessible for the audience. Therefore, referring to hand writings of the martyr or his files in a particular administration or writing the sentences such as “Quoted by the sister of the martyr”?, etc will not help to documenting the book and at the same time it causes a kind of confusion and technical drop in the book.

Making the Book

Passing over other numerous weaknesses of writing such as unsuitable sectioning of the book and choosing unsuitable title for the book and other weaknesses, we can refer to the second major weakness of these books as the problem of “Book making”?. The most important problems of “Book making”? are as follows:

1: Lack of harmony between the design on the cover of the book and the content of the book (In many cases, the designs on the covers of the books are either too much abstract designs or very weak and simple)
2: Unsuitable page set up (Unsuitable font, unsuitable size of letters, unsuitable white spaces, unsuitable edition, unsuitable references and documents)
3: Lack of existence of codes for characters and places
4: Lack of benefiting from influential graphic elements and also using low quality pictures without having suitable harmony with the text of the book
Considering the fact that most of existing weaknesses are rooted in weakness of writing and strength of book making, it seems that it is necessary to compile a descriptive method book and help creators of books to minimize the weaknesses by presenting examples of existing weaknesses and their corrected forms.
Or we can act as it is common in university researches. There should be an expert person as the guiding professor while a book is being compiled and this person supervises on all the processes of producing the book from writing to book making.

A Review on a Favorable Example
Sheykh Sharif
Compiled by Javad Kamvar Bakhshayesh

This book is a review on the life of Hojjatol- eslam Sharif Ghonouti who was famous as Sheykh Sharif. His life was full of ups and downs. He was a fighter during the years before victory of Islamic Revolution in Khoozestan Province, Abadan and Khoramshahr cities in particular. He took long steps in the way of contributing to the people of that area and informing them. And after victory of Islamic Revolution and start of attack of Ba’thi Army of Iraq to Iran, he stood against the aggressive forces that wanted to occupy Khoozestan. During the first days of war that there was no any orderly defense line against aggressive attacks of Iraq, he organized a group of people of Khoramshahr and started a disorderly and partisan battle against the enemy. This way, they made the enemy busy and postponed occupation of Khoramshahr. He was targeted by bullets of Iraqi military forced in October 1980 and he was martyred.
In a general study of this book, we can say that it is one of the best books published in the field of non- narrative biography during paste years. Wide, comprehensive and expanded research work has been conducted for writing this book. It is a very book as far as editing and organizing chapters are concerned. In order to prove this claim, we study strong points of this book as follows:

1: Fluent, Readable and Interesting Prose That Is Far From Extra Explanations

The First Example:

Hojjatol- eslam Sayed Mohammad Taghi Hossein Ardakani 1 witnessed the meeting of Sharif Ghonouti with Imam Khomeini and Haj Mr Mostafa Khomeini 2 in the Year 1962. In this respect, he says: “It was the Year 1962 that Sharif Ghonouti and me went to visit Imam Khomeini in Ghom. It was sun set. I stayed in a corner while Sharif Ghonouti spoke with Imam Khomeini privately. They spoke with each other a lot. When we left that place, on our war coming back to home, Sharif Ghonouti suggested me to go to the house of one of clergymen. It might be “Safaeeye”? Area. It was almost a small and humble house. We knocked at the door and an old woman opened the door. Sharif Ghonouti told the old woman: Please tell Sharif Ghonouti is at the door.”? When the old woman went to inside the house the deceased Haj Mr Mostafa came to the door immediately. Come in please! Haj Mostafa said. I did not know it was the house of Haj Mr Mostafa Khomeini. We greeted when we entered the house and he came out of one room. I saw that the deceased Haj Mr Mostafa welcomed Sharif Ghonouti very warmly. He became happy of meeting Sharif Ghonouti. We sat and Haj Mostafa asked Sharif Ghonouti: “Where have you been?”?
Sharif Ghonouti answered: “I am busy.”?
I told Haj Mr Mostafa that Sharif Ghonouti was busy in Ardakan of Fars Province. We spoke about scientific and religious issues as well as Islamic Revolution issues that day. We stayed there for more than forty five minutes. When we were saying goodbye to Haj Mr Mostafa Khomeini, he told Sharif Ghonouti: “I should meet you again.”?
I came out of the room and saw they were still speaking. Since I was far from them, I did not understand what topic they were speaking about. When we said goodbye to Haj Mr Mostafa and left his house, I asked Sharif Ghonouti: “How have you become familiar with Haj Mr Mostafa?”?
He answered: “He is one of my old friends. And we had contact in scientific and religious sessions and discussions of “Hozeh Elmieh”? (The religious school, where clergymen study). And we have still kept contact with each other.”?
I said: “If it is possible, stay more here in Ghom in order to meet him again!”?
He said: “I am busy; but I will come back again. I should speak about some topics with Haj Mr Mostafa.”?
I said: “Mr Sharif Ghonouti! You had not told that you had such close relations with Haj Mr Mostafa.”?
……..”?

The Second Example: Sadrollah Niazi Speaks about Shiraz People:

I went on a pilgrimage to Mecca with my cousins, the deceased Allah Gholi Niazmand and Mohammad Hossein Niazi. We went to pilgrimage to Karbala and Najaf when we were coming back from Mecca. When we were coming out of the holy shrine of Hazrat Abolfazl, we saw that a high rank and respected clergyman entered the holy shrine. We did not know him. We asked about him and we were told that he was Hazrat Ayatollah Khomeini. When we knew he was Ayatollah Khomeini, we went back to the holy shrine in order visit him. Ayatollah Hakim was in the holy shrine too. Ayatollah Khomeini shook hands with Ayatollah Hakim and then they sat in a corner. My cousins and me went to meet him. We greeted and expressed respect to him. He asked us: “Where are you from?”?
I answered: “We are from Shiraz.”?
He asked: “Where in Shiraz?”?
We answered: “Ardakan of Fars Province.”?
Haj Mohammad Hossein Niazi asked him: “What should we do if we want to send some money to you?”?
Ayatollah Khomeini answered: “Here there would be a problem. You give the money to Sharif Ghonouti in Ardakan. If you give him any money it will be transferred to me. And if you have any request or problem, he will transfer them to me.”?

The Third Example:

Combatants surround him in the Great Mosque. There is a man standing there with untidy clothes smeared with smog and soil and with muddy shoes who carries a G 3 gun on his shoulder.
- Haj Mr Ghonouti! The city is falling.
- How is it falling?
- We were only five people who stood against the enemy by now. Please report the officials that the enemy has brought its forces inside the city. Please do something!
- Go and pray! Ask God for help.
It seemed that Sharif Ghonouti had referred to any possible place. He had put pressure; but since he had not obtained any results, he does not want to weaken the spirit of combatants by telling them. He pauses for seconds and says sadly: “I am the responsible person for you. I will come with you where ever you tell me. The only work I can do is coming with you and fight.”?
It was too late. And the enemy had moved ahead till “Taleghani”? Street. Almost half of the city was occupied by Iraqi forces. At this time, Sheykh Sharif mostly walked in front of the yard of Great Mosque. And he wanted to do something. He was wondering and worried. Combatants looked at Sharif Ghonouti and were worried about him. At this moment, Sheykh suddenly said: “Khoramshahr children come here!”?.
Khoramshahr combatants gathered around him quickly.
Sheykh Sharif said: “Children! Khoramshahr is falling. I want to give the commandership of forces to you.”?
Sheykh later grouped the children (Combatants) of Khoramshahr into some groups. There were men who had come from Boroujerd, Abadan, Omidieh, Aghajari, etc to defend their Islamic homeland.
Sheykh grouped them into 20 person groups and included one person from Khoramshahr in every group. He said: “People of Khoramshahr are familiar with areas and streets of the city. They guide the group.”?
Each of these combating groups was dispatched to one of the regions that Iraqis were moving ahead there. They were sent to resist against Iraqis.”?

2: Discovering the Subject:

This dear martyr played an important role in defending Khoramshahr. His life is a part of history of sacred defense during the time that the imposed war began. And due to his relationship with the leader of Islamic Revolution and other supreme clergymen and religious professors, writing and studying his life is of high importance.

3: Touchable and Effective Narrating and Elaborating the Events:

This book has become a readable and interesting book due to using memories and historical events and mixing them with elements such as dialogues, etc.
As an example, we can refer to the following:
“We departed for Kouhrang of Bakhtiari from Shahr –e Kord. Sharif Ghonouti stayed in every village and propagated Islamic thoughts and lessons. We reached to Kouhrang that is called Haft Lang of Bakhtiari too. We saw that there were no other cities near there. Our journey from Shiraz to Kouhrang lasted three days.
Sharif Ghonouti asked people where the mosque was. No one answered us. We said: “Mr. Sharif Ghonouti! To what a strange place you have brought us. We could at least go to a big city.”?
He answered: “We have another objective. We should propagate in any possible way.”?
After asking many people, we finally obtained the address of a not finished mosque. We went there and saw that there were three or four pillars made there seven or eight years before that. And there were a 2 meter wall built around those pillars. We sat on the soil of the unfinished mosque for almost 15 minutes. We suddenly found ourselves in siege. Armed forces had surrounded us from pillars and walls of the unfinished mosque. They caught us and arrested us.”?
This way, Sharif Ghonouti and his two companions, Jalali and Ghaffari were arrested by SAVAC of Shiraz (SAVAC was the intelligence service in Iran before Islamic Revolution). They were returned to Shiraz escorted by security forces and gendarmerie police officers. They were imprisoned, investigated and tortured in the worst situation. We listen to the continuation of the story quoted by Mohammad Reza Jalali. He says: “Immediately after arresting us, they behaved with Sharif Ghonouti and us in a rough and dastardly way. They threw us onto the back of an army truck. And they took us towards a police station. In order to annoy us as much as possible, they drove so badly that our heads hit the ceiling of the truck. They made fun of us and they offended us. Investigations began when we entered the police station. Then they asked Sharif Ghonouti: “What do you do here?”?
Sharif Ghonouti answered: “I have come here to propagate.”?
They asked: “Propagating for whom?”?
He answered: “Propagating for Islam.”?
They asked: “Who has told you to come here?”?
He answered: “My religion has told me to come here. I am a clergyman. I am a Muslim. And it is my job. I have come here to propagate.”?
They asked: “Wasn’t there any other place that you came here to propagate?”?
Sharif Ghonouti said: “It does not make any different for me. This country is an Islamic country. People are Muslims and I have come here to propagate Islamic thoughts and lessons.”?

Well Sectioning the Book into Chapters

Sectioning the book in a comprehensive and complete way provides the reader with the chance to get a precise general picture about the content of the book and also the biography of the martyr by reviewing chapters of the book.

A Look at Life and the Age in Which Sheykh Sharif Lived:

The First Chapter: Since Birth to Propagating Islam Thoughts and Lessons in “Saranjalak”?

- Sharif Ghonouti Family
- Birth
- Growing up
- Entering “Hozeh Elimeh”? of Abadan (Hozeh Elmieh is a religious school)
- Education in “Hozeh Elimeh of Boroujerd”?
- Relationship with Navvab Safavi
- Entering “Hozeh Elmieh”? of Ghom
- Propagating in Saranjalak
- Marriage

The Second Chapter: 18 Years of Activity and Propagating Islam Thoughts and Lessons in Ardakan of Fars Province

- Departing for Ardakan
- Establishing “Ansar Al- Zahra”? Group
- Being the Representative of Ayatollah Sayed Mohammad Reza Golpayegani
- Being the Representative of Imam Khomeini
- Exile of Imam Khomeini and Activities of “Sheykh”?
- Relationship with Imam Khomeini during the Time Imam Was Exiled
- Social Activities in Ardakan
- Putting Names on Mosques
- Establishing Mahdieh (Mahdieh is a religious place in which a clergyman gives lectures and religious ceremo0nies are held)
- Inviting Religious Propagators
- Paying for Residential Expenses of Religious Propagators
- Revolutionary Lecture, Distributing “Resaleh”? and announcements issued by Imam Khomeini (Resaleh is a book in which a high rank clergyman writes religious commands for Muslims to obey)

The Third Chapter: With Islamic Revolution

- Cooperating with Revolutionary Foundations
- Going to Ardakan City of Fars Province for the Second Time
- Social and Construction Activities

The Fourth Chapter: War Time and War

- Establishing the Headquarters for Helping War and the People Damaged from War
- Settling People Damaged from War in Boroujerd
- Departing for Battle Fields with Caravan of People’s Help to Combatants
- Interview in Khoramshahr
- Establishing “Allah Akbar”? (It means God is the Great) Group
- Fighting and Standing against Mental War Caused by the Enemy
- Carrying out Guerilla Operation
- Bravery of Sharif Ghonouti

The Fifth Chapter: The Last Days and Martyrdom

- A Letter to Family
- Fall of Customs Office
- Quarrel with Bani Sadr (The president of Iran for few months during the first years of sacred defense)
- Entrance of the Enemy to Entrance Gates of Khoramshahr
- Resistance and Efforts Made by “Sheykh”? and His Companions
- Person to Person Battles
- The Last Efforts
- Captivity
- Torture and Martyrdom

The Sixth Chapter: Personal Characteristics of “Sheykh”?

- Sharif Ghonouti and His Inner Beliefs
- “Sheykh”? and Poetry
- Tohidieh 1
- Tohidieh 2
- Praying
- Praying
- Madiheh, Tohidieh, Nabavieh, Emamieh
- Translations: “Aliyon Basharon Kayfa Bashar”? (Imam Ali is a human and what a great human)
- The Prophet’s Speeches Led the Seekers of the Truth to the Straight Way
- Revolutionary Poems of “Sheykh”?

Complete and Comprehensive Footnotes:

1: Ayatollah Bahaeddin Mahallati, the son of Sheykh Mohammad Jafar was one of the great and fighter clergymen in Shiraz during the movement of Khordad 15th 1342 (June 4th, 1963) and Islamic Revolution. He preached and guided people vastly in “Molana”? Mosque of Shiraz. He had changed that mosque into a great scientific center and also the center of revolutionary and cultural activities. He passed away on August 17th, 1981.
2: Haj Sheykh Abdol Rahim Rabbani Shirazi was born in Shiraz in 1922. He finished his religious studies in Agha Baba Khan School. He further went to Ghom City and participated in classrrom of Ayatollah Boroujerdi. While carrying out revolutionary activities, he established “Abouzar”? Group. He was arrested and imprisoned several times because of establishing this group and carrying out revolutionary activities.
After the victory of Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Rabbani joined the government and provided valuable services. In a car accident he passed away on March 7th, 1982.
And or:
1: “Arvand Kenar”? Village is one of suburbs of Abadan City. This village is located 60 kilometers away from Abadan and is opposite “Faav”? City in Iraq. This village is located beside the rivers that connect Arvand. Most of residents of this city are Khoozestani people who speak special language of Khoozestani Arabic. Existence of the roaring river of Arvand, benefit6ing from a green nature with long grasses next to the rivers, passage of large commercial ships towards Abadan and Khoramshahr and the type of architecture used in houses have given a special beauty to this region. From the other side, wide gathering of wild ducks and gooses between rivers and houses in most of seasons have doubled the beauty of “Arvand Kenar”? village and its surroundings.

6: As for Other Advantages of This Book, We Can Refer to Beautiful Book Making (Apart from the design on the book cover that can be used for any other book)

- Harmony between the volume and content (There are no over explanation and every subject of the book has been explained concisely and sufficiently)
- Paying attention to the time and subject of the book (All stages of life of the martyr –since birth to martyrdom- are mentioned in the book and nothing is remained untold)
- Collecting a large number of sources and useful use of them (It includes the works published about the martyr, 10 complete interviews and approximately 40 hand writings – diaries of the martyr – photo albums – letters, will and…)
In this respect, we should appreciate the son of the martyr who collected these sources.
Writer: Habib Youosef-zadeh, Mohammadali Ghorbani