Martyr Dr. Chamran

I have come from Jable Amel. From that land where the Prophet Mohammad’s (s) truthful companion, Abu Dhar Ghafari (ra)1 for the first time preached the true Islam to the people of this territory, and built a mosque, which still exists by the name of “Abu Dhar Mosque” in the city of Mais-ul-Jabl.
Jable Amel is the land of Shia, the land of Imam Ali’s (a) guardianship, the land of Shaheed al-Awwal2 and Shaheed al-Thani3, who were the golden chapters of the history of the Shias. This is the land of Sheikh Bahauddin Ameli4 and other great Shia scholars and thinkers. They have enlightened the world with the light of their knowledge.
I have come from Jable Amel, which has always remained oppressed in the history of Islam since last 1400 years; it has remained the victim of Ummayyids, Abbasids, Turks, and Western colonization and ultimately the victim of Israel’s oppression, rage, hatred and hostility.
The land of Jable Amel has always endured the bondage of oppression and the tyranny and shackles of cruelty, due to inhumane aggressors and killers. Because of the interference of arrogant powers it has witnessed one of the lowest levels of human productivity and capability.
I have come from Jable Amel, the sacred land of Shia. I am the representative of the oppressed and deprived people of south Lebanon who everyday burn under the fire of Israeli tanks and warplanes. I have come from the land half of which has been completely destroyed. There are towns in which not a single wall stands intact. There are villages that lay empty, abandoned by their inhabitants as a result of occupation by the Israel and its agent Sa’ad Haddad5. This is the zone whose more than 300,000 people are homeless. Now, they are far away from their destroyed houses, some where in the madressa6, in mosques or in streets and alleys and are forced to carry the burden of life’s disgracefulness.
I have come to relate the crying laments of the Shia of Lebanon under Iran’s sky and cause that cry to reverberate. I have come here to re-awaken the dormant conscience of alert and responsible people. I have come to deliver the sobbing cries of midnight, the laments at dawn, the tears of poor orphans, the cries of afflicted and helpless, and the sighs of widows, to narrate the burning pain of agonized and broken hearts
I have come to tear the veil of pitch-black night that has darkened the thoughts of our nation like thick clouds and to explain the bitter realities and heart rending painful events of the Shia of Lebanon. I have come to inform about over 100,000 martyred and over 400,000 injured people whose majority is Shia.
I have come to speak about the tale of south Lebanon’s 300,000 homeless Shias who are now leading their lives under a blanket, in far away caves, destroyed houses, sides of the streets, and corners of religious schools and mosques. I have come to speak to you of the pain that no speaker has ever spoken of.
I have come to pray that may God grant success to the revolution of Islamic Republic of Iran. I have come to be hopeful that justice and equality prevail under the shadow of Islamic Government. I have not come to complain. Those people who are enduring the burden of grief and pain since last 1400 years are still bearing all these difficulties. I wish to be hopeful that the aggression and tyranny of Israel and arrogant powers terminate forever.
I have come to sacrifice myself so that the sacred message and mission of Islam succeeds and the darkness of disbelief, ignorance and aggression ends forever…I have not come to ask for anything because the one who has completely devoted himself and his life towards his mission is self-sufficient. I have not come to complain, for the people who have tolerated pain and sufferings since last 1400 years have become habitual of it and will bear hardships in future.
I have not come to complain about the accusations, deceptions, sufferings, hardships and oppressions that my fellowmen have brought upon me, because, from the history of last 1400 years I have learned a lesson and patience in the face of these injustices has become my habit.
I am a painful sigh that comes from injured heart of an oppressed from Jable Amel that for centuries of history has remained the victim of brutal oppression and cruelty.
I am the heart-rending cry of those broken hearted orphans who wake up from hunger in the darkness of night and cannot find any loving hand to caress or comfort them, who are afraid of darkness and loneliness but have no warm bosom shelter them…
I am a morning sigh that comes out from the broken hearts of widows. With the morning breeze it travels in the search of awakened hearts and aware minds in all direction until it gets tired and stops. Then it changes into the tears of hopeless and despair and takes shelter in the heart of a leaf in the form of dew.
I am the hope of cheerful hearts who are searching for justice and equality. I escape away from this world full of oppression and I have attached my heart with the hope of the day that with the appearance of Imam Mahdi (a)7, justice and equality will prevail in the region and cruelty ends from this world.
I am the hearty wish of those lovers who wish to fill this world with love and affection so that the hatred, malice and prejudice come to an end. I am the tear of those orphans who with broken hearts are searching for their parents but the more they search the more success runs far away from them. Woe to time that overtakes an orphan that the heavens trembles…
I am the blood of martyrs that is flowing in the hearts of remote mountains, deep valleys and deserts. I have learnt lesson from the restless heart that burns for truth and rights and fights for the establishment of justice and equality.
I am the witness to free men's courageousness and self-sacrifice. I am living witness to these martyrs who lovingly gifted their existence to God and adjoined themselves to eternity. I will go on irrigating the minds of young men so that they stand against cruelty and may become the proof of God’s existence and grant continuity to the honorable caravan of martyrs.
Everyday I carry one martyr on my shoulders among my brothers and take him towards the graveyard. Everyday houses are destroyed due to Israel’s bombardment and their belongings are burnt. Israel’s bombardment massacres them and the Shia of south are deprived of their lives.
The Shia of Lebanon are martyred but nobody counts their deaths as martyrdom. They cry for help but nobody helps them. They are annihilated in cruelty and oppression but nobody conscience is awakened by this oppression...
And from the other side they are facing the flood of enmity, hatred and malice, immolation, accusation, and false rumors and propaganda that is befalling the Shia from all the directions. Thus there are some hidden hands in Iran that are against the Shia. They are busy planning against their sole organization, Amal8. Facts are kept secret from the public of Iran. Shias are targeted by rumors, allegations and falsehoods and they are humiliated. What an oppression it is!
Many people accuse me of being so focused on foreign countries that I have disregarded Iran’s interests. They say that I should focus my full attention towards Iran and should talk less about Lebanon and other countries. First let me say that my full attention is focused on and consistent with that of Iran and not other countries. I mention the dangers that our revolution faces and it is for the sake of protection of Iran, that I explain them.
Second, I have spent 8 years in Lebanon (prior to the revolution). That period was very harsh and dangerous; it was a battle between life, death and martyrdom. I am proud that in Lebanon I had assembled the largest ideological organization: The Movement of the Deprived People9 and “Amal organization, whose foundation was laid by Seyyed Musa Sadr. Its organizination was my responsibility. I was involved in Lebanon and the Middle East’s revolutionary and political activities. I am one of the most informed persons about this region. I am one of the most involved people in the region for Shia’s future. And I am aware of the oppression that the deprived Shia people have endured and the kind of criminal atrocities that have taken place against them. Because of this, my heart is pained beyond what you could imagine.
If anybody wants to know anything about Lebanon, the Shia of Lebanon and Seyyed Musa Sadr, I am one of the best sources. I am surprised when I see people running after the writings of people from rightist and leftist parties and lackeys of foreign Government or the suspicious people and refer to unauthentic documents to find the information about Lebanon. Although I have passed through the events and I have more knowledge than anybody else, no one talks with me.
When I see that conspiracies are in progress and many suspicious people want to trample the rights of the Shia, deliberately hide the truth and favor falsehood, I feel that keeping silent is not allowed and It is obligatory for me to speak the truth10. Especially when you see enemies of Islam and the Shia writing many books, spreading rumors and laying accusations, I feel even more forced to respond. Whatever I say is not even 1 % of the activities of our enemies and their rudeness. I am sorry that I don’t have more time to explain the truth of affairs outside Iran.
Third, I write because many people intentionally or unintentionally want to introduce a foreign line of action or thought as a model for us to follow. They consider the ideas of foreigners as “modern,” or “developed,” in distinction to Islam and see these ideas as a model of revolutionary Government and support of Iranian Revolution. This is observed that some uncalled for clever people often pick mistakes in our revolution and estimate that foreign models are better than our revolution. This is a very big crime.
The blessed Islamic revolution of Iran is so sacred and pure that other people should follow it and not the pseudo-revolutionary schemes; these crafty, deceptive ways of others should be not be imposed on us. It is my duty to point out these dirty schemes, their modus operandi and also the truth. This is because I have spent a lot of time with these professional political leaders and I have stood up against these conspiracies and now I implore Almighty God that as we walk on the sacred path of faith in Islam, He makes us successful.
Notes and References
1Abu Dhar Ghafari was a famous companion of the Prophet Muhammad (s). He was exiled to Jable Amel by the Caliph Mu'awiya. A detailed biography of Abu Dhar Ghafari is available on internet at: http://al-islam.org/abudharr/
2Shaheed al-Awwal: literally, “the first martyr.” His name was Shamsuddin Mohammed (734-786 A.H.). He was one of the great Shia scholar. Born in the village of Jizzin in Jable Amel, he authored the masterpiece of Islamic jurisprudence Al-luma’a al-Dimashqiyyah which he wrote in prison in Damascus before his martyrdom.
3Shaheed al-thani: literally, “the second martyr.” His name was Zain-al-din Al-Ameli (911-966 A.H.) He was the great Shia jurisprudent who wrote a commentary on Al-luma’a al-Dimashqiyyah authored by Shaheed al-Awwal (cf note 2).
4Sheikh Bahauddin Ameli: He was more popularly known as Shaikh Baha’i and was a great Shia scholar also from Jabel Amel. Shaikh Baha’i was born in 953 AH and died in 1030 AH. He was a man of literature, a poet, philosopher, mathematician, Faqeeh as well as an exegete of the Quran. He had a considerable experience in traditional medicine. He is the first jurisprudent who wrote a handbook on jurisprudence for layman: "Jam’e Abbasi," which still exists. But jurisprudence has not been counted as his sole area of expertise because of the wide scope of his interests. From his tour of Egypt, Syria, the Arabia peninsula, Iraq, Palestine, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan, he had become a walking encyclopedia. In spite of his diverse interests, he trained great scholars like the quintessential philosopher Mulla Sadra Shirazi, Allamah Majlisi the first, (the father of the Allamah Majlisi the second who authored the seminal Shia book of hadith “Bihar al-Anwar”), Muhaqqiq Sabzvari and Fadhil Jawad. After the death of his fatherinlaw, Shaikh Ali Minshar, Shaikh Baha’i occupied the titular seat of “Shaikh al-IslamI”—the head of all scholars—in Iran. His wife, notably, was also an accomplished jurisprudent.
5Sa'ad Haddad: He was the founder and head of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a proxy militia supported financially and militarily by the Israeli army. At the beginning of the civil war in Lebanon, Haddad, a major in the Lebanese Army commanded a battalion to fight Palestinians in south Lebanon. It was here that he joined other rebel Christian soldiers to form the Free Lebanon Army. Haddad's militia openly collaborated with Zionist Israel and controlled the so called “Security Zone.” In 1984 he died of cancer. His successor was General Antoine Lahad.
6Madressa: Islamic School
7Imam Mahdi (a): Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi (a), the 12th Imam of Muslims as mentioned by Prophet Muhammad (s) in Shia and Sunni sources. According to reliable traditions, Imam Mahdi (a) will reappear in the world when it will be filled with injustice and will fight with oppressors and bring back justice to the world. This historical belief is common in other major religions of the world such as Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism etc. Several titles in different languages are available on internet regarding Imam Mahdi (a) at www.al-islam.org. A short discussion on Imam Mahdi (a) by Shaheed Mutahhari (ra) is available at: http://al-islam.org/al-tawhid/default.asp?url=mahdi/discussion.htm
8)AMAL: AMAL is an acronym for “afwaj al-moqawama fi lubnan”, or, “Lebanese Resistance Army.” It is the military wing of harkat al-mahrumeen founded by Imam Musa Sadr and Dr. Chamran. AMAL later underwent many ideological changes after the martyrdom of Dr. Chamran and the disappearance of Imam Musa Sadr. These were mainly reflected in its position towards Hizbollah, an organization formed in 1983 which ideologically was more closely aligned with Imam Musa Sadr and Dr. Chamran’s original goals for AMAL.
9The Movement of the Downtrodden or harkat al-mahrumeen was founded by Imam Musa Sadr in 1973.
10Here Dr. Chamran raises a very important point which relates originally to a saying from Imam Ali (a): "A person who is happy over the actions committed by a nation is from them and he has two sins; The first sin is the oppressive act committed by that nation and the second one is of being in agreement with the oppressive action of that nation." This is the usual trend of world: keeping quiet about the actions of evil doers, keeping in view their own interests and considerations as long as that evil doesn’t affect them. But for a true believer it is compulsory to disclose the truth. To cite a very simple example, when Iraq attacked Iran and wildly destroyed Khurramshahr, Abadan and other cities, not only Western countries, but even a single Muslim country didn’t show any sympathy towards Iran. They all were silent observers to this crime. This is not the path of those who claim to be the followers of Imam Ali (a) no matter how much anyone claims to follow it.