In His Name, the Most High
سَلامٌ عَلَى آلِ يس
السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا دَاعِيَ اللَّهِ وَرَبَّانِيَّ آيَاتِهِ
السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا بَابَ اللَّهِ وَدَيَّانَ دِينِهِ
السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا خَلِيفَةَ اللَّهِ وَنَاصِرَ حَقِّهِ
السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا حُجَّةَ اللَّهِ وَدَلِيلَ إِرَادَتِهِ
السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ يَا تَالِيَ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ وَتَرْجُمَانَهُ
Peace be upon the House of Yā-Sīn.
Peace be upon you, O caller of God, O one made divinely learned in His signs.
Peace be upon you, O gate of God, O judge of His religion.
Peace be upon you, O vicegerent of God, O helper of His truth.
Peace be upon you, O proof of God, O evidence of what He wills.
Peace be upon you, O reciter of the Book of God — and its interpreter.
— Excerpt from Ziyārat Āl-e Yāsīn
The Voice of the Awaited One
This maqtal is spoken, as every maqtal of various is spoken, in the voice of the Awaited Imam — the Mahdi, the son of Hasan, may our souls be his ransom and may God hasten his return — looking back across the veils of his long absence.
And he is not negligent of attending to us, and he is not forgetful of remembering him, therefore we too should not forget him.
Voiced in the series’ Mahdi-Maqtal-Voice — an imagining of the Awaited Imam’s voice, rendered in clear English by the means of our age, belonging to no living man.
The Maqtal — “They Burned the Turbans”
I. Four in One Grave
You heard tonight of an old man from Basra who came to my forefather’s door, and was told where knowledge begins.
My forefather was Ja’far, the son of Muhammad.
The school you follow carries his name.
In Shawwal of the year 148, he left this world.
He was sixty-five years old.
He had lived thirty-four years after his own father.
They carried him to al-Baqi’, and laid him in the grave where his father had been laid — and his grandfather, and al-Hasan, the son of Ali.
Four Imams in one grave.
And 1234 years later, on the day the believers keep for his death, his students gathered to weep for him.
II. The University of the Imam of the Age
It was the spring of 1963, the second day of the Persian new year.
They gathered in the Fayziyya, the school at the heart of Qom.
And men came to them in plain clothes.
Commandos, and agents of the state, dressed as other men — and the police behind them.
They came shouting:
Long live the Shah.
And they fell on the centre of Imam al-Sadiq, and on his children, of the body and of the spirit.
Those are not my words.
They are the words of Sayyed Ruhullah — you know him as Imam Khomeini — written eleven days later.
He called that school the university of the Imam of the Age.
He meant me.
III. The Turbans
In an hour or two they had plundered the whole school, with nearly twenty thousand people there to see it.
They broke the door of every room.
They broke every pane of glass.
The students, in fear for their lives, threw themselves from the rooftops to the ground.
Hands were broken.
Heads were broken.
Boys of sixteen and seventeen — they threw them from the roofs.
The books, and the Qur’ans — so it was reported — they tore.
And they gathered up the turbans.
The turbans of the students, and of the sayyids — the children of my grandfather, the Messenger of God.
They gathered them up, and they set them on fire.
On the day of my forefather’s death, the turbans of his children burned in his school.
And there were martyrs.
Their fortieth had to be kept before the lessons could begin again.
In the days after, the students changed out of their clothes, in fear.
Word went out that no bus and no taxi was to carry them.
They had wanted the students out of their clothes.
For a little while, they had it.
IV. Like a Mountain
That night, as darkness fell, the students went to one house.
Everyone was afraid for that house — for what would become of it.
Among them was a young student — my beloved son, your martyred leader, Sayyed Ali Khamenei.
Years later he said: that day is before my eyes as if it were now.
They came in through the door of a small courtyard.
And there, in the corner of the courtyard, standing at the evening prayer with a few behind him, was Sayyed Ruhullah.
There was such calm in him, the young man said, that it put an end to every fear.
As though nothing had happened at all.
Like a mountain.
Truly — firm like a mountain.
Then he went up the stairs, into the room on the left, and sat down.
And the students poured in to hear him.
And he said to them: These will go, and you will remain.
We have seen harder than this.
Bear it.
Stand firm.
They are the ones who are going.
You are the ones who stay.
A little over two months later, on the day of Ashura, he came to the Fayziyya — where the turbans had burned — and sat there, and spoke.
And after it came the 15th of Khordad.
V. What Are You Building?
So — what are you building?
They burned the cloth.
They could not burn the ones who wore it.
The turbans went into the fire; the students went back to their lessons after the fortieth; and the men who burned them are gone.
These will go, and you will remain.
So do not build with cloth.
Build the ones who will remain.
Sit them down on the floor of the dars — and give them something to come home to.
I was not there — but I remember.
And I am not gone.
May our Lord hasten my return.
Pray ardently for my return.
Pray ardently, my dears, pray ardently, for my return,
May God bless and protect you all, always.
Sources Cited
Imam al-Sadiq’s death — Shawwal 148, at sixty-five; buried at al-Baqi’, in the grave where his father, his grandfather and al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali were buried — al-Kulayni, al-Kafi, Volume 1, Kitab al-Hujja, the chapter of the birth of Abu ‘Abdillah, its opening statement (Fihrist, record 1275). Thirty-four years after his father — the same chapter, report 7, from Abu Basir (Fihrist, record 1282 ). The English that accompanies this report in the thaqalayn file says fifty-six and forty-three years; the Arabic says sixty-five and thirty-four, and is followed. Neither report gives a day or a cause of death, and the maqtal gives neither.
The day, and the attack — on the day of Imam al-Sadiq’s death; commandos and agents of the state in disguise, with the police behind them; Long live the Shah; the centre of Imam al-Sadiq, and his children of the body and of the spirit; the Fayziyya school, the university of the Imam of the Age; one or two hours; nearly twenty thousand people present; the doors of every room and the glass broken; students throwing themselves from the rooftops; hands and heads broken; the turbans of the students and of the sayyids gathered and set on fire; boys of sixteen and seventeen thrown from the roof; books and Qur’ans torn, as has been said — Imam Khomeini, message to the ‘ulama of Tehran, 13 Farvardin 1342 / 7 Dhu al-Qa’da 1382, Sahifeh-ye Imam, Volume 1 (Read through Safina, item 191626, line 23, fetched 30 October 2026). Eleven days later: 2 to 13 Farvardin.
The students out of their clothes; no buses, no taxis — the same message, line 29, sentences 3–4. The rest of that line, and line 31, are held for Session 87.
The fortieth — Sahifeh-ye Imam, Volume 1, the compilers’ heading to Imam Khomeini’s speech of 12 Ordibehesht 1342 / 8 Dhu al-Hijja 1382 in the Masjid A’zam, Qom: the start of the hawza’s lessons after the fortieth of the martyrs of the Fayziyya school (Safina, item 191645, line 9, fetched 30 October 2026).
That night; like a mountain; these will go, and you will remain — Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, after visiting Imam Khomeini’s house in Qom, 1 Esfand 1370 / 20 February 1992 (Safina, item 8311, lines 7–9, fetched 6 October 2026).
Ashura at the Fayziyya — Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, meeting with the people of Qom, 19 Dey 1402 / 9 January 2024 (Safina, item 10649, line 15, sentence 1). The fifteenth of Khordad is named and not told; it belongs to Session 87.
The arithmetic — 1382 − 148 = 1,234 lunar years. 2 Farvardin 1342 is 22 March 1963; 13 Khordad 1342, the day of Ashura, is 3 June 1963 — seventy-three days later, a little over two months. The tabular Islamic calendar puts 22 March 1963 at 26 Shawwal 1382; Iran’s reckoning that year ran a day behind it, as the message’s own date shows (13 Farvardin = 7 Dhu al-Qa’da), which gives the 25th — the day kept for Imam al-Sadiq’s death.
Original references (for the reader)
al-Kafi, Volume 1 — al-Kulayni’s opening statement to the chapter
وُلْدِ أَبُو عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) سَنَةَ ثَلاثٍ وَثَمَانِينَ وَمَضَى فِي شَوَّالٍ مِنْ سَنَةِ ثَمَانٍ وَأَرْبَعِينَ وَمِائَةٍ وَلَهُ خَمْسٌ وَسِتُّونَ سَنَةً وَدُفِنَ بِالْبَقِيعِ فِي الْقَبْرِ الَّذِي دُفِنَ فِيهِ أَبُوهُ وَجَدُّهُ وَالْحَسَنُ بن علي (عَلَيْهما السَّلام) وَأُمُّهُ أُمُّ فَرْوَةَ بِنْتُ الْقَاسِمِ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَأُمُّهَا أَسْمَاءُ بِنْتُ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ أَبِي بَكْرٍ.
“Abu ‘Abdillah, peace be upon him, was born in the year 83, and passed away in Shawwal of the year 148, at sixty-five years of age; and he was buried at al-Baqi’, in the grave in which his father, his grandfather and al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali, peace be upon them, were buried. His mother was Umm Farwa, daughter of al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr; and her mother was Asma’, daughter of ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr.”
— al-Kulayni, al-Kafi, Volume 1 (Fihrist, record 1275); the file vowels the first word as wuld, where the sense and the printed text are wulida, born — the letters are as printed; my translation
al-Kafi, Volume 1 — Abu Basir (the report, without its chain)
قُبِضَ أَبُو عَبْدِ الله جَعْفَرُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ (عَلَيْهما السَّلام) وَهُوَ ابْنُ خَمْسٍ وَسِتِّينَ سَنَةً فِي عَامِ ثَمَانٍ وَأَرْبَعِينَ وَمِائَةٍ وَعَاشَ بَعْدَ ابي جعفر (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) أَرْبَعاً وَثَلاثِينَ سَنَةً.
“Abu ‘Abdillah, Ja’far ibn Muhammad, peace be upon them both, was taken at the age of sixty-five, in the year 148; and he lived after Abu Ja’far, peace be upon him, thirty-four years.”
— al-Kulayni, al-Kafi, Volume 1, report 7 of the chapter (Fihrist, record 1282); the chain runs through Muhammad ibn Sinan and Ibn Muskan to Abu Basir, and is not carried here; my translation
Imam Khomeini — message of 13 Farvardin 1342
حملۀ كماندوها و مأمورين انتظامىِ دولت با لباس مبدل و به معيت و پشتيبانى پاسبانها به مركز روحانيت خاطرات مغول را تجديد كرد. با اين تفاوت كه آنها به مملكت اجنبى حمله كردند، و اينها به ملت مسلمان خود. و روحانيون و طلاب بىپناه. در روز وفات امام صادق ـ عليهالسلام ـ با شعار «جاويد شاه» به مركز امام صادق و به اولاد جسمانى و روحانى آن بزرگوار حملۀ ناگهانى كردند؛ و در ظرف يكى دو ساعت تمام مدرسه فيضيه، دانشگاه امام زمان ـ صلواتاللّه و سلامه عليه ـ را با وضع فجيعى، در محضر قريب بيست هزار مسلمان، غارت نمودند؛ و دربهاى تمام حجرات و شيشهها را شكستند. طلاب از ترس جان، خود را از پشتبامها به زمين افكندند. دستها و سرها شكسته شد. عمامۀ طلاب و ساداتِ ذريۀ پيغمبر را جمع نموده آتش زدند؛ بچههاى شانزده ـ هفده ساله را از پشتبام پرت كردند؛ كتابها و قرآنها را ـ چنانكه گفته شده ـ پاره كردند.
طلاب محترم از ترس مأمورين لباسهاى روحانيت را تبديل نمودهاند. دستور دادهاند كه طلاب را به اتوبوس و تاكسى سوار نكنند.
“The attack of commandos and of the government’s security agents, in disguise, accompanied and backed by policemen, on the centre of the clergy renewed the memories of the Mongols — with this difference: they attacked a foreign country, and these attacked their own Muslim nation, and defenceless clerics and students. On the day of the death of Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, with the slogan Long live the Shah*, they made a sudden attack on the centre of Imam al-Sadiq and on that great one’s children of the body and of the spirit; and within one or two hours they plundered the whole of the Fayziyya school — the university of the Imam of the Age, God’s blessings and peace be upon him — in a horrific manner, in the presence of nearly twenty thousand Muslims; and they broke the doors of all the rooms, and the windows. The students, in fear for their lives, threw themselves from the rooftops to the ground. Hands and heads were broken. They gathered the turbans of the students and of the sayyids, the descendants of the Prophet, and set them on fire; they threw boys of sixteen or seventeen from the rooftop; the books and the Qur’ans — as has been said — they tore.
… The respected students, in fear of the agents, have changed out of the clothes of the clergy. They have given orders that students are not to be taken on buses and taxis.”
— Imam Khomeini, message to the ‘ulama of Tehran, 13 Farvardin 1342, Sahifeh-ye Imam, Volume 1 (Safina, item 191626, line 23 and line 29, sentences 3–4); my translation
Sahifeh-ye Imam — the compilers’ heading to the speech of 12 Ordibehesht 1342
مناسبت: آغاز دروس حوزه پس از چهلم شهداى مدرسۀ فيضيه
“Occasion: the start of the hawza’s lessons after the fortieth of the martyrs of the Fayziyya school.”
— Sahifeh-ye Imam, Volume 1 (Safina, item 191645, line 9); my translation
Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei — 1 Esfand 1370
دیروز با دوستان صحبت میکردیم؛ روز دوّم فروردین سال ۴۲، مثل همین حالا در مقابل چشمم است. وقتى ما بعد از قضایاى مدرسهى فیضیّه و آن حوادث کذائى، خودمان را با دوستان اینجا رساندیم ــ چون همه نگران بودند از این خانه که چه خواهد شد ــ از درِ آن حیاط کوچک وارد شدیم، من دیدم ایشان ایستادهاند آن گوشهى حیاط، مشغول اقامهى نماز مغرب و عشا هستند ــ اوّل شب بود ــ و جمعى هم با ایشان مشغول نمازند. آنچنان طمأنینه در وجود ایشان بود که هر اضطرابى را تمام میکرد. اصلاً کأنّه هیچ حادثهاى اتّفاق نیفتاده؛ مثل کوه! واقعاً مثل کوه استوار؛ همینجور ایشان ایستاده بودند، مشغول نماز بودند. بعد هم آمدند از آن پلّهها بالا و ــ از همان پلّههایى که ما حالا آمدیم ــ اتاق دست چپى تشریف بردند، نشستند. طلبهها هم ریختند که بیانات ایشان را بشنوند.
از جملهى حرفهاى ایشان آن روز ــ سال ۴۲ ــ در عین شدّت اختناق و تسلّط دستگاه ستمگر این بود که گفتند اینها خواهند رفت و شماها خواهید ماند و سختتر از این را هم ما دیدهایم؛ تحمّل کنید، ایستادگى کنید؛ اینها رفتنى هستند، شما ماندنى هستید. این، درس امید است. یعنى حقیقتاً استقامت ایشان در مقابل شدائد و امیدشان به نیکى این بوده و همین است که امروز هم ملّت ما را میتواند پیش ببرد: امید به آینده و ایستادگى در مقابل مشکلات. ایشان درس عملى و عینىِ این را دادند و راهشان این راه بود.
“Yesterday we were speaking with friends: the second of Farvardin of the year [13]42 is before my eyes as if it were now. When, after the affairs of the Fayziyya school and those notorious events, we got ourselves here with friends — because everyone was worried about this house, what would become of it — we came in through the door of that small courtyard, and I saw him standing in that corner of the courtyard, leading the Maghrib and ‘Isha prayers — it was the start of the night — with a group praying with him. There was such calm in his being that it put an end to every anxiety. As though no event had happened at all — like a mountain! Truly, firm like a mountain; he stood just so, at his prayer. Then he came up those stairs — the same stairs we came up just now — and went into the room on the left, and sat. And the students poured in to hear what he had to say.
Among his words that day — in the year ‘42 — in the very height of the repression and the grip of the oppressive apparatus, was that he said: these will go, and you will remain; and we have seen harder than this; bear it, stand firm; these are the ones who are going, you are the ones who stay. This is the lesson of hope. That is, truly, his steadfastness in the face of hardship and his hope in the good were this; and it is this that can carry our nation forward today as well: hope in the future, and standing firm in the face of difficulties. He gave the practical, living lesson of it, and his way was this way.”
— Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, remarks after visiting Imam Khomeini’s house in Qom, 1 Esfand 1370 / 20 February 1992 (Safina, item 8311, lines 7–9); my translation
Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei — 19 Dey 1402
خودش آمد بین مردم؛ روز عاشورا، در مدرسهی فیضیّهی قم، امام آمد نشست آنجا صریح و روشن با مردم حرف زد.(۱) برادران عزیز، خواهران عزیز!
“He came among the people himself: on the day of Ashura, in the Fayziyya school of Qom, the Imam came and sat there and spoke to the people, plainly and clearly.(1) Dear brothers, dear sisters!”
— Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, meeting with the people of Qom, 19 Dey 1402 / 9 January 2024 (Safina, item 10649, line 15, sentence 1; the bracketed footnote mark is the site’s); my translation
