Ayatollah Shahid Al-Sadr & Imam Khomeini

By: Sayyed Mahdi Soroush

9th April 2003 marks the 23rd anniversary of the martyrdom of Al-Sayyed Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir Al-Sadr. The following is the text of Imam Khomeini's message on that occasion in April 1980:

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Inna lillah wa inna ilayhe rajiun

"To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return".

According to the report by H.E. the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which he obtained from various sources and authorities in the Islamic countries, and according to reports from other sources, with the greatest regret the late, martyred Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad Baqir Sadr and his honoured, oppressed sister, who was a teacher of knowledge and morality and the glories of science and letters, have gained the exalted rank of martyrdom in a heart-rending manner at the hands of the despicable Iraqi Ba'th regime.

Martyrdom is a custom inherited by the likes of such great personalities from their illustrious antecedents and crime and oppression is a custom inherited by such criminals in history from their oppressive forebears.

The martyrdom of these great people, who have spent a lifetime championing for the goals of Islam, at the hands of nefarious persons, who spent a lifetime guzzling blood and wreaking oppression, is no cause for wonder; what would be a cause for wonder is that the mujahedin towards the path of right should die in bed, while criminal oppressors should not soak their malignant hands in their blood.

It is no cause for surprise that the late Sadr and his oppressed sister have gained martyrdom. What would be a cause for surprise is that the Muslim nations, particularly the honourable Iraqi nation and the tribes of the Tigris and the Euphrates and the zealous university youths and other dear Iraqi youths, should be indifferent towards the momentous tragedies wrought on Islam and on the family of the Apostle of God - may His benedictions be upon him and his progeny - and should allow the accursed Ba'th Party to martyr iniquitously one by one those who bring them glory. And even a great cause for surprise would be that the Iraqi Army and the other law enforcement forces should become a tool in the hands of these criminals and should assist them in destroying Islam and the Holy Quran.

I have given up hope in the upper echelons of the Iraqi law enforcement forces. But I have not given up hope in the officers, NCOs and soldiers and I expect them either to rise heroically and destroy the foundations of oppression just as has happened in Iran, or to desert their garrisons and barracks so that they will not bear the shame of the Ba'th Party's oppression. I have not given up hope in the lower level workers and staff of the illegitimate Ba'th Government and hope that they will join hands with the Iraqi nation and erase this stigma of shame from the visage of Iraq.

I hope that Almighty God will smash the machinery of oppression of these criminals. To exalt this personality of science and this mujahid, who was a cause for glory to religious seminaries and was one of the religious maraj'e and Islamic intellectuals, I proclaim three days of public mourning from Wednesday 3rd Ordibehesht [23rd April] and declare Thursday, 4th Ordibehesht [24th April], a public holiday. I beseech the Almighty God to make up for this momentous loss and for the greatness of Islam and Muslims. Peace be upon God's pious servants.

[Dated and signed]

2nd Ordibehesht 1359 [22nd April 1980]

Ruhollah al-Musawi al-Khomeini

END