Martyr Chamran, the epitome of resistance and self-sacrifice

Friday, 24 June 2011 13:31

Iranian history is full of heroes, yet these heroes are not just limited to the books and fables. During the campaign against the despotic regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his father till the victory of the Islamic revolution and then the 8-year war imposed by the US-backed Saddam regime on the Islamic Republic of Iran, a lot of men and women emerged whom will never be forgotten by the nation. Martyr Dr. Mostafa Chamran is undoubtedly one of the mythical heroes in the history of the Islamic revolution. Following the sinister moves by some anti-revolutionary elements Mostafa Chamran went to Kurdistan west of Iran. After the Iraqi army’s invasion of Iran, he went to the border regions of Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran. He founded the headquarters of irregular wars in the city of Susangerd in the same province. The headquarters was assigned to prevent the advance of Saddam army. It consisted of popular forces who had gone to Khuzestan province from the farthest parts of Iran to counter Saddam’s aggression against their homeland. In view of the experiences which Chamran had obtained during his training of Guerilla wars in Egypt and south Lebanon to campaign against the Zionist regime of Israel, he prepared the popular forces in the form of units for fighting. These forces played a determining role in stopping Saddam’s war machine. Finally on June 21, 1981, Dr. Chamran achieved martyrdom in his last military mission during the Iraqi army’s shelling after years of campaign and Jihad. Despite the sincere love of the Iranian people for Chamran, until his martyrdom they were not familiar with his great personality. He had unique and laudable qualities which were even lauded by the Father of the Islamic revolution, the sage of the age Imam Khomeini (May his soul rest in peace). Mostafa Chamran was born in 1932 in a poor district of Tehran. Since his childhood, despite being born to a poor family, he tried to help the poor and he kept this characteristic to the extent that there were no properties left after his martyrdom. Due to his intelligence and hard work, very soon martyr Chamran passed the highest scientific degree. In this connection Dr. Chamran writes in a note, “O God, I have to excel in science and I have to be better than everyone else in science lest not to be blamed by the enemies. I must prove to those hard-hearted individuals, who resort to science to brag, that they don’t even deserve to clean my shoes. I should bring to their knees those arrogant and haughty people and then I will be the most humble person on the earth.” He had graduated with the highest grade from Tehran University’s technical college in the field of electro mechanic in 1957. In 1958 he was dispatched to the US by using the scholarship of the bright students. Having studied in the US Berkeley University and conducted scientific researches in the gathering of the prominent professors, martyr Chamran received Ph.D of electronic and Plasma Physics with the highest scientific degree. Once Dr. Chamran received his Ph.D from US Berkeley University, the number of those who had such certificate did not exceed 10. Immediately America’s Space Agency NASA tried to recruit Chamran. During his years of study both in Iran and the US, Dr. Chamran never gave up campaigns against Pahlavi regime. In the US, together with his friends he founded the American Islamic Students Association for the first time and he was considered one of the founders and activists of the Iranian students’ association in California which led to his scholarship being cut off by Pahlavi regime. The regime of Mohammad Reza Shah inserted his name in the list of the combatants who had to be arrested just upon their arrival in Iran. If we divide the life and campaigns of martyr Chamran into parts, his study in the US forms the second part. The third part of his life was his departure for Egypt and Lebanon to struggle against the Occupying Zionist regime. This part of his life was very sensitive since it demonstrated the grandeur of this great martyr. Dr. Chamran left the US to Egypt and Lebanon while his scientific status was a dream for many persons. He enjoyed the best scientific status in the US and his name was listed among the famous scientists of the world. He also got a very special job position in the US. Chamran was a sympathetic husband and a kind father for his four children. But his high moral of justice-seeking and anti-oppression campaign forced him not only to abandon his scientific status but also his family to help the Palestinians and the Lebanese entrapped in poverty and misery caused by the Zionist regime. After a 2 year guerilla training in Egypt during the presidency of Jamal Abdol-Naser, Dr.Chamran went to South Lebanon at the invitation of Imam Musa Sadr the leader of South Lebanese Shiites. Chamran together with Imam Musa Sadr founded the organization of Harakatul-Mahrumin or the Move of the Deprived and then its military wing Amal organization on the basis of Islamic principles. Till that time, although forming the majority of the Lebanese population, the Lebanese Shiites lived in dire poverty and isolation. Under the clever and insightful leadership of Imam Musa Sadr for reconciliation among the various sects of Lebanon, Dr. Chamran embarked on improving the economic, political and military conditions of the Lebanese Shiites. In the 1970s, Lebanon was involved in a civil and ethnic war in which Dr. Chamran showed many braveries and valours either in the center of the ruined Beirut or on the hilltops of Jabal Amel and on the borders of the Occupied Palestine. The accounts of these honorable campaigns have been registered for ever by the pure blood of Lebanese martyrs on the streets and Lebanon’s mountains bordering the Occupied Palestine. If we wish to retell the record of Islamic resistance in Lebanon, undoubtedly martyr Chamran is one of its founders. The 4th part of martyr Chamran’s life is related to his return to homeland after the victory of the Islamic revolution till his martyrdom. After the victory of the Islamic revolution, Dr. Chamran returned to Iran after 22 years with a number of his fellow Lebanese combatants. In a note addressing his mother, Chamran describes his feeling upon arrival in Tehran as follows, “O Mother, I return home after 22 years and I assure you that in this long period I never forgot God, my love for the Almighty was so intertwined with my soul that even a moment of my life was impossible without His presence.” The Iranian people welcomed his presence in Iran and in the first round of the Islamic Consultative Assembly he succeeded to enter the parliament with high votes. Despite being a member of the parliament and serving as defense minister, Chamran never left dangerous scenes of countering the enemies of the Islamic revolution. Eventually Dr. Chamran who was always in remembrance of God achieved his long-desires beloved i.e. martyrdom and became a role model for the people of Iran and the world in resisting and defending his homeland.