Isra's NEWS Agency: On 3rd January 1989, the famous and historic letter of Imam Khomeini (RA) addressed to Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, regarding the death of communism and the necessity of avoiding the rely on the West was published.

This letter was brough to Gorbachev by a high-ranking delegation headed by a knowledgeable religious scholar about political and religious issues, Ayatollah Javadi Amoli…….

What follows is the description of this monotheistic travelogue in the words of Grand Ayatollah Javadi Amoli:

First, I refer to a hadith from the Prophet of Islam (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) who said," العلماء ورثة الأنبیاء " "The scholars are the heirs of the prophets"[1]; The scholars of every age are not only the heirs of the prophet of that age, but because every prophet confirms and complete the previous prophet missions, they are also the heirs of the past prophets. This article is about the contemporary scholars who are the heirs of the beloved Messenger of Islam "peace be upon him" who is also the last inheritor of all the pervious Prophets and has the most complete mission. This is fully visible that they may play the role of all the pervious Prophets like the. Ebrahim Khalil, Musa Kalim, Jesus Christ, etc. in the society.

The Holy Quran referring to the message of Hazrat Solomon (peace be upon him) emphasize on the issue of calling to Islam by sending messengers and messages. Imam Khomeini (Quds Sarrah) repeatedly acted on this emphasis of the Holy Qur'an and chose the method of Hazrat Suleiman (peace be upon him) as one of his preaching methods and in this way proved that he is the true inheritor of all the pervious Prophets (peace be upon them).

 ﴿إنّه من سلیمان و إنّه بسم اللّه الرحمن الرحیم ألاّ تعلوا علیّ و اْتونی مسلمین﴾[2] 

Imam Khomeini in his letters, before the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he called the people to wisdom, good preaching, good arguments and the establishment of an Islamic government, and these letters played a very important role in the victory of the revolution. After the victory, he continued these messages and invited everyone to the same activities, and in this matter, he did not stop at the borders of the country. He sent his messages outside the borders. Because Islam is not a religion limited to boarders, and just as the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is a prophet to the world, Scholars also, should be preaching to the whole world.

The Imam's message was made for the same purpose. He understood the communism is reaching to its dead end and by announcing this, he provided the basis for influencing and then delivered his message. The probability of influence is very important; Because sending a message is useful when there is a possibility of an effect. Therefore, when we returned from Moscow he asked about the possibility of the effect of the message.

Obligatory points in delivering the message

In order to convey the message of the Imam (Quds Saseruh), it was emphasized that the delegation should observe several things:

1- Hiding the content of the message until it is delivered; Therefore, despite all the efforts of the intelligent services, no one could not find out about the contents of the letter. They assumed various issues such as resolution, war, peace, etc.; However, the main context of the message was the invitation to Islam.

2- Observance of politeness and respect; This is one of the orders of Islam, especially in the matter of preaching. In this context, the behavior of the infallible Imams (peace be upon them) is very instructive. Hazrat Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) even though jews at the time were the most stubborn enemies of Islam, in all aspect including speech, behavior and writing he respected them, and he said,"Indeed, if you are sitting with a jews, be at your best behavior"[4]; it means, even if you are accompanied with a Jews, treat him with kindness and respect.

3- do not be affected by the greatness of the Kremlin Palace and the leader of the Soviet Union; Because we were the bearers of a very valuable message, sent by a high-ranking man, and we had to act really determined. So, there should not be a slightest sense of inferiority among the board members. In other words, a heavy word could not be communicated with ﴿ودّوا لو تدهن فیدهنون﴾ [5] and this solid and serious message and speech should be accompanied by a modest and humble spirit.

4- Reading the message to Gorbachev personally so that he does not say that I will read the message later or at another time. It was necessary to read and translate the message for him sentence by sentence so that if he needed any explanation or any reasoning, it would be presented on the spot. In addition to the original text of the message, which was handwritten by the Imam himself, there was also an English translation of it; Because although the main addressee of the message was the leader of the Soviet Union, the Imam's message was not only for him and was communicated in a wider area.

Entering Moscow and delivering the message

At eleven o'clock on Wednesday, 4th of January 1989, a three-member delegation of Iran, along with the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, met with the Soviet leader in Moscow. In this meeting, in addition to Gorbachev, the Soviet foreign minister, a translator and a reporter who prepared a report for the communist party were present.

They welcomed the Iranian delegation with full politeness and respect, and after the usual compliments, which lasted for nearly five minutes, Mr. Gorbachev stated at the beginning: We can have a peaceful life together, having different thoughts, and because You have come to deliver an important message, I will not take your time and I will give you the full time.

The Iranian delegation also started the conversation with this sentence, "We congratulate the birth of one of the greatest divine prophets and on this occasion, we read to you the message of one of the divine leaders."

Since the content of the message was very importance, it was read to them with calmness and sentence by sentence so, the content was conveyed well; Even in some sentences, by the request of the translator, the sentence was repeated so he could understand the content correctly and conveyed it to Mr. Gorbachev. The work of reading the message and translating it lasted for an hour, and during this time, Gorbachev listened politely and only in two parts of the message, his face color changed and his face turned red. One of them was in a part of the message where the Imam said, "We should see communism in the historical museums of the world .... During the reading of the message, he also noted down some of the contents, and some of the contents were also recorded by his deputies and assistants.

As it was said, the message of Hazrat Imam (Quds Sarrah) was a call to Islam, and there was no mention of political issues such as 598 resolution or a cease-fire between Iran and Iraq or... and only in one sentence referring to the issue of Afghanistan, he said, " If you know Islam, you will not think about Afghanistan like this and you will reconsider." In a way, this subject also referred to the point which is politics and religion are the same that Imam (Quds Saseruh) was very loyal to.

At the end of the message, Imam Rahel, while emphasizing the strength of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the global foothold of Islam, said, "We still believe in peaceful life and mutual relations and respect.

After finishing the reading and translation of the Imam's letter, Mr. Gorbachev first praised this message and expressed his readiness to send an answer and stated, "We will repair some of the mistakes of the past so we do not get affected again and also Regarding the freedom of religions, we are in the process of approving a law". he also added: "As I said earlier, we can have a peaceful life with different worldview and thoughts." Then, while stating the point that we also have worldview, ideas and thoughts, he jokingly said, "It turns out that the Imam does not like our ideology. Can we also invite them to our school?" But later he emphasized twice that his last words were not serious.

After Gorbachev finished his speech, the Iranian delegation thanked him for his speech and for listening to his message and translation for more than an hour.

But regarding Mr. Gorbachev's most important statement, I mean non-interference in the internal affairs of a country, the answer was given as follows, "As the leader of the Soviet Union, you are free to do anything from the depths of the soil of this country to the heights of the skies of this border. because the country belongs to you; But this divine leader (Imam Khomeini (Quds Saseruh)) has nothing to do with the water, soil and sky of your country, but his word is with your soul. Mr. Gorbachev! After death, are you like a tree that dries up after sixty or seventy years or like a bird that after a long time the cage door is opened for it and it is freed forever? The words of this divine leader is that death is not the end, but it is you and the eternity of your thoughts, actions and character that you should think about. You think death is equal to inexistence; But divine leaders say that death is new life.

These words were presented as the last words of the Iranian delegation, and our two-hour meeting ended, and when we said May Allah protect you as farewell, In Farsi we said: Khoda Hafiz, God bless you. Mr. Gorbachev said: "Our people say: Work" and we replied that our people said: O, Allah, we rise and we hope you help us, and they rose and put the super powers in their place!

One of the members of the Iranian delegation was a esteemed lady who had a history of political struggles and was also a member of the Islamic Council. When she was introduced to Gorbachev by the Iranian ambassador, he was very surprised that a woman in Iran's Islamic system could have social responsibility and activity at this high level.

 In this way, our one-day trip to Moscow ended successfully, and the state reception of the Iranian delegation and their departure, whether in the meeting with Gorbachev or at the airport, was friendly and full of politeness and respect. When we arrived at the Moscow airport, the personal representative of Gorbachev, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and also the imam of the Friday prayer in Moscow, who unfortunately stated by the communist party, came to welcome us, and while it was snowing heavily, they accompanied us to the city, which was 40 kilometers away.

{1} Bihar Al-Anwar, 1\164

[2] Al-Naml 31

[3] Forqan 1

[4] Bihar Al-Anwar 78\188

[5] Al-Qalam 9

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