By: S. Nawabzadeh
The letter of Ismail Haniyeh, Head of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, in appreciation of the Iranian people’s unflinching support for the cherished goal of the liberation of Islam’s former qibla, has once again brought into sharper focus, Iran’s age-old connection to Holy Qods.
These ties, without the least doubt, are rooted in antiquity, to the days of Prophet Abraham (AS), when he was forced to migrate from Mesopotamia to Canaan (Palestine), and have always emphasized the support of Iran and the Iranians for the righteous cause and for the virtuous servants of God – to the horror of tyrants, oppressors, deviationists, and seditionists.
The first recorded instance of such ties vividly remains in the Books of the Old Testament, despite their being tampered with, and mentions how, after ending the tyrannical Babylonian empire, the Persian conqueror, Cyrus the Great, freed from Mesopotamian captivity the monotheists Israelites, who had not yet deviated from the laws of Prophet Moses (AS), allowing them to return to Holy Qods in dignity.
Of course, those wishing to remain in what are now Iraq and Iran, were permitted to stay, as the Achaemenian Empire rapidly expanded to include in its folds Palestine and the whole of Levant, as well as Anatolia and Egypt.
This is the reason the shrines of several Prophets of God, descended from Prophet Yaqoub (Jacob, who was also called Israel), such as Daniel in Shush, Habakkuk in Tuyserkan, Haggai in Hamedan, and Sha’ya in Isfahan (to name a few), dot Iran.
Here it should be clarified that since the ancient Israelites were monotheists and consequently Muslims (those submitting to none but God Almighty and His laws), these are not Jewish but Islamic shrines revered by the Muslims of Iran.
Then there is mention in the Gospel of Saint Mathew of the visit of the Three Magi or Wise Men of Iran to Holy Qods (Jerusalem) with gifts for the infant Prophet Jesus (AS) on learning of his birth – yet another instance of the Iranians’ support for the righteous, and not for the Jews, the Israelis, and the Zionists.
Fast forward to the Fatemid Dynasty of Egypt-Syria-North Africa (921-1171 AD), especially the era of the grand viziers of Iranian origin in Cairo, Badr Jamali and his son Afzal Shahenshah – after skipping the brief Sassanid conquest of Palestine, the arrival in Medina of Salman the Persian in quest of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), and the settling of many Iranian Muslims in and around Holy Qods.
Histories pertaining to the Crusader invasion of Palestine bear testimony to the presence of thousands of Iranian soldiers in the Fatemid armies during the Battles of Acre and Holy Qods. Of the 70,000 men, women, and children slaughtered by the European Crusaders in Holy Qods in 1099, many were Iranians.
In 1187, when the Kurdish sultan, Salah od-din Ayyoubi, liberated Holy Qods from 88 years of Crusader occupation to end the illegal Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, his army included a specialized brigade of sappers from Khorasan to dig tunnels and plant explosives under the walls of the city.
Again in 1244 when the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt liberated Holy Qods for the final time from Crusader occupation, the Khwarezmian troops hailing from the northern part of ancient Iran (now in Central Asia) led the armies.
Fast forward to the 20th century and the opposition of Iranian ulema and people to the British plot to illegally settle non-Israelite East European Jews in Palestine for creating the spurious entity called Israel – as per the Balfour Declaration.
At a time, when Iran had been virtually turned into a British colony under Reza Khan, and then a virtual American state under his son, Mohammad Reza, the Iranians continued to raise their voices of protests to the relationship between the Pahlavi regime and Israel.
In the 1960, in one of his speeches, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), called for the weeding out of the cancerous tumour called Israel.
Thus, it was but natural for Iran, following the resounding triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 to designate the Last Friday of the Fasting Month of Ramadhan as International Qods Day in order to mobilize world Muslims for the liberation of the al-Aqsa Mosque and the whole of Palestine.
The developments of the past forty years and the influence of Iran that enabled the Palestinian Muslims to form Hamas and Islamic Jihad for the liberation of every inch of their homeland, need not be repeated here.
Neither is the intention to go into details of Ismail Haniyeh’s letter to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution that singles out Arab traitors to the cause of Holy Qods and Palestine and their seditious moves to fan Sunni-Shi’a sectarian flames, as well as his firm conviction of defeating with Iran’s help, the conspiracy of today’s tyrant, Donald Trump.
It would also be repetitive to point out to Ayatollah Khamenei’s dynamically democratic solution for a single and one united government for the whole of Palestine, on the basis of a nationwide referendum.
The undeniable fact is, whether the Israelis, the Arabs, the Americans and the Europeans like it or not, despite their vain attempts to put seemingly nationalist but actually weird and outlandish slogans in the mouths of traitors, thugs and terrorists (such as, Leave Gaza and Lebanon, we sacrifice our lives for Iran), Islamic texts contain prophecies of the victorious march of the Iranians towards Holy Qods in the face of heavy odds, in the end times.
So Mr. Trump & Company, give up your quixotic plans to roll back Iran’s influence from the Levant and its Mediterranean coast, before it is too late to save yourselves from the impending doom.