People’s Status in Martyr Soleimani’s School of Thought

By: Dr. Sa’dollah Zarei, Faculty Member of Allameh Tabatab’i University¹

He (Sardar Soleimani) had several beliefs with regard to people. His first belief was that people are not counter-revolutionaries and cannot even be counter-revolutionaries. He spoke very comfortably and very firmly and with conviction about this issue. He firmly believed that the people of Iran are religious and revolutionary and that it was not as if they were going to leave their revolution under pressure.

Sardar Soleimani believed that very few people were anti-revolutionary and he evaluated the rest of the people within the context of loyalty to the Islamic Revolution. You have probably heard the famous sentence of this Martyr who said: Unveiled girls are our own girls, we should be warm and compassionate towards them and distinguish between them and the corrupt counter-revolutionary girls. He would also say in our private meetings that we are at fault, we are not attending to our responsibilities the way we should, we are not among people and this is the result. This is how he would criticize ourselves. He believed in people and would repeatedly say that our people are very good and would, therefore, not feel ashamed if we went to his room and see that a young boy wearing tight jean pants had come to see the Sardar. He would receive them warmly, hug them and talk to them without feeling ashamed. Haaj Qasem was such a personality with such characteristics and this is how he encountered people.

Thus, he strongly believed that our people are good and believe in the Revolution and the ruling system and he, therefore, did not politically categorize people.

The Principle of Serving People in Martyr Soleimani’s School of Thought

Sardar Soleimani believed that these people would go to heaven before us and will have a loftier place. He had a spiritual outlook towards people. There is a hadith, which says: “People are Allah’s family”.² There is also a verse in the Holy Quran in which God Almighty says: “Who is it that will lend Allah a good loan that He may multiply it for him severalfold?³ This verse does refer to God Almighty but to the people. God wants to make clear that He is close to His servants. Based on such verses and hadiths, our Martyr Soleimani had a spiritual outlook towards people and believed that people are closer to God Almighty than us and, therefore, it would be an honor to serve them.

He believed that serving people was serving oneself and if we want to get closer to God we should be at the service of our people. He considered the road to closeness to God is through serving people and through the path of humanity and, thus, he felt closeness to other human beings.

While appointing Malik al-Ashtar as the governor of Egypt, Imam Ali (as) described people in these words: “they are either your brothers in religion or just like you in creation”⁴ . This is how Martyr Soleimani viewed people and, of course, one has to kneel before this martyr to understand the concept of humanitarianism.

In the course of Abu Kamal operation, which lasted for about two months, Sardar Soleimani managed the affairs of the operation from a house in a region that had been occupied by the terrorists. Most parts of the house had been destroyed and it did not actually look like a house any more. After the operation he wrote a letter to the owner of the house explaining why he had to use this house and requested him to forgive him. He then placed the letter in between the pages of a copy of the Holy Qur’an and placed it on a niche and then asked his Syrian men to find the owner. They told him that being opposed to Bashar al-Assad he had left for Turkey long back. He manages to find his telephone number and calls him and after introducing himself he requests him for his consent for the prayers he had offered when in his house during the course of the operation. This man was very impressed by this move that such a commander had called him personally and requested him for forgiveness.

Some people wonder about the cause of Iran’s influence in Syria. Well such a move would surely have such an effect on those who hear about it. As a matter of fact, it reflects upon the belief that people are God Almighty’s creation and, thus, it is important to have respect for them and be at their service. This stand of Martyr Soleimani was rooted in the belief that serving people is an honor and in his view closeness to God Almighty is only possible through being close to human beings.

Source: Islamic World Peace Forum

1. Delivered at Imam Hossein University in August 2020.

2 . “الناس عیال الله”

3 . “مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضَاعِفَهُ لَهُ أَضْعَافًا كَثِيرَةً”, Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 245.

4 . “إمَّا أَخٌ لَكَ فِي الدِّينِ وَ إِمَّا نَظِيرٌ لَكَ فِي الْخَلْقِ”, See Nahj al-Balaghah of Imam Ali (as), Letter No. 53.