In memory of Sheikh Sharif Gonabad

At the end of May 2014, when it was announced that I would be taken from Rajai Shahr prison to Gonabad to serve a sentence of 5 years of exile, Mr. Ahmad Montazeri called and said: "In Gonabad, Mr. Agha had a friend named Haji Basri. If you have any problems there,  "He's coming."  He was referring to "Agha", the living memory of Ayatollah Montazeri, his late father, who is called by this name among his family and friends.

 Haj Agha Basri was famous in Gonabad.  Without exception, he was known as a decent, unassuming, humble, people-oriented, charitable and simple-minded cleric who had an unparalleled accent in criticizing the existing situation.  He was shot during the 1957 revolution and was a 70% veteran.  For this reason, the officials also closed their eyes to the frankness of his words, because a body that was half paralyzed, there was no place to file a case and be punished!

 I called him several times in Gonabad.  His house was in Baghasia village in the northern part of the city.  He invited me to breakfast at his house.  Together with Majid Tawakli and another friend who came to see me from Shiraz, one morning after I signed the special notebook at Gonabad police station, we went to Haj Mr. Basri's house.  The big door of the four-arched house was open.

 The local people said that it is the sheikh's custom to be open to everyone in his house from dawn till late at night.  He was famous for doing good work, and especially his efforts to help the people affected by the Kakhek earthquake in 1347 were well known.  The old man was welcomed with an open face and smiling lips.  He had an old house with a beautiful garden.  All kinds of fruit trees and summer bushes and fruit trees were planted in the garden.

 Under the rose scaffolding, some wooden beds were arranged for resting and entertaining guests.  The old man had indescribable kindness and humility.  Comfortable, free, sincere, friendly and people-friendly.  He had a warm and pleasant reception.  He had prepared all the local items for breakfast.  The bread was baked right away in an oven in the garden.   We stopped talking.  He had many memories of Ayatollah Montazeri and other clerics exiled during the Pahlavi era to Khorasan region.  He had helped some of them who were in trouble in exile, but he had stories about the destitution of some of them who had reached thousands and thousands after the revolution.

 Until the day I was in Gonabad, I called him every week.  After the exile, when I visited Gonabadi's friends, they all gathered at the Sheikh's house.  In that gathering, he showed a lot of sadness and influence from some of the words of Khorasan pulpits.

 This morning, Gonabadi's friends announced that Haji Basri passed away.  May his soul be blessed with divine mercy.  My condolences to the family and noble and noble people of Gonabad.  The place of such people always remains empty and is not filled.

 Ahmad Zaid Abadi