Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - November 9, 2001

Hashemi's account of the details of his trip to Mashhad
Full text of the diary:
After the pilgrimage, breakfast, and reading the news and reports, we went to visit the exhibition of Astan al-Quds. It is a good exhibition. Most of it is repetitive for me and new ones have been added. I visited the flooring works of the Jameh courtyard. It is carpeted with Khalaj stone and granite. A large number of people gathered and expressed their feelings and asked me to appear more among the people.
From there, we moved to the Bildar Garden. Mr. [Ali] Karimi [Quddusi], the deputy of the Custodian of Astana, gave good explanations along the way. Mr. Tabasi and his family were waiting for us in the garden. We had a variety of conversations with Mr. Tabasi's family. The water of the Bagh Qanat has been greatly reduced. The family had gone to the shrine and Friday prayers and arrived late. One of Mr. Tabasi's sons, Ali Agha, who is a scholar, expressed his concerns about the seminary of Mashhad and Razavi University, as well as the general situation of the country. They asked Tehran not to continue this discussion, they did not go to his lectures anymore, and later it became clear that by Tehran they meant the expediency of his brother, the late philosophical preacher.

At night, we returned to the guest house. Mr. [Mostafa Bagheri] Bonabi, [the Friday Imam of Bonab] came and thanked him for his visit to Bonab and asked for a loan from Mr. Tabasi to complete the building of his madrassa and said, "Your Friday sermons about the events in the United States and Afghanistan have brought clarity to international issues at the level of the clergy and the people.  
[Mr. Ahmad Norouzi], the mayor of Mashhad, and [the mayors] of the municipal districts came. While reporting on the progress of the construction of the Mashhad metro, they explained the problems they have in relation to the Ministry of Interior and the government.
The United Front announced that it had entered Mazar-e-Sharif without encountering serious resistance. Today, in Pakistan, after the Friday prayers, there have been widespread demonstrations against the Pakistani government and the United States, and a number of people have been killed. The capture of Mazar-e-Sharif is widely reflected in the media.