Champion

Sayyed Husayn Tahami (the world wrestling champion) came to our Zoorkhaneh. He was exercising with the athletes. Although it was some time that Sayyed wasn’t taking part in the championships, he still had a very athletic body. After the exercises he faced Haj Hasan and said, “Sir! Is there anyone here to wrestle with me?” Haj Hasan looked at the athletes and said, “Ibrahim.” Then he pointed to Ibrahim to go in. Usually in championship wrestling the opponent who falls down on his back or is on the ground loses. The wrestling started. We were all watching. The wrestlers were wrestling for a long time, but neither of them fell down. There was a lot of pressure on both of them; but, neither of them was able to defeat his opponent. This match did not have a winner. After wrestling, Sayyed Husayn kept saying loudly, “Well done! Well done! What a brave young man. What wonders God has wrought (well done) hero!” The exercise session finished. Haj Hasan was staring at Ibrahim’s face. Ibrahim came forward and asked in surprise, “Has something happened sir?” After a few minutes of silence, Haj Hasan said, “In the old days in this Tehran there were two heroes by the names of Haj Sayyed Hasan Razzaz and Haj Sadeq Bolurforush. They were close friends. No one could defeat them in wrestling. Even more important than this, was that they were pure servants of God. They always started their exercise with a few verses from the Quran and a brief mourning for Imam Husayn (a). They started their exercise with tearful eyes. The sincerity of Haj Mohammad Sadeq and Haj Sayyed Hasan healed sick people.” Then he continued, “Ibrahim! I consider you to be a hero like them!” Ibrahim smiled and said, “No sir! We are very distant from them.” Some of the athletes became upset when Haj Hasan praised Ibrahim in this way. The next day, five athletes came from one of the other Zoorkhanehs of Tehran. It was decided that they would wrestle with our athletes after exercising. Everyone accepted that Haj Hasan be the referee. The wrestling started after our exercise. Four matches were held. Our athletes won two of the games, and they won the other two games. However, in the last match they started creating a commotion. They were shouting at Haj Hasan. Haj Hasan was very upset too. I checked and saw that the next game is between Ibrahim and one of them. Since they knew Ibrahim very well, they knew that they’d lose. That was why they had started a commotion, so that if they lost they could say that it was the referee’s fault! Everyone was angry. After a few seconds Ibrahim came into the arena. While he was smiling, he shook hands with all of the guest athletes. Calm returned to our group. Then he said, “I won’t wrestle.” We all asked in surprise, “Why?!” He paused briefly and calmly said, “Our friendship is worth much more than these words and actions!” Then he kissed Haj Hasan’s hand and by sending Peace Upon the Prophet (s) (Salavat) he announced the end of the games. Maybe we didn’t have a loser or a winner that day. But, the true winner was only Ibrahim. When we wanted to dress up and go, Haj Hasan called everyone and said, “Did you understand why I said Ibrahim is a hero?!” Everyone was quiet. He continued, “See everyone! Heroism is what you saw today. Today Ibrahim wrestled with his own will, and he won. Ibrahim didn’t wrestle with them because of God. With this act he avoided hatred and a fight. Boys! Heroism is what you saw today.” The stories of Ibrahim’s chivalrous behavior continued until the events of the victory of the revolution began to take place. After that most of the athletes became involved in matters related to the revolution. Their presence in this sports club became dimmed. Then, Ibrahim suggested that we gather for the Morning Prayer in the Zoorkhaneh, pray together, and then exercise. Everyone accepted. After that we gathered in the Zoorkhaneh every morning, prayed a group prayer, and started exercising. At the end we had a little breakfast. Then we went to work. Ibrahim was very happy because of this. From the one side, everyone was still exercising; and, from the other side, they were praying the Morning Prayer in a group. He always spoke of the tradition of the Holy Prophet of Islam (s), “If I pray the Morning Prayer in a group, it is dearer to me than praying and keeping a vigil till morning.” With the onset of the imposed war, the activities of the athletes decreased. Most of them were at the war front. Ibrahim wasn’t coming to Tehran very often. One time he came and took his sports equipment. He started exercising in the war zones. Haj Hasan Tavakkol’s Zoorkhaneh was famous in training real heroes. There were many young people besides Ibrahim whose heroism was proven in front of God! They kept their faith with their blood; and, they are the real heroes. The beautiful, spiritual days of the Zoorkhaneh of Haj Hasan finished in the first years of the 8-year Holy Defense with the martyrdom of the Martyr Hasan Shahabi (the master of the Zoorkhaneh), Martyr Asghar Ranjbaran (the commander of the Ammar Brigade), and Martyrs like Sayyed Salehi, Mohammad Shahrudi, Ali Khorramdel, Hasan Zahedi, Sayyed Mohammad Sobhani, Sayyed Javad Majdpur, Reza Pand, Hamdallah Moradi, Reza Huryar, Majid Faridvand, Qasem Kazemi, Ibrahim and some other martyrs, along with veterans like Haj Ali Nasrallah, Mostafa Harandi, and Ali Moqaddam becoming disabled, and the death of Haj Hasan Tavakkol. Later on the land of the Zoorkhaneh a residential building was built, and the period of our Zoorkhaneh exercises joined with the memories.