Betting

It was roughly the year 1354 AHS. We were playing on one Friday morning. Three strangers came and said, “We are from the west of Tehran. Who is Ibrahim?!” Then they suggested, “Let’s play for 200 hundred tomans." After a few minutes, the game started. Ibrahim played alone against those three. They lost to Ibrahim. On the same day, we went to one of the neighborhoods in the south of the city. We played for 700 hundred tomans. It was a good game and we won quickly. Ibrahim saw that they were borrowing from others so that they could pay us. Suddenly he said, “One of you come and play alone against me. If he wins, we won’t take the money.” One of them came forward, and they started playing. Ibrahim played very poorly. So poorly that his opponent won! All of them left very happily. I was very angry and told Ibrahim, “Mr. Ibram! Why did you play like that?!” He looked at me in surprise and said, “I didn’t want to ruin their dignity! All together they didn’t even have 100 tomans!” The next week the athletes from the west of Tehran came again with two of their friends. Five people played against Ibrahim for 500 tomans. Ibrahim folded his pants up and played with bare feet. He hit the ball in such a way that no one could get it! He won the game with a huge lead. That night we went to the Mosque with Ibrahim. After praying the clergyman talked about religious orders. He talked about betting and unlawful money. He said, “The Holy Prophet of Islam (s) said, ‘Whoever earns money from illegal ways, will lose it in vain and difficult events.’[1] He also said, ‘Whoever eats anything from illegal money, his prayers won’t be accepted for forty nights and his supplications won’t be accepted for forty days.’[2]” Ibrahim was listening to the speech in surprise. After it finished, we went to the clergyman and Ibrahim said, “Today I won 500 tomans from betting in volleyball.” Then he explained what had happened and said, “I gave this money to a poor family!” The clergyman said, “From now on be careful! Exercise, but don’t bet.” The next week the same boys came again; this time with some stronger helpers. Then they said, “This time let’s play for one thousand tomans!” Ibrahim said, “I will play, but I won’t bet.” They started making fun of him and tried to rouse him. They said, “He is afraid! He knows that he will lose.” Another one said, “He doesn’t have the money.”… Ibrahim said, “Betting is illegal. If I had known this, I wouldn’t have played with you in the previous weeks. I gave your money to some poor people. If you want, we can play without betting.” After much talking and ridiculing, there was no match.

……….

His friend said, “Ibrahim strongly recommended us to avoid betting after that. But, one time we played with the athletes from the Nazi Abad neighborhood and lost a large amount of money! It was the end of the game when Ibrahim arrived. He became very angry with us because of the betting. We didn’t have enough money to pay. When the game finished Ibrahim came forward and took the ball. Then he said, “Is there anyone who will play one on one with me?” There was a boy from Nazi Abad by the name of H.Q. He was a member of the national team and the captain of the Barq team as well. He came forward with a special pride and said, “For what?!” Ibrahim said, “If you lose, don’t take money from these boys.” He accepted. Ibrahim played so well that we were all surprised. He beat his opponent with a huge difference. However, after that he blamed us very much! Ibrahim was a professional in many of the sports fields in addition to volleyball. He was a capable athlete in mountaineering. Starting from about three years before the victory of the revolution until the days of the revolution, he went to Tajrish with the boys of the Zoorkhaneh every Friday morning. They prayed the Morning Prayer in Imam Zadeh Saleh. Then they went up the mountain running. They ate breakfast there and came back. I won’t forget that Ibrahim was doing the exercises for wrestling. He wanted to make his legs strong. He put one of his friends on his shoulders and took him all the way up the mountain from the Darband Square to the Doqolu Waterfall! The mountain climbing in the Darband and Kolakchal areas continued until the early days of the victory of the Revolution. Ibrahim played soccer very well too. And, he was a master in ping pong. He used to play with two hands and two rackets and no one could defeat him.

 [1] Muwaiz al-Adadiyah, p 25.

[2] Al-Hokm al-Zahirah, vol. 1, p. 317.