Only for God

I went to visit my friend. He had been injured in an operation in the western region. His foot was severely injured. When he saw me he became very happy and thanked me. But I couldn’t understand his reason for thanking me! My friend said, “Dear Sayyed, you went through a lot of trouble. If you hadn’t brought me back, I would surely have been captured!” I said, “What are you saying?! I came back with the car of ammunition sooner than the others and went on leave.” My friend said in surprise, “No, it was you. You helped me, and you dressed my wound!” No matter how much I said that I hadn’t done it, it was useless. Some time passed. I thought again about my friend’s words. Suddenly something came to my mind. I went to Ibrahim! He had been in this operation too and come on leave. We went to my friend’s house with Ibrahim. I told him, “The person who you should thank is Mr. Ibrahim, not me! I am not the kind of person who can carry someone for eight kilometers across the mountain. That’s how I realized who had done it! It must have been a person who doesn’t talk too much, is my size, is physically strong, and knows me. I understood he (Ibrahim) must have done it!” But Ibrahim didn’t say anything. I said, “Mr. Ibram, I swear to my ancestor[1] that if you don’t talk I will get angry with you.” But Ibrahim was very upset at what I had done. He said, “Sayyed, what should I say?!” Then he paused and continued calmly, “I was coming back with empty hands. This man was lying in a corner. There wasn’t anyone behind me. I was almost the last person. In that darkness, I dressed his bleeding foot with boot straps and we moved on. On the way he called me Sayyed. I realized that he must be one of your friends. Thus, I didn’t say anything, until we got to the medics.” After that Ibrahim was very angry with me. He didn’t talk to me for several days! I knew the reason. He always said, “An action which is for God doesn’t need to be told.” We went into the enemy’s territory with a reconnaissance group. We were busy doing reconnaissance work when we suddenly noticed the presence of a flock of sheep. The shepherd of the flock came forward and said hello. Then he asked, “Are you Khomeini’s soldiers?!” Ibrahim came forward and said, “We are the servants of God.” Then he asked, “Old man, what do you do in these plains and mountains?!” He answered, “I live.” Ibrahim asked again, “Old man, do you have any problems?!” The old man smiled and said, “If I didn’t have any problems, I would have left here.” Ibrahim went over to our supplies. He gave the old man a box of dates, a few breads, some of the food of our group, and said, “These are gifts from Imam Khomeini (r.a.) for you.” The old man became very happy. He prayed (for us) and we left. Some members protested to Ibrahim, “We have to be in this region for one week, and you have given most of our food to that old man!” Ibrahim said, “First of all, it isn’t clear how long our mission will take. Secondly, be sure that this old man won’t be our enemy anymore. Have no doubt. A deed for God’s sake always works.” Our work finished very quickly in that reconnaissance mission, despite the fact that our supplies had greatly diminished. We even had extra food at the end.

[1] The Holy Prophet (s).