The Al-Mahdi Township

One month had passed from the start of the war. Ibrahim, Haj Husayn and a few other friends went to the Al-Mahdi Township which was close to Sarpol Dhahab. They initiated protective trenches in face of the enemy. The morning group prayer finished. I realized that the forces are looking for Ibrahim! I asked in surprise, “What has happened?!” They said, “There is no news from him since last night!” Along with the forces, I started to search the trenches and scout positions; but, there was no news from Ibrahim! An hour later one of the scouts said, “A few people are coming towards us from the grove in front!” This grove was exactly in front of the enemy. I immediately went to the look-out trench and watched along with the other soldiers. Thirteen Iraqis with their hands tied were coming towards us in a line! Ibrahim and another person were behind them. They were carrying many guns, grenades, and cartridges. No one could believe that Ibrahim with just one other person had created such an epic; especially in such a situation that there was little ammunition or weapons in the Al-Mahdi Township. Some of the forces didn’t even have a gun. One of the soldiers had become very excited. He came forward, slapped the first Iraqi captive in the face, and said, “Mercenary Iraqi!” Everyone was silent for a moment. Ibrahim passed by the row of captives and stood in front of the young man. He put the guns down on the ground one by one. Then he shouted, “Why did you slap him in the face?!” The young man who was very surprised said, “What has happened? He is the enemy.” Ibrahim stared at him and said, “First of all he was an enemy, and now he is a captive. Secondly, these people don’t know why they are fighting with us. And, now you have to act like this?!” After a few seconds of silence, the young soldier said, “I’m sorry. I got excited a little bit.” Then he went and kissed the forehead of the Iraqi captive and apologized. The Iraqi captive who was watching our behavior carefully stared at Ibrahim. The surprised look of the Iraqi captive communicated many words! Two months after the start of the war Ibrahim came home on leave. We went with friends to visit him. Ibrahim talked about the memories and events of the war during that visit; but, he didn’t say anything about himself until he spoke of the prayers and worshiping of the forces. Suddenly Ibrahim laughed and said, “In the very first days, five young men joined us in the Al-Mahdi area. They had come together to the war front from a village. A few days passed. I noticed that they don’t pray, until one day when I spoke with them. These poor men were very simple. They were illiterate and didn’t know how to pray. They had come to the front just because of their affection for the Imam. One the other hand they themselves liked to learn how to pray. I taught them how to make the minor ablution and I called one of the soldiers and said, ‘This man is your prayer leader. Do whatever he does. I will stand next to you and say the sentences of the prayer loudly so that you can learn.’” When Ibrahim got to this part of the story, he couldn’t stop laughing. After a few minutes he continued, “In the first cycle of the prayer, in the middle of reading the verses from the Chapter Hamd, the prayer leader started scratching his head. All of a sudden, I saw that those five people started scratching their heads!! I really wanted to laugh, but I controlled myself. Next, when the prayer leader sat up after the prostration, the Mohr was sticking to his forehead, and then it fell down. The prayer leader leaned to the left so that he could pick up his Mohr. Unexpectedly, I saw all of them lean to the left and stretch out their hands! It was at this point that I couldn’t control myself anymore, and I started laughing!”