Presenting the Book Dispatched from Shahr-e Rey

Zahra Ghasemi
Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

2020-09-22

At 1966, in the Roshan Masouleh family, a son was born who was named Mahmoud. He spent his childhood in one of the southern neighborhoods of Tehran. Mahmoud's adolescence coincided with the era of struggle for the Islamic Revolution and its victory. In the summer of 1979, they migrated to the Alborz Industrial City in Qazvin, and returned to Tehran a year later. During this period, Mahmoud attended night school and worked at days. A year later, in 1983, when he heard the message of Imam Khomeini, who said: "It is a collective obligation[1] on you dear youth to go to the front at the right time...", his mind became involved in going to the front. He applied to the Rey City Corps to be sent to the front. In the early stages, he faced problems, such as lack of parental consent, but despite the opposition of his family, he went to the Imam Hussein (AS) garrison with difficulty on the appointed day and began training. In the first days, he contracted an illness and couldn't continue the course. Under these circumstances, he resumed his studies again, and began working in the army ammunition factory. Mahmoud was still preoccupied with going to the front. A few months later, in the fall of 1984, he tried again to go to the front. Despite the opposition of his family, he went to Imam Hussein (AS) garrison again for training and was sent to Kurdistan 45 days later. In the health center of Saqez corps, he received relief work training and went to Kasanzan base. At the end of his mission, he returns to Tehran and starts studying. His mind still was preoccupied with the front, but his father's opposition forced him to begin working in order to help support his family.

In the winter of 1985, he tried again to be dispatched. This time he was also sent to Kurdistan and Kasanzan base. After a few days, he went to a base located at Somaqlu village, and about forty days later, to Arablang village, then, after a while, he returned home.

After Operation Dawn-8, hearing his friends' memories of the operation, he thought it will be good to join the warriors in the south. Therefore, on March 17, 1986, when the 10th Division of Seyyed al-Shohada (AS) was dispatched en masse, he was sent to Ahvaz with them and joined Ali Akbar (AS) Battalion in Kowsar camp. It was about two months into the operation when they arrived. The first operation in which he participated was the Operation Seyyed al-Shohada13 on May 3, 1986 in Fakkeh. After that, he spent some time in Dez and Ghalajeh camps. With the start of Operation Karbala 1, they wanted to give him a responsibility, which he refused; preferring to be present as a simple Basij force in the operation. During the same operation, he was severely injured. He had to stay away from the zone for a long time to recover. Many of his friends were martyred during Operations Karbala 4 and 5. He was very restless and wanted to return to the front; so, although he was still suffering from the effects of his injuries, he was dispatched south for operation Karbala 5. After the operation, he returned back due to the deterioration of his injuries. In Tehran, he was busied working in the Imam Hussein (AS) garrison, and studying in the seminary until the spring of 1988, when he joined the 27th Division of Mohammad Rasoulallah (PBUH) in the south, and from there he went to Shakh Shemiran zone in the west to do logistics, and after a while, he returned to Dokouheh.

Mahmoud Roshan Masouleh has written the memories of his birth up to 2012 in the book Dispatched from Shahr-e-Rey. He started writing his daily memoirs when he was training for the second time in Imam Hussein (AS) garrison. After the war, he wrote his memoirs in full so that not to be forgotten later. In 1990, one of his friends recorded his memoirs during a few hours of interviewing. All the notes and interviews are the basis of his autobiographical memoirs in this book. These memoirs are categorized into 34 chapters. The first to eighth chapters deal with of his birth up to before deciding to go to the front. In chapters 9 to 32, the memories of the war years was written, and the last two chapters are devoted to the author's life after the war until recent years.

The final part of the book includes photographs, appendices and documents related to the memoirs.

The book Dispatched from Shahr-e-Rey, was written by Mahmoud Roshan Masouleh, and with efforts of Culture and Sustainability Studies Office in Hoze Honari. It has been published by Surah Mehr Publications in 556 pages at 2019.