Book Review

Khoun Migozasht

Maliheh Kamaledin
Translated by: Zahra Hosseinain

2023-03-07

Khoun Migozasht is a fictional documentary of Haj Mohammad Agha Rasoulzadeh’s life, written by Hadi Lotfi. This biography covers a summary of the interviews done by the author with sixty people, documents review, and several hours of research.

Rasoulzadeh is one of the famous fighters of the revolution in Kashan, who, after meeting Navvab Safavi, established the branch of Fadā'iyān-e Islam in Kashan. He has acted and played roles at any period. He was a supporter of Imam Khomeini's movement in the struggles against the Pahlavi government. Imam told the seminary students, who were going to Kashan: "If you don't get an answer from the Islamic scholars, meet the Rasoulzadeh in the bazaar."

Rasoulzadeh was born in 1913 in Kashan and passed away in the middle of Ramadan in 1988. The story starts in the summer of 1924 when Haj Mohammad Agha was 11 years old and continues until his death.

Contrary to the usual procedures, this book does not have a preface or prologue, and after the title page and the table of contents, the first chapter appears. The book includes twenty chapters plus one chapter titled "and... End", each of which has its title. In the end, there is a part titled "And Then", where the author has explained how to formulate and compile the book in addition to the pictures of narrators of the memoirs.

In many chapters, before the beginning, an image of various places in Kashan is given, which is not unrelated to the text. in addition to the title of each chapter, there are short quotes or translations of the Holy Quran verses (without mentioning the reference).

The story in the first chapter, titled "Ta Khoun", begins with Amir Kabir’s murder in the Kashan Fin Garden, narrated by Amem Rasoul, Haj Mohammad Agha’s father. Then, you read the story of Mohammad Agha's birth, and his childhood, including his mother’s death.

The title of the second to the twentieth chapters, as well as the chronological of the events, respectively, are: "The Yaghi Shah" summer 1925, "Like Father" autumn 1941, "The Spy Bergis" spring 1945, "Blood that has no blood" winter 1949, "A Lion in Chain" Spring 1950, "The Subuh Qudus" Winter 1953, "Shooting the Movement!" June 1955, "Burial of Jurisdiction" July 1956, "The Bani al-Zahra" April 1963, "Revolt in the City" June 1956, "Moses and Pharaoh" winter 1965, "The Assassination of the King of Shia!" April 1965, "The Old Man Who Sells Cream" Spring 1966, "Fist and Stitching Awl" Summer 1970, "The City under the Control of Bazaar" November 1977, "The Government of Allah" Winter 1978, "Trumpet of War" Fall 1980, "،The Self-Devoted" Spring 1981, "The Red Sky" Summer 1985, and finally a chapter titled "The Smell of Apple" in the spring of 1988, which is a story about Rasoulzadeh's death.

According to the author, all the characters mentioned in the book are real, and only four are pseudonyms. In addition to the main content, plenty of documents and newspaper clippings related to the subject has appeared.

the book cover depicted a red stool on which a trail of blood can be seen continuing to the back of the book. On the back of the cover, a part of the content can be read as follows:

“Bani Al-Zahra's mourning procession entered the bazaar. Its crowd showed its popularity. Haj Mohammad Agha stood on a stool in the middle of the bazaar. Everyone gathered; the tradesman and the passerby.

When they wanted to shoot the Navvab, he did not let them to blindfold his eyes. Do you remember his subah Qudus mantra? Do you remember he said that we have already woken up, let's not go to sleep?!”

The first edition of Khoun Migozasht, in 1000 copies and 280 pages with octavo size, and a price of Eighty Thousand Tomans was published and released by Rahyar Publication in 2022.