Don’t disrespect even their dead bodies
Mahdi hated to kill… His sole objective was to take over the enemy’s commanders, not the people. He would never be happy when he would hear about people getting killed. But of course, if an enemy soldier caused a threat for our troops, then he would attack him to protect his troops. He would plan and strategize to surround the enemy and until he is forced to surrender. He would always say, “Once you see them surrender, stop firing.” He used to get upset when he’d see the enemies’ corpses and he would never allow their bodies to be trampled on. At times, when we had to enter the enemies’ trenches that had corpses in them, he would never step on their bodies and would say “Every single one of them is dear to their families. God knows how their wives and children feel right now and how they would feel if they knew that the bodies of their loves ones are being stepped on”.
His faith was so elevated that he would not dare step over his enemy’s body. He used to say, “I don’t know if this dead soldier is a Sunni or a Shia, an Arab or not, all I know is that he is a human, and now he has died, and we should respect their dead. Saddam has forced them to go to war. If it was in their hands, they would never have come. Even if they have come on their own, even then we should not disrespect them”.
This was a story from the life of Shahid… Mahdi Bakeri. A young leader who served the people for Allah’s sake, and finally gave his life away, for Allah’s sake.
