Sayyid Ahmad is not only honoured because of his struggles with the oppressive regime and his wise decisions before the victory of the Islamic revolution, but also for his hard work from the revolution in 1979 to when his father passed away in 1989. Sayyid Ahmad spent every moment of the day with his great father, and to be around or close to such a pious and religious man was a great blessing and privilege. The piety and greatness of the Imam affected Sayyid Ahmad in such a way that made him a truly unique man.
Sayyid Ahmad was in charge and managed the Imam’s office, which established the best connection between the Imam, people and officials even though there were few facilities available. During the eventful and momentous periods of the revolution, the office of Imam Khomeini was the centre of attention for friends and enemies. There were many assassination attempts, bombings, and plans to frighten the people and overturn the revolution. However the enemies of the revolution, who were well-equipped, were not able to weaken the revolution or frighten the people. This was due to the meticulous care of the Imam and the cleverness of his prudent son. Making sure that Imam Khomeini and the people rushing to visit him were safe was truly a difficult task. However Sayyid Ahmad was able to overcome this difficulty and protect the Imam and the people.
Imam and his son Sayyid AhmadSayyid Ahmad’s duties included receiving, studying, and classifying numerous personal and administrative letters every day and presenting them to the Imam. These letters were sent from different parts of the country and the world and were in different languages. Their contents differed; some were regarding important issues to do with government and some were personal requests. Sayyid Ahmad also collected religious funds from the Imam’s representatives and those who came to the Imam’s office, asked the Imam how they should be spent and supervised their distribution.
The Imam always liked to stay in touch with the people and so it was relatively easy to visit the Imam. The security matters were left up to Sayyid Ahmad to deal with. Imam Khomeini was also sensitive about misusing the treasury funds and dealt sternly with any such occurrences. It is evident that the Imam’s advisor and right hand could only have been someone as great as Sayyid Ahmad, as he was truly worthy of this position.
One cannot find a meeting, speech, or gathering where Imam Khomeini is present without his beloved son Sayyid Ahmad. Sayyid Ahmad is always described as a “trustworthy” person and “unfailing to the Imam and the revolution”. Imam Khomeini himself describes his dear son in the following way: “As the overpowering, omnipresent and avenging God is my witness, since the day Ahmad has been administering my affairs in the exterior wing of my house till this very moment that I am writing these lines, he has taken no step and used no pen against my words or my written texts. He has also been painstakingly thorough in ensuring that not one word or even one letter of my sayings or writings is distorted. In addition even if he was sure that a letter needed to be fixed, he did not do so without my permission.”