The 'Self-Sacrificing Peasant' of Iran's Textbooks Passes Away at 87

Azbar Ali Hajavi, known as the 'Self-Sacrificing Peasant' in Iran's primary school textbooks, passed away on Saturday, December 2, at the age of 87. According to the IRNA news agency, Mr. Hajavi, whose name was mistakenly referred to as 'Reza Ali Khajavi' for years, died due to physical complications from severe lung disease at Imam Reza Hospital in Tabriz. He was born in Esfand 1309 (March 1930) in a village located 160 kilometers south of Tabriz. Based on a report published by the newspaper Ettela'at on November 7, 1961, Azbar Ali Hajavi noticed a landslide near the 'Darreh Qarnagou and Sheikh Safi' railway stations and set his 'shirt' on fire to alert the driver of an approaching train. Mr. Hajavi later stated in various interviews that contrary to the illustration published in textbooks depicting him naked with a burning shirt in hand, he did not undress and only set his coat on fire. Nevertheless, his act of burning clothing did not stop the train, which only halted after shots were fired. Mr. Hajavi recounted that dissatisfied passengers disembarked and beat him until he made them aware of the danger they were in; after witnessing the landslide, the passengers thanked and apologized to him. The Ettela'at newspaper reported that the train, which was traveling from Tehran to Tabriz, had two thousand passengers who were saved from certain death due to his 'self-sacrifice.' Later, Azbar Ali Hajavi's name became synonymous with the 'Self-Sacrificing Peasant' in elementary school textbooks, serving as a role model for Iranian children. However, it has been announced that the Iranian Ministry of Education has removed the name 'Self-Sacrificing Peasant' from textbooks, a move that drew criticism from the Friday prayer leader of Tabriz. According to ISNA news agency, Mohammad Ali Al Hashem stated on December 6 that the name and memory of the self-sacrificing peasant, which had been printed in textbooks for many years, has unfortunately been removed from textbooks in recent years.