The 14-volume collection of As Tough as Iron has been published in Arabic and English. The collection encompasses the lives, works and campaigns of top Muslim leaders of Islamic resistance in the Middle East.

IBNA: The first volume of the collection deals with Ahmad Shah Massoud; an Afghan martyr.

Massoud’s life since his birth in September 953 in Panjshir to his assassination in September 2001 is covered in the volume.

Childhood years, Ahmad’s academic education and his first armed struggles, second round of campaign-jihad against Afghan Communists, the era of Soviet occupation are the titles of some of the volume’s parts.

A part of the book reads as follows: “Ahmad was born in September 1953 in Panjshir. Panjshir is a province 100 km away, north of Kabul, sitting at the southern breast of the Hindi Kush Mountainous Range which has several big valleys. Contrary to the rest of Afghanistan the province is green, full of gurgling brooks and cool. Ahmad came from a religious family. People all knew and respected the family through Panjshir. Fighting with enemies was a custom which they had inherited from generations to generations. Ahmad’s grandfather was a lord in Panjshir and a senior government officer in charge of the treasury. During the wars of independence from Britain when Amanullah Shah was in power, his father had fought with the British aggressions with the help of popular warriors and had routed them out of Panjshir. Doost Mohammad Khan, his son was an army colonel. Doost Mohammad Khan was a pious God-fearing man. It was Doost Mohammad who taught the Quran to Ahmad.”

The book is compiled by Mohammad Rezapour and is published by Alhoda International Publications in English and Arabic.

Id : 134911