TEHRAN-The Iranian researcher and translator of religious literature and author of books for children and young adults Mahmoud Hakimi passed away on Friday in Tehran at 80.

Hakimi who was hospitalized at Shariati Hospital in recent days due to a lung infection, died on Friday morning, ISNA reported.

Born in Tehran, he received his B.A. in English Language and Literature at the Tarbiat Moalem University and continued his education in England where he got his M.A. in education. Returning to Iran, he started teaching in various centers. 

He began writing for children in 1961 in the children’s magazine Kayhan Bacheha. In 1969, Hakimi published his first book and during the next 50 years, he translated and wrote more than 60 books in the fields of his interest including literature, the history of civilization, and history of Islam.

At the beginning of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, he went to battle regions in the southwest of Iran to visit those places and interview with combatants. The result of his journey the book “War Stories,” which was published in 1982, after the liberation of Khorramshahr. This book was one of the first books in the field of Sacred Defense.

Hakimi was introduced as the selected writer in the field of children and teenagers’ literature and in the 1st Seminar of Honoring Servants of “Ashura” Culture in 2003. Servant here refers to those who take actions in line with propagating the culture of Ashura, which is fighting against injustice and oppression, just like what Imam Hussain (AS) did against the rule of Yazid. He also received the medal of “National Selected Pioneer” from the President in 2002. 

SS/SAB