The main part of the memories in front of you is taken from an unpublished conversation that took place on 11/25/1971 with the late Ayatollah Haj Sheikh Ahmad Mojtahdi Tehrani, “Rizwan Allah Ta’ala alaihi wasallam”, with the late Ayatollah Haj Sheikh Ahmad Mojtahdi, about his history and memories. In addition to that, in some cases, I have used the narrations that have described the character and practical life of the Imam in lectures, lectures or private circles, and I have organized what I have collected in chronological order. Undoubtedly, the memories and stories of the venerable master from his long relationship with Imam Rahel are more than what you read in this article; therefore, I hope that in the future, using other oral and written memories of that venerable master, to complete this I will succeed in the collection. Mohammad Reza Khaini
When I went to Qom in the year 63 of the lunar year to continue my education, the late Haj Sheikh, the founder of the hawza, had passed away and Ayat Salas was managing the hawza. From the very first days and weeks, due to the moral teachings of our teacher, the late Haj Sheikh Akbar Burhan, we were looking to see where the lesson of good ethics is taught. At that time, there were two ethics courses in the field. One was related to the late Haj Agha Hossein Fatemi, who was in their house and ended with a supplication, and one was on Friday evenings, when the late Imam (RA) was teaching ethics in the library under the library of Fayzia School, and a large number of scholars and people. They used to participate in it. Famous figures from Fazal were also there and they continued to participate in that lesson. Among the things that I remember the Imam emphasized many times in these lessons was that: “We should appreciate our human creation. We are the only beings for whom God has opened the way to perfection. This is a gift that other creatures and animals do not benefit from. The peculiarity of this lesson was that it did not create laziness in the audience, but sometimes the audience falls into the trap of people who claim to teach ethics and behavior and prevent them from studying and even leading a normal life. I have said many times that if there are students among students who go to such circles, they will not be of any use to students. From the same time, some people opposed his moral lessons and made comparisons, including the relationship between Sufism and behavior. On the other hand, the establishment and the government had become sensitive to his moral lessons, because they also made political evasions, that’s why he later They suspended the lesson for some time. After this incident, we saw the Imam almost every day and regularly in the congregational prayers of the late Ayatollah Asid Mohammad Taqi Khansari in the Fayzia school. They used to come a few moments before the prayer and in the first row, they would spread their prayers, and the late Ayatollah Araki would sit next to the imam and behind the late Ayatollah Khansari, and they would follow him together. On the nights when Mr. Khansari did not come, Ayatollah Araki became the imam of the congregation and the imam followed him, and on the nights when neither Mr. Khansari nor Mr. Araki was the imam, he led the imam. I remember this happened one night and both of them were not noble and we followed the imam.
In addition, I remember that he also participated in the famous rain prayer of Ayatollah Khansari. Anyway, even after the suspension of the ethics lesson, Imam’s piety was completely clear to everyone and he was influenced in these aspects by two great personalities: one is the late Amirza Javad Mr. Maleki of Tabrizi and more importantly the late Ayatollah Shahabadi, who Imam called him the most. Their teachers liked them more and called them “sacrificing souls”. Before I was transferred to Qom, I had understood him when I was a teenager. He used to hold congregational prayers in Tehran’s Grand Mosque and had a really attractive personality. It is interesting that I performed istikhara in front of him for my own sake.
After the late Ayatollah Boroujerdi came to Qom and held his lesson, the imam always sat next to personalities such as the late Ayatollah Golpaygani and Ayatollah Damad at the end of the lesson. I don’t know what happened to his speeches, if it is published, it will be interesting. In those days, the late Haj Agha Mustafa, his great-grandson, and another person, used to come to our house in the afternoons and read Mullah Abdullah’s verses. Of course, he later reached high academic positions. He was very serious in his lessons, especially in the Imam’s lesson. I once happened to go to the Imam’s lesson and saw the late Haj Agha Mostafi discussing a topic with the Imam. When the discussion was heated, interesting expressions were exchanged between the two of them, which the attendees heard. Another of the Aghazadehs that I remember used to argue with his father was the late Haj Agha Rezai Sadr, who seriously argued with his father, the late Ayatollah Sadr.
After attending the classes of the late Ayatollah Boroujerdi for several years, I had to return to Tehran due to an excuse that occurred to me. I taught for two years with the late Ashikh Mohammad Hossein Zahid in the Amin al-Doulah Mosque, and after his death, I went to the Mullah Mosque. Mohammad Jafar and the current school were transferred. Here, we were a local with the late Mr. Asid Mohammad Sadegh Lavasani, who was a close friend of the Imam. Sometimes, when I went to the meetings of Mr. Lavasani’s house, the imam would also come from Qom to show his favor. It was in the late 1940s when I once came out of the Rouzah Assembly, the imam asked Mr. Lavasani: “What is Mr. Mojtahedi doing in Tehran?” Mr. Lavasani had said: “They have established a school in our neighborhood and our Asid Mohammad Reza is also studying under them.” I remember when the case of Imam’s arrest and detention and then his release came up, I went to Qom with one of my friends to meet him. When I sat next to them, they immediately asked me: “What does Asid Mohammad Reza sing?” They had a strange presence of mind, and they had not forgotten this issue in the midst of all the crowds and the many problems that had occurred to them. Its successes were shared with them, and this had caused Imam al-Tfatat to have a lot of respect for our school. Many times they would send students to us or when they were asked which school to study in Tehran, they would refer people to our school. They reduced it from half to a third; regarding their permission to the servant, they kept it at half to cover the expenses of the school. They were also very interested and kind to the students and those who were trained in our school. They were brought up in this school. People like Mr. Natiq Nouri, Mohtashmi, Naseri, Asgrawaladi, Dr. Hassan Habibi, the late Shahid Chamran, the late Dr. Qandi, the late Dr. Fayaz Bakhsh and many others. The late Ayatollah Najafi Marashi said one day: “No one has done the service that so-and-so and his school have done to the revolution, because many revolutionary personalities were trained in this school.”
Once, Ayatollah Safi told me that we had a meeting with the Imam together with the Qom Teachers’ Council and he complained about the state of the mosques, that the products are not the same as before the revolution. I told him that if there is a school in the future from which mujtahids come out, it will be this school. He graciously said, “I know.”
During the beginning of the movement, it was the morning of June 15 that I learned about Imam’s arrest. The situation was that I and one of my friends were coming out of a meeting when we saw that the situation in the city was completely unusual. A person came to us and said, “Last night, Mr. Khomeini was arrested in Qom.” When I heard this news, I felt like a person who had suddenly been connected to electricity and I was very scared, because after the death of Ayatollah Boroujerdi, they had not been under the burden of authority, and a person who is not an authority does not naturally have legal immunity. We were very worried that he would not do so. They should repeat what they did about the devotees of Islam, because we had seen them up close and I know them, but fortunately, the scholars came from the cities and announced their authority, and this caused the apparatus to not be able to do anything. The presence of Balad scholars in Tehran had many good effects and some of them persevered because the regime pressured them to return. The late Mr. Milani, who wanted to come to Tehran to protest, was returned. But they reached Tehran by another way. In those days, I remember, there was a day that coincided with the martyrdom of Imam Jafar Sadiq (a.s.) and Mr. Milani held a prayer meeting in the house where he was staying. The late Mr. Kafi was supposed to go to the pulpit, the officers immediately came and prevented him and said that you have no right to hold a meeting. Mr. Milani said, “It is the martyrdom day of Imam Sadiq (a.s.) and this gentleman wants to go to the pulpit and speak only about his virtues and merits.” Mr. Milani angrily said to Mr. Kafi: “Then pray, sir!” “The late Kafi, with the sharpness and cleverness that he had, recited the prayer of Faraj Imam Zaman (A.S.) “Allah Azm al-Bala…” and during it he went to the pulpit for almost a night. This movement of his was very interesting to me.
The late Ayatollah Najafi Marashi, who was in Tehran at the same time, came to our school and visited here and expressed his happiness. After about a year, fortunately Imam was released from prison and detention and we went to visit him in Qom.
After the imam’s exile, no one had contact with him for almost a year. When they went to Najaf, I wrote a congratulatory letter to them and I had no hope of an answer. One day, there was a knock on our door and the postman gave me a letter. I saw that it is Imam’s handwriting. They expressed their gratitude and wrote at the end: “Mustafa also sends his greetings.” I was very happy, because I had no hope that they would let the Imam’s answer reach us. They probably checked the letter and saw that there was no political content in it.
One or two years later, we smuggled ourselves to Iraq and served the Imam. I have some interesting memories from that time. They used to pray in Sheikh Ansari mosque in the afternoon. I was also interested in understanding the prayers of all sources, including the Imam’s prayers, during that trip. One of the sentiments that the Imam had was that while being a revolutionary, he did not like those who, in the guise of spirituality, were only engaged in sloganeering and emotional behavior and did not attach much importance to science and refinement. I remember after one of the noon prayers, one of these people, whose name I will not name, got up to make a sharp political speech between the two prayers, and the imam pointed his hand and very seriously told him to sit down! And they did not let him speak. This was very interesting to me, because later I saw what happened to some of these extremists. One of these people who transferred to our school was Guderzi, the founder of Fargan Group. This person first came to our school and provoked the students and prevented them from studying and spread irrelevant words. One day during class I said to him in a sharp tone: “Get out, you hypocrite!” And I kicked him out of school. He had gone to some of Tehran’s pre-prayer prayers and told me about my backbiting. Later, when he left and formed the Furqan group and martyred Mr. Motahri, the people to whom Godarzi had revealed my backbiting came and asked me for forgiveness. Those whose revolutionism is emotional and baseless are dangerous and Imam was aware of this.
Another interesting point in that trip was that the Imam was among those who did not sell their treatises and books to anyone for free. I remember our cousin, Mr. Hasan Habibi, was in France at that time and he asked me to prepare a course on writing the Imam’s text in Najaf and send it to him. I told myself that I will go to the service of Imam and take from them and send. I went and asked the imam for this book, and the interesting point is that he said: “I am determined that the book will be sold.” And with this phrase, they made me understand that no one is given a free book there. I also went and bought it from Najaf bookstores and sent it to Dr. Habibi. Some time later, he wrote me a letter and thanked me.
The imam used to sit outside his house at night before visiting the shrine of Hazrat Ali (AS), and sometimes we also participated in that gathering. In that journey, my father, who was an imam, accompanied me. Until the end of his life, he would give me large financial items as shari’a funds for the imam, and I would send him to serve the imam. He wanted me to introduce him to the imam. I did this and the Imam also inspected my father a lot.
During that trip, some of the friends who were close to the Imam, I heard some points about his obsession with spending money, which was really enjoyable for me. The late Haj Agha Mustafi in Najaf used to receive monthly allowances from authorities other than the Imam. Apparently, he considered this work to be okay, as many scholars and students receive stipends from different authorities, but the Imam was careful in these cases. When the late Haj Agha Mustafa went to collect the daily allowance from the imam, the imam put the key of the box in front of him and said: “I have no duty to give you daily allowance. If your duty is to collect daily allowance, go and take it from the box yourself.” ” This shows that from the imam’s point of view, it is extremely difficult and precise to just explain the shari’a reasons. Another thing is that the late Haj Agha Mustafa told the imam that it is hot in Najaf and I need an air conditioner. The imam had said to him: “Your father does not have an air conditioner.” Do you want a cooler? In that harsh heat of Najaf, Imam was not willing to buy air conditioner.
During his stay in Najaf, the Imam wrote me an interesting letter of permission in his own handwriting, because he usually gave permission to write to some of his close friends. Since then, we have been sending large quantities of cash to Najaf. Even when the Imam was in Paris, we sent him gifts through the martyr Sadouqi, and this process continued until the last days of the Imam’s life, and our receipts were sealed even in the hospital.
After the victory of the revolution and Imam’s stay in Jamaran, I had many private meetings with him. Sometimes together with the late Mr. Lavasani and sometimes alone. In these meetings, I usually tried to ask jurisprudential questions. Sometimes, especially when Mr. Lavasani was present, interesting questions and answers were raised, some of which could be instructive. First of all, it is not a bad thing to mention that in some cases, I asked the Imam about issues and he said, “I don’t know, and this lesson It was great that man does not oblige himself to answer every question, even if he has doubts about it. For example, I once asked them about the inheritance of a woman from her husband, that a woman does not inherit from the earth, she inherits from the air; what about the assignment of apartments that are between the earth and the air? I had seen the same situation in the late Ayatollah Asid Ahmad Khansari, who, when asked some questions, would say, “I don’t know.” This is not a defect, it is a sign of a person’s moral perfection that he does not say anything until he is sure. One of the points that caused me to be obsessed many times was that I doubted the justice of those who only pray in congregation and do not respect the duty and dignity of a priest, which is to guide the people and preach to them, and I did not follow them. One day I asked the imam that this is an obsession or the truth? The imam said, “Remind them to advise the people.” They did not consider this behavior to be a deprivation of justice. I had asked the same question to the late Shahid Motahari before the revolution. Once in Mashhad, I was entering the holy shrine of Hazrat Reza (a.s.), I saw Mr. Mothahri coming out of the shrine. Because I really believed in Mr. Motahari’s understanding and opinion, I asked him the same question, is this obsession? They, who apparently, like me, had a heart full of this congregation, said: “No! It’s not an obsession, it’s completely true.” Apparently, his view on this matter was different from the Imam’s.
I once said to Imam: “Sir! Some of the students of our school have financial resources, but at the same time, they receive tuition fees under the pretext that the funds belong to Imam Zaman. what is your opinion?” He said: “If they study and benefit from Islam in the future, there is no problem.”
Another issue that I asked them, and which I think is very important, is that before the victory of the revolution, religious people, when they rented a property or a shop from the Awqaf administration, in addition to paying monthly rent to the Awqaf, they also went to their authority. They paid rent. The awqaf was in the hands of the Shah’s regime and it was not known whether these rents really reached the consumption of the endowment. Now that it has become an Islamic Republic, what is the task? He said without any compliments and clearly: “If the people in charge of endowments are those whom I have introduced and I am sure of their religion, it is no longer necessary for people to refer to their authority; But if they are former employees and careless people who do not adhere to Sharia rules, they should still go and pay rent to their authority.” This was very interesting for me. They did not say that since it became an Islamic Republic, everything is Islamic by itself, and they paid attention to the fact that all the affairs of the country should be gradually Islamized.
Another issue that I asked them and they gave us a proxy was that their fatwa was that if someone sells his house, he must pay khums on it, because it is no longer a benefit. This fatwa caused problems for many people, because there was a person who, for example, had a 50-meter apartment and had to spend money on it and buy a bigger house so that his family could find a more comfortable situation. If this person paid khums on that house, he would not be able to buy a house anymore. I always lowered my head when I talked to them, because they were so imposing that I might forget what I said. I asked, “What should these poor people do after all?” » I raised my head and saw them smiling. They said: “You are my attorney. If someone has such a problem, you should take khums from him and return it later.” The word of this representation that he gave me was spread and many of the oppressed people of that time, students, guards who had a small salary at that time, when they sold their house, they gave it to us and we returned it on behalf of the Imam.
I once had a dream that I explained to the Imam and asked for his interpretation. The story was that I saw in a dream that the imam was walking on the street leading to the bazaar of Tehran until they reached the mosque of the imam of the bazaar. They came to go down the stairs of the mosque, I went forward and took their armpits and helped them. I asked them, what is the meaning of this dream? They smiled and said: “God willing, you will be helpful.”
Sometimes we were the carriers of messages and begging people’s prayers to the Imam. A drug addict lived in our neighborhood and had a sick daughter. He told me: “I have an earring that I vowed to give to the Imam for the healing of my daughter. Tell them to pray for my daughter to get well.” That day, Mr. Lavasani was also in the meeting and when I told the story, he made a comment that made the imam laugh. The imam prayed and that girl was also healed and their mother gave the earring which we took and gave to the imam.
Once, in one of the private meetings, I said that we would like to serve you en masse together with the students of the school and the people of the local and commercial areas. He said: “There is no problem.” We were persistent until one day Mr. Tousli called me and said: “Come to a party with about a hundred people!” I protested and said: “Very good!” I will tell my friends that it didn’t happen.” Mr. Tusli said: “Are you threatening?” I said: “No! is reality How can I separate the people? I have promised all of them that I will take them to see the Imam.” Apparently, he had gone and asked the imam, and the imam had told all the students and the people of his mosque to come. We took a large number of buses that day and all the students and locals went to meet him. On the sidelines of this meeting, an interesting thing happened, and that was that in our neighborhood, an old hardworking man, who apparently was also a teacher, was so much in love with the imam that he told me many times, “If you take me to the imam, I will give you a hundred thousand tomans.” I usually told them: “You should refer to Mr. Lavasani.” He said, “I have told Mr. Lavasani, but it hasn’t happened yet.” When we decided to go to the Imam, I saw this person in Bazarche. I called him and asked: “Have you gone to see Mr.?” He said: “No”. I said: “Where is your hundred thousand tomans?” He said: “It is ready.” I said: “Bring it tomorrow.” Of course, we also put this man’s money on the aid we gave to the front and gave it to the Imam’s office. At night, when we returned to the mosque, I saw this man and asked: “Did you see him well? Did you have a good time?” He said: “Going to Karbala gave me a taste.” Seeing the condition of people like this old man who loved the Imam like this, I was reminded of the famous hadith of Amirul Momineen (AS) who said: Live with people in such a way that they will love you as long as you are alive and even when you are gone. to cry Imam was really the prime example of this hadith and the main reason was his sincerity. Imam really took every step for the sake of God. People love sincerity as much as they hate hypocrisy. People believed that whatever he said, he said it for the sake of God, and they accepted his words willingly and out of interest. Even now, people are interested in the leader of the revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei, because of his sincerity. Sincerity is not a complicated issue that is not known. People understand very easily who has sincerity or not and judge very easily in this field. If a person wants to have a happy life in this world or in the next, sincerity is the key. The key to the longevity of a person’s name is sincerity. In addition to sincerity, one of the ways I like Mr. Khamenei is his humility. I remember that on the third day of Imam’s death, Mr. Khamenei gave a fatiha at Tehran University and we left. In the pulpit, Mr. Philosopher mentioned Ayatollah Khamenei as the great leader of the revolution. They immediately reminded Mr. Philosopher in the middle of his speech that: “No! The great leader of the revolution is the Imam. This title should remain for the Imam.” I really liked his humility and that’s why we always pray for him and all the references.
mostajar
