Manifestation of the Friend

Subtle Spirit

part 7

I am not acquiescent that you invoke salutations for me

Some years he would come to Mahallat in summers. In the summer of 1946 when he arrived in Mahallat, the religious authorities of the town who were devotees of the Imam requested that a mosque be placed at their disposal so that people benefited from his presence. He refused and asked that he be left alone and that they continue with their own business. After a few days had passed of the blessed month of Ramadhan, a group of people said that now that he had not accepted to hold congregational prayer, at least he accept to deliver sermons so that some people could benefit from his presence. Finally, after some convincing the Imam agreed to deliver a sermon which would be held in the blessed month of Ramadhan at 5 p.m. in the mosque located in the center of the town. The Imam would sit on the ground at the base of a pillar while the crowd sat around him. In this session I noticed a couple of noteworthy points that I will never forget. One was that on the first day when, the religious authorities and clergymen came to participate and the session had ended, the Imam stated to them that if they wanted to participate, he would stop these sessions because they must safeguard their social status. The second point was that it was customary that if a clergyman would enter, out of respect, somebody in the crowd would invoke salutations for him. Here too there was a person who as soon as the Imam entered would urge the crowd to invoke salutations for him. On the first day that the crowd had invoked salutations of peace on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his immaculate household (A.S), the Imam asked to see that person after the session had ended and stated: “Are the salutations that you invoke is for my entrance or for the Honorable Prophet of Islam? If you are invoking the salutations for the Honorable Prophet of Islam (PBUH), then invoke it at another time and in case it is for the sake of my entrance to the mosque, then I am not acquiescent.”‌ I remember one point from the session that the Imam stated in a very simple language that: “Beloved Muslim brethren, you who have discovered flannel suit and wear them and with wearing a flannel suit your state of mind changes and you become proud. Have you ever thought for yourself that of what material these flannel suits are made from? Is it not made of the wool that covers the back of a sheep? Before this, the sheep was wearing the same wool and was not proud of it whereas now that that same wool has been woven and dyed, and has been made into a suit, suddenly it has changed your state of mind. What a misfortune it is that we content ourselves with such baseless things!”‌

He did not add anything to his wealth

Throughout the lifetime of the Imam we witnessed that he did not add anything to his wealth. Only a small property that he inherited from his father that was agricultural land and he spent the income derived from it for his expenditures.

No one has the right to come out with me from the seminary

In 1969, when ten thousand pilgrims from Iran were given the visa to visit Iraq after the Haj pilgrimage, a large number of pilgrims participated in the congregational prayer led by the Imam and held at the Borujerdi Seminary in Najaf. After the prayers, they wanted to accompany the Imam through the streets while chanting greetings of peace and invoking salutations to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his immaculate household (A.S). However the Imam every night after the prayers when he wanted to leave the seminary he ordered to communicate to the people that no one had the right to come out of the seminary with me. Thus the pilgrims would wait in the seminary until the Imam had already left and gradually come out of the seminary. He had ordered the Iranian pilgrims not to pursue him in a situation when he was very lonely in Iraq and without any companion.

The house of the Imam was like the dwelling of the poorest residents of Najaf

Around the bend of one of the narrow lanes in which the houses in order to guard against the sizzling sun were built very close to each other was the humble dwelling of Ayatollah Khomeini. This house was like the dwelling of the poorest residents of Najaf.

In the three rooms of the house, a maximum number of twelve of those closest to him resided. In this humble dwelling, there was no sign of the leaders of the revolt or the leaders of the opposition front who were living in exile. We were received by the Ayatollah in a room measuring 3 x 4 meters in a house that was located farthest from the center of the city of Najaf. A city that from the geographical point of view is located in the worst region of Iraq.

Source:

The Book "Manifestation of the Friend: A collection of memoirs about Imam Khomeini (R.A)"

Other Links:

Manifestation of the Friend: Subtle Spirit (part 5)

Manifestation of the Friend: Subtle Spirit (part 6)