Rays of the Sun
Imam and Worship
He was reciting ziyarat from on the roof:
I have seen very few people who have perceived and put into action all
the aspects of Islam. Imam however, had this characteristic. In the
same way that he was superiorly skilled and talented in politics, in
affairs of worship also, he was not negligent. In matters of worship he
was so precise and full of struggle, that even among those who practice
strict self-discipline on the path of gnosticism, there are few like
him.
I remember that after the coup d’etat in Iraq, military government had
been enacted all over the country. One day, the brother of Martyr
Marhum Hajj Agha Mustafa said:
“I saw that Agha was not in his room. We said: “(God forbid that) Agha
has gone to the shrine! Where has he gone?” We went looking
everywhere, and finally saw that he had gone to the roof and was
standing in such a way that the dome of the shrine was apparent, and he
was in the process of reciting ziyarat in the direction of the
shrine.[^1]
Hujjatul Islam Sayyid Hamid Ruhani
Recite Ziyarat-e-Rajabiye:
* *
In one of his speeches in Najaf given in the form of a sermon, Imam
recommended: “Recite Ziyarat-e-Rajabiye, [^2] because this ziyarat
mentions the status of the Infallibles of Allah, such as: ‘There is no
difference between you (Allah) and them except that they are your
slaves.’”
Imam emphasised this and said: “Only their being a slave causes the
difference between them and Allah. Otherwise all the strengths of Allah
are in their hands as well.”
He then said: “Recite this ziyarat so that if anything of the status
of the Infallibes of Allah has been narrated for you, you consider it
probable and do not reject it.”
Ayatullah Mu’min
Ziyarat-e-Ashura while walking
* *
Imam used all his time for studying and writing or other forms of
worships that have been mentioned. If one were to study just those
works that have been recorded and published and assign them to his
blessed life, they will well understand how he used his hours and even
minutes of his life and benefited greatly from them, despite the fact
that he was not a writer by nature.
He even used his half-hour walks in the morning and afternoon, which he
especially used to do near the end of his life at the advice of doctors.
Imam had specific supplications and dhikrs for that time so that he
could carry out worship and work even while walking, and when he recited
Ziyarat-e-Ashura, he would usually recite the 100 curses and 100
Salaams while walking.[^3]
Hujjatul Islam Rasuliye Mahallati
Imam’s Mafatih was bound every few months
* *
Imam was so familiar with (his) Mafatih, that every few months his
Mafatih would tear and we had to bind it, or else we were always
finding another one for him.[^4]
Hajj Ahmad Agha Khomeini (Imam’s son)
He requested a Mafatih while in Turkey
* *
When Imam was exiled from Iran to Turkey, in his first letter that he
wrote from Turkey to Iran he requested a Mafatihul Jinan and Saheefe
Sajjadiya. This was an indicator of his superior and worshipping
spirit, along side his attention to political and social affairs. Imam
distanced himself from all types of narrow thinking (i.e. looking at
things from one perspective only).[^5]
Hujjatul Islam Sayyid Hamid Ruhani
I understood why Imam was upset
* *
At the end of the Iranian year 1367, one day I entered Imam’s room and
I saw that the Imam was very upset. Seeing that he was upset, I sat
silent for a while. Agha said to me: “Give me that Mafatih.” I got
up and brought the Mafatih. He had a glove on and turning pages was
also hard for him. Because he was upset, he kept turning pages but
could not find what he was looking for.
There was one hour left till Maghrib; he said to me: “Until now I
thought that today is the last day of Rajab, and until now I have been
carrying out the recommended acts and supplications of the last day of
Rajab. Now I have realised that it is the 1st of Sha’ban and I
really don’t know what to do.
I then understood that his distress was because from morning till now,
he had been doing the recommended acts and reciting and supplications of
the month of Rajab, and now that newspaper had come, he had realised
that it was the 1st of Sha’ban and that Rajab was 29 days and not
30. Agha kept turning pages until he found (what he was looking for)
and said to me: “Read this Munajaat of Sha’baniya[^6], there are many
excellent things in it.” And then he got ready to read it.[^7]
Hujjatul Islam Masihe Burujurdi
Order in ziyarat
* *
The days when we were in Najaf, we used to set our clocks by Imam’s
actions; for example, when he carried out a certain action, we knew what
time it was.
Two and a half hours after Maghrib, Imam would come out of the house,
and when three hours of the night had passed, no earlier nor later, he
would go to the shrine. In his final days (in Najaf) when the police
were watching over him, they were at ease (at this time). When the Imam
entered the shrine, they went to carry out their own work because they
knew what time Imam will come out, and they would return at that very
time.[^8]
Hujjatul Islam Naasiri
[^1]: Paa be Paaye Aaftaab, Vol 3, Pg. 165
[^2]: Mafatihul-Jinan, Supplications for every day of Rajab
[^3]: Fasalnameye Hawze, No. 37-38
[^4]: Bardashthayi az Seereye Imam Khomeini, Vol 3, Pg. 108
[^5]: Ruznameye Jumhuriye Islami, 26/4/68
[^6]: Supplication especially for the month of Sha’ban
[^7]: Bardashthayi az Seereye Imam Khomeini, Vol 3, Pg. 104
[^8]: Bardashthayi az Seereye Imam Khomeini, Vol 2, Pg. 25