and instructor of ethics at whose feet many professors from Universities and Hawza (Islamic Seminaries) had knelt in devotion, to be compiled, published and presented to the public, especially the youth-who are in dire need of it at the outset of their life.

If one of disciples of the Shaykh, who is given to writing, had made this valuable and instructive endeavor, there would have undoubtedly been compiled a more comprehensive collection than the present volume. For some reason, however, this was not accomplished, mainly due to the fact that most of the Shaykh's disciples and companions, who potentially could have played a helpful part in compilation of such work, have already departed from this world.

Several years ago I began to feel that the chance for accomplishing this task was gradually being lost, and if the memories of those devotees of the Shaykh who are still alive were not complied by now, perhaps it would never be possible to write his didactic biography, and truth-seekers would be deprived for ever of knowing the truths that this man of God had been able to discover. Thus, I brought up the issue with a brother-in-faith and asked him to arrange interviews with the Shaykh's devotees and record their memories on the basis of the topics that I had gathered about him.

This was carried out and the memories were written down. It was, then, prepared and edited by The Islamic Research Foundation and in June, 1997 was published by Dar al-Hadith

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Publication by the name of Tandis-i Ikhlas (A Figure of Sincerity).

In spite of all its inefficiencies, the book was highly acclaimed by the readers, especially the young generation, to the extent that in a short while it sold out over a hundred thousand copies in eleven reprints.

By further research, more valuable points about the Shaykh's spiritual wayfaring and self-enrichment were revealed. This time, despite all my busy occupations, for some reasons I decided to reorganize the book in a way that the spiritual character of that devoted gnostic, secrets of his spiritual achievements, and his method of self-improvement can be rewritten. The present book is, by Grace of Allah, the product of that decision. In this new edition, renamed 'The Elixir of Love', some considerable remarks have been made.

For further details, however, the interested reader may refer to the newly published Persian translation of Mizan al-Hikmah by the same author as specified at the footnotes.

rather than showing how to cure.

Explaining the roots of morals and indicating the way to remedy (of immorality) does not drive one near to destination, does not enlighten a darkened heart, and does not rectify a corrupt disposition. A book on ethics is one that by reading it a hard (and unfeeling) soul turns tender, the impure becomes purified, and the darkened gets radiant; and that is achievable only if the scholar (preacher) is a leader while instructing, a therapist while presenting (ways of) therapy, and if his book itself is the medicine for the ailment rather than a prescription exposing medications. The words of a spiritual physician should serve as medicine, not prescriptions; and the above mentioned books are prescriptions rather than medications; though if I dared I would say that some of them (even) seem doubtful to be (considered as) prescriptions -this topic, however had better be dispensed with."

The reader will find out by experience that the present Commemorative Volume is not prescription revealing medications; rather, it is indeed a medicine that heals diseases of the heart, makes the hearts tender and radiant, and takes the spiritual seeker closer to his destination and goal.

named-are reliable and I am confident that what they have said is nothing but truth.

What is remarkable is that all the things said about the reverend Shaykh here is what his disciples have said about him without referring to them in details.

Another point worth mentioning is that in quoting from the interviews great care has been taken to mention the exact words and make the least literal and editorial corrections as far as possible.

in comprehending those stations. That was why the late Imam Khomeini (ra)-the founder of The Islamic Revolution, strongly cautioned his beloved son, Haj Ahmad Agha, of such attitude. He wrote:

"My son! What I first and foremost recommend to you is not to deny the stations of those endowed with Divine knowledge, which is the manner of the ignorant; and beware of those denying the status of the friends of God, as they are highway robbers of Truth."(1)

And in his advice to Haj Ahmad Agha's wife, he states: "I would not like to exonerate the pretenders; 'for many a cloak deserve to be burnt'. Rather I want you not to negate the essence of spirituality, which the book (the Qur'an) and the Sunnah (of Rasul Allah (s)) have alluded to and its opponents have either ignored it or have engaged themselves in the monotheism of the masses. I enjoin you (to know) that the first step is to get out of the thick veil of negation, which is an obstacle to any development and any positive step. This (first) step is not perfection (in itself); rather it opens up the path to perfection."

"In any case, one cannot find a way toward Divine knowledge with a negating attitude. As being selfish and egotistic, those who negate the stations of the gnostics and the positions of spiritual seekers would not attribute to their own ignorance whatever they do not comprehend, and negate it lest their selfishness and egotism would not

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be marred."(1)

(s), the Imam (a), and the Faithful. Thus, it is not surprising to say that the spiritual stations and virtues of individuals like the reverend Shaykh are indescribable.

A disciple of the Shaykh, to whom the present author has for years been devoted and quoted various accounts on the Shaykh's spiritual stations from, said that Once the Shaykh had told him:

"O such and such! No one knew me in the world, but I will be known on two occasions; once when the twelfth Imam (aj) will have returned, and once on the Resurrection Day."

Accordingly, introducing the spiritual virtues and perfection of the reverend Shaykh in itself is a task that cannot be carried out by such books as the present volume and the like. The deepest impact that writing his radiant biography can leave would be by illuminating the general features of the reverend Shaykh's life, secret of his attaining the high spiritual stations of those endowed with Divine Knowledge, and his way in education and self-building. This, in itself, is a great and valuable task that has, by the Grace of Bounteous Allah, been undertaken. We are grateful to Him for such great achievement. Perhaps this writing is going to be a beginning step toward the actualization of the Shaykh's prophecy of his being briefly known after his death. As his son has quoted him saying: "No one gets to know me and after my death, I will be known."

Muhammadi Rayshahri April 1, 1999

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Muntazari) Alley. He lived in this small house the rest ofhis life. His son says:

'Whenever it rained, the ceiling began to drip. One day, an army general, along with some other governmental officials, came to our house. We had placed some basins and bowls under the rain dripping from the ceiling. Having seen our condition of living, he bought two pieces of land and showed them to my father, and said he had bought one for himself and one for him. My father replied: What we have is sufficient for us.'

Another of his sons says: 'When my life condition changed for the better I said to my father: 'Dear father! I have got four tomans and this brick house can be sold for sixteen tomans. So let me buy a new house on Shahbaz Avenue.'

The Shaykh said: "Whenever you wish go and buy one for yourself; for me, this one is good enough!"

He goes on to say: 'After my marriage, we prepared the two rooms upstairs and said to our father: 'High-ranking people come to visit you; so, please arrange for your meetings in these two rooms.' He replied:

"No way! Whoever wants to see me, let him come to sit in this dilapidated room."

The room he was talking about was a small one carpeted with a simple coarse mat made of cotton with a table for tailoring.

Interestingly enough, several years later, the reverend Shaykh let one of his rooms to a taxi

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driver named "Mashdi Yadullah" for twenty tomans a month. Later on, when the latter's wife gave birth to a daughter, the late Shaykh gave the name "Ma'suma" to her. When he recited adhan and aqama into the baby's ears, he placed a two toman bank-note in the comer of her swaddling clothes, and said:

"Aqha Yadullah! Now your expenses have increased; from this month instead of twenty tomans pay only eighteen tomans (for rent)."

often, he used such simple foods as potatoes and puddings. At the tablecloth, he would kneel down facing the qibla and kind of bending over the food. Sometimes he would also hold up the plate in his hands while eating. He would always eat with full appetite. Sometimes he would put some of his food in the plate of a friend that he could reach out (as a sign of respect). While eating, he would not talk, and the others would also keep silent out of respect for him. If someone invited him to a feast, he would accept or reject it with some deliberation. Nevertheless, he would most often accept his friends' invitations.

He would not mind eating out; however, he was conscious of the effect of food on one's soul, and regarded some spiritual changes as a consequence of eating certain foods. Once, while he was traveling to Mashhad by train, he felt some spiritual contraction. He made an appeal (to Ahlul Bayt (a)), then after a while he was informed by intuition that the spiritual contraction had been the consequence of drinking of the tea served by the train's restaurant.(1)

reverend Shaykh had chosen this job as a means of livelihood. Hence, he was known as Shaykh Rajab Ali Khayyat (the tailor). Interestingly, his simple small house, as described before, was his tailoring workshop, too.

In this respect one of his children says: 'At first, my father had a room in a Caravanserai, where he pursued his tailoring profession. One day the landlord came to him and asked him to leave the place. The next day and without any arguing or demanding any due rights, my father packed up his sewing machine and sewing table, brought them home, and gave the room back to the landlord. Ever since, he worked at home in a room near the entrance as his tailoring workshop.

pale in the countenance out of fatigue. He was going home carrying some tailoring tools and material that he had bought. I told him: 'Agha have some rest, you are not feeling well.' He replied:

"What should I do with the wife and the children then?!"

The Holy Prophet (s) is quoted as saying:

ان الله تعالی یحب أن یری عبده تعباً فی طلب الحلال

"God likes to see his servant tired out in the way of earning his lawful sustenance." (1)

ملعون ملعون من ضیع من یعول

"Cursed is the one, cursed is the one who does not provide for his family's sustenance."(2)

Shaykh to make a robe, a cloak, and a quilted cloak. I asked him how much I should pay.' "It needs two days work, so the wage will be forty tomans." He said.

A couple of days later when I went for the clothes, he said: "The wage is only twenty tomans."

I inquired: 'You said forty tomans?' He replied: "First I thought they needed two days work, but it just took one day to complete!"

Someone else also said: 'I took some cloth to him to make a pair of trousers. I asked him how much it will come to. He said: 'Ten tomans.' I paid him right away. When some time later I went to pick up the trousers, he placed a two-toman note on it and said: "The fee came to eight tomans."

The Shaykh's son said: 'Once he settled with a customer to make a robe for 35 Rials. Some days later the customer came for the role. No sooner had he walked away with the robe than my father ran after him and gave him five Rials back, saying: "I thought it would take me longer time to make this robe, but it did not!"

equity in transoctions is effective in self-building, and that God's favor with the reverend Shaykh is not exaggerated on, it will be worthwhile to deliberate on the following account:

such and such a city. Quite difficult as it sounded at first, but for that sacred purpose, it appeared to be so convenient.

I do not need that, I only need the money; if you buy this lock from me for three shahis, I will pray for you."

The old man said with utmost naivety: "My sister! You are a Muslim, and I too claim to be a Muslim. So why should I buy a Muslim's property for a low price and deny someone's right? This lock already costs eight shahis; if I want to benefit from it, I'll buy it for seven shahis, for it is unfair to make more that a shahi profit in a deal of only two abbasis. If you are sure you want to sell it, I'll buy it for seven shahis, and I repeat again, the real price is two abbasis. Since I am a businessman I buy it for one shahi less.

The old woman perhaps would not believe what the man said. She was upset and complained that nobody had been willing to buy that price. She said she begged them to buy it for three shahis, because ten dinars would not have sufficed her. The old man paid seven shahis to the old woman and purchased it from her.

be required; instead show good action and be a Muslim so that I can interact with you. Of all people of this city, I picked out this old man, since this man is religious and knows God. And you observed the trial he went through: This old woman requested all in the bazaar, to fulfill her need and since they found her desperate and needy, they were all seeking to buy (her lock) cheap; and nobody bought it even for three shahis. This old man, however, bought it for its real price, i. e., seven shahis. Thus, every week I pay a visit to him and show kindness and amiability to him."(1)

scene, I burst into tears. I climbed down the roof, picked up some copper and bronze (utensils) took it to the small market nearby, sold it, andbought some cooked rice. On the way back, I ran into my brother, Qasim Khan, who was a rich man. He saw I was very disturbed; he inquired the reason for my disturbance. I told him the story. When he found about the issue, he said: 'What are you talking about? I saw Shaykh Rajab Ali handing out one hundred tokens for chelowkebab among the people! Charity begins at home! When does this man want to…? It is true that he is a devoted and ascetic man, but his acting this way (neglecting his own family) is not rightful.'

"Hearing these words I got even more frustrated. When at night the Shaykh came home I had an argument with him...and then went to sleep disturbed and agitated. In the middle of the night I heard I was called out to get up. I got up, I saw (in the dream) it was Mawla Ali Amir al-Mu'minin (a) who introduced himself and said: He has been looking after the people's children, and we have been looking after yours! When your children starved to death, then go on and complain!"

home of the richest man in our neighborhood. Handing the bags over to the owner of the house, my father said:” Dear fellow! Do you remember the British took the people to the doorstep of their embassy and gave them rice, and took back an ass-load(1) of rice in return for each grain they had given to them, and they still do not let them go?!"

With this joking, we handed the rice over and returned home. The next morning he called out to me and said:" Mahmud! Buy a quarter of a kilo half-broken rice as well as two Rials of fat oil and give it to your mother to cook some rice!"

At those times, such behavior of my father was too heavy and unintelligible, for why must he have to give away the rice we had at home, whereas for our lunch we had to buy half-broken rice?!

Later on, I found that fellow had been bankrupt and (meanwhile) he was going to have a large feast.

son's trouser leg was torn. So, I left the money he had given to me in the counter's drawer and ran away. Whatever the Shaykh shouted I did not return. When I got home I found he had been chasing me. He said:

"Why did not you take money?" And he insistently gave the money to me! ,

and resorting to His Prophet's (s) tradition."

And he said:

"Nothing like acting according to the commandments causes man's prosperity and sublimation."

The Shaykh used to say time and again:

"The religion of Truth is the one preached on Minbars (pulpits), but it is lacking in two entities: Sincerity and love of God Almighty; these must be added in the preaching."

He said:

"The righteous are all doing well, but they should replace their 'egos' with 'God'."

And he said:

"If the believers give up the egotism, they will achieve something (i.e., high status)."

He also used to say:

"If man surrenders to God, abandons his own (biased) opinions and bigotry, and trust whole-heartedly in God, God will teach and guide him onto His own Path."

I saw a group passing by, with the Satan holding the reins of the one who was leading the rest. I asked who they are. They said:…… "

The reverend Shaykh believed that those who keep themselves at a distance from the Ahl al-Bayt (a) in their spiritual seeking, the gates to real Divine knowledge will be closed to them.

One of the Shaykh's sons relates: 'My father and I had gone to the "Bibi Shahrbano" Mountain.(1) On the way we encountered a so-called practicing ascetic who had some boisterous claims. My father asked him:

"What has come out of your ascetic practices so far?"

That person bent down, picked up a piece of stone from the ground, transformed it into a pear, and offered it to my father, saying: 'Here you are, have it!

My father said:

"Well-done, you did it for me; now tell me what do you have for God? What did you do for Him?!"

Upon hearing this, the ascetic (recluse) burst into tears.

night, a dervish came to me and said: I know the science of kimiya (alchemy), simiya (the producing of vision), himiya (the subjugating of souls), and limiya (magic) and came here to impart them to you, in exchange for the reward of what you did last night.'

I answered to him: No! If these were of any use, you would have kept them for yourself !"

Then the Shaykh stressed on the narrations from the Ahl al-Bayt (a) asserting that if a person acts sincerely and purely for forty days, the fountainheads of wisdom will spring up from his heart(1), and pointed out:

"According to these traditions if a person fulfills his religious obligations, they will definitely acquire certain illumination."

Acting according to the Shaykh's recommendation, that person gave up self-mortification and returned to his normal life.

was always cheerful and smiling. He rarely got infuriated; and when he did, it was the time when the Satan and the nafs (vain desires) would come toward him. At such times, he would be overwhelmed by fury and would usually leave home, until he would win over the nafs; then he would calm down and return home.

One point that he would always emphasize and recommend to others regarding "good disposition" was that one should always be good-tempered for the sake of God and be well behaved toward people.

In this respect, he would say: "Be humble and good-tempered for the sake of God, rather than for pleasing people and as hypocrisy."

The Shaykh was quite taciturn; his pensive look explicitly indicated that he was engrossed in deliberation, remembrance of and attention to God. The beginning and the end of his talk was always concerning God. Looking at him would remind one of God. When sometimes he was asked where he had been, he would answer:

"Inda Malikin Muqtadir-In the presence of a Sovereign Omnipotent."

In the supplication sessions (e.g., Nudba and Kumayl, etc.) he would weep a lot. Whenever the poetry of Hafiz and Taqdis was recited his eyes would turn tearful. At the same time of weeping he was also capable of smiling or stating something in order to soften the possible boring climate into a cheerful one. He felt a deep love toward the holy Imam Ali Amir al-Mu'minin (a), and was his staunch advocate and

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lover. Whenever he sat down or stood up he would very gently recite the dhikr of 'Ya Ali adrikni' (O Ali! Hearken my pleading).

yourself! Who do you think I am?!"

living condition was so miserable that many people were even unwilling to enter such places as that. With utmost humbleness, the Shaykh went to him and after a warm greeting, he collected his unwashed and half-burnt clothes to wash and mend. Then the old man said to the Shaykh that his possessions had been lost and he had not been able to carry on his job. Hearing this, the Shaykh turned to me and said:

"Give him something to restart his business with!"

to my father once said to me: 'Do you know why! I love your father? It is because when the first time I went to visit him he was sitting next to the door in his room. I greeted him, then he said: "Go sit down!" I did so. A while later a blind man arrived; I saw that the Shaykh stood up, embraced him respectfully, and seated him near himself.

"I was looking around the house to see what was going on when I noticed the blind man rose up to leave. At the same time the Shaykh went ahead of him to help him put on his shoes, and then placed ten tomans in his hand and the blind man left.

When it was my time to say goodbye, however, he did not move from where he was sitting and just said: "Khuda Hafiz!"(1)

Traveling Ethics In his blessed and outshining life, the Shaykh had made trips to Mashhad, Kashan, Isfahan, Mazandaran, and Kermanshah. The only travel he had outside Iran was to Iraq in order to make pilgrimage to the Holy Shrines there. From these trips, which were usually made in the company of his friends, that part of the memories and instructive points which are related to the traveling ethics are selected and brought up in the present volume.

According to the Shaykh's co-travelers, he had been good-natured, unfeigned in sincerity, and pleasurable to travel with. He never differentiated himself from his disciples and devotees. If some

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luggage and provisions were supposed to be carried along the trip, he would carry his portion and also paid his share of the expenses.

gave an account of Hazrat Dawood (a) as follows:

"While passing through a desert, His Holiness saw an ant picking some dust from a small mound and carrying it to put in another place. He asked Allah (s) to inform him of the secret of this ant. ...The ant began to speak: 'I have a beloved who has set as a condition for my union with her the carrying of all dust from that mound to this place!'

'How long will you be able to shift such big mound of dust to the required location? After all, will your life be sufficient for that'? The Prophet Dawood (a) asked the ant. To which he answered: 'I know all this! But my joy is in that if I die in this way I will have died in the way of my beloved!' Hearing this, Hadrat Dawod got quite overwhelmed and figured out this story as a lesson for himself."

The reverend Shaykh always insisted that:

"With all your being (whole-heartedly) be awaiting Wali 'Asr (aj) and carry on this state of awaiting while depending on Divine Dispensation. "

before the Faraj, he would say to his friends:

"If you would find the honor to witness his (Holy Imam's) reappearance give my regards to him."

The Purgatory State (Barzakh) of a Young Man Awaiting Imam Mahdi (aj)

During the burial of a young man, the Shaykh said:

"I saw Harat Imam Musa bin Ja'far (a) stretched his arms to embrace this young man. I asked (the people around) what his last word before dying was. They said it was this poem:

'The awaiting ones are parting with their souls in their last breaths, O King of the noble, grant us your Succor!"'

al- 'Asr (aj). He had specified in his will when he died to be buried at the foothill of Shahrbanu mount--on the outskirts of Shahr-i Ray. Whenever I directed my attention toward his grave, I saw the Imam (aj) was there!"(1)

to other poets, and would always recite his poems even when he wished to warn or reproach someone.'(1)

He always referred to the world as a "hag". Sometimes facing a disciple he would say:

"I see you have fallen again in the trap of this 'hag'!"

And then, he would recite this poem of Hafiz:

'There is none who is not entangled in that curling ringlet,

Who is there in the way of whom lies not such a snare of tribulation?'(2)

He would also say ironically:

"Most often they get entangled in it, and very few are the ones who are detached from this hag!"

He would recite this fine couplet in condemning self-conceit:

'Being self-conceited and self-opinionated is infidelity toward being a dervish recluse,

The command is what You (God) ordain, the opinion is what You think of.'

of Hafiz.

'Who is the one who, out of loving kindness, may practice sincerity to us?

(And) may do benevolence in lieu of ill-doing to such ill-doer as me'

He sang some couplets of this ghazal with a very beautiful and pleasant melody while weeping and making others extremely overwhelmed and tearful. It was so extraordinary! I said to Dr. Goya 'The reverend Shaykh has got such a lovely voice and sweet breath!

He replied. 'It is a pity you made such belated acquaintance with him He used to sing so beautifully that when he recited such poems in a mystical state, the doors and walls literally vibrated.'

thankful to You for all Your Bounties)(1)

An Amazing and Instructive Miraculous Act(2)

At the end of the weekly session of "ethics" lesson(3), a young man came forward and, referring to what was mentioned at the footnote No.1 of this page, stated: "I am coming from Yazd. This issue was brought up in a meeting where some of those present ridiculed and said it was because of the Shaykh illiteracy that he did not know this phrase is not found in al-Sahifah al-Sajjadiyya! At that night, I saw him in a dream. He said:

"What is quoted from me is not right. What I have said is as follows: 'And let my atitude to Thee for what Thou hast not granted me be more abundant than my gratitude to Thee for what Thou hast bestowed upon me!'(4) And this content does exist in supplication number 35 of al-Sahifah al-Sajjadiyya!"

No doubt, this has been a true dream, since it is extremely important and essential to note that "it is a great blessing for man not to attain various worldly pleasures and luxuries which may divert him from sublime human goal; it is a great blessing that deserves much more gratitude and gratefulness than gratitude for the bounties that man has attained in the world." Also, finding such an issue from al-Sahifah al-Sajjadiyya in a dream without connection to the Unseen world is usually impossible.(5)

and the ruling statesmen. He was not only opposed to the Shah, but also disapproved Musaddeq. He praised, however, Ayatollah Kashani (ra) and said: "His inward aspect was similar to a fountainhead."

hand over the banner to the rightful banner-bearer (Imam Mahdi (a))."

I asked: 'Yourself (will hand it over)?'

Imam (ra) kept silent and did not answer.'

کل داخل فی باطل أثمان: أثم العمل به، وأثم الرضا به

"Whoever is content with conducts of some other people, he is like the one who has collaborated with them in those actions; and whoever perpetrates a falsehood two sins are recorded for him: One for doing it, and the other for being content with it."(1)

trouble because of him.

Ahadith, and supplications, presenting very fine and accurate comments of them that others were less aware of.

Thus, the reverend Shaykh's familiarization with the Islamic knowledge was due to his benefiting from the presence of such great dignitaries and their like. However, the beginning of his leap forward and spiritual development must be sought somewhere else, which was a turning point in his blessed life. That is, when the Shaykh said, "I had no teachers", he was pointing out to this issue.

One of his devotees quoted the Shaykh as having said: "I had no teachers, but I attended the sessions by the late Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Bafqi'(1) held in the courtyard of Harat Abdul Azim's (a) holy shrine where he lectured in the evenings. He was a spiritual man. One night he addressed me among the audience and said: 'You will attain a (high) station'."

Allah let the reward to be lost, of those who do right.) (Yusuf: 90), is a general rule and is not restricted only to the Prophet Yusuf (a).

This shows that what the Holy Qur'an says concerning the Prophet Musa (a) i.e.

(ولما بلغ اشده واستوی اتیناه حکماً وعلما وکذلک نجزی المحسنین)

(When he attained his full manhood, and was firmly established (in life) We gave him power and knowledge: thus do We reward those who do right.) (al-Qasas: 14)(1), is also a general rule. From the viewpoint of the Holy Qur'an all the righteous and the benevolent people are endowed with the light of wisdom and specific Divine knowledge.

love with me, and eventually found me alone in a desolate place. I said to myself: 'Rajab Ali! God can test you many times; why do not you test God once!? Restrain from this pleasurable unlawful act for the sake of God!'

'Then I said to God':

"O God! I refrain from this sin; and You train me for Your own in return!"

Thereupon, like the Prophet Yusuf (a), he bravely resisted falling into the sinful temptation, evaded the enticement, and promptly rushed away from the risky snare.

This self-control and avoidance of committing sin led him to insight and intuition; his otherworldly vision enlightened, seeing and hearing what others could not see and hear. He got such clear an insight that whenever he went out of his house he would see some people as they really were, and some mysteries were revealed to him.(1) The reverend Shaykh is quoted as saying:

"One day I went from "Mawlavi" intersection through "Sirus" Avenue down to "Galubandak" (a neighborhood in Tehran) and returned (the same way) and I saw just one human face!"

Rajab Ali Khayyat."

In the first step of Divine training, his eyes, ears, and heart opened up so that he could see beyond the world of matter and through the high Heaven the things other people could not see and hear what others could not hear .This esoteric experience prompted the Shaykh to believe that: ikhlas (sincerity and devotion) causes the eyes and the ears of the 'heart' to open up. He often asserted to his disciples:

"If one works for Allah, their heart's eyes and ears will open up."

promised bounties and believe in the Unseen through their unseen eyes."(1)

And in another hadith, the Holy Prophet (s) said:

"لولا تمزّع قلوبکم وتزیدکم فی الحدیث لسمعتم ما أسمع"

"If your hearts were not dispersed and you were not so loquacious, you would undoubtedly hear what I hear.(2)

Similarly, Imam al-Sadiq (a) said:

"ان للقلب أذنین: روح الایمان یساره بالخیر، والشیطان یساره بالشر، فایهما ظهَر علی صاحبه غلبه"

"Verily the heart has two ears: the Spirit of Faith whispers good in one and the Satan whispers evil in the other one. Thus, anyone of those that wins over the other will dominate him."(3)

them, and will fall unconscious by the manifestation of your Light when you look at them; You whisper to them secretly, and they work for You openly."

After being delivered from the traps of nafs-i ammara (the imperative carnal soul) and the satanic temptation and opening up of his heart's eyes and ears, the young tailor was ranked among such competent servants and from then on occasionally enjoyed inspirations from the Unseen, some received in dreams and some while awake, thus being graced with special guidance that is granted to the devoted and sincere mujahids (volunteers of faith).(1)

This guidance is explained in a hadith quoted from the Holy Messenger of Allah (s):

"اذا أراد الله بعبده خیرا فقهه فی الدین، وألهمه رشده"

"Whenever Allah intends good for a person, He makes them expert in religious law and inspires them toward the right path.(2)"

crossed my mind, but I repented right away. On the way, I saw a string of camels carrying in firewood from outside town. All of a sudden one of the camels gave me kick that if I hadn't pulled myself aside in time, it would severely hurt me. I went to the mosque with this question in my mind that where this event had originated from. I asked anxiously: 'O God! What was that?!

I was told intuitively: 'That was the outcome of what you thought. I said I did not commit any sin. I was responded: 'The camel's kick did not really hit you either.'(1)"

Threatened to a Destiny Like that of Balaam of Boer (Bal'am-i Ba'ura)

Among the Shaykh's devoted disciples was also Ayatollah Agha Mirza Mahmud-Friday prayer leader of Zanjan-who was a scholarly student of Mirza Na'ini. Such a learned scholar was highly impressed by the sincerity and brilliance of a detached person who was lacking formal education.

The Shaykh once said: "The Friday prayer leader of Zanjan came over along with some of the dignitaries from Tehran. He introduced the latter to me. Due to this visit I felt (with a sense of self-importance) that I attained such a high status that dignitaries come to meet me.

The night (of that same day) I had a strange state of mind, feeling so depressed. With imploring and beseeching God Almighty, my state of purity was restored. I got mindful that if this attitude had continued, what I would

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have done. How did it turn out this way?! I was engaged in such thought when I was shown Balaam of Boer(1) and was told: If this (attitude) continued you would turn like him; the outcome of all your struggle and attempts was that you would associate with famous figures, enjoying the world and being deprived of the Hereafter. This event was over and done with. On Fridays, we had regular sessions. Once, the session took longer than usual and lasted until noon. The owner of the house and the other friends proposed to have lunch there, and I agreed. The next week again the session lasted until noon and once again the tablecloth was spread; naturally with more variety of foods this time. And this happened for several weeks. In one banquet with various foods and a best quality bar of butter in the middle of the tablecloth attracting everyone's attention. It crossed my mind that this banquet was for me, the meeting was held for me, and the other friends were invited for my sake, so I was prior to others to have the butter.

With this idea, I picked a little bread, and as soon as I reached for the butter, I saw Balaam of Boer in a corner of the room laughing at me! Then I held back my hand."

over to take me to the prison. The next morning I was very upset, wondering what the cause of that dream had been. With the grace from the Almighty Allah I found out that the dream was somehow related to my neighbor. I asked my family to see into the matter and inform me about it. My neighbor was a bricklayer; it was found out that he had been out of work for several days and the night before he and his wife had nothing to eat and slept the night hungry. I was told (intuitively): 'Woe to you! You sleep full whereas your neighbor is hungry?' At that time, I had a saving of three abbasis in cash! Without any delay, I borrowed another abbasi from a grocer in the neighborhood and together with my savings gave it to the neighbor and requested him to let me know whenever he was jobless and penniless."

"Love your Children for the Sake of God!"

Once the Shaykh said:

"One night I found I was in veil(1), and was unable to find my way to the Beloved. I tried to trace the origin of this veil. After long pleading and probing, I found it was the result of the feeling affectionor one of my children the evening before when I looked at his (her?) face! I was told (intuitively) that I should love my child for the sake of God! (So) I prayed God to forgive me for that (personal) affection. ..."

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I get to love him; in that case, I will become his ears to hear with, his eyes to see with and his tongue to speak with, and his hand to strike with. If he calls Me, I will answer him and if he makes a request from Me I will grant him"(1)

What is meant by "nafila" in the ahadith-i qurb-i nawafil, which follow the obligatory prayers, consist of good and righteous deeds, which expedite man's flight toward absolute perfection and the Sublime Destination of humanity.

One can, accordingly, through performance of good deeds for God's sake get closer and closer to absolute perfection; and at the peak of servitude, his eyes would not see except for the sake of God, his ears would not hear except for the sake of God, his tongue would not talk except for the sake of God, and his heart would not yearn except for the sake of God.

In other words, by submerging your will in the Will of Allah (swt)--as put in the ahadith-i qurb-i nawafil--God will become your eyes, ears, tongue and heart; and you will eventually attain the essence of servitude and Divinity.

According to the reverend Shaykh:

"If the eye works for God, it becomes Eye of Allah, if the ear works for God it becomes Ear of Allah, if the hand works for God, it becomes Hand of Allah, and so forth to the heart of man, which is God's place; as narrated:

"قلب المؤمن من عرش

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الرحمن"

"The heart of a believer is the Throne of Allah, the compassionate.(1)"

And as Imam Husayn (a) says:

"جعلتَ قلوبَ أولیائکَ مسکناً لمشیتک"

"O Lord! You made Your lover's hearts the station of Your Will and Providence.(2)"

Accurate and fair probing into the Shaykh's spiritual states indicates that, after the enormous leap he made in his youth as a result of rejecting the lustful temptation; and as an outcome of Divine training and the inspirations and assistance granted to him from the Unseen, he achieved such high levels of spiritual virtues. Perhaps, this was the secret of his great interest in the following poems which he frequently whispered:

"In the school of Eternity, it was Your Beauty that guided me; Your Grace aided me to be trapped in your (Divine) Snare."

"My vile carnal soul yearned for any falsehood; Your Gracious Emanation liberated me from its grips."

attained the status of fana fi Allah, and baqa bi Allah (subsistence in Allah); and by means of acting according to legal ordinances and spiritual path-faring through stations and states of spiritual discipiine, he joined the origin of Truth, graced with the Blessing from Almighty God.'

remembering Thee, every ease but proximity with Thee, every happiness but nearness to Thee every occupation but obeying Thee!(1)"

Another of his disciples, described the Shaykh's love of God as follows: 'The Shaykh was so enamored of God that in his presence nothing but talking about his beloved would be allowed to come up, except of course for some necessary subjects of daily matters. Sometimes he referred to the story of Layli and Majnun, in which Majnun was never interested to hear anything but about Layli. It was related that someone asked Majnun: Is Ali (a) rightful or 'Umar?

To which he answered: ' Layli is rightful! , He (the Shaykh) would say:

"Even if this story is not real, it may be fitting to drive home the (latent) reality in it."

وان العلماء ورثوا العلم بالطلب، وان الصدیقین ورثوا الصدق بالخشوع وطول العباده"

"The wise people are those who put their thought in work by means of which to acquire Love of God. When they reach this status--the holy Imam (a) went on to say--they set their desire and love toward their Creator, and thereby they reach the highest status, find their Lord in their hearts, and obtain wisdom not through the way the sages obtained, and find knowledge not through the way the scholars found, and achieve Sidq (sincerity) not through the way the pious achieved. The sages found sagacity by silence, the scholars found knowledge by seeking, and the pious attained piety and sincerity through humility and long-term worship.(1)

status of intuition of certitude.

وکذلک نری ابراهیم ملکوت السموت والأرض ولیکون من الموقنین))

(So also We show Abraham the power and the laws of the heavens and the earth, that he might (with understanding) have certitude.) (Al An'am: 75)

The Holy Prophet (s) is quoted as saying:

"لولا ان الشیاطین یحومون علی قلوب بنی آدم لنظروا الی الملکوت"

"If it were not that devils are dominant over the hearts of human beings, they would be witnessing the Malakut.(1)"

All those who have been delivered from the snares of nafs and Satan, by tearing apart the heart's veils, are able to observe the Malakut of the heavens and the earth, and to bear witness to the Oneness of the Sacred Essence of God.

(شهد الله أنه لآ اله الا هو والملئکه وأولوا العلم)

(There is no God but He: That is the witness of Allah, His angels, and those endowed with knowledge...) (Ale Imran: 18)

One of the Shaykh's disciples related: 'I asked the late Haj Muqaddas(2) whether the following hadith attributed to the Holy Prophet (s) is correct:

"لولا ان الشیاطین یحومون علی قلوب بنی آدم لنظروا الی الملکوت"

"If it were not that devils are dominant over the hearts of human beings, they would be witnessing the Malakut."

He answered: 'Yes.'

I asked: 'Do you see the Malakut of the heavens and the earth?

'No, but Shaykh Rajab Ali Khayyat does!' He replied.

a state of mind at the age of sixty that whenever he willed he would understand what he wished to.(1)

what a high position the Shaykh has attained; he sees many things and knows many things that are incomparable to what I know." I asked: 'How come?' He said:

"The first time I had an audience with him, the first thing he asked me after greetings was about my job. I said: I am a teacher. He asked: "Apart from teaching?" I replied: "I am a university professor and teach." He said: "No, I see you deal with a global object!" I was shocked to hear that and answered: "Yes, I do make geographical globes for livelihood and nobody knows about that."

Confirming Dr. Muhaqqiq's views, Dr. Farzam goes on with his memories about the reverend Shaykh: 'There are lots of things to say that if I were to count it would come to many volumes. The reverend Shaykh, due to his purified soul and inner sincerity, would simply see things and would plainly state them without needing-as the Sufis put it-"to be emerged in the sea of revelations", so that he has often said explicitly in the presence of his disciples:

"Friends! God has graced me with the blessing of seeing the Barzakhi (of intermediate world) body of people."

I have some other memories of the same nature to tell:

wear a long military coat. Having not ever seen him, the Shaykh once told me unprecedentedly:

"That tall man who wears military coat and comes to your house sometimes to help, is poor and has a large family, you should help him more!"

out very briefly some accounts that rate much higher than intuitive vision of state of affairs:

to go; their words and those of the reverend Shaykh came true.'

him) to become like him When I went to Karbala with him, we had gone to a bathhouse with him and I rubbed his back with a Turkish rubbing glove How pleasurable it was to be with him!'

passengers got on and we set off. On the way the bus conductor began collecting the fares and when he reached us, he refused to get fare from us three, but we disagreed. At last the conductor said: ' I will not get fare from that one-pointing to the Shaykh!'

Imam Musa bin Ja'far (a) and entreating that noble Imam (a) to help my getting visa. I returned to Tehran two days later. One of my colleagues, the late Ahmad Fayd Mahdawi, wanted to make an arrangement for his cousin named (the late) Hujj. Haj Agha Ziya'uddin Fayd Mahdawi to meet with the reverend Shaykh. Together with him (Haj Agha Ziya'uddin), we went to the Shaykh's house. When we got there, we were guided into a room that was half carpeted and was very simply furnished. The Shaykh asked us to recite the Sura of Tawhid seven times. He believed in the number seven very strongly. Then, he started to speak; and while busy giving guidance and advising, suddenly and unprecedentedly he faced me and said:

"You had a very good pilgrimage and your request had been granted; the effects are evident. Pray for me too!!"

I asked the Shaykh which pilgrimage he was talking about. He said: "The pilgrimage to Qum." And then went on with his advice.

Cursing Causes Darkness (of the Heart)

In the meantime, he said to the late Haj Agha Ziya'uddin Fayd Mahdawi:

"Do not curse so much! Cursing so much causes darkness; pray, instead!!"

And the latter replied: 'Obeyed!'

This admonition, obviously irrelevant to the discussion going on, was ambiguous to me. The next day, I brought up the subject with my colleague, Agha Ahmad Fayd Mahdawi, and asked him: 'What was the story of the cursing by Haj Agha Ziya'uddin?'

He explained: 'My cousin,

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i.e., Haj Agha Ziya'uddin, has a son who has got atheistic ideas; and he curses him (his son) after every prayer!'

As for my request having been granted as mentioned by the Shaykh, when I referred to the Iraqi Embassy two days later, as soon as the related officer saw me he said: Give me your passport to stamp it for a visa! Then he stamped my passport with a stamp having old Royal logo on it and then crossed out the word "Malik" (Imperial) and wrote "Jumhuri" (Republic) above it. This sounded very surprising to the other clients who where applying for a visa too.

Having received the visa, I left for Baghdad; and later on it turned out that before me only an American journalist had been admitted into Baghdad.

as a gift; I saw (intuitively) there was a fan placed before its inventor in the Hell-- (actually he meant) Barzakh."

This intuition is confined by the hadith that suggests that although the unbelievers do not go to paradise, but if they had done good things they would be rewarded. In a hadith by the Holy Prophet (s) we read:

"ما أحسن محسن من مسلم ولا کافر الا أثابه الله. قیل: ما إثابه الکافر؟ قال: ان کان قد وصل رحماً، او تصدق بصدقه، او عمل حسنه، أثابه الله تعالی المال والولد والصحه وأشباه ذلک. قیل: وما إثابته فی الآخره؟ قال: عذاب دون العذاب، وقرأ: (أدخلوا ءال فرعون أشد العذاب)"

"Whoever does good, whether a Muslim or an unbeliever, God will reward him." His Holiness (s) was asked: 'What is rewarding an unbeliever like?' The Holy Prophet (s) replied: "If they have had regard for kinship or given alms or done any good, God Almighty would grant them wealth, children, and health in reward to their good deeds.(1) " He was (further) asked: 'How will they be rewarded in the Hereafter?' The Holy Prophet (s) replied: "They will receive less severe punishment. Then he recited this verse from the Holy Qur'an: (Cast the people of Pharaoh into the severest burning fire!) (Al Nur: 46)

'I want a child to bequeath from me after my death.

The Shaykh responded:

"I will reply to you later on"

Some time elapsed and I was not informed of what answer the Shaykh gave to him. Until one day he invited me to a banquet. I asked him the occasion for the banquet. He replied that he had been granted a daughter. Recalling that session with the Shaykh, I asked him: 'Was the Shaykh's prayer answered?' He said: 'On some condition of course.' I asked: 'How come?' He explained: 'He (the Saykh) made me commit myself to take a calf to the village "Imam Zadeh Hasan" - a village near Shahr-i Ray -on the birthday of my daughter and slaughter it (as a sacrifice) to be distributed among the people there. And now is the first year of that commitment.

This continued for seven years. In the eighth year, however, the father was abroad and he could not fulfill his commitment. The same year the child died.

After this event, he was very frustrated. I intended to go to the Shaykh's house and asked him if he would like to go there too. He agreed, and I went a little earlier and told the Shaykh that such and such is upset for the death of his daughter. The Shaykh said:

"What shall I do? Is not the fulfillment of commitment one of the first conditions for being a Muslim? He did not fulfill his commitment."

Then our friend arrived,

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and the Shaykh made a little joking with him, saying:

"Do not be sad! God has granted you several palaces in paradise, instead; just be careful not to ruin them!"

same address--which was that of my own servant--the landlord assumed that I was accompanied by an agent from the C.I.D. I went right into the room and took the money from exactly where the Shaykh had described to me. When I was leaving, the landlord offered me tea, but I shouted at him and left the house.

The money was a sum of one hundred tomans in all. I took half of that money to the Shaykh and placed it with much gratitude before him, imploring him to accept it as my gift. He did not accept it. After my insistence and to my greatest pleasure, he agreed to pick twenty tomans, but not for himself; rather, he gave it back to me and said:

"I introduce to you some poor family whose daughters are in need of dowries; you should not leave it to anybody else but yourself do it. Go ahead and buy whatever they require and deliver them to their houses."

He did not take even a penny for himself!

smell?' We asked. Then he asked:

"The smell (scent) of red apples?"

Our answer was 'no' again. We went further on and met the man in charge of the cemetery

The Shaykh asked him:

"Has anyone been buried here today?"

The man answered: ' Just before you arrived someone was buried', and then he took us to a newly covered tomb. There it was! We all smelled the scent of red apples. We asked the Shaykh about the scent, to which he answered:

"When this person was buried here, His Holiness Hadrat Sayyid al- Shuhada Imam Husayn (a) came here and for the sake of this person (and by the blessed visit of Sayyid al-Shuhada (a)) the punishment was removed from those buried in this cemetery."

a session, someone was practicing witchcraft and the Shaykh's son was also present. He stated: 'I tried to hamper him, so whatever he did ended in failure. At last, he found out that I was interfering in his business and implored me not to "cut off his daily bread". Then, he gave me a precious rug as a gift. I took the rug home. As soon as my father saw it he said:

"Who has given this rug to you? (I see) fire and smoke is rising out of it! Take it back to its owner right away!"

And I did so.'

another one, and that one burned up too. This event made the host to that ceremony turn into a devotee of the Shaykh.

accept, discontinue the argument.

Shaykh and the late Ayatollah Muhammad Shahabadi (ra)(1) in Tajrish square. The Shaykh was very fond of Ayatollah Shahabadi; someone came to us and asked the latter.

"Do you say the truth or this man (pointing to the Shaykh)?

The late Shahabadi (ra) replied: "What truth are you talking about?

What do you mean?"

The man said again: "Which one of you say the right thing?"

Ayatollah Shahabadi said: "I teach and they (the students) learn; he (meaning the Shaykh) constructs and builds human beings."

Although this suggested how extremely humble and self-negating this divine man and ascetic was, it represented the efficacy of the Shaykh's speech and his enriching and training power as well.

as usual, when I went to have an audience with the.Shaykh, he said:

"Your professor Mr. Jalaluddin Huma'i came to me. I said some sentences to him; he was so deeply touched that he struck his forehead (as a sign of deep regret an repentance) and said: Strange!! I have fared the wrong path for sixty years!!"

It was actually the impact of the revernd Shaykh's words and personality that so deeply moved Professor Huma'i with such high scholarly and mystical status. May God bless their souls.

In some sessions of supplication and prayer, when the Shaykh began to talk in his absorption, he would say:

"Friends! Such words that I tell you are of the final class (advanced level) of mysticism."

And it was indeed so.

Another disciple of the Shaykh said: 'The Shaykh's lessons would transform copper into gold. Thus, the prime point in expounding the Shaykh's self -building power is the secret of his efficacy on the audience and his style of teaching and training as well as the method of (moral and spiritual) construction this divine man applied to his disciples.

others, attempt to teach himself (sufficiently) and before training others for good manners by speech should do the same by his own good manners."(1)

The most outstanding feature of the Shaykh's efficacy of discourse and his enriching power was his application of the above instruction of Amir al-Mu'minin Ali (a) and calling people to God by means of his good manner prior to his (use of) speech and preaching.

If the Shaykh called people to monotheism, he had already shattered (أرباب متفرقون) (Many lords differing among themselves) (Yusuf: 39) and on top of all his idol of nafs (carnal desire). If he called people to sincerity in all deeds, his deeds and gestures were all sincerely for God. If he ever fell negligent, God's Grace would come to his aid, in such a manner that he once said:

"Every needle that I drive in the cloth for the sake of other than God, it would stick into my finger."

And if he called others to love of God, he himself was burning fervently in the fire of love of God. If he called people to benevolence and self-sacrifice to others and serving them, he was himself a pioneer in this way. When he referred to the "world" as "the hag" and bewared others of liking it, his own ascetic life was clear evidence of his unwillingness to such "hag". And finally, if he called others to struggle against whims of nafs for the sake of God, he was himself on

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the forefront of this struggle and was triumphant like Yusuf (a) from a hard trial.

that negligence).

The youth gone by and the old age drawn near to its end,

I did nothing (worthwhile), I seek Allah's forgiveness.'

One of the Shaykh's disciples says: 'He would sing these poems in a way that we could not help crying. In the end he would read in an indescribably charming spiritual state one of the fifteen whispered prayers(1) attributed to Imam Zayn al-'Abidin (a).'

Another disciple said: 'In his supplication sessions I did not see anybody else shedding tears like him; his weeping was really heart- rending.

At the end of the supplication and serving tea, the reverend Shaykh would begin to talk and preach. He was very eloquent; in his lectures he would try to impart to others what he had found through the Qur'an and the Islamic traditions as well as the facts about which he had himself attained certitude.

The keyword he frequently used when addressing those present in his session was rufaqa (friends); and the main topics of his lectures included: monotheism, sincerity, love of God, consistent presence of heart, proximity to God, rendering service to people, pleading with the Ahl al-Bayt (a), awaiting faraj, warning against love of dunya (worldly-mindedness), egotism, and whims of carnal soul (nafs). In the next chapters the above topics will be discussed in details.

Dr. Thubati said about the beginning of his acquaintance with the reverend Shaykh and what his sessions were like: 'In the last years of high school, I was introduced to the reverend

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Shaykh by the late Dr. Abdul 'Ali Goya-holding Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from France -and attended his sessions around ten years. His sessions were brief and private, attended by very few people. Whenever the sessions got too crowded and some strangers attended, he would temporarily call the sessions off. That means he was not after (attracting many) followers.

Except for a few words, some advice, and preaching, which ended in a dua (supplication), nothing else would be brought up in his sessions. Although the talks were rather repeated, the sessions were so spiritually attractive that whatever repeated talks we heard they would not make us tired or bored at all(1) Like the Qur'anic verses that whatever much you recite they are still fresh and pleasant, his talks too were similarly always fresh and pleasant.

The sessions were so spiritual (and otherworldly) that nobody tended to bring up the material and worldly issues, and if by any chance someone would talk of the material things, the people around would ignore them with contempt or even disgust. The reverend Shaykh's talks mainly concerned "proximity to God", "love of God", and "journey toward God". He would epitomize "proximity to God" in the following brief words:

"You should change your ussa (i.e., ustad or master); that is, you have been doing for yourself whatever you did so far. From now on, whatever you do, do it for God and (know that) this is the nearest way to God. 'Step on your own self, embrace

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the Beloved.'(1)

All human selfishness is due to one's self-love; you will not attain anything (make no spiritual achievements) unless you turn to be a lover of God:

'If you get rid of your self, you will join the Beloved; Otherwise, keep burning eternally, your state of affairs being unripe'.

You should do things out of love for Him; that is, love Him and do things for the sake of His love. Loving Him and doing things for Him is the secret of all spiritual advances that mankind can make, and this will be possible. Thus, all human advancements are attainable by opposing carnal desires; you will not attain it unless you wrestle with your nafs (carnal desire) and knock it down."

He said about egotism:

"Here, a fatigued body and a broken heart is worth buying, the self-selling market is far away from this market place."

And he also said:

"Your price is as high as you demand; if you demand God, your price is infinite and if you demand the world (material possessions); your price is as low as what you have desired.

Do not ever say I wish this I wish that, (rather) see what God wishes. When you give a feast see if you invite whomever you desire or whomever that Allah wants you to invite. As long as you are following the footsteps of your carnal wishes, you will reach nowhere. The heart is God's Abode; do not let anybody else in; only God

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must be residing and presiding in your heart. Imam Ali (a) was asked how he attained such high station. 'I sat (watchful) at the gate of my heart and let no one except God in. He replied."

After his short talks, light refreshments would be served and then munajat (whispered prayer) would start. His munajat was really pleasant to hear and his spiritual state was very fascinating. He would not recite supplications plainly and formally; rather they were performed as whispering love songs to a sweetheart. While reciting munajat, he would so deeply get absorbed in the Beloved that it sounded as if a mother was seeking her lost child, weeping whole-heartedly lamenting and talking to the Beloved Friend in His Holy Presence.

Sometimes it seemed that amid the supplication, he would have received mystical intuitions, so that the signs and effects would then be revealed in his talks and manners. He deeply regretted that his "friends" did not make the advance that he had expected of them. He wished his friends opened up their eyes soon enough to see the angels and the Holy Imams (a).

When someone returned from a Ziyarat (of the Holy Imams' (a) shrines), he would ask him:

"Did you see that blessed Entity?"

Of course some were successful in this respect, too, and had found good spiritual states and even had some spiritual intuition. Others, however, were dragging behind.

Anyway, his munajat was highly enchanting so that it would enliven the others too. He

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knew the meanings of the supplications and stressed on some phrases in the supplication, repeating or explaining them sometimes. He would recite the supplication of Yastashir and Munajat-i Khamsa 'Ashar very often. He believed that the supplication of Yastashir(1) was expressing love to the Beloved.

During the month of Muharram, he would talk very little; he would, instead recite some poems from the book Taqdis on the afflictions of the Ahl al-Bayt (a), and would weep and then recite the munajat.

to you!"

The Shaykh believed that one would be ranked among the human beings unless he attains the status of Divine vicegerency. He would say:

"As spoons are for eating food and cups are for drinking tea, so also men are for turning into humans"

He would repeatedly say: "God has graced me with karamat; you too perform Godly work, He will grant you the same. O person whose profession is brick laying! O person whose work is tailoring! When you lay the brick or stitch with the needle, do it with love of God and be conscious of God! When you are wearing clothes .that cost one hundred tomans(1) a meter, do not say I have bought this one hundred tomans a meter; say, in stead, God has bestowed this on me. Represent God! Do not represent yourself!"

Shaykh Rajab Ali Khayyat, and his status of sincerity and spirituality and finally asked me 'to accompany to the Shaykh's Thursday evening session with him. I accompanied him to the Shaykh's session. When we arrived in, I saw the Shaykh was sitting facing the qibla and engaged in reciting the munajat of Arnir al-Mu'minin Ali (a):

"اللهم انی أسالک الأمان یوم لا ینفع مال ولا بنون .."

"O Lord! I seek Your security on the Day that neither property nor children are of any benefit."

At the same time some of his devotees were sitting behind him, chanting the munajat along with him. I, too sat behind the crowd in the last row, saying to myself: O God! If he is one of Your awliya, may You make my preaching sessions thrive so that I can get a good material benefit!

As soon as this idea crossed my mind, the Shaykh said in the middle of his supplication:

"I say forget about money, but he has come here to test me with money!"

He said this in Persian and then went on reciting the munajat (in Arabic):

"وأسالک الأمان یوم لا ینفع مال و..."

"I seek Your security on the Day that neither property……"

from the Shaykh's, sermons as much as their capacity. Due to the presence of such individuals, the Intelligence Service of the Shah's regime become suspicious toward the sessions held by the Shaykh, and commissioned a major called Hasan al-Baygi to attend - incognito the Shaykh's sessions together with another agent in order to report the reason for the presence of the government officials in those sessions.

When the Intelligence Service agent entered the session, the Shaykh said while preaching and giving advice to the audience:

"Focus your attention to God and do not let no one but God in your heart, as heart is (like a) mirror and if it gets the slightest stain, it will show itself up very quickly. Now, some look like informers and come in with a nickname; for instance his name is Hasan but he feigns to be such and such.

These words impressed and amazed the Intelligence Service agent, Major Hasan al-Baygi, whose real name was not known to anybody, so deeply that he was said to have resigned from SAVAK (the then Intelligence Service in Iran).

after greeting asked him why he does not let me in his sessions. He said:

"First, please your father, then I will talk to you!"

That night I went home and fell at my father's feet, imploring him to forgive me. Having gotten very surprised, my father asked: What has happened? I said: Do not ask anything, just forgive me, I know I did not know what I was doing. ...And finally my father forgave me.

The next morning I went to the Shaykh's house. As soon as he saw me, he said:

"Well done! Now come and sit next to me."

Since then, right after the Second World War, I remained in his company until his death.'

if he identifies first and foremost the origin of the illness, and has the suitable medicine at his disposal as well.

Great Messengers of God (a) who are the main instructors and trainers of the souls were generally possessed of this characteristic. They not only realized the general requirements of the human society in various ways, but they were perfectly aware of personal needs of each members of their community.

Imam Ali (a) comments on this feature of the Holy Prophet (s) as follows: "He was a physician who, with his knowledge, wandered about seeking his patients, while his medicines and medical instruments were prepared by all means. They were used on demand and healed the souls which were suffering (ailments such as) blindness, deafness, and dumbness. With his medicine, he looked for the houses of negligence and stations of bewilderment."(1)

Scholars of Divinity, who are true successors to the prophets and to their vicegerents, enjoy such characteristic too. They are the ones who according to Amir al-Mu'minin Ali (a):

"هجم بهم العلم علی حقیقه البصیره، وباشروا روح الیقین"

"Knowledge based on true insight have reached them and they have attained the spirit of certitude!"(2)

Of course, as stated inthe holy Imam's (a) words:

"أولئک والله الأقلَون عدداً، والأعظمون عند الله قدْراً"

"The number of those scholars of Divinity, who enjoy the highest status with their God Almighty, are very few in number..."(3)

path is having a knowledgeable, selfless perfected master. When a person is a seeker on the path to Allah, if they spend half of their lives looking for a master (ustad), it is worth it. The one who has found a master, they have traversed half the way.'

Careful study of the Shaykh's special guidelines to his disciples reveals that he had through self-negation, sincerity, and assistance from the unseen attained such a high status of spiritual perfection that he was able to diagnose the spiritual maladies and problematic situations arising in the lives of others, and to cure and resolve them with the proper prescription. This reality is clearly evident to those who are familiar with the Shaykh's life.

various predicaments, then he would avoid committing vileness and does not even think of them. The more this belief is strengthened, the more the ground for fostering pious human beings will be prepared.

With his Divine intuition and spiritual vision, the reverend Shaykh would literally notice the relation of vileness to the plights and predicaments of human life, and by stating them he would resolve peoples' problems and difficulties. Employing this method of self-building, he would direct them toward human perfection.

that Sayyid. When he found him, he apologized him and then put up a sign on the window of his restaurant that read:

"We sell on credit, even to you; cash will also be lent as much as we can afford!!"

were in Agha Radmanish's house. I said to him (the Shaykh): 'My father(1) died around the year 1352 A.H. 11933 CE. I would like to see how he is doing now (in the purgatory world). The Shaykh said:

"Recite (the Surah) al-Fatiha!"

Then he deliberated and paused for a while, and said:

"They do not let him come, he is encumbered due to his wife!"

I said: 'Please talk to his wife if possible.' He said: "Your stepmother is coming."

'She was a villager who was my father's wife, and since my father got married to several other women, so she was not on talking terms with my father to the end of her life. Whenever my father entered through a door, she would leave the room from another door.

I said to the Shaykh: 'Ask her what I should do to make her pleased with my father'. The Shaykh replied: "He (i.e., me) should feed the hungry." 'How many?' I asked. He said one hundred people. I said: 'I could not afford so many; and he finally lowered the number down to forty people. Upon accepting, the Shaykh said: "Your father's voice is heard now. As that woman became pleased, your father was liberated. He says tell my son why he has married two women. See what affliction I am encumbered in! Now take care to treat [your wives] justly." Another friend of the Shaykh said: 'I asked him of my father's condition in barzakh (purgatory world). The

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Shaykh answered: "He is encumbered by your mother!" I found he was right; My father had married another woman and my mother was upset in this regard. So I went to my mother and made her pleased. The next time that I visited the Shaykh, he said as soon as I arrived in:

"How nice it is to reconcile two people; your father is at ease now!"

situation and was about to be arrested and jailed. He came to my father and said he could not go home, and that he had to hide himself from the public. After a short deliberation, the Shaykh said: "Go and please your sister!" The architect said: 'My sister is pleased.' The Shaykh said she was not. The architect pondered for a while and then said: 'Yes, when my father died, he bequeathed us some money. My sister's share amounted to fifteen hundred tomans that I remember I did not give her. Then he went away and returned some time later and said: 'I gave my sister five thousand tomans and secured her consent.

My father kept silent for a moment and after a short deliberation said:

"She says she is not satisfied. Does she have a house?"

The architect said: 'No, she is a tenant.' The Shaykh said:

"Go and transfer the ownership of one of your best houses to her, and then return to me to see what can be done for you."

The architect said: 'Reverend Shaykh! There are two of us sharing the buildings, how can I do that?' The Shaykh said:

"I am at my wit's end; this servant of God is not yet satisfied."

At last, he went away again, finally transferred one of the houses to the ownership of her sister, and helped her move her household furniture to that house. When he returned the Shaykh told him: "Now it is solved!"

The next day he managed to

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sell three of the houses and relieved from the predicament.

'That is right; my son had newly married when some day after eating lunch I cleaned the table cloth, put the tableware on a tray, and held it to my daughter-in-law to take it to the kitchen. My son took the tray from me and said to me: 'I have not brought you a handmaid!

Finally his mother was pleased with him and prayed for his son. The next day, it was announced that there has been a mistake and the young man was released.

his own house to live with them. Until one day that I was quarrelling with your mother when your father arrived and dislodged my children and me from his house. My heart was broken at that moment.

At last, with aunt being pleased, my father got better but did not regain perfect health. Once again I went to visit the Shaykh and told him the story. This time he instructed me to do favors to a Sayyid that he introduced, and after I did so my father got perfectly well.

disciples' house. One of them said, my body is itching and it does not get cured. The Shaykh said after a little deliberation:

"You have annoyed a Sayyid woman.”

That person said: 'These (ladies) have come (to the office) to sit at their desks but they do not perform their duty; and as you say something to them, they burst into tears!' It turned out that a Sayyid woman had been employed in their office and he had annoyed her with his remarks. The Shaykh said:

"You are not going to recover from the itching unless you ask her forgiveness."

Another of the Shaykh's disciples told a similar story as follows: We were sitting in the presence of the Shaykh in the courtyard of one of his friends' house. There was also present in the meeting a high ranking official who regularly attended the Shaykh's sessions. Having stretched his legs due to some ailment, he said to the Shaykh: Your reverence! I am suffering this pain in my legs for the last three years. Whatever I do, I get no results and the medication is not effective. As it was his usual custom, the Sheikh asked the people present to recite the Sura al-Fatiha, then deliberated for a while, and said:

"The pain in your legs started since the day you reprimanded the typist lady because of her mistakes in typing and shouted at her. She was a Sayyid woman whose heart broke and cried. Now you should find her and

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beg her for pardon so that the pain disappears."

The man said: 'You are right, she was the typist in our office and I shouted at her, making her cry.'

forgiven, many of your sins are forgiven!"(1)

Although the slaughter of halal meat animals is allowed as lawful in Islam, the slaughter itself involves rules that cause the animal suffer as less pain as possible. One rule is that the animal must not be slaughtered before the eyes of other animals of the same species.(2)

As Imam Ali (a) has stated:

"لاتذبح الشاه عند الشاه ولا الجزور عند الجزور وهو ینظر الیه"

"Do not slaughter a sheep in the presence of another sheep and a camel in the presence of another camel while they are looking at the animals' being slaughtered.(3)

So, beheading an animal's offspring before its mother's eyes is strongly reprimanded, as it represents utmost cruelty and ferocity, leaving detrimental impacts on the perpetrator,

One of the Shaykh's disciples related: 'A slaughterer came to the Shaykh and said: "My child is dying; what shall I do?'

The Shaykh said:

"You have slaughtered a calf before its mother's eyes."

The slaughterer implored the Shaykh to do something for him. The Shaykh said:

"It says: no way, he has slaughtered my baby, so his baby must die!"(4)

brought from the Almighty God for guiding man, are preliminary steps to "Salvation" and actualization of human potentials. The significant issue in purification of the soul for mankind is to find out how to begin self-building and what its basis is from the viewpoints of Divine Messengers. The basis of self-building and the first step in purification of soul is "monotheism". Thereupon, the first message of all Divine messengers was, "La ilaha illa Allah-there is no god-but Allah":

(وما أرسلنا من قبلک من رسول الا نوحی الیه انه لآ اله الا انا فاعبدون)

(Not a messenger did we send before you without this inspiration sent by Us to him: that there is no god but I; therefore worship and serve Me.) (al-Anbiya: 25)

The first sayings of the Holy Prophet (s) addressed to the people was:

"یا ایها الناس! قولوا: لا إله الله، تفلحوا"

O people! Say 'There is no god but Allah', so that you attain Salvation."(1)

Nevertheless, mere utterance of "La ilaha illa Allah" is not sufficient by itself, as what forms the basis of self -building and leads to Salvation and actualization of human perfection, is the truth of monotheism and turning into a true monotheist.

The sign indicating that man has attained true monotheism-in the perfect and real sense of the word-is that he can like Divine angels and through Divine Essence witness the oneness of the Exalted God Almighty:

(شهد الله أنه لآ اله الا هو والملئکه واولوا العلم)

(There is no god but He: that is the

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witness of Allah, His angels, and those endowed with knowledge...) (Ale 'Imran: 18)

One of the Shaykh's disciples said about him: 'May God bless his soul! All his endeavors were toward attaining la illaha illa Allah, and all his words were dedicated to reach the reality of this pure phrase. '

Another of his disciples said: 'The Shaykh was an expert in this discipline. He did his best to transmit to others what he had attained himself and to enhance his disciples to the rank of intuitive monotheism.

The Shaykh said: "Monotheism is the basis of self-building. Anyone who wants to construct a building, they must first lay the foundation firm enough, otherwise that building will not be well grounded. The spiritual seeker must begin his journey from monotheism, as the first utterance of all the prophets has been la ilaha illa Allah. Man will fail attaining human perfection, unless he appreciates the truth of monotheism and believe that there is nothing in existence except God's Pure Essence. Having grasped the reality of monotheism, man will whole-heartedly attend the Creator."

He also said: "If you wish that God call(1) you, (try to) gain a little divine knowledge and (enter into a) deal with Him."

"When we say la ilaha illa Allah, we should tell the truth (be honest). Until a man does not leave aside the false deities, he cannot be a monotheist and be truthful in uttering la ilaha illa Allah. Ilah (god = false deity) is something that

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captivates human heart, and whatever that captivates his heart is his god(1) When we say, la ilaha illa Allah we should be astounded by Him."

"The entire Qur'an refers to the statement, la ilaha illa Allah. Man must reach to the point that there remains nothing engraved in his heart except this statement, and whatever other than Him depart from his heart: (Say: ' Allah (sent it down)": then leave them.) (al-An'am: 19)

"Man is the tree of monotheism, the fruit of which is the emergence of Divine attributes; it (the tree) will not be perfect until it yields such fruit. Man's peak of perfection is reaching (nearness to) Allah, that is, to become a manifestation of God's attributes. Try to bring to life Divine attributes in you. He is Gracious; you be gracious too. He is Merciful; you be merciful too. He is Concealer (of defects); you be concealer too."

"What is beneficial to man is the Divine attributes, nothing else is as influential on man, even the Greatest Name of God!"

"If you are engrossed in monotheism, you will enjoy the Exalted God's special bounties at any moment that you had not enjoyed prior to that moment. God's bounties and blessings are novel at any moment."

be noted what polytheism is. Who is a polytheist? Is polytheism merely believing in deity of objects? Are polytheists the only people who have faith in inanimate idols? Or something else is the case.

Polytheism vs. monotheism is the belief in illusory forces and their efficacy in the world of being and their worship against the Real Efficient, i. e., the One Sustainer.

The monotheist does not view anything effective in the world except the One God and does not worship anything, neither the inanimate idols nor the animate ones, except Him.

The polytheists are the ones that view as effective other than God and obey other than Him; sometimes they worship objects, sometimes they obey the powerful, sometimes they are slaves to their own carnal desires and whims, and sometimes they are in the service of all three.(1)

From the Islamic viewpoint, all three types of polytheism are blameworthy, and to attain the reality of monotheism there is no other way than wiping ofolytheism in the strict sense of the word.

The remarkable point here is that the most dangerous type of polytheim is the third type, i. e., following the whims of carnal soul (vain desires). This type of polytheism is the source of obstacles to intellectual and emotional cognition, and the beginning of polytheism in the first and the second sense:

(أفاریت من اتخذ إله هواه وأضله الله علی علم وختم علی سمعه وقلبه وجعل علی بصره غشاوه فمن یهدیه من بعد الله أفلا تذّکرون)

(Then seest

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thou such a one as takes as his god his own vain desire? Allah has, knowing (him as such), left him astray, and sealed his hearing and his heart (and understanding), and put a cover on his sight. Who, then, will guide him after Allah (has withdrawn guidance)? Will ye not then receive admonition?) (al-Jathiyah: 23)

Accordingly, the reverend Shaykh viewed the idol of nafs as extremely detrimental to monotheism and would say:

"All troubles are regarding that grand idol that lies within yourself."(1)

Imam Khomeini (ra), the great ascetic and man of vision has also said:

"The mother of all idols is the idol of your own nafs (carnal desires); unless this grand idol and powerful Satan is not shattered, there will be no way to Him-the High and the Most Exalted. Lo and behold! This idol can hardly be shattered and this Satan can barely be tamed!"(2)

If man triumphs over such a grand idol, he has achieved the highest victories.

Wrestle with your Nafs (Vain Desires)!

One of the famous wrestlers of the time of Shaykh called "Aghar Agha Pahlavan" narrated: 'Once I was taken to the reverend Shaykh, he patted on my upper arm and said:

"If you are a real champion, wrestle with your own nafs!"

In fact, shattering the idol of nafs in the first and the last step in obliterating polytheism and achieving the reality of monotheism.

'Step on your own self, embrace the Beloved One (instead),

Up to his Ka'bah of union with him, you

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are just one step away.

If you get rid of your self, you will join the Beloved; Otherwise, keep burning eternally, your state of affairs being unripe.’

And maybe this is what is meant by nearness of the way to reach God, which Abu Hamza Thumali has quoted Sayyid al-Sajidin (Ali ibn al-Husayn) (a) as saying:

"وأن الراحل الیک قریبُ المسافه"

"For the one who is faring the path toward You, the distance is short."(1)

And as Hafiz of Shiraz has put it:

'As long as you see erudition and knowledge, you are deprived of Divine knowledge; I tell you only one point: do not mind yourself, and you will be free.'

Apparently, the reverend Shaykh was appointed to go on a mission to Kennanshah to tell the above point to such a great personality as Sardar Kabuli:

on the wall so harshly that I felt pity for him and proceeded to stop him but the Shaykh did not let me and said:

"...I have come here only to say this to him and return."

stone at a dark night."(1)

Only upright and insightful human beings can see the borderlines of hidden polytheism and warn against them.

Personality cult is one type of various hidden and subtle kinds of polytheism in which many people are entangled. If attention and obedience to personality, however divine and great, is not for the sake of God, it is regarded as polytheism. Thus the reverend Shaykh would say:

"If you come to me for my sake, you have much to lose!"

they talked to each other until evening. In the same meeting the late Shaykh faced me and said:

"Be careful your father should not turn into an idol for you!"

And said to my father:

"Watch out your son does not get you in trouble!"

It crossed my mind whether one could have both this world and the Hereafter. The reverend Shaykh turned to me and said unprecedentedly:

"Recite this supplication a lot:

"ربنا آتنا فی الدنیا حسنه وفی الآخره حسنه"

(O God! Grant me benefit in this world and benefit in the Hereafter)."

I accompanied him back to his hotel, where Heydar Agha Mu'jiza (author of a poetry collection) came to the reverend Shaykh and invited him to lunch for the following day. The Shaykh did not accept his invitation first, but finally accepted at his insistence. Then, Heydar Agha went to my late father and invited him, too. At last, along with my late father we went to his house and found that the reverend Shaykh Rajab Ali and two of his co-travelers were already there. That day our session lasted until early evening.

meanings of monotheism, they should resort to four things: first, perpetual presence; second, to rely on to the Ahl al-Bayt (a); third, begging at night (i. e., whispering prayers and supererogation during night time); and fourth, benevolence to people."

Elucidation of the above cases from the viewpoint of the Shaykh will be given in the coming chapters.

it delivers him from any other preoccupation; anything but remembrance of God is darkness. The lover of God is the most sincere of God's servants, the most truthful in speech, and the most faithful to vows and commitments."

In the first stage of detachment, the carnal soul (i. e., the soul that bids to evil) dies and the human rational life begins; and in its highest stage the eye of heart enlightens by the light of meeting with Allah and man attains the highest degree of monotheism, which is the status of ulu 'l 'ilm. We read in Munajat-i Sha'baniyya:

"الهی هب لی کمال الاننقطاع الیک وأنر أبصار قلوبنا بضیاء نظرها الیک"

"My lord! Grace me with the highest stage of detachment (from all things) toward Yourself, and enlighten the eyes of our hearts with the light of its looking (directed toward) You."(1)

is in this verse (the aforesaid verse). This set my mind at ease."

Several days later, two men (following ascetic practice's) came to my house and asked to meet with me. When we met they said: 'It has been two years since we have been trying to acquire the science of alchemy but to no effect. We appealed to Hazrat Imam al-Reza (a), he referred us to you.

The Shaykh smiled and told them the above story and then added: "I was permanently delivered (from such an aspiration); the reality of alchemy is attaining (proximity with) God Himself."

Sometimes the Shaykh would recite the following statement from the supplication of 'Arafah to his friends in respect to the above verdict:

"ماذا وجد من فقدک ومالذی فقد من وجدک."

"The one who has not found (known) You, what has he found? And the one who has found you; what has he not found?"

Imam al-Sajjad (a) has made an interesting reference to the elixir of love of God at the ending part of the supplication of Makarim al-Akhlaq (Noble Moral Traits).

"وانهج لی الی محبتک سبیلا سهله أکمل لی بها خیر الدنیا والآخره"

"...Open a smooth road for me to Thy love, and complete for me thereby the good of this world and the next."(1)

Hafiz has beautifully touched upon this point in his following couplets:

'O ignorant one! Make an attempt to become insightful,

You will not be a leader, unless you are a seeker on the path (yourself first).

In the school

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of truth and with instructor of love, try, O son, to become a father some day.

Give up the copper of your existence like the men on the (spiritual) path,

So that you discover the elixir of love and turn into gold. If the light of love shines on your heart and soul,

By God you will get brighter than the sun in the heaven.’

Farhad as similitude to what he wanted to impart to his disciples:

"With any strike of his pickaxe, Farhad was remembering Shirin.

Whatever you do, you should be in such a state to the end of your task; all your thinking and remembering must be of God, not of yourself."

God with so few clients; very few come over to say: I want God; I would like to make acquaintance with Him."

Sometimes, he would say:

"While you are in need of God, He is in love with you!" We read in a Hadith-i Qudsi (Divine tradition):

"یا ابن آدم! إنی أحبک فأنت أیضا أحببنی"

"O son of Adam! I love you, So, you love Me you, too."(1)

"عبدی! أنا وحقی لکَ محبٌّ، فبحقی علیکَ کن لی محباُ"

"My servant! I swear by My right that I love you, so, do love Me by my right over you!"(2)

Sometimes he would say:

"Yusuf is good-looking, but think of the One who has created Jusuf; all beauty belongs to Him."

'In the world, no one saw beauty such as that of Yusuf,

The (absolute) beauty (however) belongs to the One who created Yusuf.(3)

for my size he asked me about my job. I said I was a talaba (an Islamic Seminary student). He asked:

"Do you study or teach lessons?"

I answered I was teaching. He asked what I was teaching. I said I was teaching Kharij lessons (advanced levels of Islamic studies). He nodded in agreement and said:

"It's fine, but teach lessons of love!"

This statement of his transformed me to a totally new person; it changed my life!

After this event, the late Sa'idi kept his contact with the Shaykh and enjoyed his audience, praying for me for having introduced the Shaykh to him.

"Learn Love from a Moth!"(1)

One of the Shaykh's disciples quoted the Shaykh as saying:

"One night I was engaged in whispered prayer and supplicating and imploring to the Beloved. I noticed, in the meantime, a moth approached the lantern and began flying around it over and over until one side of its body struck the lantern and fell down but did not die. With much effort it moved about and flew to the lantern again and struck the other side of its body to the lantern, giving up its life this time. This event inspired something to me: O such and such! Learn (how to) love from this insect; let no pretension or act of claiming remain in you. The truth of love and affection was what this insect fulfilled. I learned a lot from this strange scene, and my (spiritual) state totally transformed.

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.."

e., the angels:

"ثم خلق سبحانه لإسکان سماواته وعماره الصفیح الأعلی من ملکوته خلقا بدیعا من ملائکنه .. قد استفرغنهم اشغال عبادته ووصلت حقائق الایمان بینهم وبین معرفته وقطعهم الایقان به الی الوله الیه، ولم تجاوز رغباتهم ما عنده الی ما عند غیره، قد ذاقوا حلاوه معرفته، وشربوا بالکأس الرویه من محبته"

"Then Allah, the Glorified, created for inhabiting His skies and populating the higher strata of His realm new variety of creatures namely the angels. ...Occupation in His worship has released them from other responsibilities and realities of faith have served as link between them and His knowledge. Their belief in Him has made them concentrate on Him. They do not long for anything other than what is with Him. They have tasted the sweetness of His knowledge and have drunk from the satiating cup of His love."(1)

'The Beauty of the Beloved is unveiled and uncovered,

Settle down the dust over your path so that you can see His Beauty.’

In order to Settle down the dust over the path and cleanse the heart off the indecent actions, the heart must be detached from love of the world, since love of the world is the source of all vanities and vileness.

has nestled in his heart?"(1)

The reverend Shaykh would always compare the world to "the hag" in his examples and sometimes would face a disciple and say: "I see you are encumbered by this hag!"

And then he would recite this poem of Hafiz:

"There is none who is not entangled in that curling ringlet,

Who is there in the way of who lies not such a snare of tribulation?"

Actualy, the Shaykh had adopted this comparison from the following hadith:

"ان عیسی بن مریم – علیه السلام- کوشف بالدنیا فرآها فی صوره عجوز هتماء، علیها من کل زینه فقال لها: کم تزوجت؟ قالت: لا أحصیهم. قال: وکلهم ماتوا او کلهم طلّقوک؟ قالت: بل کلهم قتلت. فقال عیسی –ع- بؤسا لازواجک الباقین، کیف لایعتبرون بازواجک الماضین؟ کیف تهلکینهم واحدا واحدا ولا یکونوا منک علی حذر؟"

"The reality of the world was revealed to Jesus (a). He saw it as an old woman (hag) that had lost all her teeth and had all (types of) ornaments on her. He asked her: 'How many husbands have you got?' She said: 'I have not counted!' His holiness asked: 'Have all your husbands died or have they divorced you?' She replied: 'No, rather I have killed them!' Jesus (a) said: 'Woe to your future husbands who have not taken a lesson from your past husbands; how you killed them one by one and they did not distance themselves from you! '(2)

The Shaykh would repeatedly say: "Those who are coming to me are just looking

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for the hag(1) nobody comes here to say, "I am not on good terms with God; reconcile me with Him!"

(safe) with the two hands of supplication.’

I found out he had sensed something; he would not recite these lines without a purpose. I kept sitting for a time. The Shaykh was busy with his tailoring. I said: Is there something (you want to say)?! He said:

"What have you done that your face has turned like that of a woman?!"

I said I saw a beautiful woman in a dream and the memory has been retained in me. Then he said:

"That's it! Ask for God's forgiveness!"

I had taken the wrong bus and that it was the women employees' bus service. That bus stopped and a woman got off. After that the woman got off, all (people riding the bus) turned into men!

Although at first I hadn't intended to visit the Shaykh, when I got off the bus I went to the Shaykh. Before I said anything, the Shaykh said:

"You saw all men turned into women! As those men's attention were attracted by that woman, all turned into women!"

Then he went on to say:

"When dying, whatever a person is paying attention to would materialize before their eyes. The love of Amir al-Mu'minin Ali (a), however, leads to Salvation."

"How good it is to be absorbed in the Beauty of God...so that you see what others do not see and hear what others do not hear."

are from drinking and eating. The fastings of the elect are from all sins.

His fastings are from other than the Friend. Whatever he wants is all for His sake.

And as Hafiz stated:

'If the Paradise is granted to me how may I accept it.

As the union with the Friend is better than the Paradise in my view.' ”

for the Almighty and Glorious God says: (And they are secure of that Day's fear.) (al-Naml: 89) And also for His Almighty and Glorious saying: (Say if you love Allah....) (Ale Imran: 31)

Thus whoever loves Almighty and Glorious Allah, He would love him too and whoever is loved by Almighty and Glorious Allah, he will be secure (of the terror of the Judgment Day)."(1) The reverend Shaykh would frequently enjoin his friends to strive to attain a point in God-Orientedness where nothing but love of God motivates their acts of devotion.

that man will not attain the peak of humanness unless he diverts his heart from other than God; even if he strives to attain self-perfection, he will not reach that goal. Thus, if someone would come to the Shaykh asking for guidance as to the reason for his failure in his ascetic efforts, he would comment:

"You have worked for results, whereas this is not a school of results, it is a school of love, a school of God-Orientedness."

one in which there is not the slightest love of worldly desires and does not want anything beside God. This is in line with the esteemed saying of Imam al-Sadiq (a) in describing a sound heart.

Interpreting the verse: (الا من أتی الله بقلب سلیم)(But only he (will prosper) that brings to Allah a sound heart) (al-Shu'ara': 89), the holy Imam (a) said:

"هو القلب الذی سَلِمَ من الدنیا"

"That is a heart which is pure from (impurity) of the love of the profane desires."(1)

In another hadith, the holy Imam (a) said:

"القلب السلیم الذی یلقی ربه ولیس فیه أحد سواه، وکل قلبٍ فیه شرک أو شک فهو ساقط"

"A submissive and pure heart is one that meets the Lord while there is nothing in it other than Him; and every heart in which there is polytheism or doubt it is defective (and diseased)."(2)

heart for God; when your heart is for God, He will be there; when He is there all that relates to Him will be present and evident there; whenever you will all will be with you, for God is there, the spirits of the Prophets and Awliya will be there; if you will, even Makkah and Madinah will be with you So try that your heart be just for God so that whatever is created by God be present to you!"

فیه من روحی"(And (I) breathed into him of My Spirit) (al-Hijr: 29; Sad: 72) refers to the same issue."

Cleansing the Heart Thus, intuitive knowledge will not be obtained unless by means of cleansing the heart of anything other than love of God; and man will not fall in love with Absolute Perfection except through obtaining Divine knowledge. Therefore, the main problem is that cleansing the heart of the love of worldly desires is not an easy task. How can the heart be set free from its attachment to the love of this "hag with a made up face"?

From the viewpoint of the reverend Shaykh what can cleanse the heart is the same thing that can help man attain the reality of monotheism, i. e., the things pointed out in previous chapter: Perpetual presence, seeking help from the Ahl al-Bayt (a), begging at nights (nightly supplications and whispered prayers), and benevolence to people.

makes them happy."(1)

In another hadith it is narrated that the Holy Prophet (s) was asked: 'Who is the most favorite person with God?' The Holy Prophet (s) replied: 'The one who is the most beneficial to the people.(2)

It is also related in another hadith that the Almighty God told the Holy Prophet (s) on the eve of Ascension (Mi'raj):

"یا أحمد! محبتی محبه الفقراء، فأدْن الفقراء وقرب مجلسهم منک... فان الفقراء أحبائی"

"O Ahmad (Muhammad (s))! Loving me is to love the poor; so draw the poor near to yourself and go to their gatherings, for the poor are My friends."(3)

One of the Shaykh's disciples said: 'On the Shaykh's recommendation, I used to go to Neka (a city in the Mazandaran province, northern Iran) several times to have the audience with Ayatollah Kuhistani. On one occasion I was going to the bus station on Nasir Khusraw Avenue to reserve a ticket for Neka, when I ran into the Shaykh. He asked me where I had been going. I said: 'To Neka to meet Ayatollah Kuhistani.' He said:

"His style is asceticism, come with me to teach you the way of loving God!"

Then he took my hand and led me to Imam Khomeini (ra) Avenue (named so after the Islamic Revolution) which then was covered with cobblestones, and down the street turned to an alley and knocked a door. The shabby building housed a number of poor and wretched children and adults. Pointing at them, the Shaykh

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said:

"Fulfilling the needs of these desperate people makes one a lover of God! This is your lesson. With Ayatollah Kuhistani, you had ascetic lessons but here is lesson of loving."

Ever since, for about ten years the Shaykh and I would go to the shanty quarters of the city to help the needy; the Shaykh introduced them to me and I supplied them with provisions.

see if it is lawful but pleasing to his carnal soul as well, he must first ask for God's forgiveness for his carnal desire and then proceed with that task for God's sake.

being?'

I got somewhat surprised at the way an ordinary man talked to a religious student. He went on to say:

"Do not get annoyed! Being a talaba is fine, but it is meant to become a (real) human being. I give you a piece of advice to remember; do not forget your Divine goal from now on that you are still young and are not polluted (with sins) yet. Whatever you do, try to do it for God. Even when you eat a delicious food, eat it with the intention to gain energy to pray and serve in the way of God. Do not ever forget this advice all through your life."

Iranian iron that heated up by the fire in its cavity-when my father told him:

"Abdul Karim! You know how to blow into the iron?"

He answered: 'No, sir. How should I blow?' My father said: "Purse your lips and blow for God's sake!"

everyone to work for the sake of God. He would say:

"God must be present in all your aspects of life; even when you go home at night and kiss your wife, kiss her for the sake of God!"

Those who were trained at the Shaykh's school achieved spiritual stations and intuitions as a result of practicing this instruction.

acquaintance with a businessman who introduced to me some of his esoteric features. When I parted with him, I decided to practice asceticism so that I could also acquire an insight to have intuitions and to see the barzakh and the unseen. I practiced self- discipline for thirty years before I succeeded. At that time death knocked at my door. Now (in the barzakh) they are telling: By the time you ran into that man of spirituality, you were indulged in your carnal desires, and after that you spent about thirty years of your life in achieving intuitions and vision of the states in barzakh. Now tell what you have done purely for Us?!"

Imam al-Reza (a) to Mashhad together. He replied:

"I am not permitted (to do anything) on my own!"

At first his reply sounded a bit weird to me as to how he did not have permission to go on a pilgrimage. Until some time later I found out that a devotee (of God) has no personal opinion other than what God wills for him and that his tasks are subject to God's permission and consent. Later on, a talk about sincerity and pilgrimage to that blessed Imam (a) was raised. The Shaykh said in that relation:

"If we go on a pilgrimage for the sake of God and have nothing in mind other than God's pleasure, the holy Imam (a) will receive such a pilgrim with special favor.

On one of my pilgrimages to Imam al-Reza (a) I had no intention but the pleasure of God, the holy Imam (a) did me such a great favor that I was extremely enamored. If this favor could be put into words I would tell how it felt. However, if you wish to perceive this kindness and favor, you have to purify yourself to be able to see what I saw!"

said:

"If one does not manage to act accordingly, even talking about it also makes a desirable impact on one's spirituality."

perfection, as carnal soul is very shrewd and subtle and very persistent in imposing itself (on man's sublime intentions).

As long as man wants himself and attends to himself, his tasks are mundane and not Divinely motivated. However, once he abandons self-centrism and becomes God-Oriented, his tasks turn Divine and his acts get the Divine fragrance; and that have a sign which is revealed in the words of Imam al-Sajjad (a):

"وما أطیب طعم حبک"

"How pleasant is the flavor of your love!"(1)

toward other than God and seeks other than Him, he is in reality a polytheist and his heart is contaminated with polytheism, referring in this respect to the holy verse (انما المشرکون نجس)(Verily, the polytheists are impure and filthy.) (al-Tawbah: 28)

As long as the heart is dusted with polytheism, man will not be able to get familiar with realities of Being. Thereupon the Shaykh said:

"As long as man's attention is directed toward other than God, he will be veiled to the realities of Being and unaware of the inward aspects of Creation."

'O Hafiz, you are the veil to the path, move away!

Happy is he who fares this path unveiled.’

However, if man purifies his heart of the dust of polytheism, he will be entrusted with mysteries of creation. The reverend Shaykh said accordingly:

"If one works for the sake of God, his heart's eye opens up. If you watch out for your heart and do not admit other than God in it, you will be able to see what other people are unable to see, and hear what other people are unable to hear."(1)

then (he should know) with Allah is the reward of this life as well as that of the Hereafter.) (al-Nisa: 134)

In other words, the Almighty God is (literally) everything; the one who had God, possesses everything.(1) One of the Shaykh's devotees said: The reverend Shaykh asked me what my job was. I said I was a carpenter. He said:

"Do you strike the hammer on the nail in remembrance of God or in remembrance of money?! If you strike in remembrance of money, you'll only get the money, but if you strike in remembrance of God, you'll both get the money and attain (union with) God."(2)

doctor (in the military garrison clinic) examined me and diagnosed me as exempt from military service. As soon as I left the garrison, I felt not a single trace of the headache and swelling!"

The Shaykh went on to say:

"We (I) proceeded to tackle people's problem, and God tackled our problem."

Remembrance by tongue is easy; however, remembrance by the heart, especially when done uninterruptedly, is too difficult. Thus, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a) views it as one of the most difficult tasks

"ثلاث من أشد ما عمل العباد: إنصاف المؤمن من نفسه، ومواساه المرء أخاه، وذکر الله علی کل حال، وهو ان یذکر الله عز وجل عند المعصیه یهم بها فیحول ذکر الله بینه وبین تلک المعصیه، وهو قول الله عز وجل (ان الذین اتقوا اذا مسهم طائف من الشیطن تذکروا فاذا هم مبصرون)

"Three tasks are the most difficult for people equity by the faithful, a man's financial assistance to bis brothers, and remembrance of God in all states, i.e., man should remember God when encoumering a (temptat;on tn) sin and decision tn commit it Then this remembrance of God prevents him from sins, as per the words of Almighty God (Verily, those who are pious when an evil thought touches them by Satan, they invoke Allah's remembrance, (then) they see things clearly) (al-A'raf 201)”(1)

In another hadith, viewing equity, charity and perpetual dhikr as among the most difficult Divine obligations, Imam al-Sadiq (a) clarifies that what he means by remembrance in all states is not merely remembrance by tongue, although it is also regarded as remembrance of God:

"أما أنی لا أقول: سبحان الله، والحمد لله، ولا اله الا الله، والله أکبر، وإن کان هذا من ذاک، ولکن ذکر الله فی کل موطن إذا هجمتَ علی طاعته أو معصیته"

"By remembrance of God, I do not mean reciting Subban Allahi, wal Hamduli'lallahi,

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wa la ilaha il Allahu wa Allahu Akbar; although these are also regarded as dhikr, but what is meant is remembering God when encountering obedience and disobedience of God."(1)

It is extremely difficult for man to see himself in the presence of God. If man attains such consciousness, it is impossible that carnal vain desires and Satan overpower him and force him to disobey his lord.

was very interested in the following couplets:

'In the school of Eternity Your Beauty guided me.

Your Bounteous Grace assisted me to be enslaved by You. My vile carnal soul favored all vanities.

Your Blessed Emanation liberated me from its clutches.'

Divine Grace descends on man's heart through perpetual remembrance of Him. Once God's remembrance enters the heart, as the first step it will purify the heart of satanic temptations and carnal vanities and prepares it for receiving Divine Grace from the Absolute Bestower of Bounties.

In this respect, Amir al-Mu'minin Ali (a) says:

"أصل صلاح القلب اشتغاله بذکر الله"

"The quintessence of heart's soundness lies in its occupation with remembrance of God."(1)

Feeling perpetually present in the Presence of Almighty God liberates man from the captivity of the carnal soul and the Satan and consequently cures various maladies of the soul. Imam Ali (a) is quoted as saying:

"ذکر الله مطرده الشیطان"

"Remembrance of God drives the Satan away."(2)

"ذکر الله دواء أعلال النفوس"

"Remembrance ofGod is the medicine for the soul's maladies."(3)

"یا من اسمه دواء وذکره شفاء"

"O He whose Name is a Remedy, whose remembrance is cure."(4)

Through perpetual remembrance of God, the Divine grace grants the heart a human life and makes it radiant, reinforces the soul, makes the man of heart intimate with his God, gradually gracing man with the elixir of love and affection;

Imam Ali (a), the great knower of Allah and the one familiar with the maladies of human soul, said accordingly:

"من ذکر الله

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سبحانه أحیی الله قلبه ونور عقله ولبه"

"Whoever remembers God Almighty, God will enliven his heart and enlighten his mind and intellect."(1)

"مداومه الذکر قوت الأرواح"

"Perpetually remembering God gives sustenance to the soul."(2)

"الذکر مفتاح الأنس"

"Remembrance of God is the key to proximity (to Him)."(3)

"من أکثر ذکر الله أحبه"

"Whoever remembers God abundantly, God will love him."(4)

What was briefly brought up here is a small part of the blessings of remembering God in life and in enrichment and development of human beings.(5) With some deliberation on the above mentioned, however, it will be clarified that how valuable is any moment that we are remembering God and how detrimental is any breath that we take without remembenng God.

come here you will find out; any breath that you have taken for other than God has ended up to your loss.'

Virtues of some Dhikrs

When we talk about the virtues (benefits) of dhikrs in the school of the Shaykh, it must be remembered that his is a school of love not of outcome and results, and that he who does not seek anything other than God, the one who does not even seek his own perfection, will gain results. Similarly, whatever the results of remembrance of God, the goal mustn't be anything other than God.

Giving Importance to Two Dhikrs

One of the Shaykh's devotees said: The Shaykh regarded Istighfar (asking forgiveness) and Salawat as highly important, and had figured out that these two dhikrs were two wings for the wayfarer to fly with.

The Shaykh would say:

"If you send Salawat abundantly in your lifetime, the Apostle of God (s) will kiss your lips at death."

praise is due to You, complaints are made to You, and You are the one whose help is sought for)."

4. Recite one hundred times every night: "یازکی الطاهر من کل آفه بقدسه" "Ya Zakiyyut Tahiru min kulli afatin bi kudsih (O You who are) pure and clean from any bane through Your sanctity).(1)

The reverend Shaykh stated while recommending the above dhikr for suppressing the carnal desires:

"I myself have applied it and started (the spiritual seeking) through reciting it. One day I recited this dhikr so many times that my carnal soul died. I said to myself: I will continue until my (worldly) existence turn into non-existence. However, when for a time I neglected reciting it as is expedient to human nature, I found my carnal soul was alive. Obviously anyone who directs his attention toward the world his carnal soul will strengthen; reciting this dhikr is effective in overcoming the carnal soul."

you are sick! But if you enjoy, you ought to cast your look away from her and say: ya khayra Habib Which means: O God! I cherish you. These are not likeable; whatever is mortal is not likeable. ..."

above-mentioned dhikr. After having performed the instructions, he went to the Shaykh and said he had done what he instructed but to no effect.

The Shaykh deliberated for a while and said: "When you were performing prayers in the Masjid, a Sayyid told you: 'Wearing a ring on the left hand is abominated'. And you replied: 'All the abominated (Makruh) are permissible'. That holy man was Imam al-'Asr (a)."

for solving problems and remedy to illnesses, such as:

"رب انی مغلوب فانتصر وأنت خیر الناصرین"

"Rabb inni maghlubun, fantasir wa anta Khayru'l Nasirin (O Lord! I am defeated. Help me Thou who art the Best of Helpers!)"

Once I had a problem, the Shaykh instructed me to say the following dhikr:

"رب انی مسنی الضر وأنت أرحم الراحمین"

"Rabb inni massani al-durr wa Anta Arham al-Rahimin (O Lord! I am afflicted with a loss, and Thou art the Most Merciful)." He would say: "These are dhikr, say them along with Salawat!" Or when our children got sick, he would recommend us to say:

"یا من اسمه دواء، وذکره شفاء صل علی محمد وآل محمد"

"O He whose Name is a remedy, whose remembrance is a cure! Bless Muhammad (s) and the Family of Muhammad (s)!"

he referred to as "begging at the doorstep of God" and stressed:

"Recite supplications for an hour every night; even if you are not in the right mood for it, do not give up seclusion with God."

He also said:

"There are amazing blessings in waking up at dawn and the last one third of the night. Whatever you want from God can be obtained through begging at dawns. Do not be negligent of begging at dawns; whatever blessings you achieve can be gained by that. A lover hardly goes to sleep and yearns nothing but union with the beloved. Dawn is the time of meeting and union with Him."

Any treasure of happiness that God granted to Hafiz.

Was by virtue of supplications at nights and litanies at dawns.

of the Devotees', (Munajat al-Muridin). He would say:

"Any of these fifteen Munajats (whispered prayers) has got its own virtues (blessing)."

to seek 'Him', the Almighty God will finally undertake your affairs and raise you up. That's when you attain the real joy."

vain desire?) (al-Jathiyah: 23)

2 To the same extent that man obeys his vain desire, he will be away from God; he is, rather, a slave to what he desires and thus "God" turns into a "two Rial coin" in the realm of intuition!

3. It is worthwhile to give as charity what you like best. A believer should give away in the way of his Beloved what he is fond of rather than what is of no interest to him to give away:

(لن تنالوا البر حتی تنفقوا مما تحبون)

(By no means shall you attain righteousness unless you give (freely) of that which you love.) (Ale 'Imran: 92)

from you, nor thanks.) (al-Insan: 8, 9)

He further said:

"What creates in man a spiritual state of servitude to God after performing obligatory duties is doing good to people."

you want bread?'

'No.' Replied the lover.

'Do you want water?'

'No.'

'What do you want then?'

I want you! Answered the lover.

Friends! The Landlord must be loved, not His feast and food. As Sa'di said:

'If you expect benevolence from the Friend.

You are bound up in your self, not in love with the Friend.'

He would recite the above poem to us and say:

"You must be in love only with God, and whatever you do must be only for Him. Be in love with Himself; do not even worship Him for rewards!"

He would sometimes tell me in a cute tone:

"Do something that your ringlets entangle yonder (meaning to fall in love with the Eternal Beloved)!"

He would add some very befitting poems -especially from Hafiz - to his instructions that were of great effect, such as the following: 'If you wish the Beloved may not break off the union.

Keep holding on to the (love) link so that He may hold on, too.'

Shaykh used to say:

"Majority of people do not know what appealing to the Ahl al- Bayt (a) is for. They appeal to the Ahl al-Bayt (a) for solving their own problems and difficulties of life,(1) whereas we should go to the doorsteps of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) for traveling on the path to monotheism and the knowledge of God. This path is so difficult to pass and it is impossible for man to traverse this path without a light and guide."

for it) and then went up the mountain. When we arrived there the Shaykh said:

"Let's go down, we are rejected. They say: First pay for the salt and then come for prayer and supplication."

created these problems for you. So, instead of Sabah, you read the sura al-Hashr and dua Adilah; it will solve your problems God willing."

After some time that I had started to read the sura al-Hashr and dua Adilah, one of my friends lent me ten thousand tomans, I worked with that money, bought a house, and gradually my business improved, too.

والطاعه خلقتم"

"You are commanded to God fearing and you are created for doing benevolence and obeying (God)."(1)

One of the Shaykh's disciples said: 'Once I told him, "O Shaykh! Tell me something to be of benefit to me!" He twisted my ear and said:

"Serving people! Serving people!"

The Shaykh would say:

"If you want to find your way to the truth of monotheism, do good to people. The burden of monotheism is heavy and hazardous, and everyone is not able to tolerate that burden. However, benevolence to the people makes its tolerance easy."

And sometimes, he would say humorously:

"Help the creatures of God during the day and beg at His doorstep at night!"

The late Fayz Kashani (ra) put it in the following poem:

All through the night lament humbly at the doorstep of the Sustainer,

When the day breaks, help out the wounded at heart and the heart-broken.'

Qarun.'

credit and took it to the Shaykh. Once I placed the pack of cloth before him, the Shaykh looked at me and highly admired my endeavor.

Dr. Thubati said: 'One of the things he highly stressed was doing good to people. He regarded this as extremely valuable and viewed it as one of very close and effective ways in faring the path to Allah. Thereupon, when one failed in his spiritual seeking, he would recommend:

"Do not be negligent of benevolence and do good (to people as much as you are able to)."

'Serve the needy as long as you can in you life,

Either through your words, money, pen, or (taking) steps.'

He was himself also a pioneer in doing good to people. Someone had gotten into trouble; he visited the reverend Shaykh who said:

"This person helps his relatives only through khums (one fifth levy) and do not do any other good to them."

That meant giving only khums is not sufficient.

of the Shaykh's blessed life indicates that this Divine man was a real paradigm in serving the afflicted people and solving their problems. Some instances of his services are pointed out in different parts of this book, especially in chapter three of part one. Following, other instances of his concern with this issue are touched upon:

always recommended (his disciples) to try to give meals in their houses, contending that if they give the money to the poor to prepare food for themselves it would not be as worthwhile as giving meals at one's home.

Dr. Farzam said: 'Serving meals to the poor and the needy was among his frequent recommendations. Once I asked him what if we give the money instead.

He said:

"No! Giving food is something different and more effective."

Every body knew that the reverend Shaykh would hold a feast on the auspicious night of 15th Shaban, giving chicken and rice to all the guest from all walks of life who would sit attend his feast of benevolence. The Shaykh highly respected his guests and did his best to make his guests feel at home.

The Shaykh emphasized serving meals to the faithful and insisted on giving charity food in his house and observing ethics of hospitality, while he was always in financial difficulties himself.

rice from the pot and said: "God willing, it will be sufficient!"

Accidentally, there happened to be not only no shortage of food but also lots of people who had gathered at the door with their bowls did not leave empty-handed.

the other one to Aryana Avenue, paying five Rials each. And I agreed to take them to their destinations.

The tall woman got off and paid for her fare, and I headed for Aryana Avenue to get the short one to her destination. She was a Turk and did not speak Persian.

I figured out she was murmuring to herself: 'O God! I am a Turk and do not know Persian and I do not know how to find my home either. Everyday I got on the bus and got off near my house with two qirans (Rials); I have done so much laundry since the morning for just two tomans, now I have to pay five Rials for the taxi fare.

I told her: 'Do not bother, I am a Turk too. I am going to Aryana Avenue and I will drop you at your house. She got very happy.

I finally found the address and stopped to let her get off. She took out a two-toman note and offered it to me. I said she did not need to pay, said goodbye and drove away.

A couple of days later I happened to have an audience with the Shaykh in the company of a friend of mine. He was sitting in his humble room along with some other people. After greeting, the Shaykh looked at me and-reading my mind-said:

"You are awaiting on Thursday evenings. You will be present."

I was keeping a regular (religious) program in relation

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to the Wali al-'Asr (aj), and what he meant by "you will be present" was that I would be present at the time of the faraj (advent) of Imam al- 'Asr (aj). In view of the blessings I had been previously bestowed on by God Almighty, these words of the Shaykh touched me greatly and we all cried a lot. The Shaykh, then said:

"You know what happened that you came to me? That short lady that got in your car and you did not get any money from her, prayed to God for you, and the Almighty God answered her prayer and sent you to me!"

light which is still radiating in barzakh."

a cow and distribute among the people."

He asked what for. The Shaykh answered:

"I requested from Imam al-Reza (a) and he consented."

When the first son was born the father had a cow slaughtered at the order of the Shaykh and gave it to the people. After the birth of the second son, however, some of that man's relatives prevented him from slaughtering a cow and feeding it to the people, protesting that if Shaykh Rajab Ali Khayyat was a son of an Imam or he has made a miracle! Who is he that orders to do this and that?! And this way they prevented him from keeping his vow. When the person who had introduced him to the Shaykh reminded him of keeping his vow, he said it was entirely superstitious. After a while his second son died.

Although the Shaykh never said who that person was, the evidence indicated that it was himself.'

Dr. Farzam said: 'Whenever I asked the Shaykh if he would give me a piece of advice when taking leave, he would state:

"Do not forget doing good to people, even to the animals."(1)

Agha (ra), he wrote:

"My son! Do not evade the humanitarian responsibility that is, serving God in form of serving the people. The Satan does not gallop less in this field than among the officials and those in charge of people's affairs. And do not struggle to attain positions; neither spiritual nor worldly positions on the pretext of wishing to approach Divine knowledge or serving the worshippers of Allah, as paying attention to such positions is by itself satanic, let alone struggling to attain them. Listen to Gods admonition whole-heartedly and traverse on that direction: قل انما أعظکم بواحده ان تقوموا لله مثنی وفرادی (Say: I do admonish you on one point: that you do stand up before Allah-(it may be) in pairs, or (it may be) singly.) (Saba': 46) The measure at the outset of traversing is uprising for Allah, both in personal and individual tasks and in social activities; tries to succeed at this first step which is easier and much more attainable at youth. Do not let yourself to become old like your father, so that you will either mark time or move backward; this involves vigilance and self-examination. If a person possesses or rather attains the sovereignty of the jinn and mankind with a Divine motive, he is a possessor of Divine Knowledge and an ascetic in the world; but if he is carnally or satanically motivated, whatever he attains, even if it is a rosary, he will be equally distanced from God."

of the eminent features of those trained at the school of the reverend Shaykh is their presence of heart in prayer. And this became possible only because the Shaykh did not accord any value to the spiritless ostentatious prayers, and tried to make his disciples perform really devotional prayers.

In the Shaykh's guidelines concerning prayers, there are four basic principles in this regard, which are adopted from the Holy Qur'an and Islamic traditions:

Beauty .In my whole life I only saw three people who were extraordinary in their prayers; the late Shaykh Rajab Ali Khayyat, Ayatollah Kuhistani, and Agha Shaykh Habibullah Gulpayigani in Mashhad. They were amazing when standing in prayers; I would see intuitively that the quality of sphere (around them) was otherworldly; they paid no attention to anything other than God.

eminent personality, so that if your body is pricked by a needle, you would not move!"

The Shaykh said the above in reply to his son who said to him: 'You smile sometimes when you say prayers.' His son said: 'I guess he was smiling at the Satan implying that he cannot challenge him (i.e. the Shaykh)!'

Anyway, the reverend Shaykh believed that any move (of the body) in the presence of the Lord is considered as rude and is caused by temptation from the Satan. He said:

"I saw the Satan kissing the part of the body that one scratched in prayer!!"

prayer and his head was always lowered. My implication was that the reverend Shaykh never felt an iota of doubt in his heart.

Another disciple of the Shaykh said: 'He sometimes said to me: "Such and such! Do you know what you say in ruku 'and sajdah? When you say in tashahhud: ' Ashhadu an la ilaha ilia 'llahu wahdahu la sharika la-h (I bear witness that there is no god apart from Allah, Who is unique and without partners)', are you telling the truth? Are you not entangled in your carnal vain desires? Are you not attending other than God? Are you not dealing with

(أرباب متفرقون) (many lords differing among themselves) (12:39)?!

the right side, there was the room where women gathered and I recited the rawzah for them once every month. The Shaykh's room was downstairs. At that time I was only thirteen years old and had not reached puberty yet.

One day after the sermon was over; I went downstairs and encountered the Shaykh for the first time. He was holding a hat in his hand had seemed to be going out. I said "salam to him" he took a glance at my face and said:

"The son of the Holy Prophet (s) and the servant of Imam Husayn (a) would not delay his prayer till now!!"

I said: on my eyes! It was two hours to the sunset and I was a guest somewhere that day and hadn't said my prayer; as soon as the Shaykh looked at my face he realized this and pointed it out to me. Since my adolescence and after that when I attended his sessions -which were held in the residence of Agha Hakimi Ahan Furush -I felt this man's sayings were inspired whenever he spoke, as he did not have scholarly knowledge but when he spoke the audience would get absorbed wholeheartedly. I still remember some of his words as he said:

"Leave behind the word 'we'; wherever the words 'we' and 'I' reign there abides polytheism. There is only one pronoun reigning and that is 'He', and if you sideline that pronoun, the other pronouns are polytheistic."

Whenever the late reverend

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Shaykh expressed such statements, they would get enshrined in one's heart and mind.

of the reverend Shaykh's old disciples said: 'The first time I was setting out on the Hajj pilgrimage to the Holy Makkah, I went to him to ask for guidelines. He said:

"From your departure until forty days read the noble ayah

(رب أدخلنی مدخل صدق وأخرجنی مخرج صدق واجعل لی من لدنک سلطاناُ نصیرا)

(O my Lord! Let my entry be by the Gate of Truth and Honor, and likewise my exit by the Gate of Truth and Honor; and grant me from Thy presence an authority to aid (me) ) (17:80), perhaps you will be able to see Wali 'Asr (aj).

Then he added:

"How is it possible that one is invited to go to someone's house and fail to see the landlord!? Be fully alert to see that blessed Imam (aj) in one of the rituals of the Hajj insha ' Allah. "

2. Forbid Love of Anything other than God while in Ihram (pilgrims' garment)

"The person who puts on Ihram in Mi’qat should know that he has come here to forbid himself from other than God, and since the moment he says labbayk, he accepts God's invitation and rendered as forbidden other than God to himself. Whatever interest in other than God is unlawful to him and he should not pay attention to other than God till the last moments of his life!"

axis of ones life and to annihilate completely in Him. Find a state of spirit so that you turn around Him and be sacrificed for Him."(1)

4. Invocation under the Golden Spout (of Ka'bah)

"In the Hijr of Isma'il and under the golden spout where the pilgrims beseech God Almighty to resolve their problems, you propose: O God! Train me for serving You and helping Your Wali, Hujjat ibn al-Hasan (aj)!"

some others to my house for Hajj banquet. We had prepared chelowkebab for the feast. We spread a separate tablecloth for the reverend Shaykh and several other private guests up on the portico. Noticing this, the Shaykh called me and said:

"Why do you show off?! Do not be too proud of yourself! Do not discriminate among people; treat them equally! Why do you give preference to some? No! I will mingle with the others, no distinction!"

annihilation of the world in the view of the people of knowledge and contains the entire cautionary and preferential issues. For instance, "alhamd laka wa' lni 'ma laka. .." dedicates hamd as well as the ni'ma to the Sacred Essence (of God) and denies association. This, to the people of knowledge, is the ultimate in monotheism, i. e., any praise (hamd) and blessing (ni'ma) that occur in the word is a praise to God and a blessing of God without association (with other than God). This high object prevails at every mawqif (station) and mash'ar (place of religious ritual), every stopping and moving, and every rest and action. Opposing to it means association in general, which we, the blind- hearted ones, are all suffering from."(1)

whoever and wherever they are; and to remove fear and meanness from your heart about the God's enemies, led by the great Satan (the U.S.A), even though they are superior in means of murdering and suppressing and criminal acts,"(1)

Sa'y (Attempt) in finding the Beloved

"In the sa'y between Safa and Marwah try sincerely and truthfully to look for the Beloved; when you find Him all the worldly knots will be untied, all the doubts will be removed, all the animal fears and hopes will be obliterated, all the material attachments will break off; nobility will flourish, and the satanic and idolatry bondages that hold the servants of God in captivity and obedience will fall apart."(2)

Mindfulness and 'Irfan (Gnosticism) in Mash'ar and 'Arafat

"Go on to the Mash'ar al-Haram and Arafat with mindfulness and Gnostic state and at any station (mawqif) reassure yourself more and more of God' s promises and the rule of the oppressed. With silence and dignity, deliberate over signs of the truth and think of liberating the down-trodden and the oppressed from the clutches of the world arrogance, and beseech the Almighty God, at those holy stations, to show you the ways of deliverance (and liberation)."(3)

The Secret of Making Sacrifices in Mina

"Then go to Mina and find out the true wishes there, where is a place for sacrificing your most favorite objects of love in the way of the Absolute Beloved. And know that you will not reach the Absolute Beloved unless you abandon such

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objects of love on top of which are the love of self and the love of the (material) world."(1)

Rajm-i 'Aqabat (Cursing the Satan by Throwing Pebbles at the Symbolic Pillars in Mina

"You go on this divine journey to throw pebbles at the Satan. If you are, God forbid, among the army of the Satan, you throw pebbles at yourselves, too. You should become Divine, so that your rajm (throwing pebble) is the stoning of the Satan by the army of the most compassionate God."(2)

do not hold out hope except in God."(1)

the punishments with Your enemies, gather me with the people of Your chastisement and separate me from Your friends and favorites, then suppose, my God, my Master, my Protector and my Lord, that I may be able to endure Your chastisement but how can I endure separation from You?(1)

The reverend Shaykh commented the holy verse, یدعون ربهم خوفا وطمعا(They call on their Lord in fear and hope) (al-Sajdah: 16) as follows:

"What is this fear and hope? Fear of separation from and hope of union with Him. Parallel to this in concept is the saying of Amir al- Mu'minin Ali (a) in supplication of Kumail:

فهبنی یا الهی... وسیدی ومولای وربی صبرت علی عذابک فکیف أصبر علی فراقک 'Then suppose, my Allah... that I may… be able to endure Your chastisement, but how can I endure separation from You?'

ووصلک منی نفسی وإلیک شوقی ..

And also in the supplication of Imam al-Sajjad (a): 'Joining Thee is the wish of my soul, and toward Thee is my yearning."(2)

The renowned Gnostic and jurist the late Mulla Ahmad Naraqi also said in this respect:

'Said in supplication the king of awliya, may my soul be sacrificed to him, that O my Lord, O God,

Maybe I can tolerate Your punishment, how can I endure Your separation O Friend?

The wet-nurse frightens the kids of fire (and says) do not play o such and such otherwise,

I'll place fire on your hand and foot, stigmatize your face and back, But they

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frighten the lion (-hearted) man (Ali (a)) of the chastisement of separation with a thousand fold fear and awe. '(1)

to feel disgust in her.

How can the servant, who does not know whether his deeds are accepted by God Almighty, be not fearful and worried?! Do you make up (adorn) yourself for Him or for yourself and for gaining a good reputation among the people?!

When people die they implore (رب ارجعون لعلی أعمل صالحاُ)(O my Lord! Send me back (to life)-In order that I may work righteousness in the things I neglected.) (al-Mu'minun: 99, 100)."

Hence, the reverend Shaykh was always fearful of meeting with God Almighty and would say:

"You say that there is no fear of God, (وأما من خاف مقام ربه) (And for such as had entertained the fear of standing be for their Lord.) (al-Nazi'at: 40), but what on earth should we do if He would not like us and would not accept our deeds?"

The Shaykh's son quoted him as saying:

"O Lord! Purchase and accept us as the old junk-Iike object as the street vendor calls out: 'I buy (your) broken and junk objects'- O Lord accept and buy us too!"

this section, the story of the Shaykh's passing away will be related followed by an account of the death of two other friends of God, very similar to that of the Shaykh, given in chapters two and three.

of my untimely visit and I told him about my dream.

It was five in the morning, at twilight, that we set out for the Shaykh's house. The Shaykh opened the door, we went in and sat down. The Shaykh sat, too, and said:

"What have you been up to at such an early morning?"

I did not tell him my dream. We talked for a while and then the Shaykh lay down on his side and placed his hand under his head, saying:

"Tell something, recite a poem!"

Someone sang:

'There is no time more joyful than the love days.

There is no night to the day of the lovers.

The delightful hours were the time spent with the Friend,

The rest was all fruitlessness and ignorance.'

in his ears. He said:

"Insha Allah (God willing)."

Then he said:

"What day is today? Bring today's supplication!"

I recited that day's supplication. Then he said:

"Have it read by Agha Sayyid Ahmad too." He recited it, too. Then the Shaykh said:

"Raise your hands to the sky and say:

Ya Karim al-'afw, Ya 'Azim al-'afw (O Noble! Forgive me, O Great! Forgive me), may God forgive me."

I looked at my friend and said: 'Let me go to bring Agha Suhayli, as it seems my dream is coming true and he is meeting his end, and I left.'

his son and the son is paying no attention. His glance reminded me that he always would say:

"Do not want other than God."

But we were still encumbered by our vain desires. I got further closer to him. He said two sentences:

The first sentence:

"The joy of life is intimacy with God and the friends of God."(1)

And the second sentence:

"He (Imam Ali (a)) lived (such a true life) that his wife (Hazrat Fatima (a)) gave away his shirt (in self-sacrifice) on the night of consummation in the way of God."

والسلام علیه یوم ولد ویوم مات ویوم یبعث حیاُ.

So peace on him the day he was born, the day that he dies, and the day that he will be raised up to life (again).

not go to his house very often and did not involve in the affairs relating to his chairmanship. He was, however, at the time of Ayatollah Burujirdi (ra), the absolute marja ' or the marja' to the majority of the people in Azerbaijan. In Tehran also the Azerbaijanis as well as non-Azerbaijanis referred to him (to solve their religious problems). He paid monthly salary (to the talabas) too, and was to some extent sufficiently authorized in (personal) expenditure. Early the winter of that year, it was not too cold yet, and he was having the house repaired, with a comer of the courtyard excavated for constructing a new building, and some workers were doing other repair work in the house, including digging a well required for the extension of the building. The construction was supported financially not by himself but by one of his devotees residing in Tehran whose name – if I remember correctly – was Chaichi.

I did not say anything, and do not remember that I was very surprised by his response. Then he said to me: "My dear! Come over for the next few days." He meant not to keep a distance like before.

and was in his own name.

He had stated in his will that the piece of land also belonged to the Holy Imam (aj) and could not be bequeathed, but - apparently - if Agha Burujirdi wanted for the masjid it could be given to him.

His cash simply included the money in the chest and he had been refusing to receive the religious taxes and legal alms (wujuhat-i shari) for the past few days. However, Agha Zanjani seemed to be receiving the wujuhat who began to pay the monthly salary (shahriyeh to talabas) since the first month after the demise of Ayatollah Hujjat. There was only a few coins under his pillow which upon his falling sick, his daughter-i.e., my wife-took from his pocket to be kept under his pillow until he got better and then to be given as alms-as was a popular custom with the women of the past and I was familiar with this custom too. It seemed that the money was kept as a kind of pawn to be given as alms after the patient would recover. That was the only money left which Agha (Ayatollah Hujjat) did not know about. When he gave the money in the chest to me to spend in the due way, he said while raising his hands to the sky:

"O God! I did what I was obligated to do, you take my life, now!"(1)

for no reason! Every year at winter you happen to come down with the same problem, but recover later on. He (apparently) said:

"No, my case or my death will be at noon."

I did not say anything else and went out to do his errands. I took a dorshky (a carriage) to do the errands as quickly as possible lest his demise should happen at noon and the assignment would not be carried out as to whether spend the money as he advised or to give it to the inheritors. The task was done with by noon, and he did not pass away that day.

remember it was by me or by someone else. On the day of his demise I taught my lecture of al-Makasib at home with much certainty, since I knew his condition was not too serious. After that I went to the same room that he was in bed. At that time only his daughter (my wife) was with him. He was lying in bed facing the fall and reciting dhikr and supplication. She said that he was a bit disturbed that day, and it seemed to be due to much prayer and dhikr.When I said salam, he asked:

"What day is today?" I said it was Saturday. Then he asked: "Has Agha Burujirdi gone for the lecture?"

I said, yes. And he said very sincerely and whole-heartedly for several times:

"Alhamdu lillah (praise be to Allah).

He said other things, too, that I avoid mentioning for brevity.

He said the turba very clearly. He lay down two times and then sat up and began reciting supplications and dhikr. I was around either in the interior or the exterior (of the house).

The supplication of Adilah was recited for the second time for him and apparently by his demand. Agha Sayyid Hasan, his second son, was sitting facing the qibla, and Ayatollah Hujjat himself was leaning over a cushion and was sitting in a bending position, expressing his beliefs before God Almighty in Persian and Azeri with extreme sincerity and devoutness.

such request would mean that we were witnessing his dying and aware of his surrendering to death.

I was standing silently behind this scene and the crowd that was present-one of whom was Agha Sayyid Hasan and the other was his daughter and other members of his family. I also heard him say:

"O God! All my beliefs are present; I trust them to you (now), return them to me (in the Hereafter).

I was standing there and he was busy with his whispering prayers when all of a sudden, while he was leaning on the cushion facing the qibla, his breath failed. Those who were present thought that he had a heart attack, so they dripped some Coramin drops in his mouth. But I saw the liquid flowed back down the corner of his lips; he had passed away right at the moment his breath failed and after the turba mixture not even a drop of Coramin went down his throat. I was quite aware that he had passed away. I left the room and heard the call of adhan from Madrasa Hujjatiyya. His death took place at noon, as he had said himself on Wednesday:

"My death (or my case) will be at noon."

In the end, Ayatollah Hairi added: 'Besides suggesting a clear form of a firm belief, this narrative includes some signs from the Unseen world:

1. He predicted his death to be at noon and it happened at noon.

2. He observed Amir al-Mu'minin Ali

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(a) in an intuition.

3. He predicted that his last provision from the world was turba. And it happened so, without himself asking for the turba or knowing that the glass contained turba mixed with water, since he was unwilling to drink it, not knowing what it was.'(1)

the sun rays projecting through an opening on a surface, making his face radiant and shining whereas it had been pale and yellowish due to illness; it was so brightly shining that it was seen from under the robe that he had covered on his body. He made a movement and said:

"Salam Alaikum ya Rasulallah (s)! You have come to visit this unworthy servant?!"

After that, as though he was really visited by some people, he saluted Amir al-Mu'minin Ali (a) and all Imams (a) up to the twelfth Imam (aj) one after another and thanked them for their visit. Then he saluted Hazrat Fatima Zahra (a). Finally he saluted Hazrat Zaynab (a) and at this moment cried a lot, saying:

"Bibi! I cried for you too much."

wish I knew what it was (that happened to you). He kept silent and said nothing. I repeated my request two or three more times in different wordings and he still kept silent. It was the fourth or the fifth time (of my repeating the request) that he responded:

"Do not tease me Husayn Ali"

I said: 'I meant to understand something.' He said:

"I cannot make you understand; you go and try to understand it yourself."

This state has remained as a puzzle to me and my mother, brother, sister and aunt, and up to the present that I am writing this account, i.e., 9:30 a.m, Tuesday, July 15, 1975 (fifth of Rajab, 1395 AH.), I know nothing of (the details of) this issue, but just say that such state really happened.(1)

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