Ethical
and Gnostic Characteristics of Grand Ayatullah Bahjat
1.
His Piety and God-Fearing
We have already
stated that the mentor made an effort to cultivate himself since his very young
age. He was and still is affording the attainment of knowledge and purifying
the soul a great deal of attention. He always insisted on continuous effort and
inclusive conduct to strengthen man's moral building which enables him to
continue the struggle and to achieve victory over immoralities and helps him in
his "supreme jihad" against his own desires and inclinations.
He always believed in the need to
always uphold knowledge and good manners, warning against the perils of
abandoning them, believing the loss that can result from the uncultivated
scholar and the science that is not purified is much, much greater than any
other loss. The mentor is a sincere man, an eager one who always is keen to
straightforwardness in all moments of his life along the path of Allah. He
endeavored to always be in contact with Allah, the most Praised One, the most
Exalted. He looks upon everything and everyone through divine and godly eyes.
One of the senior mujtahids says the following in this regard: "It
is not right to say that the sheikh was only a pious man; rather, he was piety
itself." Ayatullah Sheikh Jawad al-Karbalaai says, "One of the
Sayyids who love the mentor and who are familiar with his condition told me
that the mentor used to spend most of his time every night contemplating on the
currents of the Gnostic branches of knowledge. He never wasted his time, nor
did he ever attend a gathering for fun. He always took precaution against idle
talk. Whenever he went to the class or to visit the Commander of the Faithful,
peace be with him, he used to place his mantle over his head and not turn to anybody
as he was walking. He is a man who keeps secrets especially about explaining
his Gnostic conditions. He was secretive in showing the particular divine
niceties which Allah Almighty bestowed upon him."
2.
His Asceticism and Simplicity of Lifestyle
The friends of
Allah do not look at the worldly appearances as ordinary people look at them.
Rather, they look at the reality of life. They do not busy themselves except
with securing their true future, always distancing themselves from the shackles
of greed, living in the pure environment of content and humbleness. For this
reason, they earn a soul from which the fragrance of spirituality and purity
emanates. Ordinary people live in the darkness of ignorance, heedlessness and
affluence. They indulge in ambitions and desires.
Mentor Ayatullah Bahjat is regarded
as one of the righteous friends of Allah. He is an ascetic and Gnostic who
always lived with humbleness, asceticism and renunciation of the world. He is
one of the most outstanding ascetics in our time, for he realized the truth
about the world and its implications and was attracted in all his existence
towards the spiritual world. Materialism did not taint him; rather, he was
liberated from all its shackles.
He did not only distance himself
from the world and its appearances physically but made along this path broad
practical strides in various fields of his daily life. His simple life, his
residence at a small old house in the holy city of Qum, his lack of response to
the demands of the scholars and ordinary people who continuously demanded him
to change his residence are good evidences about his asceticism, humbleness and
the greatness of his soul.
Sheikh Misbah Yazdi, pointing out to
his asceticism and humbleness, says, "Ayatullah Bahjat had rented a house
in the vicinity of the Hujjatiyya School, then he rented a small house in the
beginning of Chahar Mardan Street, and that house did not have more than two
rooms. He used to place a curtain in the middle of the room where we assembled
while his family lived behind it as we were attending the class on the other
side. It is a very simple life distant from affectation and luxury and full of
light and spirituality. Till our day, the mentor does not own a house big
enough for a large number of visitors. There are no more than two or three
small rooms in his house furnished with their floor covered with the same
covering which he placed more than forty years ago. He did not change his house
after he had become a marji` although it cannot accommodate the visitors
and those who used to see him frequently and whose number was daily on the
rise; therefore, the mentor used to sit during the feast or commemoration
occasions at the Fatimiyya Mosque to receive people."
Ayatullah Mas'udi says, "Many
people offered the mentor to buy him a house but he always rejected such
offers. I said to him many times, 'Master! This house is old and not fit for
living, and it may not be permissible to live in it from the Shari'a
standpoint,' but he never listened to such talk nor give it any
significance."
3.
His Adoration
Adoration and
upholding rituals are regarded as a major element in one's success and
perfection. The mentor had made long strides in this field that would place him
to be a role model for others. The relationship and strong connection of
Ayatullah Bahjat with his Lord, his continuous remembrance of Him, his
diligence in performing optional rites and his amazing tajahhud all were
amazing and noteworthy.
As regarding the congregational
prayer which the mentor used to uphold, it was one of the most wonderful, the
best and the most sincere of prayers held in Islamic Iran. In this service,
virtuous scholars, pious students, brave mujahids and all other types of
people. This service is adorned with complete spirituality, so much so that
sometimes, especially during the eves preceding FRiďay, there is a
combination in it of the moaning of the mentor, the weeping of those praying,
thus the souls ascend, the eyes weep and the hearts are polished.
Undoubtedly, there is no spiritual
or angelic place such as this in any other congregational prayer service in our
time. It is no wonder that the mosque used to be over-crowded with the faithful
and the place too small most of the times, forcing many of them, including
those who used to go there from distant places to earn the blessing of this
service, to leave the mosque even before the service started. This prayer
service has been the hope of Allah's servants. It used to be attended by
Ayatullah Tabatabai, and Ayatullah Bahaa al-Dayni used to pay it his own
special attention.
In this regard, Ayatullah Muhammad
Hasan al-Ahmadi, the faqih of Yazd, transmits to us an interesting
incident as follows:
"Ayatullah Bahaa al-Dayni used
to hold the congregational prayer service before Ayatullah Bahjat during the
nights of the month of Ramadan. One day, he wanted to send one of his relatives
somewhere for an errand, but the man refused to go there saying, 'If I go, I
will be deprived of the prayer service and of following your lead.' Ayatullah
Bahaa al-Dayni said to him, 'Go and take care of this errand for me then
perform the prayer following the lead of Ayatullah Bahjat after eating your iftar.'"
Sheikh Misbah, commenting about the
congregational prayer service held by the mentor and its precedents, says,
"Ayatullah Bahjat used to follow a special program forty years ago. He
used to take a walk before sunset to the Safaii Quarter which was then an agricultural
area and having no construction in it. He would cross some farms then sit and
perform the sunset and evening prayers in that place. Some brethren used to
attend that prayer service, too."
One of those brethren says,
"One night, Ayatullah Bahjat talked after the prayher service saying, 'Had
the rulers of the world known the pleasure felt by one during his act of
adoration, they would have abandoned their authority."
After the mentor had bought his
house where he now lives, most brethren used to go to this house to perform the
prayers because it is closer to them than the previous place. Then the mentor
was called to the Fatimiyya Mosque, and that mosque became the place of meeting
of all those who wished to perform the prayer service with him being the imam.
More than forty years had passed since this prayer service was being performed
three times a day in this mosque. The mentor, during the last days, moved the
place where he held his class from home to this mosque where special feast and
commemoration services were also held.
Ayatullah mentor Jawad al-Karbalaai,
describing the tahajjud of the mentor and his weeping during the night
says, "Ayatullah Bahjat was punctual in his prayers and nightly weeping
especially during the nights preceding FRiďays. One of the senior scholars
said to me, 'I heard the mentor during one of the nights preceding FRiďay
weeping profusely, addressing his Lord repeatedly as he was prostrating, 'Lord!
Who else besides You can I turn to in order to remove my harm and look into my
affair…, etc.?'"
4.
His Ziyara and Pleas
The mentor
starts his daily program, despite his advanced age, by paying a visit to the
shrine of Lady Fatima the Infallible, peace be with her. He daily is honored by
performing the rites of the ziyara to Lady Masuma and stands before the
sacred shrine with humility and full respect then recites the Ashura ziyara.
The author of the book titled Anwar al-Malakut cites mentor Abbas
al-Qawjani, trustee of the late Mirza Ali Agha the judge, the following
interesting narrative:
"Quite often, Ayatullah Bahjat
would go to the Sahla Mosque [in Kufa] and spends the night alone till the
morning in that mosque. One night, when the mosque's lamp was not lit and it
was quite dark, the mentor needed to renew his ablution in the middle of the
night, so he needed to get out of the mosque and go to its eastern side where
the toilets were. As he was walking in the dark, he felt a little bit scared.
Suddenly, a light appeared before him and kept lighting the way for him like a
lamp till the mentor completed his ablution and returned to the mosque. Once
the mentor was inside the mosque, that light disappeared."
5.
His Humbleness
Among the other
prominent dimensions in the spiritual personality of the mentor are humility,
flight from fame and opposing inclinations. The mentor did not allow the
publication of his edicts till after the demise of all past authorities who
were older than him and even his fellows who used to study with him although he
is considered as one of the famous men of fiqh and ijtihad and
one of the prominent professors of holy Qum's theological seminary. Despite all
of this, the mentor did not permit the publication of his edicts except after
the scholars had insisted on it. He also did not permit the use of the ways
allowed by the Shari'a for the publication of his scholarly dissertation (risala),
always emphasizing to the orators at the majalis which he held that they
should not mention his name. This indicates his God-fearing nature, piety and
the opposing of his desires.
The mentor Hajj Quds says the
following about his humbleness: "One day, I and my guest, the late
Hujjatul-Islam Nasr-Allah al-Lahuti, visited mentor Bahjat. My guest said to
the mentor, 'I have heard someone criticizing you in the city of Mashhad during
my visit of that city, and I felt very angry about it.' Mentor Bahjat said, 'It
has been cited in our narratives the following: 'They charged a scholar who
desired the world,'' so I was quite surprised at this answer, for if the life
of this man was desirous of the world, what about us?!"
6.
His Life, Conduct and Spiritual Status
Past incidents
relevant to mentor Bahjat's life story and moral conduct go back to scores of
years. He is one of the students of the perfect Gnostic, Ayatullah Sayyid Ali
Agha al-Qadi. He used to win the interest of that great theological scholar.
The mentor won respected Gnostic stations even when he was in the prime of his
youth, and many of those who were close to the late Ayatullah al-Qadi testified
to it. They said, "We are familiar of his Gnostic stations and are
acquainted with the phases of lifestyle and conduct which he undertook, but we
maintain a pledge to him not to say a word in this regard." The mentor
used to also earn the attention of Imam Khomeini who visited and met him in the
city of Qum at the beginning of the revolution.
The author of the book titled Anwar
al-Malakut writes the following in this regard: "Grand Ayatullah
al-Hajj Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Bahjat al-Fomani is regarded as one of the
students of the sign of the truth and the pillar of Gnosticism, the unique
scholar, the late al-Hajj Mirza Ali Agha, the judge from Tabriz, may Allah Almighty
be pleased with him, in the city of al-Najaf al-Ashraf. He used to have many
revelations and divine ghaibi conditions during the time of the late
Mirza Agha, and he earned a lofty status of behavior and distinction. This
distinction was the reason which prompted the late judge to pay him his special
attention."
Also, Sheikh Diya ad-Deen al-Amuli,
son of Grand Ayatullah al-Hajj Sheikh Muhammad Taqi al-Amuli, conveyed to the
attending students of the class of Ayatullah Bahjat and in the presence of the
mentor that he saw with his own eyes the late Mirza Ali, the judge, following
the mentor as he was leading the prayer service.
7.
Acquaintance with the Unknown and Manifestation of Temporal Miracles
Ayatullah Bahjat
is regarded as one of the righteous servants of Allah who earned, by permission
of Allah, lofty stations that enabled them to witness worlds of the unknown (ghaib).
Perhaps the repetition by the mentor of the plea "O One Who Veils!"
whenever he was alone and in the presence of people, as he stood and sat, is
the reason behind this fact.
Sheikh Misbah of Yazd says the
following in this regard: "It seems the mentor earned a Gnostic station
and moral perfections which enabled him to witness some unknown worlds. He
would witness some realities such as those of individuals with his own
subconscious sight, but he did not like people seeing him as such; therefore,
he used to quite often repeat the plea "O One Who Veils!" and pleads
to Allah, the most Exalted, the most Great, to veil him and to veil whatever he
saw."
In fact, the likes of these matters
are regarded among the temporal miracles (karamat) which are not
undertaken except by Allah's friends. The manifestation of these karamat
is the fruit of continuous struggle against the self and of opposing
inclinations. The mentor, Ayatullah Bahjat, is regarded as one of the prominent
personalities that have taken care of cultivating the self and to belong
exclusively to Allah, the most Exalted One, the most Great; therefore, it is
not at all unlikely if he has such karamat and supernatural things.
Rather, those who kept the mentor saw with their own eyes examples in support
of this matter.
Pointing out to some evidences in
this regard, Sheikh Misbah says the following: "The individuals who kept
Ayatullah Bahjat company for several years saw during these years matters which
could not be termed except as karamat or supernatural things. Here below
we would like to review some examples of these karamat: When imam
Khomeini was in exile (apparently in Turkey), many men of virtue and supporters
used to be subjected to unfair measures by the security authorities at the
time. If they articulated a word or behaved in a particular way, they would be
banned from ascending the pulpit and be thrown in jail in unknown places and
for long periods of time. Among the persons who were arrested by the security
authority then is Sheikh Jannati. We were worried about him because all
evidences pointed out to the security authority going to torture him. I
remember that I went to mentor Bahjat, may Allah Almighty protect him, and told
him about the matter. He contemplated for a short while then said, 'You will,
by the will of Allah, bring me the good news of his release.' True, such a
statement could have been made by anybody, but the statement of the mentor
during those circumstances was like glad tidings to us because we were sure the
mentor had ghaibi knowledge in this regard and that the problem would
come to an end peacefully. This is to because there were other similar matters
which we presented to the mentor (such as we would ask him to pray for a
particular person), but he would never give us such an answer. Indeed, we would
say that particular person staying in jail and not easily released."
Here is another sample about his karamat,
may Allah protect him. One day, a family wanted to marry her daughter off. Both
families of the bride and groom as well as the guests assembled on the wedding
night. But the enemies of this family kidnapped the bride from her house before
the ceremonies had started. This worried the members of the bride's family, and
they kept looking for her wherever they thought it possible to find her but in
vain. Anyway, this matter caused a great deal of confusion to the bride's
parents because they were unable to do anything. One friend who was a neighbor
of this family said, 'I thought a lot about the matter but I found no solution
for this problem. Then it crossed my mind to go to the mentor Bahjat, perhaps
he could find a solution for it. I went to him hastily and narrated the
incident to him. The mentor lowered his head as he contemplated. Then he simply
said, 'Go to the holy precincts of Lady Fatima the Infallible, perhaps she went
there.' I, therefore, returned, having been convinced to do just that. I told
the bride's family what the mentor had said, so they went to the shrine of Lady
Fatima the Infallible and actually found their daughter there. I do not
remember precisely how the matter was, but I know that the bride's family never
thought of finding the bride in a place such as that."
Here is another sample of the
mentor's karamat: A friend says, "My wife was pregnant, and I was
going to travel before the blessed month of Ramadan, so I went to the meeting
place of mentor Bahjat to bid him farewell and to ask him to pray for me. He
said to me, 'Allah will bless you with a son; so, name him Muhammad Hasan,'
although he did not even know that my wife was pregnant, let alone knowing the
gender of the fetus and the date of its birth. Sure enough, Allah blessed us
with a son on the fifteenth of the blessed month of Ramadan, so we named him
Muhammad Hasan."
Quite often, such matters would take place to the mentor, but he did
not want to manifest them, so much so that he did not accept the transmission
of this brief summary, but we transmitted it so the believers may get to know
that Allah, the most Exalted and the most Great, pays attention to some of His
friends with His divine care even during our time. If the servants tread the
straight path of adoration, Allah Almighty will lead them to the right
guidance: "… And those who struggle on Our account, We shall guide them to
Our path."
The path to perfection and humanity is not closed. Even in our time,
anyone who wants to tread the path of nearness to Allah can reach lofty
stations of perfection and nearness to Allah in the shade of care of the Imam
of the Time, may Allah hasten his reappearance, and at the hands of servants who
live among the people such as mentor Bahjat. All these matters can instill hope
in the souls and increase our conviction.
These are fixed realities and not a mockery. They are visible
realities in existence, and we can see them and realize their impacts, then we
can liberate ourselves from the shackles of this world, its ornament and
adornment and realize that pleasure is not confined to the animal or Satanic
ones; rather, man is qualified to reach moral perfections and pleasures which
cannot be compared with these material pleasures. But unfortunately, due to the
weakness of knowledge and of conviction on one hand, and the assault of the
internal and external Satanic factors (from the jinns and mankind) on the
other, has caused us to be unaware of such precious jewels.
In this regard, Sayyid Mas`udi says, "Anyone who visits the
mentor realizes he talks about the particular things which he feels. I used to
go in the company of Sheikh Musban to his class, and we (I and Sheikh Misbah)
used to talk sometimes about the political and economic issues or about our
livelihood matters because the students' living condition was bad then. But the
mentor used to surprise us when he would start talking about the same topic
about which we were talking, as if he was sitting with us, and we were sure the
mentor knew all the subjects which we discussed. For example, when we talked
with each other and complained about what to do, how bad our living condition
was, how we had debts to repay while not having food for one day, the mentor
used to start, as soon as he arrived, with these words, 'Yes, the condition of
the students was bad during our time, too. They did not have anything, and they
were hungry and poor, but they persevered.' Then he would start narrating some
incidents about the life of the scholars in the past. I was one day, I recall,
talking with Sheikh Misbah. I said to him, 'We do not have anything, and we
cannot live only on bread.' When mentor Bahjat came and sat on the pulpit, he
said, 'One day, the late Sheikh Murtaďa al-Ansari went to his father in
the morning and said, 'We have nothing but the bread.' The Sheikh said, 'But we
have freshly baked bread!' It seemed that Sheikh al-Ansari believed that the
freshness of the bread compensated for eating anything else with it. These
words lessened our pain because we used to eat the bread with the cheese."
Ayatullah Sheikh al-Karbalaai says, "The late Hajj Abbas
al-Qojani, one of the students of the late Ayatullah Mirza Ali the judge,
conveyed to me in a special meeting after having praised the status of
Ayatullah Bahjat saying, 'I was going to perform the pilgrimage to Imam al-Riďa
in one of my travels to Iran, then I went to the meeting place of Sheikh
Bahjat. In a special meeting, I very much insisted on him to talk to me about
his personal conditions and the divine niceties which Allah bestowed upon him
and about his Gnostic revelations. He conveyed to me more than twenty important
matters and special divine niceties, then he took upon me a pledge not to
inform anyone about them,' but I transmitted one of those matters to some
friends and I (al-Karbalaai continued to say) insisted on him to talk to me
about that matter. He said, 'The mentor told me he could see what is behind him
if he so wished."
Sheikh Jawad al-Karbalaai adds saying, "After several years, I
traveled to Iran and went to the meeting place of Sheikh Bahjat and said to him
in a private meeting, 'Have the matters which you told me several years ago
remain as they are till now?' The sheikh said, 'Yes'."
One of those close to the mentor says, "I went one day to the
town of Foman. One day before my return, I visited Sayyid Areeb, one of the
town's scholars, who gave me some bullions and asked me to give one of them to
Sheikh Bahjat. After my return, I gave the sheikh one of those bullions. Some
time after that, I wanted to return to Foman town, so Sheikh Bahjat gave me one
thousand tomans and said, 'Give this money to Sayyid Areeb and do not tell him
who sent it to him.' I sat in the shop of that merchant till he returned. I
found him puzzled, so I asked him about what had happened. He said, 'When I
gave the money to Sayyid Areeb, he said, 'Few days ago, a portion of our house
collapsed, and the builder demanded one thousand tomans to rebuild it. I did
not have much money, so I told the builder to be patient and not to start the
work yet. As I was thus engaged, you brought me this sum which exactly equals
the wage demanded by the builder.'"
A theologian friend said to me, "One day, one of our relative
women was afflicted with cancer. The doctors were unanimous about having a
surgery for her as soon as possible, saying if that surgery was not done, the
cancer would spread to other parts of her body. We were hesitated about it.
Should we do the surgery or not? We decided to go to Sheikh Ayatullah Bahjat
and ask him to do the istikhara for us. I went to the mentor and told
him about the matter, asking him to do the istikhara on our behalf. The
mentor did the istikhara and said, 'The surgery is not necessary,'
giving me some money to spend it by way of charity on behalf of the patient,
then he ordered me to dissolve a small piece of the soil of the Master of
Martyrs, peace be with him, in Zamzam water so the patient could drink it every
day seeking to recover. He also ordered me to feed a large number of the poor
or offer them charity with some money and to ask them to supplicate for the
patient to heal. We carried out the mentor's instructions to the letter, and
our patient went to the shrine of Imam al-Riďa, peace be with him,
pleading to him. She remained in the sacred shrine for three days pleading and
supplicating to Allah to heal her. During those three days, strange spiritual
conditions happened to her, so much so that she did not feel any pain after she
had returned home. I, therefore, went to the sheikh to tell him about it. He
asked, 'How is the condition of your patient?' I said, 'Praise be to Allah!,'
and I narrated to him all what had happened in Mishhad city. The sheikh said,
'Follow the same past instructions and let the doctor examine her.' When the
patient visited the doctor, he asked her with amazement, 'Have you done
something, or did you go somewhere?!' The patient asked him, 'What do you
mean?' The doctor said, 'The marks of sickness have shrunk from you in an
incredible way; so, there is no need to have any surgery, and we will treat the
remainder of the gland with medication.' Now, after the passage of a long time
since that incident, our patient enjoys very good health, and she has fully
recovered from that ailment, praise be to Allah. What is noticeable in this
issue is the istikhara which the sheikh did and his saying, 'The surgery
is not necessary'."
One of the students of the hawza (theological seminary) wrote
me once saying, "I was studying in Tehran and periodically visited Qum. I
was also acting upon the will of my father who had told me to visit Sheikh
Bahjat whenever I visited Qum. So, I used to visit the sheikh whenever I
visited this city. One day, my father disclosed the secret behind his will to
me saying, 'My eyes were cooled one day when I saw the beauty of the Imam of
the Time (al-Mahdi), may Allah hasten his reappearance, at the Palasar Mosque
located in the shrine of Lady Fatima the Infallible, peace be with her, but my
shyness and the greatness of the Imam prevented me from embracing the Imam like
a lover who reached his beloved one after a long time of separation, but I saw
after moment Ayatullah Bahjat sitting in the same place where I had seen the
Imam.' My late father used to think that this meeting indicated the greatness
of the sheikh and his connection with the Imam of the Time, may Allah hasten
his reappearance."
This man added saying, "After the death of my father, I saw
that he had written in his will the following statement: 'Give the books which
I bought to the Imam of the Time, may Allah hasten his reappearance, even
though it may be through someone who can see him. And Sheikh Muhammad Taqi
Bahjat, may Allah resurrect me and gather me in his company and from him I
plead for supplications, may be the sought person.' The word
"may" was placed between two parentheses in the will. I took my late
father's will and gave it to Sheikh Bahjat to read. The Sheikh said, 'He has
written the word MAY in the will. Go and give the books to someone who you are
sure is in contact with the Imam of the Time, may my soul be his
sacrifice.'"
`Allama al-Tehrani says the following in this regard: "One of
the greatest scholars, Ayatullah Hajj Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Fomani Rashti, may
his high shade endure, visited me in the holy city of Mashhad. He pointed out
in his speech to something which cannot be interpreted except his own
acquaintance with the secrets and with the Utopian ghaibi matters. I had
a heart stroke in the month of Shawwal of 1413 A.H. and slept four nights in
the intensive care unit and nine nights in the general disease unit in al-Qaim
Hospital in the holy city of Mashhad. Then I was released by the hospital after
my health, praise to Allah, had improved, so I returned home and started my
studies and scholarly investigation. One day, I was visited by the Sheikh with
one of the students, and there was nobody in our house except myself and my
oldest son, Hajj Sayyid Muhammad Sadiq. Allah had enabled me to perform the tahajjud
and the qiyam of the night before being afflicted with this ailment, but
I had ceased doing so during my sickness. After my return home, I stopped
performing this act due to laziness or indifference or absence of determination
although I used to stay awake for long hours in the night for emergency
reasons. When the Sheikh came to visit me, and after the greeting and usual formalities,
he said to me without any introduction, 'The qiyam during the night or
the night prayer (and I do not remember the exact wording) is the conveyance of
the night.' I remained silent and said nothing, as if I was not admonished by
such guidance and did not decide to resume the night prayer. The talk dealt
with other matters, but the Sheikh returned to the previous talk and said, 'I
saw in Bihar al-Anwar this tradition: Allah Almighty has written this in
His perfect Book:
'Truly the rising by night is most potent for governing (the
soul) and most suitable for (framing) the speech (in prayer and praise)'
(Qur'an, 73:6).
Since I knew that my oldest son, Muhammad Sadiq, was one of those
who observed the tahajjud, I realized that the pursuits submitted by the
Sheikh without any introduction were meant to attract my attention and to wake
me up from my indifference so I may not abandon this important matter even in
the case of my sickness."
Sayyid Quds says the following: "One of the theologians of Mazandaran,
who occupied the post of head of the justice directorate in one of the
governorates in Iran, conveyed to me that when Ayatullah Kohastani Mazandarani
went to join his Lord, his son went to Grand Ayatullah Sheikh Bahjat. The
Sheikh said to him, 'When your father departed, a great commotion took place in
the hereafter world.'"
Sayyid Khosro-Shahi says the following in this regard: "I heard
one of the students saying, 'After my marriage, I rented a house in the city of
Qum. Having settled in the house, I suffered from an unbelievable financial
crisis, so much so that I could no longer buy a dinner meal. Our conditions did
not permit borrowing a sum of money from someone, so I got out of the house and
was honored by visiting the Infallible Lady, peace be with her. After the ziyara
and during my performing of the formal farewell of the shrine, I felt that
someone was putting some money in my hand after having approached me from the
back. He said, 'This money is for you.' I turned my head to the back, and it
was Ayatullah Bahjat. He did so although I did not inform him of my need for
the cash."
A student narrated to me an incident similar to this. I remember a
statement by Ayatullah Bahjat. He used to say, "Is it possible the Lord
ignores us or leaves us to look after our own selves?! Therefore, the students
must not worry about anything as long as they perform their duties because the
Lord is their Protector and never ignores them."
Hujjatul-Islam wal Muslimin, the flag of guidance, says, "One
of the students conveyed this to me: 'I wanted to go to Gailan for religious
propagation one day, so I brought my family's expenses, but I did not have the
expense of the trip; therefore, I went to perform the ziyara of the
daughter of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be with them, to whom I complained and
remonstrated saying, 'My Lady! We have dedicated ourselves to your service, you
Ahl al-Bayt, and we want to convey the religion of your grandfather, but we do
not have even the expense of the trip, and the matter is entrusted to you.'
Then I went out and intended to perform the congregational prayer under the
leadership of Ayatullah Bahjat. I performed the noon and afternoon rites. After
the prayer, the Sheikh looked behind him and beckoned to me, and I was in the
second row, so I thought he meant someone else. But he again beckoned to me and
said, 'I mean you!' I stood up from my place and got close to him. He told me
to accompany him. I went with the Sheikh, and there were other people with us.
When we reached the house of the Sheikh, he said to me, 'Wait here till I
return.' He entered the house, and few moments later he returned and in his
hand there were two hundred tomans, and this sum was at the time a small
fortune. He gave me the cash, so I said, 'What should I do with this money?' He
said, 'Did you not ask for the money?' I then remembered the issue and said to
the Sheikh, 'But this is a lot of money!' He said, 'No it is not because there
are those who need this money, and you will be able to take care of their
needs, too.' Anyway, I bade the Sheikh farewell and went to Tehran. There, I
saw some friends in Charagh-Gaz Street, and they wanted to go to Gailan also
for religious propagation and they did not have money to pay the fare for the
trip. I said to them, 'Do not think about it, the money has arrived.' We went
together and had our lunch then rode the bus and went to Gailan. When we
arrived there, all the money had gone."
This same person conveys this incident, too: "I heard someone
saying, 'I wanted to go for the pilgrimage, so I went to Ayatullah Bahjat and
said to him, 'Allah prevented a big catastrophe from happening to us when our
car turned upside down as it was speeding, but none of us was hurt, praise to
Allah.' The Sheikh said, 'A similar incident had taken place to you twenty or
twenty-five years ago, and you also were not harmed.' I remembered the
incident, and the Sheikh was quite right in his statement.'"
Hujjatul-Islam wal Muslimin Sheikh Shushtari says, "A man went
to Ayatullah Sheikh Bahjat and said, 'O, Sheikh! I do not wake up for the night
prayer; so, what should I do? Please supplicate for me so I may wake up at the
right time.' The Sheikh asked him, 'What time you want to wake up?' The man
said, 'At three o'clock after midnight.' The Sheikh said, 'Go, for you will
wake up at this hour by the will of Allah.'"
Sheikh Shushtari goes on to say, "Many years have passed since
this incident. The man said to me, 'Since then, I have been waking up at the
determined hour; therefore, I never abandoned the night prayer for a single
day, and this is one of the karamat of Ayatullah Bahjat.'"
8.
His Special Care for Shari'a Matters
One of the
important characteristics whereby Sheikh Bahjat is distinguished and which can
be witnessed at the first look is his special care for observing the norms of
conduct according to the Shari'a (Islamic legislative system) and the tradition
of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be with them. Sheikh Misbah says the following in this
regard, "Shiite scholars of etiquette, all of them save those who are
deviated in their way of thinking and conduct, agree that the right path to
perfection is the path of adoration, that man cannot reach any moral station
via obedience to Allah, the most Exalted and Great, and acting upon His
commandments. But the attention paid by the scholars to observing the Shari'a
etiquettes and the tradition of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be with them, is not equal.
Sheikh Bahjat, may Allah protect him, is regarded as one of the most distinguished
[theologians] for observing these norms. He observes in his conduct
particularly interesting behavioral habits which cannot be easily described. I
am going to mention this incident which I remember, perhaps it will remain in
history so those who wish to act upon the commandments of the Shari'a may get
to know to what extent one must observe the commandments of the Shari'a:
"The Sheikh inherited from his
father a small plot of land suitable for planting rice. It was financing some
of his domestic expenses. The Sheikh was used to give a measure of rice, though
it could be a few kilo grams of it, to his friends and neighbors when they
brought the crop to his house. Once, I left Qum city for some time during the
days of struggle. Nobody knew anything about my place of residence, not even
our close relatives. During that period, the Sheikh had sent our house a sack
of rice once and a good sum of money some other time. What was noticeable is
that he sent us the money in the hand of his wife and son Ali. His wife brought
the money and gave it to my wife as his son, Ali, was standing before the
alley.
"When I returned home, I kept
thinking about the secret that prompted the Sheikh to send his wife to our
house, but I soon realized that this was one of the etiquettes of the Islamic
Shari'a. According to Islamic ethics, if the husband is traveling, nobody
should go to his house. If it is necessary to go to his house, a woman has to
go. There are minutely interesting statements articulated by the friends of
Allah, their conducts, the way they stood up or sat down, which cannot be
comprehended except through the study of a complete branch of knowledge, let
alone undertaking them and acting upon them. These maters are the ones that
raise the servant in his adoration and endear him to his Lord, granting him a
lofty status. The Sheikh used to advise anyone seeking his advice to observe
what is taken for granted by the Shari'a. He always emphasized observing what
the Shari'a regards as taken for granted, believing that the matters where
doubt is entertained or confusing matters fall in the second degree of
importance."
The Sheikh derives useful evidence
in this field which I learned from him and which I sometimes used in my sermons
and in other places. He says that Allah Almighty wants to guide His servants to
perfection; therefore, He quite often mentions the things which have the
greatest impact on man's happiness and on determining his fate. So, if we want
to know the matters that cause man's happiness, we have to know the matters
which Allah, Praise and Exaltation belong to Him, emphasizes more than others.
This is so because any pursuit more stressed in the Qur'an, traditions and
statements of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be with them, will have a role in perfecting
man and determining his fate in a greater way. Observing the prayers is one of
the most important of these matters because we may not find in any chapter of fiqh
the like of all these Qur'anic verses which call for upholding the prayers and
all these narratives which are cited about observing its timing, etiquette and
the necessity of performing them with full attention of the heart.
Sometimes the Sheikh used to say the
following by way of jesting: "We look for something for our own perfection
which neither Allah nor His Messenger nor any Imam has sanctioned."
Ayatullah Sheikh Jawad al-Karbalaai
says the following in this regard: "Ayatullah Bahjat used to say this to
me in a specialy tone: 'Whenever you get to know what the Shari'a holds as
taken for granted, such as abandoning sins, observing what is obligatory and
what is highly commendable, the recitation of the Qur'an during solitude,
earning the qualifications of health, the acceptance of your adoration and its
inclusion of secrets such as prayers and other rituals, so you may get to know
their results…, do not come to me to ask me instructions leading you to the
right conduct and to the path to Allah Almighty, as though a mentor from the
unknown comes to you and guides you to the path! Are these matters that are
taken for granted and are issued by the most pure Shari'a not sufficient for
you to act upon as they should be acted upon so you may reach the anticipated
goal?' I came to know from the statement of the mentor that one who is seeking
the path must safeguard the manifestations of the holy Shari'a, must keep
things to himself with regard to spiritual conditions and not manifest them
except to those who are worthy of them, and the latter are indeed few. The
mentor also said this to me when I was studying ethics in Qum city: "Tell
the scholars issues which they understand and do not tell them things over
their level of comprehension."
9.
Personified Practical Emulation
One of the
distinctions that set Ayatullah Bahjat apart from the rest of scholars and mujtahids
is his practical emulation of the Infallible Ones, peace be with them. You see
this clearly from his statements and actions, his standing and sitting, his
speech and silence, during his acts of adoration, when he supplicates, and when
he interacts with people. This distinction makes everyone, even when one is
unaware, heading in the direction of Allah, the most Praised One, the most
Exalted.
Sheikh Misbah says the following in
this regard: "I came to know the Sheikh in 1373 A.H. when I went to Qum
city. His house was in the neighborhood of the Hujjati School, and I used to
see him on my way or in the shrine almost every day. His shining face, when he
moved or was still, when he stood or sat down, he attracted attention to him
and gave the impression that this man was living in a special spiritual
atmosphere. His interests in other matters surpassed the interests of
individuals in some matters.
He tied himself to adoration, to
standing for the prayers during the sahar (pre-dawn) times, his
pilgrimage to the shrine of the Infallible Lady Fatima, peace be with her, and
by other programs which he did every day. These matters used to attract the
attention of everyone especially those who were looking for a practical role
model to emulate. His personal actions and piercing looks intensified the
effect of these factors. His impact on some individuals was spiritual, making
them get attracted to him in an amazing way. Anyway, such characteristics are
the catalyst that prompted me to get to know the mentor, to know what sets him
apart, what distinguishes him.
It is for the above reasons that I
kept asking friends and other individuals whom I thought might be familiar with
the Sheikh and his spiritual conditions and scholarly status. From my research,
I came to know that the mentor enjoyed an excellent status from both scholarly
and spiritual standpoints. Thereafter, the Sheikh gradually permitted me to be
present at his house and to benefit from his admonitions.
10.
Urging Others to Seek Perfection and Spirituality
Ayatullah Hajj
Jawad al-Karbalaai wrote me saying, "Several years ago, I heard from Grand
Ayatullah Hajj Abul-Qasim al-Khu’i and before than from Grand Ayatullah Bahjat
(may Allah expand his shade) that Sayyid al-Khu’i said in the research of using
a word in more than one meaning the following: 'Such use for the word is
impossible because it requires the "existence" of both observations:
what is spontaneous and what is independent in the same usage.'"
But Ayatullah Bahjat said to Sayyid
al-Khu’i at the time, "It is possible one's soul reaches a stage of power
which enables it to combine both."
In fact, the Sheikh utilized this
pursuit to attract the attention of Ayatullah Sayyid al-Khu’i to the need to
attain divine branches of knowledge and to be adorned with the attributes of
the friends of Allah, so Ayatullah al-Khu’i asked him about the reason why he
presented this pursuit, then he asked him, after hearing his answer for the
first question, 'Who should I refer to?' Ayatullah Bahjat said, 'You should
refer to Ayatullah Sayyid Ali al-Qadi.' Then Ayatullah Bahjat intervened to
arrange a meeting between Ayatullah al-Qadi and Sayyid al-Khu’i in the
courtyard of our master, Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas, peace be with him, and the
meeting lasted for more than one hour and a half. After that Sayyid al-Khu’i
said to me (al-Karbalaai went on), 'I surrendered to them and accepted their
statement. Sayyid Ali al-Qadi dictated to me a special program to follow in all
its conditions (in special clothes and dhikr which must be repeated in
certain installments). I brought all the conditions and decided to start the 'amal
(highly recommended religious practice) at 2:00 pm in a suitable and quiet spot
in the sacred Alawi shrine. But unfortunately, when I brought everything and
wanted to start reciting the dhikr, I forgot its wording and kept trying
to remember it, but it was in vain, so I lost hope and said to myself: 'O father
of Qasim! You were not sought to do this!' The statement was: 'There is no god
but He, and those who seek reliance should rely on Allah.'"
Grand Ayatullah Sayyid Abdul-Kareem
al-Kashmiri, one of the students of the unique Gnostic Sayyid Ali Agha al-Qadi,
says, "I was sitting with some friends and talking with them at the shrine
of the Commander of the Faithful, peace be with him, in al-Najaf al-Ashraf
because I was exhausted by the study and research. As we were thus, Ayatullah
Bahjat entered. I waited for a short while till I was distant from my friends.
He whispered in my ears saying, 'We were not created for sporting!' This
statement ignited fire in my heart and caused a coup in my existence,
intensified my puzzlement and caused me to look for the truth. Thereafter,
Allah Almighty enabled me to be present in the meeting place of the late
al-Qadi."
Sayyid Mas`udi says the following in
this regard: "The mentor used to take care of culturing others by advising
them to this and not that, or it is better it should be done this way and not
that, etc. One day, I came to his meeting place and said, 'O Sheikh! Our living
condition has become quite harsh, and we have no money; what should we do?' The
Sheikh taught me a dhikr which I kept repeating all my life. Since that
day, I never suffered any financial hardship. The mentor advised me to keep the
dhikr for myself."
11.
Systems, Programming Actions
One of the
mentor's students writes the following: "The mentor adheres to precision
and systems in his actions, so much so that he has programmed himself to
articulate a particular dhikr after he leaves home till he reaches the
mosque. Thereafter he articulates another dhikr, and so on, in order he
may not waste his time. He also put a program for daily optional acts of
adoration (nawafil) in this same way."
One of the virtuous men in the city
of Qum writes the following: "One day, I stood before the alley where the
house of Ayatullah Bahjat lived so I may accompany him on his way to the
mosque, but I stayed till the dark without seeing the mentor coming out of his
house. I, therefore, thought he had already left for the mosque before my
arrival at the alley, so I went to the mosque, but I did not find him there. I
bade a friend with me farewell then returned to take advantage of the
opportunity to ask the mentor a question as he was on his way to the mosque. I
kept thinking as I was walking along the way of a question to ask him, but I
did not have a question in advance. In fact, my goal behind intruding on the
mentor and asking him a question was to get some words out of him, to urge him
to speak, because I believe the words of these servants of Allah and their
spirituality bear an impact on the souls. You may find in their speech a word
or an interesting point that stimulates one and wakes him up from indifference.
Anyhow, I brought this question for the mentor: 'There is a verse in the Holy
Qur'an that says that Allah Almighty replaces bad deeds with good ones; what does
it mean? How can a bad deed be replaced with a good deed?' When the mentor came
close, I greeted him then said to him, 'O Sheikh! I have a question. Do you
allow me to submit it?' He raised his hand in objection and firmly said, 'No,
not at all, I have neither time nor temper for it; the time for prayers has
already passed and people are waiting. As for your, you must not ask such
questions!' Then he looked at the mausoleum of the Infallible Lady Masuma,
peace be with her, greeted her, bowed, then entered the mosque.
"In fact, I was surprised by
this strict answer, and my senses trembled. I retreated for a few steps
backwards then entered the mosque behind the mentor for the prayers. I kept
thinking about the mentor's answer, what he meant by it and what prompted him
to thus answer me. This thinking continued after the prayers, too. I was sure
the stand of the Sheikh was for my own good, and that there were three
possibilities which justified it: The first: The Sheikh wanted to let me
understand that one must prepare himself for the prayers beforehand. He must
direct himself to Allah Almighty with dhikr and supplication so his soul
will be ready for the prayer service, for speaking with Allah, the most
Exalted, the most Great. He, too, was busy with the dhikr when he came
to the mosque, and he was thus preparing himself for the prayer. The other
(second) possibility is that the Sheikh saw me when I came and tried to ask him
as soon as he arrived, and he wanted to let me understand that what I did was
not right. But I was simply returning from the mosque and wanted to take
advantage of the opportunity to benefit from him on the way. The third
possibility was the Sheikh knowing what I had on my mind and realizing my
objective behind asking him the question, for my question was only an excuse
and a way to get the Sheikh to say something, so the Sheikh informed me of what
I had on my mind. No wonder, the Sheikh himself had told some friends that in
the past, in the city of al-Najaf al-Ashraf, the students [of theology] used to
go from one point of the earth to the other without leaving their place [what
is called "tayy al-ard", folding the distances of the earth]. Any
student who could not do so was singled out thus from among the students. In
other words, these matters should be ordinary for the students and the
scholars."
12.
Continual Dhikr practice
Hujjatul-Islam
wal Muslimin Khosro-Shahi says this: "One of the distinctive
characteristics of Ayatullah Bahjat is his continuously articulating dhikr.
One day, when the Sheikh was returning from the mosque home following the
congregational prayer service, he turned to the students who were following him
on the way and asked them, 'Do you have any business with me?' They said they
did not but wanted to walk with him to earn the honor of his company. The
Sheikh said, 'I have a private program; it is a dhikr which I articulate
on my way to the mosque and back home, but when I see you, I think you have
some business with me, so I stop the dhikr. When I reach home, I see
that my program was not completed and I feel angry with myself about
that.'"
13.
Thinking before Speaking
Sayyid
Khosro-Shahi also says the following: "One of the distinctive characteristics
of the Sheikh is that whenever he wanted to say something, he would first think
about his statement before articulating it. He even thinks of how to explain
what he is seeking, how to coin the sentences and the words so his statement
may be brief on one hand, clear and indicative of his objective on the
other."
14.
Keeping Spiritual Conditions Secret
Sayyid Misbah
says the following in this regard: "Among the distinctive attributes
whereby the Sheikh is characterized is his keeping to himself his spiritual
stations. Seldom does he say anything or behaves in any way which gives one the
impression that he undertook something supernatural or has supernatural
knowledge. But the individuals who are familiar with his life and who lived and
befriended him for a long time used to sometimes see certain things which could
not be understood except due to his supernatural ability and lofty spiritual
status; the mentor does have super spiritual abilities.
15.
Indirect Cultivation
In this regard,
Sayyid Misbah also says, "We used to attend the class of the Sheikh before
he started it in few minutes so we could benefit from his moral lessons. The
Sheikh, too, used to be present before the class and sit in the room where the
class is held. He would start his talk by offering advice indirectly and in
various ways. In other words, as soon as he sat, he would mention a tradition
or a historical incident which suited our behavior the day before, as if he was
criticizing our conditions and reminding us of the shortcomings in our norms of
conduct through the medium of mentioning this tradition or that incident. This
is accepted by all the brothers. Everyone says that the Sheikh talks about matters
which fully applied to our life. He solves the problems of our live, reminding
us of our shortcoming and errors by mentioning this tradition or that incident.
Anyhow, his cultivating method in dealing with others was indirect. He never
told us to do this or not to do that, or that we made this particular
wrongdoing. Rather, he would remind us of our mistakes and shortcomings of
deeds by mentioning a suitable tradition, a historical incident or an
expressive story and make us consider correcting our mistakes.
