The President of the Council...

The President of the Council, Ayatullah Ibrahim Amini, in his Friday sermon on December 10, 1993, said that the Shaykh was “since the time of the late Shaikh ‘Abdul Karim Ha’iri (founder of the Qum Theological Center), one of the most brilliant personalities in the field of theology and religious sciences, and a friend amoung the Ulama…” Ayatullah Yusuf Sana’i also of Qum said that the Grand Ayatullah has “a high expertise in fiqh and its different topics and also is skillful I nmanipulating the principle maxims of jurisprudence.” As for his piety, Ayatullah Jawadi Amuli mentioned in a statement that the Ayatullah protected his “soul from wordly desires and his obedience to the Sacred Existence of the Master of the Seen and Unseen…” The grand Ayatullah died on the 25th of Jumadi al-Akhar, 1994, one year to the day of the demise of Ayatullah al-‘Udhma al-hajj as-Sayyid Muhammad Riza al-Gulpaygani, and was buried in Qum on Thursday the 27th of Jumadi al-Akhar.

Ayatullah al-Udhma al-haj ash-Shaykh Muhammad Taqi al-Behjat AyatullAh al-Udhma al-Haj ash-Shaykh Muhammad Taqi al-Behjat was born in 1915 in the city of Fuman, Iran. His father, Karbalai Muhammad Behjat was a trustworthy and reliable personality of that region. Ayatullah al-Behjat finished his primary education in one of the schools in Fuman. Later on, in that same city, he began his religious education until the year 1929, when he made the journey to Qum.

He completed studies in Arabic grammar and literature during his short stay in Qum, and then migrated to the holy city of Karbala, Iraq, where he attended the lectures of some of the great scholars - such as Ayatullah al-Udhma al-hajj as-Sayyid Abu al-Qasim al-Khu'i. In 1933, he left Karbala for the holy city of Najaf to complete his studies. While there, he attended the lectures of one of Ayatullah Khurasani's students.

After participating in the classes of Ayatullah Dia' al-Iraqi and Ayatullah Mirza Naini’, he began attending the lectures of Ayatullah al-hajj ash-Shaykh Muhammad husayn al-Gharawi al-Isfahani (known as al-Kumpani). Ayatullah al-Behjat also benefited a great deal from the lectures of Ayatullah al-Udhma hajj as-Sayyid Abu al-hasan al-Isfahani and al-hajj ash-Shaykh Muhammad Kadhim ash-Shirazi.

Apart from Fiqh (Jurisprudence) and Usul (Principles of Jurisprudence), Ayatullah al-Behjat also studied the book al-Isharat of Ibn Sina and al-Asfar al-Arba’ of Mulla Sadra ash-Shirazi, under the late as-Sayyid husayn al-Badkubi.