ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Uswat Al-Aarifeen: A Look at the Life of Ayatullah Bahjat Excerpts From Lessons by Grand Ayatullah Sheikh Bahjat We in the Chapter will be sitting under the pulpit of the class of Grand Ayatullah Bahjat so we may benefit from his explanations and instructions which he dictated on appropriate occasions to some of the students of purely Islamic branches of knowledge.

Status and Station of (as), Value of Praising them, Loyalty to them, Mourning them In a special meeting, Ayatullah Bahjat met some of those who laud (as) and delivered on this occasion a speech in which he referred to the status of , station, the value of praising them and being loyal to them.

Following is the text of this speech which the author cites from a taped audio cassette as follows: “The brethren who are busy lauding , those who recount the virtues of the Imams (as) and the tragedies that befell them, must know their station, what action they undertake and why. They must know that they are practically implementing the commandment of being ‘kind to the Prophet’s kindred’ to which the Holy Qur’an refers.

Whether they recount the virtues of or their tragedies, they thus repay the wage of conveying the Message and keep people firm on the path of the Qur’an. The Qur’an states the following: ‘Say: I do not ask you for a reward for it other than being kind to my kindred’ (Qur’an, 42:23). If someone says, ‘Suffices us the Book of Allah and we have no need fore anything else’, we will say, ‘Which book are you referring to? Is it the one in which the verse referring to kindness to the Prophet’s kindred?

Can you say that you have no need for (as)? Which book do you mean? Is it the one in which this verse exists: ‘ This Day I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen Islam for you as your religion’ (Qur’an, 5:4) ? Can this religion be complete without the mastership of (as)? Which Qur’an do you mean?

Is it the same Book in which the following verse exists: ‘Your (real) friends are (no less than) Allah, His Apostle, and the (fellowship of) the believers, those who establish regular prayers and regular charity, and they bow down humbly (in adoration)’ (Qur’an, 5:58)?! Yes, had all these verses not been in your Qur’an, you have the right to say, ‘Suffices us the speech of Allah’.