He says the way he chose this scholarly figure as his Marja'...

He says the way he chose this scholarly figure as his Marja' authority of imitation: "I went to Qum, visited all Maraji' , and I found no one as self-less as Agha Hujjat." He is also quoted as saying somewhere else: "I found his heart was devoid of ambitions and love of positions." The reverend Shaykh bewared his friends of the "orders" and circles that had deviated from the above undertaking. A friend of Shaykh says: 'I asked the Shaykh about one of these orders[^2].

The Shaykh replied: "I was in Karbala, 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 (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.[^3] 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. Dedicating the Work for God One of the Shaykh's friends quotes him as saying: "In the evenings, I used to sit in Masjid-i Jum'a of Tehran correcting peoples' recitation of Sura al-Hamd and Sura al-Tawhid. Once, two kids were quarrelling, one beating the other. The latter came sat next to me to evade being beaten any more.

I took the chance and asked him to recite his Al-Hamd and Sura al-Tawhid and helped him to correct them. This took all my time that night. The next 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 !" Refuting un-Islamic Mortification The Shaykh believed that if someone really acts according to the explicit Islamic ordinances, they will achieve all perfection and spiritual stations.