The Muslim world has lost one of itsbrightest stars when, at 3:13 pm on
Saturday, Safar 8, 1413 (August 8,
1992), Ayatullah al-Uzma (Grand or
Supreme Ayatullah, the highest
theological degree in Shi'a Islam)
Abul-Qasim al-Khoei died at his Kufa
home of heart failure. He was born on
Rajab 15, 1317 A.H. (November 19,
1899) at Khoei in Iranian Azerbaijan,
heartland of many great Shi'a thinkers
and sufis, ascetics. Even in his early
childhood, al-Khoei was versed in
religious Persian and Arabic poetry and
languages, and in Turkish as well.
It was in 1330 A.H./1912 A.D. that
al-Khoei, who was then only thirteen years old, migrated to al-Najaf
al-Ashraf, Iraq, in pursuit of knowledge. Even then, he was
characterized by brilliance and a readiness to absorb knowledge and
scholarship. In all stages of his study and research, progress and
success were his companions.
THE HAWZA
Ten centuries ago, a university-type hawza was founded by the
most knowledgeable person then alive, namely shaikh Muhammad ibn
al-Hassan al-Toosi, may Allah have mercy on his soul. Al-Toosi was
an intellectual giant, a genius by all standards, and a man who was
able to absorb various types of knowledge and science. He was the
undisputed authority in fiqh, the founder of the science of hadith,
an innovative mentor of the science of usool, nay, the scholar of
scholars in all branches of knowledge related to the science of
biographies, akhlaq, and ilm al kalam. Thus did al-Toosi lay the
foundation for the hawza which has been functioning since then, i.e.
since 449 A.H.
Since that year, this blessed hawza has passed through three
significant periods: The first extended from its year of establishment
till early tenth century; the second period started from then and
ended at the early twelfth century; the third period started from
then and continued till our present time. During each of these
periods, certain personalities rose to distinction and contributed to
the development and improvement of the functions of this great
university; here is their short list:
1) Those who were distinguished during the first period included the
founder, Shaikh al-Toosi, his son al-Hassan ibn Muhammad ibn
al-Hassan who is well known as Abu Ali al-Toosi, and Abul-Nasr
Muhammad ibn Abu Ali ibn Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn al-Hassan
al-Toosi.
2) Scholars whose star shone during its second period were many;
among them are: al-Muqaddas Ahmed ibn Muhammad al-Ardabili,
then the lighthouse of knowledge Jamalud-Deen al-Hassan ibn
Zaynul-Deen, the Second Martyr, then Shaikh Ahmed ibn Isma'eel
al-Jazairi, author of Ayat al Ahkam, then both famous scholars
Sayyid Muhammad Mahdi Bahr al-Uloom and Shaikh Ja'far
Kashiful-Ghita.
3) Men of this period are innumerable, yet the most renown among
them are: Sayyid Muhammad Mahdi Bahr al-Uloom, Shaikh Ja'far
Kashiful-Ghita, Shaikh Muhammad Hussain al-Najafi, author of Al
Jawahir, Shaikh al-Ansari, author of Al Makasib wal Rasaail,
Muhammad Kazim al-Khurasani, author of Al Kifayah, and Sayyid
Muhammad Kazim al-Yazdi, author of Al Urwah. Less renown were
scholars such as Mirza Hussain al-Naeeni, Shaikh Muhammad Hussain
al-Isfahani, Shaikh Diyaud-Deen al-Iraqi, Sayyid Abul-Hassan
al-Isfahani, and Sayyid Muhsin al-Tabatabai al-Hakim (the grand
Ayatullah who preceded the late grand Ayatullah Abul-Qasim
al-Khoei). The list is concluded by men of genius such as Abul-Qasim
al-Moosawi al-Khoei, may Allah be pleased with him, during whose
period the hawza became like a bee-hive, full of energy and
productivity and scholarly competition. Some scholars have
described this particular period as the period of the Renaissance of
the hawza, while others refer to it as the period of the perfection of
scholarship due to the large number of those who proved their
genius and due to the huge public demand from Arab and non-Arab
seekers of knowledge to study there.
MENTORS OF AL-KHOEI
If we were to research the fountainheads that nurtured the intellect
of the late al-Khoei, we will come across a list of the finest among
all contemporary scholars such as Shaikh Fath-Allah who is better
known as Shaikh al-Sharee'a al-Isfahani, Shaikh Mahdi
al-Mazandarani, Shaikh Diyaud-Deen al-Iraqi, Shaikh Muhammad
Hussain al-Kampani al-Isfahani, Shaikh Muhammad Hussain
al-Naeeni, Shaikh Muhammad Jawad al-Balaghi, and others. All of
these men were considered as pioneers in the fields of their
specialization. The impact of these men on shaping the mind of the
late al-Khoei is best described by al-Khoei himself who has said,
"I have learned from each one of them a complete
course in the science of usool, and digested a number of
books in the science of fiqh, for many years. I used to
provide a critique of the research relevant of each one
of them before a number of scholars who specialized in
that branch of knowledge, and my audience included a
good number of very highly respected scholars.
Al-Naeeni, may Allah have mercy on his soul, was the
last mentor I used to accompany more frequently than
anyone else."
If you read Al Bayan fee Tafseer al Qur'an, you will most likely think
it was written by al-Balaghi, may Allah rest his soul in piece, but
worded by al-Khoei!
AL-KHOEI AS MENTOR
The above covers the stage of the life of al-Khoei when he was a
student. This chapter deals with his being a professor who taught
the most significant stages of theological studies in Islam, namely
the stages of al sutooh and al kharij, which may be compared to the
M.A. and Ph.D. respectively. Al-Khoei, may Allah be pleased with
him, colored both stages with his own hue and stamped them with
his own stamp; thus, a new generation of scholars graduated from
his school; nay! A whole new generation of scholars graduated from
his school as masters of the sciences of fiqh, usool, hadith, ilm al
rijal, tafseer, and ilm al kalam. Roughly translated, these sciences
may be said to be the sciences of jurisprudence, basics of
jurisprudence, traditions, biographies, exegesis, interpretation of the
Holy Qur'an, and theological philosophy, respectively.
Al-Khoei had his own style in teaching and tutoring. Those who
graduated from his courses describe his method of teaching as
immaculately minute, stunningly easy and clear, amazingly logical.
They say that there is neither undue complexity nor ambiguity in his
style, and this can be said about all the courses he taught. How
was his style in discussing and debating? The answer to this
question is provided by one of his students: the struggling scientist,
the pioneer and the shining star Shaikh Muhammad Jawad
Maghniyyah who has said the following in this regard:
"He [al-Khoei] was like the sun that sends its rays
everywhere, all the time. He was my professor and the
professor of all other scholars at al-Najaf al-Ashraf, and
the pivot round which the motion of scholarship
revolved, and to whom the hawza is indebted for
appreciation and loyalty... His was the golden age during
which stars such as al-Shaikh al-Ansari and al-Shaikh
al-Khurasani and their disciples shone... He remained [at
the hawza] for more than seventy years learning,
teaching, writing, helping scholars graduate, debating
newcomers as well as alumni... His style in discussing
and debating is that of Socrates: He deliberately feigns
his lack of knowledge and pretends to accept the
argument of the other party, then he confronts him with
doubts and assails him with questions. He pretends to
seek benefit and guidance from his opponent, just as a
student or an inquirer may do, so much so that when
the poor debater innocently and with naivete provides
an answer, he sharply assails him, pouncing down on him
like an eagle and dragging him to show him the facts
that support his own argument and from which the
opponent cannot rescue himself. He then causes his
opponent to unknowingly contradict himself, forcing him
to admit his error and ignorance."
TEACHING THE AL-KHARIJ STAGE
In order to demonstrate the extent of contribution of his late
holiness al-Khoei, consider the following facts:
* Shaikh Murtada al-Ansari founded and polished the science of
usool more than a century and a half ago;
* Shaikh Murtada al-Ansari continued learning then teaching this
science for more than twenty five years;
* Al-Mirza Habib al-Rashti dedicated thirty years of his life to the
study of this science alone;
* Shaikh al-Akhoond al-Khurasani continued his studies of this
science for more or less than twenty years;
* Al-Mirza al-Naeeni continued studying this science for twenty-five
years and a few months;
* Shaikh Diyaud-Deen al-Iraqi dedicated more than thirty years of
his life to the study of this science;
* Shaikh al-Kampani Muhammad Hussain al-Isfahani was
distinguished by the fact that he spent thirty years of his life
studying only this science;
* Al-Sayyid Abul-Qasim al-Khoei passed the stage of usool and
continued teaching the much more advanced stage of al kharij for
more than fifty years...! The number of his graduates is estimated
at tens of thousands...
In order to form an idea about what this stage involves, let us ask
its professor himself about it, for surely his answer is more precise
than that of anyone else. He, may Allah be pleased with him, says:
"I have taught extensively, delivering numerous lectures
in fiqh, usool, and tafsir, nurturing a large number of
highly respected students at the hawza of al-Najaf
al-Ashraf. I delivered my lectures in the stage of al
kharij for two complete courses utilizing the scholarly
achievements of his holiness al-Shaikh al-Ansari, the
greatest mentor, may Allah be pleased with him, and I
taught a number of other books as well. Then I taught
two complete courses related to the Book of Salat
(prayers). On Rabi' al-Awwal 27, 1377 A.H. I started
teaching Al Urwah al Wuthqa by the faqih of the school
of thought al-Sayyid Muhammad Kazim al-Tabatabai
al-Yazdi, starting with the Book of Tahara (cleanliness),
after having taught ijtihad and taqleed. I continued, by
the Grace of Allah, doing so for a good while till I
reached the Book of Ijarah which I started teaching on
Rabi' al-Thani 26, 1400 A.H., finishing it in the month of
Safar of the year 1401 A.H. I delivered my lectures in
the science of usool, in the stage of al kharij for six
complete courses, concluding them with the research on
al didd. During the past few years, I have been teaching
the exegesis of the Holy Qur'an till circumstances
beyond my control forced me to terminate them..."
Books written by al-Khoei and already published have already
numbered ninety, not counting his numerous manuscripts. The
topics his writings have covered include Islamic law, religious
biographies, philosophy and commentary of the Holy Qur'an. His best
known books of guidance are being used today throughout the Shi'a
world, and they have been reprinted numerous times, and every
Shi'a country in the world boasts eminent scholars who were his
students. This figure demonstrates the power of his overflowing pen
despite his numerous responsibilities as the spiritual leader of two
hundred million Shi'a Muslims worldwide and the person responsible
for their guidance in matters related to both secular and theological
problems. It is truly a task that distracts one from reading, let alone
writing.
NAJAF'S HAWZA UNDER HIS SUPERVISION
The monumental achievement of his late holiness Abul-Qasim
al-Khoei is his development and improvement of Najaf's theological
school known as al hawza al ilmiyya, the inclusive school of
knowledge and scholarship over which he presided in 1970 after
being elected successor to the late Ayatullah al-Uzma Sayyid
Muhsin al-Tabatabai al-Hakim. He is described by his students as a
compassionate father, a man who believed in moderation and who
led a most austere life in strict adherence to the tenets of the
Islamic faith. Al-Khoei had attained the coveted title of "Ayatullah"
when he was in his early thirties.
The hawza at al-Najaf al-Ashraf has been for the past ten centuries
attracting students from all over the world. The main topics taught
at the hawza are: philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence, and the
number of its students and teachers during its hay days reached
10,000. It contains several libraries where ancient and rare
manuscripts are treasured and guarded as one would guard a gold mine.
In Najaf in general and around the premises of the hawza in
particular, bookstores outnumber grocery stores. The hawza also
accommodates facilities for the use of manuscript copiers. Learning
at it is a full-time career, and students actually live and learn at the
same place where they are offered very modest accommodations.
There were dark periods when this great center of learning was
fought and its teachers hunted. To be exact, that was the period
when Iraq was placed by strong foreign nations under the British mandate.
The British, who claim to be the most civilized people in the world
and the champions of learning, chased Muslim theologians because
of the latter's opposition to their presence in Iraq. One teacher
recollects how he and other fellow teachers during that dark period
of persecution by the British had nothing to eat all day long, so,
they would wait till the dark to go out to the streets looking for the
skins of watermelons whereby they could sustain themselves.
SOME OF HIS RENOWN STUDENTS
It is no exaggeration to indicate here that 70% of Shi'a scholars
worldwide are either graduates of al-Khoei's hawza or students of
such graduates, and each one of them is like a bright star. Only
Allah knows the exact numbers of those taught directly by al-Khoei
or by his students, but we would like here to indicate some of the
most renown scholars who were students of Imam al-Khoei and who
are very well known throughout the Islamic world:
1) the great Islamic philosopher, theologian and economist Martyr
Ayatullah Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr,
2) Ayatullah Sayyid Ali Beheshti,
3) the authority-referee, scholar and philosopher Hujjatul-Islam
Shaikh Muhammad Taqi al-Ja'fari,
4) the scholar Hujjatul-Islam Shaikh Muhammad Mahdi
Shamsud-Deen,
5) Ayatullah Sayyid Taqi al-Qummi,
6) Ayatullah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani,
7) Ayatullah Sayyid Muhammad al-Roohani,
8) the scholar Hujjatul-Islam Shaikh Muhammad Asif al-Muhsini,
9) the scholar Hujjatul-Islam Sayyid Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah,
10) Ayatullah Shaikh Hussein al-Waheed,
11) the scholar Hujjatul-Islam Sayyid Muhyi al-Deen al-Ghuraifi,
12) the scholar Hujjatul-Islam Shaikh Muhammad Ishaq al-Fayyad,
13) the scholar Hujjatul-Islam Sayyid Ali Mekki,
14) the scholar, authority-referee, Martyr Sayyid Abdel-Sahib
al-Hakim, to name only a few.
A GREAT ADMINISTRATOR
Imam al-Khoei kept in touch with his followers worldwide through a
very well organized and centralized network of representatives. The
latter have been charged with duties such as: making sure that the
social, educational, theological, cultural and even financial problems
of their respective communities are properly addressed and solved.
He proved his administrative genius in handling the financial aspect
of running such a huge and intricate network of charitable trusts
overseen and supervised by the Khoei Foundation which has been
building schools and religious and cultural centers wherever there is
a sizeable following community.
During the Afghani struggle against the Russians, Ayatullah al-Uzma
al-Khoei organized aid for Afghani war victims. When natural
disasters hit Bangladesh, India, Kashmir (chopped off into Pakistani
and Indian slices), and Iran, al-Khoei issued orders to spend
generously on the victims of these disasters regardless of their
schools of Muslim law. Moreover, he was credited with the task of
establishing projects to dig wells and irrigation canals for the
believers who live in isolated villages in East Africa and the
Indo-Pakistani subcontinent, for undertaking numerous housing
projects, schools and both mobile and permanent clinics, all funded
by voluntary contributions from the Shi'a faithful under his
supervision and administrative guidance.
INSTITUTES HE ESTABLISHED
Since he took charge of Najaf's hawza, al-Khoei became the
caretaker of all Shi'a charitable institutions, mosques and
husayniyyas, theological hawzas, etc. all over the world. Among the
most significant of such institutes which he ordered to be founded,
and which he supervised through his representatives, are the
following:
1) in India, where there are an estimated forty million followers of
his (according to his representative there Sayyid Muhammad
al-Moosawi), he established the Educational Charitable Complex in
Bombay which is regarded as the largest educational and theological
project in the world, and it includes various departments each one
of which specializes in a particular activity, and it is comprised of
elementary and secondary (high) schools, various accredited
colleges, a large hospital and a huge mosque, in addition to spending
on attendants of theological centers in other parts of India such as
Ali Poor, Nibras and Hyderabad;
2) Madeenat al-'Ilm, the city of knowledge, at the holy city of Qum,
Islamic Republic of Iran, which is the largest theological institute in
Shi'a world and where more than three thousand students are
studying theology, and it includes dormitories for 500 married
students, in addition to theological centers at Mashhad and
Khurasan, spending, according to his representative in India Sayyid
Muhammad al-Moosawi, more than one million Iranian toomans a
month as grants to students of theology there;
3) Al-Khoei's Mabarrah in Beirut, Lebanon, which provides cultural
and social services for a large number of orphan children who have
lost their families during the catastrophes to which Lebanon has
been subjected, and it is a five building complex housing an
orphanage, a vocational school and an institute, and it surely is a
monument of what true charity can accomplish;
4) Ayatullah al-Khoei's School and Library of Mashhad, Islamic
Republic of Iran, the building of which is a masterpiece of a marriage
between traditional and modern architecture;
5) Dar al-'Ilm School at Najaf al-Ashraf, Iraq, from which highly
qualified jurists and mujtahids have been graduating, and which has
accommodated more than 200 students of the higher level of
theological studies, in addition to dormitories and a library, and it
has been demolished by the filthy hands of Saddam Hussein's troops
as part of a plan to demolish schools and mosques in Najaf, the
holiest city for the Shi'as of the world;
6) numerous other theological studies styled after Najaf's hawza
located in Thailand, Bangladesh (in West Bengal), India, Pakistan
and other countries;
7) Imam al-Khoei's Library at Najaf al-Ashraf, Iraq, which contains
25,000 books and 6,000 rare hand-written manuscripts, and it was
established by his late holiness for the benefit of researchers,
critics, and scholars of theology, and it used to publish and
internationally distribute quality Islamic literature, but its press has
been confiscated by the oppressive authority of Saddam Hussein's
regime;
8) offices in Karachi and Islamabad, Pakistan, to disseminate
religious education and the translation and distribution of quality
Islamic literature; and
9) an office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the publication and
distribution of religious literature.
AL-KHOEI FOUNDATION
In addition to all the projects enumerated above, his late holiness
had ordered the establishment of an international charity to look
after the followers of our creed in all corners of the earth and to
establish a high quality cultural and social system; therefore, Imam
al-Khoei Benevolent Foundation was founded and first
headquartered in Najaf al-Ashraf in 1988 with branches in Europe
(including one in London, U.K.) and the Middle East. The London
branch office had been established by a select committee of nine
highly respected dignitaries who formed its Central Committee.
Those nine founding members were:
1) Sayyid Muhammad Taqi al-Khoei (son of the late Imam al-Khoei),
2) Shaikh Muhsin Ali al-Najafi,
3) Shaikh Yousuf Nafsi,
4) Sayyid Muhammad al-Moosawi (of Bombay, India)
5) Sayyid Fadil al-Meelani,
6) Sayyid Majeed al-Khoei (son of the late Imam al-Khoei),
7) Shaikh Hajj Kazim Abdel-Hussein,
8) Sayyid Muhammad Ali al-Shahristani, and
9) al-Hajj Mustafa Kawkal.
After the Rajab 1412 (March 1991) Intifada (uprising) of the people
of Iraq against the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, the Najaf
headquarters were transferred to London, U.K., where the said
Committee was charged with overseeing the activities of all branch
offices of al-Khoei Foundation in India, Pakistan, U.S.A., Canada and
Kuwait.
Kuwaitis who suffered untold atrocities at the bloody hands of
Saddam Hussein after he had invaded their country secretly
received huge sums of money from the late ayatullah who instructed
his representatives there to help all families that suffered from the
invasion regardless of their sect. No other Muslim organization in the
world helped Kuwaitis who were trapped inside the country, or who
lost their means of income because of the execution of their bread
earners, as they were helped by al-Khoei... His benevolence also
reached all families that suffered from the Iraq-Iran war, and his
assistance to them infuriated Saddam's government and led the
latter to once confiscate his entire funds at al-Rafidain Bank in
Baghdad.
The Deputy Director of the now London Headquarters is also
Director of the al-Khoei Foundation in New York which supervises
cultural and theological studies of the Medina school and the Khoei
Center. He is Mawlana Hujjatul-Islam Shaikh Fadil al-Sahlani who has
been representing al-Khoei in the U.S. and Canada since 1990. In
addition to all the above, his late holiness also sponsored and
funded the activities of students of theology in Syria, Turkey,
Palestine and the African continent. In Canada, he fairly recently
established an Islamic school and center at Montreal. During the war
between Afghani heroes and Communist kafir forces, the deceased
Imam provided all support he could to the Mujahidin, and he even
permitted the distribution of collected religious taxes to Afghani
Mujahidin.
HIS ASCETICISM
Ayatullah al-Uzma al-Khoei was the embodiment of asceticism,
scholarship, and renunciation of worldly riches. His son Sayyid
Abdel-Majeed al-Khoei narrates anecdotes about the simple life his
holy father used to lead.
He says that his father never deducted his own share of the
religious taxes his representatives were collecting on his behalf;
instead, he used to spend on his family, relatives and friends from
whatever gifts handed to him by some of his followers. "My father,"
says Sayyid Abdel-Majeed al-Khoei, "never bought himself a new
outfit except after the one he wears is totally worn out.
Some of those who were very close to him criticized him for wearing
such shabby clothes, telling him that it did not fit his status as the
supreme leader of the faithful to dress like that.
His answer to them was that as long as the outfit he was wearing
was clean, there was nothing wrong with its being old. Some even
suggested to him to give his worn-out clothes to others and replace
them with new ones."
He was also passionate about seeking knowledge and sharing it with
others. When his health deteriorated prior to his demise, and he was
hospitalized, his medical team advised him to do something to
entertain himself.
He told them that reading always made him relaxed while lecturing
was the only entertainment he had ever known. He used to wake up
before sunrise, make tahajjud, perform his morning prayers, then eat
his breakfast with his family. His breakfast most often was no more
than a piece of bread, some domestic cheese, and a tiny cup of
tea, and he never ate by himself. Instead, he insisted on eating with
other members of his family or those who helped them at home, or
with his guests. Before midnight, he used to read a book, then listen
to world news, tuning to local, Arab or international stations.
He was often seen the next morning with blackness around his eyes.
The sage could not sleep because of hearing some disturbing news
about what was happening to the Muslims in this country or that.
THE IMAM AT HOME
His son, Sayyid Abdel-Majeed al-Khoei, says the following about his
father, "My father was always smiling when he was with us. He
always arbitrated between his sons whenever there was a dispute,
and he was quite witty.
If he saw one looking forlorn or happily excited, he would ask him
about the reason, and every evening he would distribute candy for
the children in addition to whatever other gifts he had received that
day from the admiring faithful." Despite his extremely lofty status,
he never hesitated to help his family in domestic chores, including
kitchen chores. He never opened the mail coming to any of his
family members. One of his sons told him once that nobody in the
house had any secret to hide from him, and that it was perfectly
alright with them if he opened their mail, but he insisted never to do so.
He always instructed members of his family to deliver funds for
highly esteemed but impoverished families without doing so publicly,
telling them to help those whom the ignorant ones mistake as
wealthy because of their abstention from begging for help.
IMAM'S DEMISE
After the failure of the Intifada of March 1991, the Grand Ayatullah
was briefly imprisoned then forced to appear on television with the
Butcher of Baghdad Saddam Hussein who always kept pressuring him
to issue fatawa, religious verdicts, supportive of Saddam and his
government, something which he never did despite all the
persecution to which he, his representatives and family members
were subjected.
Because of refusing to cooperate with the dictatorial government of
Saddam Hussein, he was put under house arrest till his death.
Saddam also exiled, jailed, or assassinated many of the gifted
students, representatives and distinguished followers of al-Khoei and
ordered the destruction of their mosques and libraries particularly
those in Najaf and Kerbala.
As if the Iraqi government predicted the death of al-Khoei, it cut off
all telephone connections with his Kufa residence in the morning of
Saturday, August 8, 1992 and with the houses of those who were
close to him. Having performed the afternoon prayers that day, the
health of his late holiness suddenly deteriorated and a severe chest
swelling was visible. Doctors in the medical team charged with
supervising his health conditions was called in, but they could not
tend to him early enough.
He informed his family and those in his presence that last night he
felt that it was the last night he was spending with his family. He
asked for water to perform his ablution, and as soon as he finished
his ablution his soul passed away to its Maker exactly at 3:13 pm.
Throngs of the believers started pouring into Kufa, surrounding his
residence, and it was not long before the whole country came to
know about the sad news.
Military units of Saddam's "Special Forces" moved quickly to close all
highways leading to both Najaf and Kufa as well as other cities in
Iraq's central regions, then they moved to disperse the thronging
crowds in the pretext of making preparations for the Grand
Ayatullah's funeral the next morning.
Curfew was enforced in the cities of Najaf, Kufa and other central
cities, and heavily armed police and military units started patrolling
the streets. Armed forces stationed at Baghdad and in central and
southern Iraqi cities were all placed under maximum alert in
anticipation of a popular reaction to the sad news and to the
ambiguous way it happened and was handled by the Iraqi
government.
Patrol vehicles were visible throughout the streets of al-Thawarah,
al-Shu'lah and al-Kazimiyyah, all of which are major Shi'a towns in
metropolitan Baghdad. Iraq's radio and television stations suspended
their usual programs to announce the sad news of the demise of the
great leader, informing the public that his funeral services were
scheduled for Sunday morning.
At midnight on Saturday, however, the family of the deceased was
ordered to bury the Imam before sunrise. Local government
authorities prohibited the public in Najaf and Kufa from taking part in
his funeral services, angering the faithful in Iraq and the world.
His body was washed Saturday evening at his Kufa house in the
presence of a handful of his family members, and the funeral prayers
were conducted by his eminence Ayatullah Ali al-Sistani, one of his
closest aides and a member of his four-member juristic Shura
(Consultative) Committee. (The other three members have been:
Ayatullah Shaikh Murtada al-Burujardi, Ayatullah Shaikh Ali Azghar
al-Ahmadi, and, of course, Ayatullah al-Uzma al-Khoei himself.)
A three-day mourning period was announced by the government
which prohibited the family of the deceased dignitary from holding
the traditional Fatiha majlis, while the Ministry of Awqaf (Islamic
Trusts) declared that it would conduct such majalis for his soul.
Telephone connections between the cities of Kufa and Najaf and the
rest of the world were by now cut off, too, till Sunday evening.
The hypocritical news media of the Butcher of Baghdad Saddam
Hussein was busy circulating lies about the demise of Imam al-Khoei,
claiming that he had received a great funeral service wherein the
people and representatives of the Iraqi government participated,
that his corpse was carried around all religious sites in the area, and
even calling him "the martyr of the nation and the country."
Baghdad's official newspaper Al-Jumhuriyyah called him "the martyr
of Islam and the nation," publishing his photograph on its front page.
International news agencies, on the other hand, published
photographs of his coffin escorted by no more than six persons.
Shortly before his death, the greatest scholar and leader al-Khoei
expressed no concern about anything in this vanishing life more than
the possibility of the loss of his precious manuscripts the writing of
which had exhausted so many years of his life... Surely the Islamic
world will find it very hard to compensate for the loss of such a
man, nay, a legendary institute and a lighthouse of knowledge and
scholarship... Inna Lillah wa Inna Ilyahi Raji'oon.
[1] This article was abridged and published in Noor al-Islam
magazine of Beirut, Lebanon, in its issue dated November/December 1992.
Written by Mohammed
We are group of Shia students whose aim is to make reach the fact about real islam and answer the doubts raised against shiaism in mondern days.
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