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In the Name of
Allah
We now present another
instance depicting the piety of the honourable Shiite leader, Sheikh
Morteza Ansari:
Sheikh
Morteza highly respected Mirza Shirazi.
The reason for this was that Mirza Shirazi
had presented to Sheikh Ansari his own leadership like a small
table cloth with his two hands. Consequently, in return for his greatness,
a firm nest had been built in Sheikh Ansari’s heart. After presenting this
table cloth of leadership, Mirza Shirazi
showed up at Sheikh Ansari’s classes and for some time was
considered as one of the most prominent students of Sheikh!
It
reached a place where Mirza, with all his greatness, magnificence and
scientific and gnostic wealth, asked Sheikh Morteza to take the money for
the bread which went down into his stomach, and that of his family
members, from Sheikh. In other words, the bare necessary food which they
ate would be with the permission of Sheikh Morteza.
Sheikh
Morteza asked: Why do you not make use of your own wealth?
Mirza
replied: You are my master. I have accepted you as a foundation.
“Since
I have accepted you, I want the food which goes down into my stomach to be
only under your order so that my flesh and blood are composed through your
order! Obviously the flesh and blood formed in my body through your order
will manifest itself in the form of spiritual and divine effects.”
(This was the main conclusion and cause of Mirza Shirazi’s
statements)
Thereafter,
whatever food Mirza wanted to prepare, he would ask for his
professor’s permission and would say: Al-abdo va ma fi yadehi kana
li-maulahe: whatever a servant has; his body, his spirit and his
wealth belongs to his master, and you are indeed my master![1]
As
mentioned, since Mirza was favoured a lot by Sheikh Ansari, one day
Sheikh’s mother, who lived under a great deal of hardship and poverty,
went to Mirza in order to have her problem with her son, Sheikh
Morteza Ansari, solved through Mirza. What was her problem?
Sheikh’s mother monthly received a small amount of money from her son
which was from the Imam’s share fund. This money was for her to manage her
daily life and was half of her monthly expenses. For example, if her daily
expenses were two dirhams, she earned one dirham through stitching a quilt
and took one dirham from her son (Please note that her expenses were for a
loaf of bread and a small amount of food and cheap clothing). Many years
passed in this way and her eyes could not see well anymore and her hand
did not have the strength to move the needle in and out of quilts or
mattresses. She did not know what to do.
She
thought if she went directly to her son, since Sheikh was extremely pious,
he would not give anything extra to her. Therefore, she decided to go to
Mirza’s house. Sheikh’s mother walked to Mirza Shirazi’s
house with full dignity (she was well-known for her dignity).[2]
When
Mirza Shirazi’s family realized that Sheikh’s mother had arrived at
one of Mirza’s houses, people who were passing by were stopped so
that she would not feel upset with their passing by or with their bad or
impolite attitude which would be against her chastity and dignity.
Agha
(Sheikh’s mother) herself would call the person’s name and say I have some
work with you! Any person whom she would call had to go, not everyone!
These
are sparkles of the dignity of Sheikh’s mother. The words she used were
mature, dignified, concise and meaningful …
She
called Mirza in this manner!
As
soon as the voice of Sheikh’s mother rose, Mirza with all his
greatness got up like a slave hurrying towards his master!
Mirza
came to Sheikh’s mother, but she was looking at the ground and Mirza
did not dare to ask her why she was looking at the ground.
After
a while, Sheikh’s mother looked towards Mirza and stood up as a
sign of respect to Mirza and then she sat and explained her
situation for Mirza, and Mirza was all ears!
Her
situation was as follows: I could not discuss this with my son. I want you
to act as a mediator and ask my son to come here so that I can talk to him
in your presence.
(Here
too, the greatness and dignity of Sheikh’s mother is evident)
At
that moment, Mirza himself rushed towards Sheikh Ansari (He did not
send his servant but rather went himself). Sheikh’s class had got over and
he was going to return home.
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29
July 2008 |