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.
O Reader and O Viewer await the conversation between mother and son which is at the highest level of piety and righteousness and if you are eager to understand the meaning of piety in the religion of the Holy Prophet of Islam and the Innocent Imams and to understand the fundaments of the Holy Quran, please await the next article on the life of the Honourable Shiite Leader, Sheikh Morteza Ansari.

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[1] Please note that these statements are made by Mirza Mohammad Hassan Shirazi (known as ‘the Great Mirza’) through whose order tons of tobacco were set on fire and destroyed in Iran and hubble-bubbles belonging to the aristocratic families including the Qajar dynasty were broken down. The Great Mirza on 19 Zihaja 1308 AH one year after the tobacco contract with the British company Talbot said in his first order: On this day the use of tobacco in any form constitutes war with Imam Zaman. This order was issued by the great Mirza which caused many businesses to collapse all at once through the order of their religious leader because their main business was tobacco. For instance a merchant from Isfahan set on fire 12,000 bags of tobacco. In fact he set on fire all his life through this action. And many businesses were ceased. This manifests the greatness and penetration of the religious leadership in Shiism.    
[2] It is known that whenever Sheikh’s mother passed by an area, she would walk with extreme dignity. Her dignity was such that it was as though angels close to God accompanied her! She walked with absolutely full dignity and whoever saw her from far, did not dare to near her boundary. It was such that people wanted to say salaam to her (greet her) or ask her a question, but her dignity was so radiant that they did not have the power and did not dare to enter her boundary. A woman’s greatness has been defined like this in Islam. A woman should acquire such dignity for herself and should not be overly free and without dignity and fly or leap aimlessly from one place to another. Rather, she has to choose the dignity of the lion. The effect of this dignity will be the calm and peace of the lady’s husband and her family. The world should be aware of this! This is the greatness of a woman’s piety and dignity! This is the position of a woman! This is the value and true price of a woman! A woman’s value is not in games in which her chastity is ruined. That is a woman’s misery not her civilization.
Where does dignity come from?
1. From piety, 2. from telling the truth (not telling lies), 3. from eating halal (lawful) food, and 4. From perfection and gnosticism. Sheikh’s mother possessed all the above.
29 July 2008