Abstract of the speech given by Eminent Marje' Ayatollah al-Udhma Sayyid Sadiq Shirazi

on the day after the funeral of the late

Ayatollah al-Udhma al-Imam Sayyid Muhammad Shirazi

 

 

In the name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful.

Peace and blessings be upon Muhammad and his purified progeny.

 

I wish to thank you one by one for what you said and did for our late Imam (ridhwanillah alayh), and on this occasion I shall mention two points; one about our late Imam (ridhwanillah alayh), and the other in relation you and us together.

 

As for our great and dear Imam, I know that he was not a loss just to a household, or a family or a country or a government . . . (interrupted by the grieving and crying of the mourners)

 

Today I am obliged to discharge the responsibility and obligation, which rests upon me from Allah Almighty towards this great brother who was like a father to me.  I did not lose my father when I lost him, even though he was a great father to me, for I used to get all that a son would get from his father from this great brother.  Today I have lost two fathers.  (Interrupted by the grieving and crying of the mourners)

 

I see this as a moral and religious obligation that I must discharge today, just as I have always done before.

 

He was like a father to me . . . in fact he was the father.  He was the father in accordance with the noble hadith, "the fathers are three; the father who teaches you, . . .” He was the greatest teacher, the most comprehensive and the most far-reaching.  I lived with him this long time, and at the same time short period, and I never noticed anything other than the (good) thing a needy son sees from his scholarly, righteous, and compassionate father . . .   (Interrupted by the grieving and crying of the mourners)

 

I wish to mention two point about the late Imam (may Allah alleviate his status) that I have come to appreciate through the past decades, which he used to adhere to without fail throughout the struggle; from the beginning to the last moments when Allah Almighty took him back.

 

The first: his total and absolute sincerity to Allah Almighty and to the Ahl-ul-Bayt, alayhimu-salam.  As you know, as well as many others, the late Imam was extremely eager about promoting and establishing social, community and educational institutions etc.  He established many such institutions and organisations by himself or along with others, or by his order and permission such that they number dozens and dozens of mosques, libraries, hussayneyyahs, publishing houses, Hawzahs, etc.  Yet you would not find any of those organisations carrying his name.  He used to emphasise that "I would go! But Allah and the Ahl-ul-Bayt would remain", and therefore the hussayneyyah must be named after Allah, or His Messenger, Rasulollah, or the Ahl-ul-Bayt alayhimu-salam.  I noticed on a number of occasions that individuals or group of people who individually or collectively had raised the fund to establish an institution, and wished to name that institution after the late Imam.  He used to reply, "If it were named after Rasulollah, then I am his son, and if it were named after Allah Almighty, then I am the slave of Allah, and if it were named after Fatima al-Zahra' then she is my mother."  He refused for even one institution or a single organisation to be named after him.

 

The second point I wished to mention here is that from my early childhood and up until the eve of the Eid, and including the last hours and even the last few moments before this calamity fell upon us, I noticed that he was like a continuous active volcano, never falling silence, always full of energy, vitality and activity.  He never missed an opportunity to do something good or useful however small it may have been.  He never allowed any such moment to be wasted, and utilised every moment available to him to write, or to advice or guide others, etc. or any other thing which would take him closer to Allah Almighty.  This was enough to be motivated to mobilise all his being, his brain, his thought, nerves, hands, and tongue. 

 

These two remarkable aspects were some of the distinguished points that I noticed in his life.  Many of you have been associated with him for many years and I do not think that any one who has worked with him or has been associated with him, even for a few days, would deny these two aspects.

 

As for the second point, which concern all of us, Amir-ul-Mu'minin alayhi-salam, states an extremely important point, which is more practical than theoretical, the essence of which is that if you lose a dear and a great one, then instead of just being proud of him, try to learn from him.  Amir-ul-Mu'minin alayhi-salam states, " . . . for if they are an aspiration for you and you take heed from is better than being proud of them."   There is no doubt that the late Imam is a source of pride for me, his family, his students, or for any other group or individuals who came work with, or be associated with him.  However Amir-ul-Mu'minin alayhi-salam states that it is better if you take heed from him, rather than spending time to be proud of him, since the Mu'min uses any opportunity to seek for the better, and improve and develop further and for the better.  Therefore it is preferable  that one tries to take heed from him, as in how he used live, work, talk, utilise his time and opportunities, etc. 

 

Hence one of the basic and first steps to be taken if we were to take heed from him, is that we resolve as we sit here in this place to continue in his path, as much each of us can, from what he knows from him or shall learn from him in the future.  For he has not died he who has died while he has left knowledge behind him.  One can learn from him through his vast and massive work he has left behind, which in itself is a magnificent heritage for us all.  We should resolve, and in our resolution make a bond and a promise to Allah Almighty that we would continue his path on all that we have learnt from him or shall learn from his heritage in the future.

 

In this space I wish to emphasise on an issue which the holy Qur'an, Rasulollah and the Ahl-ul-Bayt alayhimu-salam repeatedly emphasised upon and that is unity and being together and having one aim and goal.  In particular I draw the attention of the ulema and preachers to this aspect, we must endeavour to gather all the Mu'minin under the umbrella of Allah Almighty and the Ahl-ul-Bayt alayhimu-salam.  Every bookshop, library, publishing house, or any other organisation must lead to Allah.  Any such organisation or institution must be a focal point for all the Mu'minin despite their difference of opinion, age, scholarly or social status, etc.  Secondly we make a promise to Allah Almighty to learn from him, may Allah bless his soul, and the work he has left behind and not to lose a single opportunity to register a reward for ourselves even in our private lives.

 

To show you how meticulous the late Imam was about the care he took to use his time efficiently and endeavoured not to waste time even of the order of seconds, I shall give an example of the way he worked in private.  I remember since more than fifty years ago, and up to the last day of the holy month of Ramadahn[1] when the pen he was writing with used to run out, he used to make sure that the new pen he chooses has a fine tip.  This because, he used to say, if I use a coarse tip pen, it would take me longer to write a word, and I do not want to waste time by spending anything longer than what absolutely necessary. He used to endeavour to save time even to this extent.  I am sure that his honourable and noble sons, at the foremost of whom my brother in science Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Ridha Shirazi, have seen many such examples in his blessed life, he used to say, “drop by drop you would end up with a sea” (of time wasted - translator).

 

Such is the extent of using every moment of life . . . seventy-five years are over, but he is not gone.  Through this long life, which is at the same time very short, he utilised the opportunity of life far more than seventy-five years.  We usually do not utilise our life of fifty or sixty or more by more than ten years or even five years.  This is the second point that I wished to raise for all of us. 

 

Finally I wish to repeat my gratitude to you, while at the same time I would like my voice to that of my great brother (ridhwanillah alayh), in calling upon you to adhere to those two points; sincerity and activity, and at the same time I wish to emphasise to you that I pray for you to attain success and I ask you to pray for me for favourable fate.

 

 

4^th Shawwal 1422

19^th December 2001