Ayatollah Seyyed Abul Qasim Al-Khui
The Muslim world
has lost one of its
brightest 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.