The heart of the person is a place of tranquility if it is pure and embraced with the remembrance of Almighty. An example of such a heart is rare in these times nevertheless there was one example that remained amongst the creation until very recently and that was Ayatollah Bahjat [r]. A man who was pure, spiritual and gentle in his character towards all. He was someone who had reached the high spiritual levels and became an example for all. In Iran, I had the oppurtunity to meet Ayatollah Bahjat [r] with the group in Mashad. While I had the honour of meeting him previous years the feeling is always different to be in his presence each time. We were at the hussainiyah near his office in Mashad where he had arranged for a majlias to take place on the occasion of the martyrdom of Imam Al Kadhim [a]. The gathering started with the recitation of Ziyarat e Ashura followed by a lecture from Agha Rasheed Yazdi. In his lecture, the Agha highlighted on the need to for purification of the heart to self develop and slowly become a better person. He mentioned various methods to do this and emphasised greatly on abstaining from sinning, as sinning is what causes man to stop evolving spiritually and finds himself with obstacles.
Meeting such personalities is a time to seek lessons for ourselves, to understand that the flaws within our characters and to try to remove them. Polishing our hearts so that it reflects the shining light of piety and eman is a goal that we should seek. Our hearts are plagued by many spiritual diseases such as backbiting, jealousy, riya etc and sometimes we are unable to realise that we possess such vices. If we fail to remove these vices they become an obstacle in our journey towards God which is the ultimate goal.
Ayatollah Bahjat [r] was a person who had achieved a great status of piety through his sincerity and his good actions. He was someone who had always indicated that one should act in a just manner and do actions which conform with the Sharia for the happiness of Allah lies in that.
For me meeting him bought back alot of memories, this person was someone who had inspired me along with many to work towards a change in ourselves. While leaving from the gathering images from previous meetings flowed in my head reminding me of how great a feeling it is to see someone so spiritually awaken and aware of the reality and to learn from them. Many of us were fortunate to see him and meet him, not knowing that this would be the last time we would be seeing him.
On 17th May, this holy man returned to his Lord with a pure heart. His return has left a void forever which is irreplaceable for that day the Ummah lost a very big asset. We are from Allah and onto Him we shall return
May Allah elevate his status in the hereafter and grant patience to his family.
