Hawzah News Agency- In a message issued on Monday, Ayatollah Arafi extended his condolences to the anticipated Imam Mahdi (May Allah hasten his reappearance), grand sources of emulation, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, the Islamic seminaries and clergy, the great nation of Iran, the noble people of Qom, Muslims worldwide, followers of the household of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and admirers of the religious authority across Iran and the world — particularly the late cleric's honorable family.
Citing a saying from Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) — "When a believing jurist dies, a breach is made in Islam that nothing can repair" — Ayatollah Arafi said the late ayatollah spent nearly a century of his blessed life on study, teaching, research, training numerous students, producing scholarly works and theories, and guiding the people and seminary scholars.
He said the departed cleric was instrumental in the growth and elevation of the Qom seminary and other Islamic seminaries, and in advancing research in jurisprudence, principles of Islamic law, biographical evaluation of narrators, history and Islamic sciences.
Ayatollah Arafi noted that the late jurist hailed from a noble family, lived in the ancient and proud seminary of Qom, and benefited from the presence of great teachers such as Grand Ayatollahs Boroujerdi and Mohaghegh Damad, as well as scholars and authorities of the Najaf seminary.
He said the cleric, through deep thinking and scholarly struggle, traversed the various stages of teaching and research and opened new horizons in Islamic sciences.
The seminary chief described him as a towering tree of religion and knowledge who shone like the sun in scholarly debates, research sessions and meticulous jurisprudential investigations, and who led congregational prayers at the Feyziyeh school and the holy shrine of Lady Fatima Masoumeh (peace be upon her), offering spiritual guidance to the people.
Ayatollah Alireza Arafi said that during the era of the Iranian nation's struggles and the Islamic Revolution under the leadership of Imam Khomeini, and later during the leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei, the late cleric stood alongside the revolution and was a caring guide to the Iranian people and the seminaries.
He praised the cleric's scholarly mentorship of seminary students and seekers of Islamic knowledge, his support for the scholarly and moral growth of the seminaries and society, his attention to training talented students, and his establishment of special seminary schools as "worthy of praise."
Ayatollah Arafi said the late cleric's morality, spirituality, purity of heart, good character, asceticism, simple living and adherence to the authentic ethical and scholarly traditions of the seminaries would inspire today's and tomorrow's seminaries, universities, students, youth and professors.
He said the great pillar of jurisprudence has now ascended to the heavenly realm, leaving the seminaries, his students and admirers in mourning.
Ayatollah Arafi said the seminaries, young students and esteemed professors remain, and that the late cleric's precious scholarly legacy and the collective pledge to continue his path of purity and jurisprudence — and the path of Islam, the school of thought and the Islamic Revolution and its exalted martyrs — remain firm.
"We send our greetings to his pure soul, and hope that the seminaries and the noble people of Qom, Iran and the world will fulfill their duty to him and to the school of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) and participate widely in all the grand ceremonies," Ayatollah Arafi concluded.
Your Comment