 In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
The Divinely inspired religious scholars are the successors to the Divinely inspired prophets and the deputies of His Excellency, the twelfth Imam’s (May God Almighty make his advent to be sooner), are the fortified strongholds of defending the confines of Divine Unity, the Divinely inspired prophetic missions and vicegerency and the late Grand Ayatollah Hajj Sayyid Muhammad Riza Faqih Musavi Golpayegani (May God purify his pure soul) was one of the brilliant stars of this sky. This iconic figure shone like the Sun for half a century in the sky of religious leadership and authority, taught thousands of jurisconsults and jurisprudents in his bountiful classes and instituted hundreds of cultural, social, and health-care facilities in the Islamic world, including:
1. Devoting 80 years of his fruitful life to learning and teaching religious sciences.
2. Leading the Shi’ite seminaries for 40 years.
3. Founding His Excellency the Grand Ayatollah Golpayegani School whose infrastructure is in 14,000 square meters, in which 350 Islamic Jurisprudence and its foundations (fiqh and usul) classes are held daily, and it is equipped with a rich library collection for researchers.
4. Founding Dar al-Qur’an al-Karim Institute; teaching hundreds of thousands youth the classical Qur’an all over Iran; publication of the Holy Qur’an by the Qom Seminary and distributing its copies throughout the world; collecting the copies of the Holy Qur’an and the Quranic exegeses from the world over; foundation of a research periodical devoted to the Holy Qur’an in Persian and Arabic.
5. Foundation of the Center for the Collection of the Islamic Law Terminology; employment of the state-of-the-art technology for the dissemination of the teachings of the true school of the prophetic household using programming and searching the material whose consequences include:
5.1. Softwares of the Islamic Law, Hadith, and Foundations of the Islamic Jurisprudence Terminologies and concordances which made thousands of books accessible to researchers and scholars in the electronic form/
5.2. Imam Mahdi (AS) (May God Almighty make his advent to be sooner) CD containing: the Qur’an, Nahj al-Balagha (“The Path of Eloquence,” sermons of Imam ‘Ali (AS)), Sahifa Sajjadiyya (a collection of 54 prayers attributed to Imam Zayn al-‘Abidin (AS)), and the concordance of the traditions narrated from Imam Mahdi (AS).
5.3. The Islamic Jurisprudence Lexicon (including all the important terms used in the science of the Islamic Law).
5.4. Lives of Saints in different eras.
5.5. The software of the Islamic Jurisprudence chapters, providing the users with searching all the chapters of the sources on Shi’ite jurisprudence with their references.
5.6. The software of bibliography providing researchers with searching the titles and the other bibliographical data of the required sources.
6. Social services.
6.1. Foundation of a charitable hospital rendering a large number of services to the students of seminaries and people at the time of the struggles against the godless and arrogant despot of the time (Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran) and also during the sacred defense (Iran-Iraq war).
6.2. Construction of Madinat al-Zahra in Lebanon.
6.3. Development of Imam Hasan ‘Askari (AS) Mosque in Qom with an infrastructure of 25,000 square meters.
6.4. Foundation of a one hundred bed hospital in Gugad, Golpayegan, on a lot measuring 7,000 square meters with an infrastructure of 12,000 square meters.
6.5. Foundation of tens of scholars’ houses in townships and villages.
7. International services.
7.1. Foundation of the World Islamic Center in London, England, which is one of the Shi’ite cultural centers in Europe and in which religious services were held, from which religious blessings originated and sources on Islamic teachings were published and distributed in England and other European countries. Inspired by its events and programs, many converted to the true school of the prophetic household (Shi’ite Islam) and at the time being, the most magnificent Friday prayers of the Shi’ites residing in London, England, are held at the center.
7.2. Foundation of Amir al-Mu’minin (Commander of the Faithful, the title of Imam ‘Ali (AS)) School in Quetta, Pakistan.
7.3. Foundation of Ayatollah Hakim School in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
7.4. Foundation of Madinat al-Zahra in Lebanon.
7.5. Foundation of an orphanage in Lebanon.
8. The missionary activities of His Excellency in the season of pilgrimage to Mecca.
8.1. Distribution of thousands of apologetic books on defending the school of the prophetic household (AS) among pilgrims from different nations.
8.2. Answering religious and ideological questions by religious scholars.
8.3. Commendable services rendered in guiding pilgrims to Mecca through the publication and distribution of pilgrimage rites and rituals and religious questions.
9. Scholarly works.
9.1. Annotations on ‘Urwat al-Wuthqa.
9.2. Annotations on Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karim al-Ha’ri’s al-Fawa’id.
9.3. Composing books, e.g. al-Hajj; al-Qada; al-Shahadat; Hudud; Ahkam al-Nisa’; Salat al-Jum‘a; al-Hidaya (on vicegerency); Majma‘ al-Masa’il; ten treatises on a variety of chapters of Islamic jurisprudence.
10. The Divinely inspired morals and disposition.
10.1. Devotion and piety: 70 years of the blessing of early rising and making his presence at the Holy Shrine of Hazrat Ma‘suma (S).
10.2. Intimacy with the Holy Qur’an. His Excellency recited a juz’ (the 30th part of the Qur’an = 2 hizb) or two of the Holy Qur’an with a ecstatic tone particular to himself while recitation. His Excellency said: “The best admonition is the Holy Qur’an when recited meditatively entertaining the love of the immaculate prophetic household.
10.3. His Excellency walked in front of the mournful groups of people to the Holy Shrine of Hazrat Ma‘suma (S) in the event of the martyrdom of Hazrat Fatima al-Zahra (S).
10.4. Each and every week, sermons recalling the tragedies of the martyrdom of the Lord of Martyrs (Sayyid al-Shuhada’, the title of Imam Husayn (AS)) were held regularly at his home. Regarding the scholarly station and religious authority, His Excellency stated: “I want my name recorded on the list of those holding the sermons recalling the tragedies of the martyrs of Karbala.”
10.5. His Excellency’s virtues included: perfect politeness, modesty, patience, devotion, and discipline.
11. Political struggles: According to Ayatollah Khamene’i: “The Grand Ayatollah Golpayegani was regarded as one of the pillars of the Islamic Revolution and regime. In the course of the terrible happenings which occurred when Imam Khomeini (RH) was on exile, his voice was the only call heard from the seminary, invigorating the movement.”
12. His Excellency’s all-out support for the late Imam Khomeini (RH) on whose demise Imam Khomeini remarked: “The character who answered the Divine call, through great endeavors and unyielding leadership sacrifices, revived the Islamic faith in the modern world and made the call of the Greatness and the Unity of Allah resonate worldwide, restored to Muslims their glory and grandeur, and his loud and ringing cry made the arrogant superpowers tremble.
Thus reads the third section of The Grand Ayatollah Khomeini’s testament: “I regard as necessary the maintenance of the foundation of the Islamic Republic and it is incumbent upon the venerable authorities to not deviate from the straight path of the Islamic faith and make endeavors, day by day, to further adapt the political system with Islam.” His Excellency placed emphasis on the maintenance of the independence of seminaries from administrations and political wings.”
Thus narrates Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi from Ayatollah Khomeini: “I emphasize that students studying at seminaries are supposed to further reinforce themselves in terms of morals and seminaries are supposed to be independent and prosperous.
With his departing this life and the soaring of his soul toward the heavenly realm, the followers of the prophetic household were mournful worldwide.
His Excellency explicitly bore testimony to the authenticity of the sublime tradition “Guardian of his self, protector of his faith, adversary to his concupiscence, obedient to the command of his Lord. He answered the Divine call at night on Friday 24 Jumada II 1414/ 8 December 1993 in the 98th year of his life. May infinite greetings be on his pure soul.
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