Glimpses of the Life of Grand Ayatullah Bahjat
Grand Ayatullah Muhammad Taqi Bahjat Fomani was born in late 1334 A.H.(1915 A.D.) to a God-fearing family well known for its piety in the conservative city of Foman in the Gailan governorate.
He was not yet sixteen months old when fate claimed his mother so he would taste the bitterness of being an orphan while still a suckling baby. There is an interesting incident to narrate about why Ayatullah Bahjat was named "Muhammad Taqi" which was narrated by one of those close to him, and I think that narrating it here is not without a nicety:
The father of Sheikh Bahjat passed away while his son was 16 – 17 of age after falling sick to an epidemic. He became bed-ridden, and his condition of his health deteriorated to the extent that his family lost hope for his recovery from the disease. The father of the sheikh narrates that he heard in this state a call as if it was saying, "Leave him! You have nothing to do with him. He is father of Muhammad Taqi".
Then he lost consciousness as he was in that state, so much so that his mother thought he died. But after a short while, the father of the sheikh woke up and stood up and after that recovered his health fully.
After the passage of a few years, the sheikh"s father decided to get married after having completely forgotten the incident of his falling sick and the call which he then heard. When he was blessed with his first son, he called him "Mehdi" after his own father (grandfather of Sheikh Bahjat). After that he was blessed with a daughter then with a son whom he named "Muhammad Husayn". He did not remember this incident except after he had been blessed with his fourth son; so, he decided to call him "Muhammad Taqi". But this son fell in a water pool and drowned. The father of the sheikh again named his fifth son with whom Allah blessed him with this same name, "Muhammad Taqi", which later became Grand Ayatullah Bahjat.
Mahmoud Bahjat al-Karbalaai, father of Sheikh Bahjat, was one of the most highly respected of Foman"s men.
He always looked after the affairs of its people, providing for them all sorts of services such as endorsing their marriage contracts and transactions.
He had a high poetic and literary taste, composing poems of praise and eulogy for Ahl al-Bayt, peace be with them, especially Imam al-Husayn.
In this field, he has to his credit many elegies which remain recited by orators and lauders for more than half a century.
Below is a abstraction of munajat (address) in honor of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be with them, which he had originally written in Persian:
Lord! By the Seal of the Messengers,
The Light of the Great Lord, His Honored Messenger,
By his broken molar teeth and wounded lips,
And by what he offered for the Qur"an,
By the signs of the chest of the oppressed al-Zahra,
By the tears of the eyes of the Prophet"s daughter,
By her broken rib that was crushed behind the door,
By her child, Muhsin, the infallible one,
Do forgive us, O Living, O Praiseworthy One!
By the chosen one, the oppressed Imam,
By his heart and insides that were poisoned,
Do not deprive us of Your mercy, O Lord,
Do not burn us with the fire of Your might and ire,
Do forgive us, O Living, O Praiseworthy One!
By the ailing one, al-Sajjad, the best of those who adore,
By the tears of that ailing one,
By that neck that was chained by the evildoers,
By what he had suffered in the Karbala tragedy,
Do forgive us, O Living, O Praiseworthy One!
Other links:
Ayatullah Bahjat: Conduct and Gnosticism
Ayatullah Bahjat seeking knowledge
Short Biography of Ayatullah al uzma Muhammad Taqi Bahjat
Revered cleric Ayatollah Bahjat passes away
Ethical and Gnostic Characteristics of Grand Ayatullah Bahjat
Ayatullah Bahjat Asceticism and Simplicity of Lifestyle
Ayatullah Bahjats Life, Conduct and Spiritual Status
