Manifestation of the Friend

Perfect Role Model

He would not sleep for more than two or three hours every night In addition to announcements, communiqués and speeches, the Imam would also write a large number of letters to all and every one. I won’t forget that in the year 1962 in the provincial and religious councils incident, the late Haj Aqa Mustafa had said that the Imam would not sleep for more than two or three hours every night while the rest of the night he would be busy writing letters to the religious scholars of the territory. The Imam wrote hundreds of letters to the religious councils in which he would enlighten the theologians of the provincial towns. Towns and cities of the dangers that had begun to threaten the world of Islam and the role played by Israel and America and that their objective was the elimination of Islam and such issues. Some of the letters that the Imam wrote to the theologians would be printed and circulated and would be very effective and would cause an uproar. One of these letters concerning the incident of provincial and religious councils which I recall, was the letter that the Imam wrote to Mr. Falsafi. Mr. Falsafi read out that letter from the pulpit of the Ark Mosque in Tehran and I was present at that gathering when he said that, “But with regard to the letter of Ayatollah Khomeini…”‌ the people listened intently and were aroused. The Imam’s letter was such that it would agitate the people. At the end of the letter, the Imam wrote the Qur’anic Surah “al-Fil”‌ comprehensively. When Mr. Falsafi recited this Surah, the people were aroused to such an extent that they recited the last verse of the Surah in a chorus.

He was either worshipping or reading

After the arrival of the Imam to Najaf, it took some time before his family joined him. The Imam resided in a humble and rented house. He resided in one section of the house while the other section served as an outer yard. In a 24-hour period, he would either be worshipping or busy reading. This orderly task was a great lesson for those that would visit the outer yard of the Imam’s residence and would see the Imam’s situation from close.

He had read most of the famous novels

These days the Imam did not have the time to read novels and other such books. However, in bygone days, for instance when he was in Najaf, he would in fact read hundreds of pages of books everyday. He would bring a few novels or books on social issues and read ten pages of this and twenty pages of that book and so forth. He had read most of the famous novels. Now he would read either political or social books such as “A Look at World History”‌, Nehru, or historical books from beginning to the end! What I want to say is that the Imam read these sorts of books.

Variety in reading

Reading and studying history or paraphrase and books on behavior as well as narrations are included in the Imam’s routine. Sometimes the Imam seeks these kinds of books and reads them at every opportunity.He would not be negligent for a second on issues concerning Iran On matters concerning the struggle, when the Imam was in Najaf and was busy with teaching, he would not be negligent of the issues concerning Iran even for a second; and because at that time we were responsible for political matters, he would always emphasize that we keep him informed of the news. He would closely follow the events in Iran. At times we would notice that the Imam would wake up at 12 o’clock at midnight and write a statement and at that very moment the brethren would covertly take away the statement and would either copy or print it, conceal it in a baggage and send it to Tehran. When he would be told that the statement had reached Iran safely, he would become happy.

Daily routine in the hard-working period in Paris

In addition to speeches and meetings with students and other strata of people that would take place daily while in Paris, the Imam personally included the following instances in his daily program: replying to religious questions and subjects, reading the translated newspapers, important analyses and reports of foreign newspapers, reading and analyses of news and reports received from Iran pertaining to the events of the Revolution and affairs of the country, going through the letters received from political and religious figures from inside and outside the country; replying to important letters; personal meetings with various individuals, giving interviews and responding to the queries of local and foreign journalists; writing messages and statements on various occasion in the course of the Revolution; performing the mandatory and optional religious duties and reciting an entire chapter of the glorious Qur’an daily at eight intervals and meeting with the family and members of the household.

Source:

The Book "Manifestation of the Friend: A collection of memoirs about Imam Khomeini (R.A)"

Other Links:

Manifestation of the Friend: Perfect Role Model (part 1)

Manifestation of the Friend: Perfect Role Model (part 2)