My father in law Martyr Mohammad Hussein Sahebi, who was martyred along with his wife, as a result of the infidel Saddam Hussein’s missile strike on the city of Dezful, recounted that he had gone on a pilgrimage visit to the Shiite holy sites in Iraq before the Revolution (of Iran).
He had visited the holy city of Najaf and paid a courtesy call on Imam Khomeini both in order to pay his religious dues as well as to meet with him and was received by the Imam in the outer chamber of his (the Imam’s) residence. On that visit he recounted there were two things that had struck him as extremely strange and worthy of reflection:
One was that when he wanted to hand over the religious dues to him, the Imam did not accept it personally and with uncharacteristic indifference had asked him to hand it over to so and so person; and the second point which had taken him by surprise was that when he had petitioned the Imam for a copy of his practical ‘Risalah’ treatise which in those days did not cost a lot of money and it was customary for all the supreme Shiite theologians to give it to their followers free of charge, the Imam with a kind and moderate tone had stated to him that he did not have a copy available with him then, and that he should arrange for it from outside sources.
Then, after having taken leave of the Imam’s presence, my father in law had paid a courtesy call on yet another of the ‘Marja’ Shiite religious authorities in the holy city of Najaf whom he recalled spoke to them personally about the religious taxes and also gave away copies of his practical treatise to people free of charge.
Narrated by: Hamid Helmi
Taken from: Impressions from Imam Khomeini’s Memoirs, vol. 5, chap. 7, p. 149