Statements at the Meeting with the Organizing Committee of the Commemoration of Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hadi Milani (may God be pleased with him)

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and may God’s blessings be upon Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Awaited One on earth.

Welcome, esteemed gentlemen; I am deeply grateful to the honorable gentlemen, to Mr. Marvi and others who have taken action to commemorate the late Mr. Milani (may God be pleased with him). Although he was engaged in scientific, social, and political work in Mashhad for twenty years, after his passing, there was little sign of him in Mashhad. I sometimes noticed this when I encountered issues related to Mashhad. He was once a central figure in Mashhad, meaning he was considered a pinnacle of the seminary, but after his passing, his memory and name were mentioned less frequently. His younger son, the late Mr. Sayyid Mohammad Ali, was also less seen, and we had rarely visited him in gatherings; apparently, he has also passed away. Therefore, this gathering you have formed is good, as it allows for research about him, work to be done, and his works to be revived. I have noted a few points that I would like to present regarding him.

Firstly, his personality had various aspects from which one can express a few sentences: one aspect is his personal character and his moral and behavioral qualities; another can be discussed regarding his scientific aspect and his academic status; one aspect is his spiritual conduct — of course, we were not aware of this during his lifetime; later, I learned that he was engaged in the field of spirituality and was a thinker, practicing self-discipline and contemplation; these are things one could not understand during his lifetime; this is one aspect — another aspect is his social and political dimension. All these aspects can be discussed about him, and I will briefly mention each one.

In the first matter, regarding his individual character and personal conduct, he was truly an exceptional human being. Firstly, he moved, spoke, and acted with great dignity and composure; at the same time, he was very humble. In him, there was both humility and dignity, and one could observe a certain spiritual calmness in him; even in difficult circumstances, one felt that he maintained this calmness.

He was loyal and cherished the friendships of his friends; he paid attention to his friends. He was a classmate of my father in Tabriz. He was born in Najaf, and his father was the son-in-law of the late Sheikh Muhammad Hassan Mamqani, a prominent figure and great religious authority of his time, who apparently passed away in 1321 or 1322. Thus, he was born in Najaf, but his father came to Tabriz and stayed there for a year or two; then he returned to Najaf. During that year or two, this boy, who was attending school, was a classmate of my father and another scholar from Tabriz, the late Sayyid Ibrahim Darvazei — whose son, Sayyid Mahdi Darvazei, was in Tehran; perhaps some of you know him — these three were classmates. Given that background, Mr. Milani had a special connection with my father. He would often rise early in the morning and come there, and perhaps even have breakfast there. Once, when the late Sayyid Ibrahim Darvazei came to Mashhad, all three gathered at my father's house. He was loyal; he cherished old friendships.

He was very pleasant to be around; that is, if one sat with him, his session was a sweet one; he had a delicate taste and a poetic sensibility. I have seen in some writings, in some books that I think were not related to him, that he also wrote poetry; of course, he wrote Arabic poetry; he was a person of poetry and taste and had these qualities; he was indeed a collection of a distinguished and exceptional personality. Additionally, it should be noted that he was the grandson of Sheikh Muhammad Hassan Mamqani and the son-in-law of Mamqani, the author of the book on biographies; he was the son-in-law of the late Sheikh Abdullah Mamqani. In his lessons, he sometimes mentioned his uncle, saying that the late uncle — in this expression — said this in his book on biographies. In short, he grew up in a family of knowledge.

The late Ayatollah Milani (may God be pleased with him) was undoubtedly a prominent scientific figure in his time; he was a great scholar. His main scientific influences were from the late Mr. Naini and the late Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Isfahani, whom he referred to in his lessons as: my esteemed teacher, Haj Sheikh; in this way, he mentioned them in his lessons; however, his jurisprudential thought was closer to that of the late Mr. Naini. Now, since I did not attend his principles class, I do not know how he behaved in principles, but in jurisprudence, his inclination was more towards the late Mr. Naini, and he discussed and spoke in a style similar to that of the late Mr. Naini.

In class, he was very calm, dignified, and eloquent; now, eloquent in the sense that he was well-articulated; that is, eloquent in the sense that he did not speak continuously, but he was very well-articulated; that is, any student who listened to his lesson truly understood; he discussed in this manner. He was a distinguished and great teacher. He truly revived the seminary in Mashhad. The seminary in Mashhad had a peak period during the time of the late Aghazadeh and the late Haj Agha Hussein; after their martyrdom, for years, this seminary was stagnant, meaning there was no class in jurisprudence and principles that could keep an eager student in the seminary in Mashhad; when he came, he revived the seminary; that is, the seminary in Mashhad is truly indebted to the late Mr. Milani. He really revived the seminary and began his lessons there; he started the jurisprudence class at night in the school of Haj Mullah Hashem's mosque, which I, of course, did not attend at that time, but later he began the prayers, which lasted for several years, perhaps seven, eight, or ten years; then he also discussed zakat and khums, and I think some of these have been published; I have seen the prayers; I think I have seen a piece of the prayers for travelers and similar things. However, the writings I have seen from him do not strongly reflect his scientific strength; that is, he was stronger than these writings; in terms of scholarship, he was indeed much more distinguished than what has been written, and in terms of scholarship, he was truly outstanding.

In addition to his scientific personality, he had a serious outlook towards the seminary — a serious outlook towards the seminary — and from the moment he arrived, he sought out distinguished students. In the early days when he came to Mashhad, he divided the distinguished students, which created some problems for him. He sought to find and pay attention to outstanding students; for this reason, he established schools; apparently, he established two or three schools, but since we did not have a very close relationship at that time, I do not have much information about the status of his schools; however, he was aware of this issue, aware of the seminary and such matters. This is also his scientific aspect.

In terms of his spiritual aspect, he was connected with the late Sayyid Abdul Ghafar Mazandarani. The late Sayyid Abdul Ghafar was among the likes of the late Mr. Ghazi and scholars of this kind in Iraq and Najaf. In the book published from him — which I saw a few years ago; apparently, the late Sayyid Mohammad Ali did this work, collecting and publishing the letters written to him — there are several letters from the late Sayyid Abdul Ghafar to him, which give instructions, and it is clear that he asked questions and had a spiritual connection with him. Of course, at that time, we saw that he interacted with individuals who were engaged in spirituality and such matters; we had repeatedly seen this; the late Haj Mullah Aghajan, for example, would come to Mashhad and had a connection with him; I had seen that the late Haj Mullah Aghajan would give sermons at Mr. Milani's house. Or others, like the well-known Mr. Naqibi, known as “Noor” in Mashhad, had connections with him. He had such connections, and one could see these; however, that he was in the realm of spirituality, benefiting from a teacher or performing necessary spiritual practices and specific worships, we did not suspect this about Mr. Milani, but it was there; one later understands that such a situation existed. The late Mr. Tabatabai was very connected with him. Mr. Tabatabai would come to Mashhad almost every summer and, as I recall, would stay for two or three weeks, and during this time, he was committed to participating in his prayers. The late Mr. Milani would lead the Maghrib and Isha prayers in the new courtyard, the current courtyard of freedom, and the late Mr. Tabatabai was committed to participating in these prayers and was very familiar and connected with him; this itself was evidence of the fact that there was a spiritual aspect in him. Numerous incidents regarding his miracles are reported from reliable sources; I have heard several cases from completely reliable sources. One of them is from the late Mr. Haj Agha Morteza Haeri, which has been written and published; and from some others, similar cases have been seen, which shows that he was a person of meaning, attention, and had a clear spiritual vision and such matters. This is also a matter regarding his spiritual aspect.

However, in terms of political and social issues; at the beginning of the struggles, he was one of the pillars of the movement; in 41 and 42, when the struggles of the clergy began, the late Mr. Milani was truly one of the pillars of the movement. Firstly, his statements were very strong statements. We were in the Hojjatiyeh school, and there was a bulletin board where they would post the statements, and we would stand and read them. I once saw a statement from Mr. Milani that had such a strong, solid, and firm text that one would become excited from the beauty and strength of this text. He was like this; all his Persian writings are like this. Now, I do not remember having seen an Arabic writing from him, but his Persian writings were very solid, very strong, and very beautiful. Later, when Imam was imprisoned and there was a possibility of harsh and severe rulings, top scholars from all cities came to Tehran; undoubtedly, the head of this group was the late Mr. Milani; without a doubt. Although Mr. Shari'atmadari was also there, he was also a religious authority, but the attention to Mr. Milani and his credibility among the scholars was very noticeable and high. Undoubtedly, he was the pinnacle of this group of scholars who had come, and he was the most influential among them, the late Mr. Milani (may God be pleased with him).

And at the beginning of 42, when the fifteenth of Khordad occurred that year, he was present at the heart of the issues; Imam (may God be pleased with him) gave me a mission to go to Mashhad and discuss with each of the scholars. There were two points; one point was specific to Mr. Milani and the late Haj Agha Hassan Qomi; one point was general, which I will not discuss now. The matter related to Mr. Milani, I went to him and said; I said, Mr. Khomeini orders that you should urge the speakers to mention the issue of Feyziyeh from the seventh of Muharram on their pulpits; from the ninth, you should urge the religious groups to mention it; this was a message I conveyed to him. He said, from the ninth? I have already ordered; he mentioned names: I told Mr. Khomeini, I told Mr. Shari'atmadari, I told Mr. Najafi; he mentioned names that he had discussed this with them. It was clear that he was fully engaged in the issues, and this thought that now in Qom, for example, emerged through Imam (may God be pleased with him) and became widespread and was implemented, also existed in him; that is, his presence in the struggles was such that he had a program for this issue. Of course, his program differed somewhat from Imam's program, but he had a plan for this matter.

And in political and social fields, he was a person with a broad heart; that is, he interacted with various individuals who were active in the world of struggle and political discussions; for example, he was connected with the late Engineer Bazargan and Dr. Sahabi and others. I might have gone to Tehran two or three times from Mashhad for farewell, and he said, when you go to Tehran, will you also go to prison to visit Mr. Engineer Bazargan? — at that time, they were in prison; in 43 and 44 — I said yes, he said, please send my regards to them; that is, he sent his regards to Mr. Engineer Bazargan through me two or three times. It was clear that he had connections with this group. Of course, he was very careful to avoid being associated with political groups like the National Front and such; he told me that if anyone associates me with the National Front, I will not be pleased with him, and I will not forgive him; that is how he was, but he had numerous connections.

In some years, we thought he had somewhat retreated in the struggle, and we protested to him; however, now that the letters have been published, it becomes clear that at that time he had extensive correspondence with Mr. Shari'atmadari and other scholars and was engaged in these matters; however, we were unaware of his involvement in these issues. In the letters that people wrote, stating that we support the scholars who have gathered in Tehran for the sake of the freedom of Imam Khomeini, perhaps his name was mentioned more than anyone else, and he was the one who received the most attention there.

He wrote a letter to the Imam that I consider a historical document; in 43, when the Imam was exiled to Turkey, he held a gathering at his home and invited the scholars of Mashhad; several of us young people who were involved in the struggle at that time were also invited; we were there. Among the scholars of Mashhad were the late Haj Sheikh Mojtaba and others who were all present. His son stood up and read the letter he had written to Imam (may God be pleased with him). It was an extraordinary letter; a very strong and solid letter in support of the Imam and expressing regret over his exile, and I remember some phrases from that letter: Silence is akin to consent, and whoever is not with us is against us; these phrases were included in it. They had cited the words of Amir al-Mu'minin when Abu Dharr was exiled; they mentioned the expressions of Amir al-Mu'minin there. In my opinion, it is a credible document; he was there, and his son stood up and read the letter, and everyone heard it.

In short, he was truly a comprehensive man; in terms of science, ethics, spirituality, and political and social matters, he was a great man, comprehensive and possessing numerous merits and an unforgettable right over the seminary of Mashhad.

We hope, God willing, that this commemoration you have organized can introduce his face to the people more than it has been introduced so far.