Lessons from the Lives of our Ulema – Part 120 Life & Times of the Famous Scholar

   SHAYKH  RAJAB ALI KHAYYAT  

 عبد صالح خدا جناب شيخ رجبعلي خياط (نکوگويان) - ره<br/>اين تصوير در مشهد گرفته شده است

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 The pious man of God,  Rajab Ali Nikuguyan known as the Shaykh or Shaykh Rajab Ali Khayyat was born in Tehran in 1262 S.H./1883 CE.  His father, Mashhadi Baqir was an ordinary worker. When Rajab Ali was 12, his father passed away and left Rajab Ali alone with no full-blooded brothers and sisters. There is no more knowledge at hand about the Shaykh's childhood. 

However, he quotes his mother as saying:   "One night when I was pregnant with you, your father - who was then working in a restaurant - brought home some wholesome Kebabs. When I proceeded to eat, I found that you began to stir and beat my belly with your feet. I felt as if you were telling me that I should not eat from that food. I refrained from eating and asked your father why he had brought wholesome Kebabs that night, whereas the other nights he used to bring the customers' leftovers. He said he had actually brought these Kebabs without permission! So, I did not eat from that food."  

The Shaykh (as he is popularly known) had five sons and four daughters. One of his daughters died in childhood.

His Simplicity in Living 

His simple brick house that was bequeathed to him from his father was located on Mawlawi Avenue, (presently Shahid Muntazari Alley). He lived in this small house for the rest of his life.

 His son says: 'Whenever it rained, the ceiling began to drip. One day, an army general, along with some other governmental officials, came to our house. We had placed some basins and bowls under the rain dripping from the ceiling. Having seen our condition of living, he bought two pieces of land and showed them to my father, and said he had bought one for himself and one for him. My father replied: What we have is sufficient for us.'   

Another of his sons says: 'when my life condition changed for the better, I said to my father: 'Dear father! I have got four tomans and this brick house can be sold for sixteen tomans. So let me buy a new house on Shahbaz Avenue.'   The Shaykh said: "Whenever you wish go and buy one for yourself; for me, this one is good enough!"  

He goes on to say: 'after my marriage, we prepared the two rooms upstairs and said to our father: 'High-ranking people come to visit you; so, please arrange for your meetings in these two rooms.' He replied: "No way! Whoever wants to see me let him come and sit in this dilapidated room."  The room he was talking about was a small one carpeted with a simple coarse mat made of cotton with a table for tailoring.  

His Respect and Care for Others 

Interestingly enough, several years later, Shaykh let one of his rooms to a taxi driver named "Mashdi Yadullah" for twenty tomans a month. Later on, when the latter's wife gave birth to a daughter, the Shaykh gave the name "Ma'suma" to her. When he recited adhan and aqama into the baby's ears, he placed a two toman bank-note in the comer of her swaddling clothes, and said:  "Aqha Yadullah! As now your expenses have increased; so from this month instead of twenty tomans pay me only eighteen tomans (for rent)."  

His Simplicity in Clothings 

Shaykh's clothing was very simple and neat. The type of clothing he used to wear was a set of clothes like that of Ulama including a cloak, a skullcap, and a robe.  What was interesting about him was that even in his dressing too, his intention was to attain God's pleasure.  

The only time he put on a robe to please others; he was reproached for that in his spiritual state.  His account of this event is as follows: "Nafs (carnal desire) is a strange thing; one night I found I was veiled (in darkness) and was unable to achieve divine grace, like I attained before. I probed into the matter, and upon humble requesting, I found out that the previous afternoon, when one of the nobles of Tehran came to visit me, he said that he liked to perform the evening and the night prayers with me (as prayer leader). So, in order to please him, I put on my robe while performing prayers. ..!"   

His Simplicity in Food 

He never cared for delicious meals. Most often, he used such simple foods as potatoes and puddings. At the tablecloth, he would kneel down facing the qibla and kind of bending over the food. Sometimes he would also hold up the plate in his hands while eating.  

He would only eat when he was hungry. Sometimes he would put some of his food in the plate of a friend that he could reach out (as a sign of respect). While eating, he would not talk, and the others would also keep silent out of respect for him.  

If someone invited him to a feast, he would accept or reject it with some deliberation. Nevertheless, he would most often accept his friends' invitations.  

He would not mind eating out; however, he was conscious of the effect of food on one's soul, and regarded some spiritual changes as a consequence of eating certain foods. Once, while he was traveling to Mashhad by train, he felt some spiritual contraction. He made an appeal (to Ahlul Bayt (a)), then after a while he was informed by intuition that the spiritual contraction had been the consequence of drinking of the tea served by the train's restaurant. 

His Simplicity in his Occupation/Work

Tailoring is one of the praiseworthy professions in Islam. "Luqman the Sage" had chosen this as his occupation.  It is quoted from the Holy Prophet (s) who said:

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 "The job of the righteous men is tailoring and the job of the pious women is spinning."  

Shaykh had chosen this job as a means of livelihood. Hence, he was known as Shaykh Rajab Ali Khayyat (the tailor). Interestingly, his simple small house, as described before, was his tailoring workshop, too.

He always gave Priority to the Rights of Others

In this respect one of his children says: 'At first, my father had a room in a Caravanserai, where he pursued his tailoring profession. One day the landlord came to him and asked him to leave the place. The next day and without any arguing or demanding any due rights, my father packed up his sewing machine and sewing table, brought them home, and gave the room back to the landlord. Ever since, he worked at home in a room near the entrance, as his tailoring workshop’.

His Philosophy of Work

Shaykh was extremely serious and persevering in his work. He worked hard to the last days of his life to earn his living through his own endeavors. Although his devotees were whole- heartedly ready to provide for his simple livelihood, he would never accept.

The Holy Prophet (s) said in a Hadith:

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"Whoever earns one's own living; he will be ranked among the Prophets and rewarded as Prophets."

And in another hadith, he said:                   

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"Divine worship has ten parts, nine of which comprises earning lawful daily sustenance. 

One of Shaykh's friends says: I never forget the day I saw the Shaykh in the market who was pale in the countenance out of fatigue. He was going home carrying some tailoring tools and material that he had bought. I told him: 'Agha have some rest, you are not feeling well.' He replied:  "What should I do with the wife and the children then?!"  

The Holy Prophet (s) is quoted as saying:

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"God likes to see his servant tired out in the way of earning his lawful sustenance."

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"Cursed is the one, cursed is the one who does not provide for his family's sustenance."

He believed in Equity in Receiving Wages

Shaykh had chosen Tailoring as a means of livelihood. Hence, he was known as Shaykh Rajab Ali Khayyat (the tailor)

Shaykh received very equitable wages for sewing clothes. He used to get wages for exactly the amount of stitching he had done and just for as much time as he had spent working on the clothes. By no means would he accept to be paid more than what he had worked for. Thus, if someone would say: 'Reverend Shaykh! Let me pay a higher wage, (as a tip for doing good work),' he would flatly reject the offer.  

Shaykh charged his customers on the basis of ij'ara (contract on hire and lease) according to Islamic law. But since he never tended to receive more than what he had worked for the customers, in case after finishing the work if he found that he had done less work than predicted, he would give back the money that he thought was extra to his real wages!

One of the Ulama said: 'I took some cloth to the Shaykh to make a robe, a cloak, and a quilted cloak. I asked him how much I should pay.' "It needs two days work, so the wage will be forty tomans." He said. A couple of days later when I went for the clothes, he said: "The wage is only twenty tomans."  

I inquired: 'You said forty tomans?' He replied: "First I thought they needed two days work, but it just took one day to complete!"  

Someone else also said: 'I took some cloth to him to make a pair of trousers. I asked him how much it will come to. He said: 'Ten tomans.' I paid him right away. When some time later I went to pick up the trousers, he placed a two-toman note on it and said: "The fee came to eight tomans."  

The Shaykh's son said: 'Once he settled with a customer to make a robe for 35 Rials. Some days later the customer came for the role. No sooner had he walked

away with the robe than my father ran after him and gave him five Rials back, saying: "I thought it would take me longer time to make this robe, but it did not!"

Equity in all tasks, especially in transactions is an important issue that has been highly stressed in Islam. Imam Ali (a) said:   http://al-islam.org/elixiroflove/Elixiroflove_files/image008.jpg  "Equity is the best of virtues."  

And he further said. http://al-islam.org/elixiroflove/Elixiroflove_files/image009.jpg  "The greatest reward is one granted for equity:'

A Reward for Equity

Equity in all tasks, especially in transactions is an important issue that has been highly stressed in Islam. Imam Ali (a) said:  http://al-islam.org/elixiroflove/Elixiroflove_files/image008.jpg  "Equity is the best of virtues."  

And he further said:  http://al-islam.org/elixiroflove/Elixiroflove_files/image009.jpg  "The greatest reward is one granted for equity:'   

Just to know how equity in transactions is effective in self-building, and that God's favor with the Shaykh is not exaggerated on, it will be worthwhile to deliberate on the following account:  

Equity Toward People and Meeting with Hazrat Wali 'Asr (aj)

A man of knowledge was longing for meeting with Hazrat Baqiyyat Allah Imam Mahdi (aj), and he suffered agonies of not being granted the chance and for a long time he underwent severe austerity and pursued spiritual seeking.  

It is well-known among the tullab (Islamic seminary students) of Hawza in Najaf-i Ashraf and the scholars of the holy shrine of Imam Ali (a) that every one who finds the honor to go the Masjid-i Sahla to perform the evening and night prayers every Tuesday uninterruptedly for forty nights, they will be graced with meeting the Imam al-'Asr (aj) For a while, he struggled to this end but to no effect. Then he resorted to the occult sciences and numerical symbolism and started self-discipline and other ascetic and rigorous practices in seclusion, anxiously seeking to meet the Hidden Imam (aj) but all in vain. However, as a consequence of his nightly vigilance and lamenting and wailing at dawns, he had developed some kind of insight and intuition, and occasionally some illuminating flash would be graced on him. He would fall in ecstasy and rapture, often having certain visions and hearing some subtleties.  

In one of these mystical states, he was told: "Your seeing and being granted an audience with Imam al-'Asr (aj) will not be possible, unless you make a trip to such and such a city. Quite difficult as it sounded at first, but for that sacred purpose, it appeared to be so convenient.  

After several days the above-mentioned man arrived in that city and yet even there he carried on his self-discipline and ascetic practices in seclusion that intended to last forty days long. On the thirty seventh day, he was told: "Right now Hazrat Baqiyyat Allah, Imam al-'Asr (aj) is in the blacksmiths' bazaar, in a shop belonging to an old locksmith; so, be quick to go now and seek his audience.  

He stood up and, as he had already seen in his ecstatic vision, rushed the way down to the old man's shop where he saw the Holy Imam (aj) sitting there and talking amiably with the locksmith. When he greeted, the Holy Imam responded and beckoned him to keep silent, and asked him to watch what happens next in the shop. 

At this moment I saw a bent, fragile, old woman with a walking stick who showed us a lock with her shaking hand and said: "Will you, for God's sake, buy this lock from me for "three shahis"  I need three shahis?  

The old locksmith took a look at the lock and found it intact, and then said: "My sister! This lock costs "Two abbasis" because its key will cost no more than "ten dinars"; so if you give me ten dinars, I will make a key to this lock and then its value will be ten shahis and not three."  

The old woman answered: "No, I do not need that, I only need the money; if you buy this lock from me for three shahis, I will pray for you."  

The old man said with utmost naivety: "My sister! You are a Muslim, and I too claim to be a Muslim. So why should I buy a Muslim's property for a low price and deny someone's right? The value of this lock is already eight shahis;  if I want to benefit from it, I'll buy it for seven shahis, for it is unfair to make more that a shahi profit in a deal of only two abbasis. If you are sure you want to sell it, I'll buy it for seven shahis and not three, and I repeat again that the real price is two abbasis. Since I am a businessman I buy it for one shahi less.  

The old woman perhaps would not believe what the man said. She was upset and complained that nobody had been willing to buy that price. She said she begged them to buy it for three shahis but no one agreed and here there is someone who is prepared to pay seven shahis.   The old man paid seven shahis to the old woman and purchased it from her, though he could have got that lock for three shahis.

When the woman turned back to leave, the Imam (aj) said to me:  

"My Dear! Did you watch the wonderful scene? You do likewise, become honest and truthful like that locksmith and then…….then I will come to see you.  You won’t have to find me.

There is no need for ascetic seclusion and resorting to Jafr (numerical symbolism). Self-discipline and various travels will not be required; instead show good sincere action and be a proper, honest Muslim so that I can interact with you.

Of all people of this city, I picked out this old man, since this man is religious and knows God. And you observed the trial he went through: This old woman requested all in the bazaar, to fulfill her need and since they found her desperate and needy, they were all seeking to buy (her lock) cheap than the actual worth of it.  Nobody bought it even for three shahis. This old man, however, bought it for its real price, real worth, i.e..seven shahis.  Thus, every week I pay a visit to him and show kindness and amiability to him."

This is how equity in transactions is effective in self-building, and attaining God's favor.  You create equity in your transactions and Imam (A.S.) of the time will come and visit you personally.

His spirit Self Sacrifice 

One of the most outstanding features in the life of the Shaykh was his serving the needy people and making self-sacrifice even in his very poverty. From the viewpoints of the Islamic traditions, self-sacrifice and altruism are the most beautiful benevolence, the highest levels of faith, and the most superior ethical bounties.  In spite of the reverend Shaykh's meager remuneration from his tailoring profession, he was highly generous and altruistic.

 Self-Sacrifice toward other People's Children

One of the Shaykh's children quotes his mother as saying: "It was a famine period; Hasan and Ali were on top of the house roof making a fire. I went up to see what they were doing. I noticed they had taken a leather bag to roast and eat. Seeing such a scene, I burst into tears. I climbed down the roof, picked up some copper and bronze (utensils) took it to the small market nearby, sold it, and bought some cooked rice. On the way back, I ran into my brother, Qasim Khan, who was a rich man. He saw I was very disturbed; he inquired the reason for my disturbance. I told him the story. When he found about the issue, he said: 'What are you talking about? I saw Shaykh Rajab Ali handing out one hundred tokens for chelowkebab among the people! Charity begins at home! When will this man learn?  It is true that he is a devoted and ascetic man, but his acting this way (neglecting his own family) is of course, not right!.'

"Hearing these words I got even more frustrated. When at night the Shaykh came home I had an argument with him...and then went to sleep disturbed and agitated. In the middle of the night, I heard I was called out to get up. I got up, I saw (in the dream) it was Mawla Ali Amir al-Mu'minin (a) who introduced himself and said: He (Shaykh) has been looking after the people's children, and we (Imam Ali A.S.) have been looking after yours!  So do not worry.  If your children are ever starved to death, then go on and complain!"  

Self-Sacrifice toward a Bankrupt Neighbor

One of the Shaykh's sons related: 'One night my father woke me up and together picked two bags of rice; he carried one and I carried the other. We carried the bags to the home of the richest man in our neighborhood. Handing the bags over to the owner of the house, my father said: “Dear fellow! Do you remember the British took the people to the doorstep of their embassy and gave them rice, and then took back an ass-load of rice in return for each grain they had given to them, and they still do not let them go?!"  With this joking, we handed the rice over and returned home.  

The next morning he called out to me and said:" Mahmud! Buy a quarter of a kilo of half-broken rice as well as two Rials of fat oil and give it to your mother to cook some rice!"  At those times, such behavior of my father was too heavy and unintelligible, for why must he have to give away the rice we had at home, whereas for our lunch we had to buy half-broken rice?!  

Later on, I found out that, that fellow had been bankrupt and (meanwhile) he was going to have a large feast.  Those 2 bags of rice delivered by my father was a god sent gift to him. 

Self-Sacrifice on the New Year's Eve

The late Shaykh Abd al-Karim Hamid relates: 'I was working as an errand-boy at the Shaykh's shop for one toman a day. On the New year's eve, Shaykh had fifteen tomans; he gave me some money to provide rice and deliver to some addresses, and the last five tomans was left that he gave to me!'  

'I thought to myself: Is he going home empty-handed on the eve of the New Year? And at the same time his son's trouser leg was torn. So, I left the money he had given to me in the counter's drawer and ran away. Whatever the Shaykh shouted I did not return. When I got home I found he had been chasing me. He said:  "Why did not you take money?" And he insistently gave the money to me! ,

His Acts of Selfless Devotion 

Shaykh's spiritual seeking and devotion was principally different from that of pretenders of Sufi paths. He did not approve of any of the Sufi orders. His spiritual procedure was that of pure devotion to the guidelines by Ahl al-Bayt (a), hence he would not only take heed of the obligations, but also followed all the recommended practices.  

At dawns he would stay up, and after sunrise he would go to sleep for about a half to one hour. Sometimes he would take a short nap in the afternoon.  

Although being a spiritual seeker himself, he would say: "Do not trust in mystical intuitions and never rely on them. We should always follow our Imams (a) in deeds and words, as our paradigms."  

In public sessions, Shaykh would always resort to the holy verse from Al-Qur’an: http://al-islam.org/elixiroflove/Elixiroflove_files/image010.jpg 

 

(...If you make effort in Allah's Way, He will help you and make your feet firm……).

He would say:  "God has no needs. We have needs.  So make attempts in Allah's way by acting according to His commandments and resorting to His Prophet's (s) tradition."

And he also said:  "Nothing, except acting according to the commandments of Allah swt, causes man's prosperity and sublimation."  

The Shaykh used to say time and again:  "The religion of Truth is the one preached on Minbars (pulpits), but it is lacking in two entities: Sincerity and love of God Almighty; these must be added in the preaching."  

He said:  "The righteous are all doing well, but they should replace their 'egos' with seeking pleasure of God only."  

And he said:  "If the believers give up the egotism, they will achieve something (i.e., high status with Allah swt)."

He also used to say:  "If man surrenders to God, abandons his own (biased) opinions and bigotry, and trusts whole-heartedly in God, God will teach and guide him onto His own Path."

His views on Taqlid(Following the outstanding jurisprudents in Islamic laws) 

According to the principle of practical devotion, the Shaykh was a Muqallid (follower) in religious ordinances, and followed one of his contemporary Marja' i.e., Ayatollah Agha Hujjat.  

He says the way he chose this scholarly figure as his Marja’ by personally going to Qum, where he visited all the Maraji', and found no one as self-less as Agha Hujjat."  

He is also quoted as saying somewhere else: "I found his (Agha Hujjat’s) heart was devoid of ambitions and love of positions."