A renowned scholar relates:
‘When I was a young man studying as a student, some students were tested; they were backbiting about Ayatullah Sayyid Hujjati in a gathering whilst he was there. I heard the backbiting whilst the gathering was going on. The Sayyid was my teacher and I studied under him for quite some time and I even received a gift from him for my diligence.
‘After leaving this gathering, I sat down and blamed myself for having listened to and thereby participated in the backbiting of the Sayyid. I decided to look for an opportunity to meet him to apologise and seek forgiveness and eventually, I received the opportunity. Sayyid Hujjati was going for the ziyarah of Sayyid Abdul Adhim and so I went to the house in which he was staying, to meet him. When the door was opened for me, I said, “Tell Ayatullah Hujjati I am here at the door.” The Sayyid was in his room and told me to come in. When I saw him, he was putting his cap on his head and reclining against a pillow. He was unwell and tired in his old age.
‘I said, “My master, I came to tell you something. I did not backbite about you but I listened to other people backbiting and now I greatly regret it. I decided to meet you and have resolved never to listen to any backbiting again from now on. Thus, I came to ask you to forgive me.”7 Ayatullah Hujjati replied very politely, “Backbiting against us is of two kinds. Either it is a mockery against Islam8 or it is personal and against an individual.”
‘Because I knew by his statement that he was questioning me as to which type of backbiting I had listened to, I replied accordingly, “I did not mock Islam but it was personal, against you.” Ayatullah Hujjati replied, “If that’s the case, then I forgive you!”’
The scholar narrated this incident concerning his own mistake in a lecture about seeking repentance, saying thereafter, ‘Indeed when a person seeks repentance, he must return the right of the one he hurt. If the person has died, he must seek forgiveness from Allah for that matter and he should do something good on the person’s behalf until he achieves his pleasure.’9
The scholar who sought forgiveness from Ayatullah Hujjati was Ayatullah Shahid Murtadha Mutahhari.
The Ways Of The Righteous Vol. 1