Within Shi’ite history, we have amazing anecdotes of how some of the greatest ulama in this school had reached their high stations by returning to Allah (swt).
Jahangir Khan Qashqa’i was a musician that was part of a nomadic tribe in the mid-1800s of Iran. He was an acclaimed instrumentalist, known for playing a tar – a traditional Iranian guitar.
One day a man from amongst his tribe had asked him to perform at a party where the aristocrats of the tribe would be gathered. He refused, citing that the string for his guitar had broken and thus could no longer play his songs. This had caused the host much disappointment, as Jahangir was famous for the music he would play.
The host then suggested that he said go to Isfahan at once, repair the string and return tomorrow so that he can play for the elites. Jahangir agreed and departed for the city.
Once Jahangir had entered the city, he was quite confused. Being a tribesman, he was not familiar with the bustling life of Isfahan at that time. He found an old man sitting in a corner and decided to ask him where in the city he could fix the string of his guitar.
This old man thought for a moment and then remarked, “Fix the string of your heart.” When Jahangir Khan had heard this, he was astonished. Jahangir then inquired as to where they fix the broken string of the heart.
The old man instructed him to go to the area wherein Madressa al-Sadr was located. When Jahangir reached, he saw that there was a great scholar teaching many students of knowledge. He decided that it would not be appropriate for him to go in and decided to sit at the door and listen to the lesson.
The class had finished, and the teacher was on his way out. As the Aalim was leaving, he asked Jahangir what he was doing here as he looked completely misplaced. Jahangir had replied that he was informed he should come to this place to fix the string of his heart. At that point the scholar realized that this was no ordinary individual. He decided to take Jahangir in under his tutelage, after which he never returned to the Qashqa’i tribe.
After a period of 3 months, the people from his tribe had visited Isfahan to find Jahangir Khan. When they had finally found him, he was unrecognizable. His life had completely changed within this time. From making this complete turnaround in his middle age, he eventually became a grand philosopher, faqih (jurist) and mystic of the 19th century.
The greatness of this scholar can be seen in the unique sages he had produced including:
- Ayatollah Hossein Borujerdi
- Ayatollah Abul-Hasan Isfahani
- Ayatollah Shah Abadi, the spiritual teacher of Imam Khomeini
- Ayatollah Sayyid Hasan al-Mudarris
- Shaykh Hasan ‘Ali Isfahani Nukhudaki