Sheikh Abdul Kareem al-Yazdi

He was the jurisprudent and teacher of Qom. He taught Seyyed Muhammad al-Isfahani. He was so prudent and strong-minded with great knowledge, high morals and deep thinking. We could not say that his knowledge was more than his mind or his mind was more than his knowledge because he was so skilled in both.

He lived in Sultanabad and then he moved to live in Qom, in which he established a religious school, until he died.

In his meeting many scientific deliberations were held. I often attended them. They all were in Persian.

He had a disease in his stomach so he was confined to certain kinds of food and in certain times according to the doctors’ recommendations.

Because he was so prudent, he used not to take the monies that came to him (as religious rights) but he let them with a merchant and asked him to spend them in paying the students’ salaries and he himself took a salary from the merchant. By such he lived in ease and let none criticize him. The poor are always at his door. He either gave them from his own money or asked his companions to give them what they needed.

Al-Mutawally Bashi

From among the notables of Qom was al-Mutawally Bashi (the responsible) of the holy shrine of Fatima al-Ma'soomah (A.S), whose name was Sayyid Muhammad Baqir bin Sayyid Hasan al-Husayni al-Aamily al-Qommi. He was a lofty Hashemite man from Mountain Aamil in Lebanon. Once he went to perform hajj and we met him in Damascus.

When we came to Qom, we were told that he had been cripple. We visited him in his house. One day his son Sayyid Misbah visited us in our house. Now he undertakes the affairs of the shrine instead of his father.

The School of Qom

Sheikh Abdul Kareem (mentioned above) had established the (religious) school of Qom. It was said to us that the school had about nine hundred students. Sheikh Abdul Kareem paid the most of the students’ expenses. He had appointed to them a special doctor. Every six months and at the end of every year, Sheikh Abdul Kareem made a test for his students.

A delegate from the government attended this test to exempt the students from joining the military service. Sheikh Abdul Kareem often complained and said:

“We educate a student until he ripens and then he puts off the turban and the dress of the ulama to put on the dress of the people of rule to work in of the offices.”‌

Mirza Abdullah at-Tehrani

In Qom there was a man from Tehran called Mirza Abdullah at-Tehrani. He was one of the best students in the school of Sheikh Abdul Kareem. He was virtuous, prudent, with high morals, altruistic, sincere and kind. He often visited us, stayed with us and achieved our needs and affairs.

Source:

maaref-foundation.com