There was a time when the British ambassador
asked to meet Ayatollah Sayyid Abul-Hassan Isfahani, but he did not accept and
after insisting much, he said, “I do not have private meeting with him (the
British ambassador). If he has any request, he may come in public meeting time
and express it.” The British ambassador accepted and went to visit Ayatollah
and in the presence of all people said, “the British government has made a nadhr [vow] to give you some
money to spend for any usage you deem right.” Sayyid Abul-Hassan calmly said,
“no problem.”
The ambassador draw a check of two million Tomans at that time
and gave him. He took and put it below the mattress he was sitting on.
The students present in the meeting, who were
not aware of their marja’s intention, became sad why he took the money from the
British ambassador. After some moments passed with some talks regarding the
situation in the world, Ayatollah Isfahani told the ambassador, “this war
brought much damages for you and inflicted some British people with poverty and
calamities and seemingly they have suffered financial pressure. As the
representative of Shia of the world, I give you a little sum of money to help
those poor ones.” Then, he took out a check of two million Tomans from his
pocket and together with the check he had received from the ambassador which
amounted to four million Tomans gave the British ambassador.
The ambassador took the checks and said goodbye
as he was overwhelmed with astonishment. After he left the house, he told his
companions, “we came to buy the Sayyid and the Shia, but this Sayyid with his
shrewdness and intelligence bought all the Britain and made us all servants for
lifetime.”
Source: Rahyaftegan, Ata’i Esfahani, Qom, p.
275
Credit: http://ijtihadnet.com/
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