Cheif of "AhlulBayt Foundation of South Africa" condoles on Ayatollah Asefi's passing away

The cheif of "AhlulBayt Foundation of South Africa" condoles on Ayatollah Asefi's passing away. The full text of the letter is as follows:


SAD DEMISE OF AYATULLAH MUHAMMAD MAHDI AL-ASEFI (R.A)

In the recent past, the followers of the School of Ahlul Bait (a.s) have lost great ulama and today we similarly received the sad news of the passing away of Ayatollah Muhammad Mahdi Al-Asefi(r.a).

Today is 4 June which is a date when we remember the sad passing away of Imam Khomeini who led an Islamic revolution that changed the world forever. And on this same date 26 years later we witness the passing away of one of Imam Khomeini’s outstanding students, namely Ayatollah Al-Asefi.

Ayatollah Al-Asefi who is hails from holy city of Najaf was also a student of the Grand Ayatollah Muhsin Al-Hakim and Grand Ayatollah Khoei and presently representative of the Leader of the Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei in Iraq.

The outstanding aspects of his legacy can briefly be summarised into three facades namely His ascetic life style echoed in extreme minimalistic consumption of this material world and his devotion to the spiritual development, His Jihad and the pivotal role he played in the Struggle of the People of Iraq against Baathist tyranny and finally His academic excellence which resulted in innovative thinking, creative approach and in-depth understanding reflected in his tens of books and articles.

My personal interaction with Ayatollah Al-Asefi started in Qum as a student of hisclasses in the 1980’s and further extended into the arena of propagation of messageof Ahlulbait in Africa when he was the Secretary-General of the Ahlul Bait (a.s) World Assembly. Beyond any shadow of doubt, I immensely benefited from his unique style of Leadership, his enormous Knowledge and his personal pious character and ethical stance.

On behalf of the Ahlul Bait (as) Foundation of South Africa and all its national affiliates, we hereby convey our heartfelt condolences to our beloved living Imam – Mahdi (as), to the Leadership of Islamic Revolution, Grand Spiritual Authorities (Marjaiyya’a) in Najaf al Ashraf, and people of Iraq, Muslim Ummah and his respected Family on this great loss.

May Almighty Allah Bless his soul and receive him into His Mercy and grant him the honoured company of Prophet Muhammad (sawa) and the Holy Ahlul Bait (a.s).


Syed Aftab Haider
National Co-ordinator


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