Excerpts from Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani's Two Wills

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate the Merciful Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani’s Last Will and Testament (Ramadhan 1427/ September 25th 2006)

My books Tafsil al-Shari’ah which include my comments and exposition on Imam Khomeini (may his soul rest in peace)’s book Tahrirul Wasilah and which perhaps consist of thirty volumes as of now should be made easily accessible for the students and religious scholars who need to use them. Appropriate action should be taken in regards to them and as for those sections of the work which have not been printed and published yet, they should be made available for religious scholars in the same manner.

As for my printed works, some of which are in the residential house in Bajak street, some in my late father’s great Husainiyah and some others in the house in which I live at day time, in the first place I wish all of these books are collected in one place and then made accessible for those in need of them. Of course, my son Muhammad Jawad can take some of them, if he needs them for his personal library, or else they should be used in any way which is considered appropriate.

The Husainiyah which is known as my office is an endowment for my late father, the grand Ayatollah (may his soul rest in peace). I would like Majalis Rowza (mourning ceremonies) to be held therein on Friday nights and during the first ten days of Muharram as well as on Fatimiyah days.  If for anyone reason like flood, earthquake and road construction or the likes it is not possible to hold mourning ceremonies at this place, they should be held else where.

The properties left (behind me) must either be distributed among the students of the Islamic seminary or be spent for management and financial needs of the Jurisprudential Center of Pure Imams (a.s.) depending on which one the executor of my will deems more expeident. Indeed, the entire property is not necessary to be distributed as salary (among the students) rather, the proportion has to be to an expedient amount.

I would like an Islamic center to be set up in London, which would help spread and disseminate the teachings of the school of the Ahlalbayt – peace be upon them – and the Shia religion.

It is necessary to mention here that I am grateful to Muhammad Jawad and Ahmad Muvahhedi who have long been administering and managing my office without any payments and only for the sake of the Imam of our Time, may Allah hasten his reappearance.

The current residential house in Razavi Alley of Bajak street belongs to Mrs. Lajavardi’s family. The house, its equipments including carpets, utensils, cooler and suchlike should be given to her.

The executor of my will in all aspects is my son Muhammad Jawad and the supervisor is Ahmad.

Let it be known that the entire properties linked with me are not my personal properties. None of my heirs has any right to these properties as they are from the Two Portions (Sahmayn) of Khums.

Muhammad Fazel Lankarani

بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم In the name of Allah, the Compassionate the Merciful

Praise be unto Allah and peace be upon Muhammad and his household.
Let it be known that my son, Muhammad Jawad Fazel Lankarani who – thanks to Allah – has attained the lofty rank of Ijtehad under my direct supervision and who has for many years been giving Kharij lectures of Fiqh (jurisprudence) and Usul (principles of jurisprudence) and has written many treatises and books has been my assistant in matters related to me especially after undertaking the responsibility of Marjaiyah. Perhaps, if he and his brother, Ahmad Muvahhedi did not give me their whole time helping me in my work, I would not have been able to tackle the affairs due to my various health problems.  Surely, they take action in every matter after obtaining my permission. In addition to supervising the Jurisprudential Center of Pure Imams (a.s.), for which a big building is under construction and in which many revered religious students are busy studying postgraduate lessons and which has published many books and is answering to religious and ideological queries through internet and has a specialized Fiqh library containing about 20 thousand volumes of books, and similarly the foundation which we have set up in the holy city of Mashhad  and in which many students are busy learning and teaching different branches of Islamic sciences and also the institute set up in Syria and is very distinct in the region and which aims at training and educating Islamic scholars near the shrine of Hazrat Zainab (s.a.) and as such the obligation of giving salary to as many as fifty thousand students in the Islamic seminaries of Qom, Mashhad and Isfahan and supporting more than three hundred seminaries in various parts of the country are some of the duties which I have to shoulder.  I would have been unable to do all these, if I had not been assisted by these two brothers.

There are two branches of the office in Tehran, one in Mashhad, one in Afghanistan, another in Moscow and some in other parts of the world which must help serve the needs and problems of religious seminaries, while propagating and promulgating the Shia religion. Appropriate action should be taken with regard to other matters which I would rather not mention here. It goes without saying that all the messages and statements issued on different religious and political occasions are mine especially those published in Jomhouri Islami Daily. I am proud of especially two messages, one issued on the occasion of the martyrdom anniversary of Hazrat Fatima-e Zahra (s.a.) and the other issued on the impermissibility of contradicting Imam Khomeini’s death fatwa about Salman Rushdi. It was to clear the minds of some of intellectuals who were wrongly thinking of reconciling in Salman Rushdi’s case whereas I rejected them strongly and persisted on the validity of late Imam Khomeini’s fatwa.

I hope that all these endeavors and forbearance of the extreme hardships are accepted by the Imam of our Time, Imam Mahdi (may Allah hasten his reappearance) and that we are granted the pride of being his soldiers. If so, it would be a matter of great pride, indeed. Let’s hope that with his reappearance all the problems are solved.

الهم عجل لولیک الفرج و متعنا بذلک فوق ما نترقب ونأمل.

Muhammad Fazel Lankarani
23/June/2005