A year prior to the onset of the blessed lunar month of Ramadan, I paid a visit to Imam Khomeini and told him that I wished to attend the religious sermons of one of the erudite theologians. I sought his advice as to which one of the erudite scholars was more suitable for me to attend the sermons to which the Imam replied:
“Attend the sermons of Mr. Shahabadi.”
Thus for a period of one month I derived spiritual benefit from the sermons of Mr. Shahabadi in one of the mosques in Tehran. I told the Imam I had heard from here and there that Mr. Hojjat (an erudite scholar) was opposed to his lectures on philosophy and whether such a thing was true. In response the Imam stated:
“No, not at all; Reza Khan’s (the first Pahlavi monarch) regime was opposed to them; Reza Khan’s undercover agents were against them.”
During the era of Reza Khan, erudite scholars were often the targets of harassment by the regime and for this reason, Imam Khomeini together with his friends and colleagues organized classes in the orchards on the outskirts of the city of Qum.
Narrator: Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali
Source: Keeping Pace with the Sunlight, vol. 3, p. 52