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Glimpses of my memories with the Sayyed (ra) – Sayyed Muhammad Ali Fadlullah
My late father enrolled His Eminence, may Allah shower him with His mercy, in Muntada An-Nashr School,
in which he demonstrated his intelligence, distinction and success
Sayyed Muhammad Hussein lived in the pious and religious atmospheres of his father and uncle,
which made him withdraw from regular modern studies, so to speak,and start his religious studies
At the beginning, our late father took upon himself to teach His Eminence who was the eldest child at home; he was 8 or 9 years old
He started teaching him the so-called Arabic sciences in "Al-Qatar" and "Al-Alfiya" grammar books and logic in "Al-Hashiya” book
Later on, he studied the summarized and prolonged versions of “Al-Ma’any” and “Al-Bayan” in which he excelled
Our father anticipated an outstanding future for him
Moreover, our late uncle, Sayyed Muhammad Sai’d, was a great source of encouragement for him to follow that linguistic domain
Such a start boosted up His Eminence’s academic life which began at the age of eight or nine, which is not common
This is due to his distinctive ability to absorb information
His Eminence regularly discussed any thought he would receive
Our father noted that he would never receive any thought as it is; but rather, he would discuss it thoroughly with the teacher
I remember that Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Al-Faqih used to hold funeral gatherings restricted for religious scholars and students, who would attend in big numbers
He used to say: “This young man (pointing to Sayyed Muhammad Hussein) is outstanding
The meeting would be still and quiet,
but as soon as he enters, he would bring up an issue, another would follow and so on, and sometimes the discussions would become so intense;
thus, turning the gathering from being traditional, normal and simple into being lively, open and constructive
This actually drove the students who used to attend the gathering to study well in advance in order to answer any posed question
His early life was dynamic and active
At the time, An-Najaf was flourished with literary gatherings and it embraced a handful of great poets and scholars,
such as Mustafa Jamal-Eddine and Sayyed Muhammad Al-Hashimi
His literary sense blossomed and stood out at the age of 13-14-15
He also notably started to write poems
The late Sayyed used to go to Souq Al-Shoyoukh” City, the city of literature, in Iraq,
to which he was always invited and he was only between 16 and 20 years old
Many prominent poets were frequently invited to that city, and His Eminence was one of those poets whom they made sure they would be invited.