If the Imam identified a particular seminary student and said that he was a hardworking student, it meant that he held him in high esteem. During my days as a seminary student in Qom, I suffered from a severe illness. I can swear in the name of my ancestors (descendants of the Prophet’s household), that to the extent the Imam showed compassion and cared for me during the period of my illness even if it was my father residing in Qom, he would not have taken so much care of me. This was simply because I was an outsider seminary student who was studying in Qom. It was the spirit of mentoring and of compassion towards strangers that was responsible for the care he took of me.
Name of the narrator: Ayatollah Sayyed Ezzoddin Zanjani, Howzeh journal, no. 32.
Title of the Book: Impressions and Memoirs about Imam Khomeini's Practical Behaviour, vol. 1, chapter six, page 248