My father was the bodyguard of Aqa Mustafa (father of the Imam) and naturally our family also resided in the vicinity of the house of Aqa Mustafa. My mother delivers a child who dies immediately after birth. The paternal aunt of the Imam tells my father that she had heard that his child had died in infancy. Moreover, because the mother of Ruhullah (the Imam) could not breastfeed him, it would be an act of spiritual reward if Khavar breastfeeds him and saves the life of the child. My father tells her that he must take the permission of his wife and returns home and says to his wife Khavar that: “Khavar! Aqa’a sister says that if you don’t allow the milk in your breasts to dry and agree to breast feed Ruhullah, you will earn a great spiritual reward.” My mother laughs and says: “Yes in that case my breasts shall not burn in the fire of hell.” Then my father goes and tells the paternal aunt of the Imam about her agreement. Immediately they bring the cradle of Aqa Ruhullah to our house. When they bring Aqa Ruhullah, my mother got up and went and washed her breasts, recited the Surahs ‘Fatihah’ and ‘Tawhid’, kisses his face and begins to breastfeed him. Ruhullah’s father tells my mother that, “I request you that as long as you are breastfeeding my child, you should not eat food from other people” and everyday he would send her meals and foodstuffs so that my mother only ate the foods sent by him. Ruhullah was breastfed for two years. After two years when his breastfeeding was stopped and he was taken to his own home, yet he would still be drawn towards my mother. My mother would laugh and my father would say: “Dear Ruhullah, now that you are not being breastfed, why don’t you go back to your house?” He replied: “I shall stay with you.”
I shall stay with you: Behjat Khanom (daughter of the nursing mother of the Imam)