I was with my eminent mentor the leader of the Revolution, Imam Khomeini for thirty years. I swear by my soul that this eminent personality never uttered a phrase that resembled backbiting. I won’t forget once for delivering a speech, he came to the Salamasi Mosque and why he was out of breath, he stated: “By God I have never been afraid so much” and added, “I have not come to deliver a speech, I have come give some talk.” I who attend his lectures for around ten to fifteen years had never heard make an audacious remark to the seminary students. But while he was in this condition he stated: “If you don’t have knowledge; if you don’t have a mind; if you don’t have religion then be sensible and stop making a mess of human identity.” Then he returned to his residence and his malt fever rebounded and for three days he was down with malt fever and stayed at home.
All these conditions were because he had heard that one of his students had gossiped about one of the respected theologians. The Imam himself had not gossiped, rather one of the seminary students had gossiped in the absence of one of the religious authorities but the Imam had become anxious and his breathing had suffered.
I never heard even a semblance of gossip: Ayatullah Mazahiri