Amir Al-Hajj (Chief Of The Pilgrims)
Grand Allameh Sayyid Radi spent the prime years of his youth for serving the people, and in discharging of these obligations become a perfect symbol of sacrifice and dedication. It was for the sake of these meritorious services that the title of Radi was bestowed upon him. His name was Muhammad, and because of his excellent performance of assigned responsibilities, the kings of Ale-Buyeh Dynasty who were pleased with Sayyid's guardianship bestowed upon him the title of Ash-Shrif al-Radi (the honorable one, who pleased everyone).
Sayyid Radi's responsibilities also included supervision of Hajj-Pilgrims and managing of great international Hajj ceremonies. In our times, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, such important responsibility requires the presence of not only few persons but an entire organization such as Sazamani-Hajj wa-Ziyarat1 and the two important groups namely: Baithi-Maqami-Moazzam Rehabarr2 and the Setadi-Hajj3 participates to make the necessary arrangements for the mentioned ceremonies.
The supervision of Hajj-Pilgrims like the responsibilities of Naqabat and guardianship of Diwani-Mazalim, was a difficult and heavy task; there were not more than a handful of competent individuals who could have been appointed for these key positions. Because they required discharging of difficult obligations, which cannot easily be accomplished by everybody.
In order to discharge these obligations in an excellent manner the holder of these offices should he possessed with: strong politics, ingenuity, competence, correct management, knowledge about regional geography, familiar with culture and traditions of communities, and most important of all he was supposed to be a learned Jurisprudent and religious scholar. He must be an eminent authority in Jurisprudence and must he equipped with necessa1y boldness and correct managerial skills in order to discharge these obligations satisfactorily.
In that period Sayyid Radi was the suitable and most deserving candidate for appointment to these most important positions for the country.
Therefore, this was one of the most outstanding Shi’i achievements that in the year 1379 A.H. among all the Sunni great scholars and jurisprudents, a young Shi’i scholar was selected for the position of the Chief of Pilgrims (Ameer al-Hajj) during the reign of a sunni caliph. Sayyid Radi ingenuity and policy was able to achieve this great distinction for the friends of Prophet’s Ahl-al-Bayt. What a beautiful and heart-appealing scene it was, when perhaps for the first time a student of a Ja’fri School of thought, taking Ali-like firm steps with dignity, among the huge crowd of learned scholars and great personalities, moved towards Holy Kabah for offering his prayers near the Prophet Abraham’s place of Prayer.
- 1. Sazamani Hajj wa Ziyarat: is the organization responsible for making the official arrangements for the Hajj pilgrims in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
- 2. Baithi-Maqami-Moazzam Rehabarr. is the cultural group headed by the chief representative of the Vali-Faqih.
- 3. Setadi-Hajj the team which is assigned at Mecca, Medina, and Jeddah by the Sazmani Hajj wa Ziyarat for making the necessary arrangements for the pilgrims.