During the initial days of the political agitation when Imam Khomeini would issue numerous circulars and statements, one of Tehran’s erudite theologians sent a message to the Imam in Qum through me.
In the message he had mentioned that since his eminence the Imam was among the leading Shiite religious authorities who were in possession of practical treatise or ‘Risalah’, it was not becoming of him to issue such a large number of statements and circulars and that he should reduce their numbers.
When I handed over the message to the Imam, he asserted: “Convey my greetings of peace to him and tell him that I do not wish to become a ‘marja’ (leading Shiite religious authority); I want to fulfill my (religious) duty”.
Narrated by: Hujjat al-Islam wal Muslimeen Morteza Sadeqi Tehrani
Taken from: Exclusive Memoirs from Imam Khomeini’s Life, vol. 5, p. 43