Imam Khomeini had always great respect for Ulema and religious experts during his fruitful and holy life.
When Ayatollah Aqa Mirza Mahdi Ashtiyani, the great mystic and master of Islamic philosophy, arrived in Qum in 1948, he was teaching philosophy in the city for three years.
Due to the great respect Imam had for his master, he stopped teaching of philosophy.
However, after a while Aqa Mirza Mahdi left Qum because of certain personal reasons, and the Imam began to teach Asfar Arba‘ah (the transcendent wisdom regarding four intellectual journeys) just for a small number of theology students.
Narrated by: Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani
Taken from: Alongwith the Sun, vol. 3, p. 216