For approximately eight years I attended the lectures on external jurisprudence and rational theology of the Imam. He would be punctual and always be present on the hour even when he was giving lectures at the Salamasi Mosque in Qum. Some of his students would attend other classes before his lecture was due and for this reason they would sometimes be a few minutes late for the start of the Imam’s class. He would get upset and would sometimes rebuke them. It is well-known that the Imam himself during his days as a seminary student was disciplined and punctual. The late Ayatullah Shahabadi (the Imam’s spiritual guide) had said thus about the discipline and attendance of the Imam at the lectures: “Ruhullah is truly Ruhullah (spirit of God); I do not recall a single day when he was not in class after I had spoken ‘in the Name of Allah’. Always before I would begin the lecture in the name of Allah, he would be present.[1]
[1]Ruhullah is Ruhullah: Ayatullah Bani Fadl