Imam used to observe special respect for other religious scholars. Once it happened that a Najaf scholar known as Bahrul-ulm who used to lead prayers at a mosque close to Imam’s mosque fell sick.
Many people requested Imam to replace him by leading the prayers. Imam declined to do so.
Seeing that, the scholar sent one of his representatives to request imam to take over the mosque and lead the prayers there. Imam once again declined to do so.
Finally, Bahrul-ulum, who was an old man, himself, came to confirm that he couldn’t lead the prayers due to deteriorating health condition. He requested Imam to become a replacement for him at the mosque.
At this Imam accepted to lead the prayers.
This all happened because Imam wanted to preserve the honor and status of the religious scholar or never thought to take disadvantage of any opportunity.
(Extracted from special events of Imam’s life, Vol. 6, P. 135)