“When I was in Qom, I had a comrade, whom I was very attached to spiritually; I really enjoyed his companionship; the friendly meetings, of two or three people, when we gathered to talk as seminary students. I was fond of his spirituality: his ethics, his sayings, and his epistemic behavior. We had not seen each other for years, since he had gone to Najaf, and I was busy here. After I was elected president, he came to Iran. Once, I saw him, coincidentally; I said, “Comrade! Now I need you more than previous times. I am now a president; back then, I was only a seminary student." We decided to meet every week or every other week; and so it went on until he died. God bless him. Each of us who has more responsibilities is in more need than others: "Those who are richer, are more in need of these moral meetings, these spiritual meetings.”
Ayatollah Khamenei, June 24, 2009
