A meeting with the President, Leader of Parliament, and army commanders had been arranged in Imam's small room.
Imam was sitting on a chair and we were seated on the carpet facing him. After an hour of talks, it was the turn of one of the commanders to present his report.
Suddenly Imam stood up in order to leave the room. We were all surprised by this. The person whose turn it was to present his report also did not know what to say.
Agha Hashemi Rafsanjani asked Imam, "Did something happen to make you unwell?" Imam quickly replied, "No. It is the time of prayers." We looked at our watches. I knew the prayer times in Tehran from before. I noticed that Imam had not even delayed a moment in order to pray. In any case the Imam’s behaviour had a profound effect on us. Imam stood for prayers and we quickly got ready and prayed with him.
After prayers, a question struck me. How in a meeting of such importance about the war, could Imam leave in order to pray? He did not even allow the commander to complete his report. That day I understood how high Imam's level of worship and submission of his soul was that he was not willing to delay saying his prayers even for a moment.
(A memoirs by Shaheed Siyaad Shirazi)