Imam Khomeini recommended to get rid of selfish desires and egoism

According to Imam Khomeini, man cannot construct others unless he himself is constructed and the country cannot be constructed if others themselves are not constructed.

ID: 55855 | Date: 2019/01/25

The greatest jihad (holy struggle) is the jihad against selfish desires and egoism, because all jihads will become victorious if in jihad against the 'self' we come out victorious, Imam explained. 


Imam in his theological works says if this creature (man) is left alone and free to itself and if one is not trained, one becomes so unleashed that one wants everything for one's own sake and seeks to sacrifice everybody for one's self.


From Imam Khomeini's viewpoint, the Prophets were assigned to bring them under control and to give them some criteria. After one is leashed, then one will be shown the path in order to achieve those perfections which will cause one happiness and prosperity.


Imam defines that the world and this nature are not the only things taken into account, rather, the world for the Prophets is a path and a means to achieve an exalted goal which we do not know, but they know.


The Prophets knew where one will end up if one is unleashed. They also knew where one will end up if one is leashed and if one uses one of the ways to achieve the exalted grades of humanity.


The whole world is not the ultimate goal before the Prophets. Rather, it is a path to be followed to reach the destinations which is the high grade of humanity, Imam Khomeini noted. 


If a creature reached that high human grade, one will achieve a happiness which is not limited just to this world. The ultimate goal is the world behind this one.



The 'selves' of mankind in this world varies according to creation but they undergo a lot of differences due to the various training of different environments.


In one place, the training is anti­human and immoral while in another, the training is human.


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