The collection of poems written by Imam Ruhollah Khomeini, “Water of life”, is similar to classical Persian poems in language and manner. The Imam’s poetry focuses mostly on wanderings of the human spirit while seeking God. His poems are the stories of the soul’s ups and downs, captured in short narratives describing every step on the way of knowing God.

Imam Khomeini was not planning to publish his works. They were collected thanks to his daughter-in-law Fatima, who insisted that her father-in-law should not throw away his poems’ drafts but rather keep them and give her these texts written during short periods of respite from political, public, religious, philosophical and journalistic affairs.

Imam Khomeini’s poems are deeply symbolic, and behind the images of the Friend, beauty, love and wine attentive readers can discover new horizons and meanings.  That’s where the reality nourishing the imagery of the Imam’s poetry is hiding. Only God is real for the Imam, the rest is just a metaphor of His existence.

The “Water of life” publication was prepared under the sponsorship of the Cultural Representative Office under the Embassy of Iran in Russia and with the support of the Islamic Culture Research Foundation, the International Relations Department of the Institute for collecting and publishing Imam Khomeini’s works and the Sadra publishing house.