The Greatest Jihad:Combat with the Self
First Step in Refinement (2)
It is possible that he will leave the world with hostility and enmity toward the Presence of the Exalted Truth (God). One of the great men of Qazvin [a province in the northwest of Tehran], may Allah have mercy, on him, reported that he was present at the bedside of someone at the moment of his death. During the last instants of his life, he opened his eyes and said: "The oppression with which God has aflicted me, no one has ever aflicted! Now, God wants to separate me from these children whom I have taken such pains to raise. Is there any greater oppression than this?" If one has not refined oneself, and has not averted oneself from the world, and has not expelled love of the world from his heart, there is the fear that he will die with a heart overlowing with anger and hatred toward God and His awliyd. He will have to contend with an ominous destiny. Is such an unbridled man to be considered as the crown of creation or as the most vile or creatures? "By Time. Surely man is lost, except for he who believes and does good works, and enjoin upon each other truth, and enjoin upon each other patience" (Q 103:1-3). In this surah, the only exceptions are the believers who perform good works. And good work is a work which is congruous with the spirit. However, you see that many of man's works are only congruent with the body. "Enjoining" is also not practiced. If you are dominated by love of the world and love of the self, and if this prevents you from perceiving truths and realities, and prevents you from performing deed purely for God, and if you are kept from enjoining the truth and enjoining patience, and you are thereby obstructed from the way to guidance, then you will be lost. You will be lost in this world and in the next, for you will have given up your youth and will be prohibited from the blessings of heaven and otherworldly advantages, and also lack this world. If others have no way to heaven, and if the doors to divine mercy are closed to them, if they are to abide eternally in the ire of hell, at least they will have had the world, they will have enjoyed worldly advantages, but you...
Beware, lest love of the world and love of the self gradually increase within you, to the point that Satan is able to take away your faith. It is said that all of the efforts of Satan are for the sake of robbing faith.40 All of his efforts and labors, night and day, are for the sake of taking away the faith of men. No one has given you a document to guarantee your faith. Perhaps one's faith is merely on loan [mustawda"],41 and in the end Satan will get it, and you will leave this world with enmity for the Blessed and Exalted God and His awliyd. Perhaps one will have enjoyed an entire life of divine blessings, provide for by Imam az-Zaman ('a)42 and, God forbid, in the end one may give up his life without faith and in enmity toward the Bestower of the Blessings.
Source:” The Greatest Jihad” by imam khomeini
