So, I took a notebook to Imam and I requested that when...

So, I took a notebook to Imam and I requested that when suitable he inscribe therein his poems, admonitions, and mystical allusions… And it was in this way that he so graciously complied with my request and granted me a position from the table of his gnosis and generosity as provision for my journey, and he gave me something he had written which ended with a ghazal . It was a positive answer to my persistent request.

Now, the fruit of these efforts, that is, this valuable legacy, I place at the disposal of that respectable institute which publishes his works so that they may present it to the devotees of Imam, and thereby to provide the limpid water of this fountain for those who thirst. In this context I have other things to say which, if God grants me the opportunity, I shall relate.

In grief, untimely days elapsed; Days accompanied by inner burning, If the days have gone, let them go without fear, But you stay, like unto whom there is no purity. [^13] Fatimah Tabataba’i 23/6/1368 AHS (Sept. 12, 1989)[^14] Imam Khomeini’s Reply to Fatimah Tabataba’i In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful My Dear Fati, It seems that you have finally succeeded in your imposition on me to write a few lines, disregarding my excuses: old age, infirmity, and a full schedule.

Now I will begin my speech with the blight of old age and of youth, both of which have afflicted me, or you could say, the ends of which I have reached. Now, inclining towards the barzakh ,[^15] if not toward hell, I am wrestling with the minions of the angel of death. Tomorrow, the black letter of my deeds shall be handed to me, and I shall be asked for an account of my misspent life.

I have no answer, except my hope in the mercy of He Whose mercy embraces all things,[^16] He who revealed to the Mercy of Worlds:[^17] “do not despair of the mercy of Allah; surely Allah forgives sins.”[^18] I take it that I am to be included among those to whom these ayat [^19] must be applied.

But as for the ascension to the sacred premises of His greatness, and mounting to the neighborhood of the Friend, and joining in the banquet of Allah, to which one must arrive by means of the steps he himself has taken, how can it be?