A Study of the Concept of Poverty in Imam Khomeini's Gnostical Viewpoints

In Imam Khomeini's viewpoint poverty is discussed in both practical and theoretical fields. In the theoretical field, poverty is discussed from cosmological and anthropological aspects to delineate the situation of man's quiddity, or rather other than God, vis-à-vis God. In anthropological discussion of poverty, besides absolute poverty which is towards God, the issue of relative poverty which is towards the world is also discussed. Therefore, two poverties are defined for man, one of which is praiseworthy and the other scolded. On the basis of these two poverties then true poverty and true poor as well as true richness and true rich are defined as well. In the next step, on the basis of knowledge of this truth, the quality of man's relations with God is defined.