The Importance of Teaching and the Duties of Teachers 

part 1

Date: January 30, 1981 [Bahman 10, 1359 / Rabi al-Awwal, 23, 1401

Place: Jamaran, Tehran

Subject: The importance of the teaching profession and the duties of the teachers in training students

Audience: Religious teachers from all over the country

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

 The Pure Primordial Nature in Children

   I thank all of you for taking the trouble of being present here in this tiny place and in this freezing weather. May Allah grant everyone with the success of serving Islam and his country!

   I am sure you have all realized that these small children who are studying in the primary schools and who will later go onto other levels like secondary school and university are the capital of this country or in other words, they are our assets in the fields of knowledge and the future-building of this country. And as you all know, these children enter the world of learning with a pure, healthy, simple, and open mind that can absorb any kind of training that is offered to them. And right from the time they enter the kindergartens, they are “divine trusts”‌ that have been put into the custody of those who teach them in the kindergartens. And these same “trusts”‌ will go on to other levels of learning and into the hands of other teachers until they have attained growth and are capable of entering into higher levels of learning and the universities.

   If from the very beginning, you train these children in a way that they are kept away from deviation and if they are given the training that is worthy of human beings and does justice to the pure primordial nature that lies within human beings, it is with this very training that these children will later enter into the higher levels or say the secondary schools after being trained initially at the hands of the primary school and kindergarten teachers.. And at this level too, if they are trained according to the principles of that same Straight Path and if their teachers guide them as per the same system that their pure primordial nature demands - considering that that they are young and were first children and have now grown into youths - if the method of training is the method that is worthy of human beings, bearing in mind that they are easily adaptable to any kind of training that is given to them at a tender age and in their youth, they will then enter into the next stage of growth. Whenever a training that is worthy of human beings and is conducive to the human disposition - which is the same disposition that is given as a trust to man and is “the nature made by Allah in which He has made men”‌[1] - is imparted also in the universities, then when those youths enter society and when the fate of the society is consequently given into their hands, they succeed in taking their country out of gloom into light and make it worthy enough for human beings to live in and mould it as per the primordial nature and cause it to progress.

The Dangers of Education without Ethical Training

 It is not as if man is born corrupt into this world. Man first enters into this world with a pure primordial nature; “all beings are born into this world with a pure nature”‌[2] which is the nature of a human being, the nature of the Straight Path, the disposition of Islam, and the disposition towards monotheism (tawhؤ«d). It is ethical training that causes that disposition to bloom out or then it stands as an obstacle in the blooming of the primordial nature in man. It is this kind of training that can offer the society a desirable perfection, making it a “human”‌ society in its truest sense, and can make it a country based upon Islamic principles. And it is this same learning or gaining knowledge devoid of ethical training that could drag the country to its doom when the fate and the reins of the affairs of the country fall into their hands.

   You honorable teachers and the other teachers throughout the country as well as the university teachers are responsible for this trust that has been placed into your hands by Allah Almighty and the parents. Do not look at those five or ten or maybe fifty students who you are teaching and possibly imagine it to be an insignificant number and think that there are “others”‌ who will do the job. It is possible that from among these very ten students who are before you or from among these fifty students who you are teaching someone will eventually reach to a very high position and maybe become the president of a country or a prime minister and it is possible that a high position in the country will fall into his hands. Or it could be that this same one student who was placed in your custody and who was later put into the hands of other teachers, finally gains a crooked training - that is he was given knowledge without bothering alongside to train him to become a worthy human being, or if, God forbid, the teacher is himself deviated and that child has from the beginning and then in the later stages been under a deviated training, it is possible that this same student may later on lead a country to its doom.

Sources: imam-khomeini.com

[1] “So thy purpose (O Muhammad) for religion as a man by nature upright – the nature (framed) of Allah, in which He hath created man. There is no altering (the laws of) Allah’s creation. That is the right religion, but most men know not”‌ (30:30)

[2] “‘Awؤپlؤ« al-La’ؤپlؤ«”‌, Vol. 1, p. 35, h. 18.

Other Links:

Kolineh and Seyyed Sadeq offensive operation (2) (March 6th, 1981)  

Democracy in an Islamic Community   

The Concept and Principles of Democracy   

Roqabieh offensive operation (March 19th, 1980)     

Chaghalvand offensive operation (March 20th, 1980)