Based on one year of ethnographic and archival research in Iran, this paper examines the cultural production surrounding a nostalgic, yet ambiguous concept known as “jihadi culture and management”. Fully understanding the concept requires deciphering its organizational antecedents and indigenous conceptions of the term “jihad”. The concept emerged from Construction Jihad, a revolutionary organization that undertook an ambitious development campaign and spread revolutionary and Islamic values to the countryside during the early years of the revolution. In contrast to Western conceptions of “jihad” as exclusively equated with holy war, the term in the organization’s name and as communicated by Imam Khomeini implied a divinely-inspired, collective and individual struggle to improve society and the self through constructive and positive endeavors, such as rural development. The term’s significance and call to action mobilized and motivated the organization’s activists to perform their work in an energetic, committed, altruistic, and sacred manner. These activists worked tirelessly in remote and destitute villages not for material gain, but to channel their revolutionary zeal into productive pursuits and earn spiritual rewards in the afterlife. In more recent years, national elites and civic associations, particularly those affiliated with the revolutionary generation and Construction Jihad, have enthusiastically and systematically promoted “jihadi culture and management” through their discourse, literature, and activities to mitigate the adverse effects of bureaucratization, materialism, and individualism. To this end, this cultural production seeks to re-infuse, reinvigorate, and rejuvenate state and society with revolutionary and religious norms and values. It also endeavors to remind younger generations of the sacrifices that were made and the hardships that were endured during the revolution for the greater good. Finally, this cultural production aspires to encourage contemporary institutions and citizens to emulate and internalize the exemplary and revered spirit and attributes of Construction Jihad as an ideal type organization and its members as archetypal jihadists.