Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first
supreme leader of Iran
The Supreme Leader of Iran ( fa, رهبر ایران, rahbar-e irān) is the List of heads of state of Iran, head of state of the Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran. The Supreme Leader directs the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, executiv ...
from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of the
Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
and the leader of the 1979
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
, which saw the overthrow of
Shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
, title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran
, image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg
, caption = Shah in 1973
, succession = Shah of Iran
, reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979
, coronation = 26 October ...
and the end of the
Persian monarchy. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's first supreme leader, a position created in the
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. Most of his period in power was taken up by the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
of 1980–1988. He was succeeded by
Ali Khamenei
Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنهای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...
on 4 June 1989.
Khomeini was born in
Khomeyn
Khomein ( fa, خمين, also Romanized as Khowmeyn) is a city and capital of Khomeyn County, Markazi Province, Iran. At the 2015 census, its population was 76,706 in 17,399 families.
Khomein is located to the south of the province, in a fertil ...
, in what is now Iran's
Markazi province. His father was murdered in 1903 when Khomeini was two years old.
He began studying the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
from a young age and was assisted in his religious studies by his relatives, including his mother's cousin and older brother.
Khomeini was an
''ayatollah'' (high-ranking cleric), and a ''
marja'
Marji ( ar, مرجع, transliteration: ''marjiʿ''; plural: ''marājiʿ''), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority giv ...
'' ("source of emulation") in
Twelver Shi'ism
Twelver Shīʿīsm ( ar, ٱثْنَا عَشَرِيَّة; '), also known as Imāmīyyah ( ar, إِمَامِيَّة), is the largest branch of Shīʿa Islam, comprising about 85 percent of all Shīʿa Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers t ...
, a
Mujtahid
''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...
or ''
faqīh
A faqīh (plural ''fuqahā'', ar, فقيه, pl. ) is an Islamic jurist, an expert in ''fiqh'', or Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic Law.
Definition
Islamic jurisprudence or ''fiqh'' is the human understanding of the Sharia (bel ...
'' (an expert in
Sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
) and author of more than 40 books. He spent more than 15 years in exile for his opposition to the last shah. In his writings and preachings he expanded the theory of ''
Velâyat-e Faqih'', the "Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (clerical authority)", to include
theocratic
Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs.
Etymology
The word theocracy originates fro ...
political rule by Islamic jurists. This principle, though not known to the wider public before the revolution, was appended to the new Iranian constitution after being put to a referendum. According to ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Khomeini called democracy the equivalent of prostitution. Whether
Khomeini's ideas are compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be democratic is disputed. He was ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine's
Man of the Year in 1979 for his international influence,
and Khomeini has been described as the "virtual face of Shia Islam in Western popular culture".
[Nasr, Vali, ''The Shia Revival'', Norton (2006), p. 138] In 1982, he survived one military coup attempt.
Khomeini was known for his support of the hostage takers during the
Iran hostage crisis
On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over t ...
, his
fatwa
A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...
calling for the murder of
British Indian
British Indians are citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) whose ancestral roots are from India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian origin as well as Indians who have migrated to the UK. Today, Indians comprise about 1.4 mil ...
novelist
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
,
and for referring to the United States as the "
Great Satan
The Great Satan ( fa, شيطان بزرگ; ''Shaytân-e Bozorg'') is a demonizing epithet for the United States of America in Iranian foreign policy statements. Occasionally, these words have also been used toward the government of the United ...
" and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
as the "
Lesser Satan".
Khomeini has been criticized for these acts and for human rights violations of Iranians (including his ordering of attacks against demonstrators, execution of thousands of
political prisoners
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although nu ...
,
war criminals and
prisoners
A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison.
...
of the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
).
Khomeini has also been lauded as a "charismatic leader of immense popularity",
a "champion of
Islamic revival
Islamic revival ( ar, تجديد'' '', lit., "regeneration, renewal"; also ', "Islamic awakening") refers to a revival of the Islamic religion. The revivers are known in Islam as ''mujaddids''.
Within the Islamic tradition, ''tajdid'' has bee ...
" by Shia scholars,
who attempted to establish good relations between
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
s and
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
s, and a major innovator in political theory and religious-oriented populist political strategy.
[ Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran]
Elaine Sciolino , quote=Those intellectuals who say that the clergy should leave politics and go back to the mosque speak on behalf of Satan." Khomeini held the title of
Grand Ayatollah
Marji ( ar, مرجع, transliteration: ''marjiʿ''; plural: ''marājiʿ''), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority giv ...
and is officially known as
Imam
Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...
Khomeini inside Iran and by his supporters internationally.
[Moin, ''Khomeini'' (2001), p. 201] He is generally referred to as Ayatollah Khomeini by others. In Iran, his gold-domed
tomb
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...
in Tehran's
Behesht-e Zahrāʾ cemetery has become a shrine for his adherents,
and he is legally considered "inviolable", with Iranians regularly punished for insulting him. A
cult of personality
A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an id ...
developed around Khomeini after the
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
.
Early years
Background
![Ruhollah Khomeini birthplace 5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Ruhollah_Khomeini_birthplace_5.jpg)
Ruhollah Khomeini came from a lineage of small land owners, clerics, and merchants. His ancestors migrated towards the end of the 18th century from their original home in
Nishapur
Nishapur or officially Romanized as Neyshabur ( fa, ;Or also "نیشاپور" which is closer to its original and historic meaning though it is less commonly used by modern native Persian speakers. In Persian poetry, the name of this city is wr ...
,
Khorasan province, in northeastern part of Iran, for a short stay, to the
Kingdom of Awadh, a region in the modern state of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, whose
rulers
A ruler, sometimes called a rule, line gauge, or scale, is a device used in geometry and technical drawing, as well as the engineering and construction industries, to measure distances or draw straight lines.
Variants
Rulers have long ...
were
Twelver
Twelver Shīʿīsm ( ar, ٱثْنَا عَشَرِيَّة; '), also known as Imāmīyyah ( ar, إِمَامِيَّة), is the largest branch of Shīʿa Islam, comprising about 85 percent of all Shīʿa Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers t ...
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
Muslims of
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
origin. During their rule they extensively invited, and received, a steady stream of Persian scholars, poets, jurists, architects, and painters.
[''Encyclopædia Iranica'']
"Avadh"
, E. Yarshater The family eventually settled in the small town of
Kintoor
Kintoor or Kintur is a village in Barabanki district famous for battle of Kintoor of 1858 during the Indian Mutiny.
Battle of Kintoor
The Battle of Kintoor was a conflict between rebel sepoys and troops East India Company and Kapurthala Sta ...
, near
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
, the capital of Awadh.
[Ruhollah Khomeini's brief biography by Hamid Algar][From Khomein, ''A biography of the Ayatollah''](_blank)
14 June 1999, The Iranian[Khomeini: life of the Ayatollah, Volume 1999](_blank)
by Baqer Moin Ayatollah Khomeini's paternal grandfather,
Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi
Sayyid Ahmad Musavi Hindi (; 1800–1869) was a Twelver Shia cleric. He was the paternal grandfather of the supreme leader of the Islamic republic of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini.
Biography
India
His family migrated towards the end of the 18th ...
, was born in Kintoor.
He left Lucknow in 1830, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of
Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
in
Najaf
Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
,
Ottoman Iraq
Ottoman Iraq ( ar, العراق العثماني}) refers to the period of the history of Iraq when the region was ruled by the Ottoman Empire (1534–1920; with an interlude from 1704 to 1831 of autonomy under the Mamluk dynasty of Iraq).Before ...
(now
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
) and never returned.
According to Moin, this migration was to escape from the spread of
British power in India.
In 1834 Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi visited Persia, and in 1839 he settled in
Khomein
Khomein ( fa, خمين, also Romanized as Khowmeyn) is a city and capital of Khomeyn County, Markazi Province, Iran. At the 2015 census, its population was 76,706 in 17,399 families.
Khomein is located to the south of the province, in a fertile ...
.
Although he stayed and settled in Iran, he continued to be known as ''
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
'', indicating his stay in India, and Ruhollah Khomeini even used ''Hindi'' as a pen name in some of his
ghazal
The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...
s.
Khomeini's grandfather, Mirza Ahmad Mojtahed-e Khonsari was the cleric issuing a fatwa to forbid usage of Tobacco during the
Tobacco Protest
The Persian Tobacco Protest (Persian: نهضت تنباکو ''nehzat-e tanbāku'') was a Shia Muslim revolt in Iran against an 1890 tobacco concession granted by Nasir al-Din Shah of Persia to the United Kingdom, granting British control over gr ...
.
Childhood
According to his birth certificate, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, whose first name means "spirit of Allah", was born on 17 May 1900 in
Khomeyn
Khomein ( fa, خمين, also Romanized as Khowmeyn) is a city and capital of Khomeyn County, Markazi Province, Iran. At the 2015 census, its population was 76,706 in 17,399 families.
Khomein is located to the south of the province, in a fertil ...
,
Markazi Province although his brother Mortaza (later known as Ayatollah Pasandideh) gives his birth date of 24 September 1902, the birth anniversary of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
's daughter,
Fatima
Fāṭima bint Muḥammad ( ar, فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد}, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, th ...
.
He was raised by his mother, Hajieh Agha Khanum, and his aunt, Sahebeth, following the murder of his father, Mustapha Musavi, over two years after his birth in 1903.
Ruhollah began to study the
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
and elementary Persian at the age of six.
The following year, he began to attend a local school, where he learned religion, ''noheh khani'' (lamentation recital), and other traditional subjects.
Throughout his childhood, he continued his religious education with the assistance of his relatives, including his mother's cousin, Ja'far,
and his elder brother, Morteza Pasandideh.
Education and lecturing
![خمینی و همدرسان](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/%D8%AE%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%8C_%D9%88_%D9%87%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86.JPG)
After
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
arrangements were made for him to study at the Islamic seminary in
Isfahan
Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...
, but he was attracted instead to the seminary in
Arak. He was placed under the leadership of
Ayatollah
Ayatollah ( ; fa, آیتالله, āyatollāh) is an Title of honor, honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy in Iran and Iraq that came into widespread usage in the 20th century.
Etymology
The title is originally derived from ...
Abdolkarim Haeri Yazdi. In 1920, Khomeini moved to Arak and commenced his studies. The following year, Ayatollah Haeri Yazdi transferred to the Islamic seminary in the holy city of
Qom
Qom (also spelled as "Ghom", "Ghum", or "Qum") ( fa, قم ) is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. Qom is the capital of Qom Province. It is located to the south of Tehran. At the 2016 census, its popul ...
, southwest of
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
, and invited his students to follow. Khomeini accepted the invitation, moved,
and took up residence at the Dar al-Shafa school in Qom. Khomeini's studies included Islamic law (''
sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
'') and jurisprudence (''
fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
''),
but by that time, Khomeini had also acquired an interest in poetry and philosophy (''
irfan
In Islam, ‘Irfan (Arabic/Persian/Urdu: ; tr, İrfan), literally ‘knowledge, awareness, wisdom’, is gnosis. Islamic mysticism can be considered as a vast range that engulfs theoretical and practical and conventional mysticism, but the co ...
''). So, upon arriving in Qom, Khomeini sought the guidance of
Mirza
Mirza may refer to:
* Mirza, Kamrup, town in Assam, India
* Mirza (name), historical royal title & noble
* ''Mirza'', the genus of giant mouse lemur
* "Mirza", song by Nino Ferrer
* ''Mirza – The Untold Story'', Punjabi action romance film wri ...
Ali Akbar Yazdi, a scholar of philosophy and mysticism. Yazdi died in 1924, but Khomeini continued to pursue his interest in philosophy with two other teachers, Javad Aqa Maleki Tabrizi and Rafi'i Qazvini.
However, perhaps Khomeini's biggest influences were another teacher, Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Shahabadi, and a variety of historic
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
mystics
A mystic is a person who practices mysticism, or a reference to a mystery, mystic craft, first hand-experience or the occult.
Mystic may also refer to:
Places United States
* Mistick, an old name for parts of Malden and Medford, Massachusetts
* ...
, including
Mulla Sadra
Ṣadr ad-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī, more commonly known as Mullā Ṣadrā ( fa, ملا صدرا; ar, صدر المتألهین) (c. 1571/2 – c. 1635/40 CE / 980 – 1050 AH), was a Persian Twelver Shi'i Islamic mystic, philosopher, the ...
and
Ibn Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , 'Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influenti ...
.
Khomeini studied
ancient Greek philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empire ...
and was influenced by both the philosophy of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
, whom he regarded as the founder of logic,
and
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
, whose views "in the field of divinity" he regarded as "grave and solid". Among Islamic philosophers, Khomeini was mainly influenced by
Avicenna
Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic G ...
and
Mulla Sadra
Ṣadr ad-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī, more commonly known as Mullā Ṣadrā ( fa, ملا صدرا; ar, صدر المتألهین) (c. 1571/2 – c. 1635/40 CE / 980 – 1050 AH), was a Persian Twelver Shi'i Islamic mystic, philosopher, the ...
.
![Ayatollah Khomeini young](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Ayatollah_Khomeini_young.jpg)
Apart from philosophy, Khomeini was interested in literature and poetry. His poetry collection was released after his death. Beginning in his adolescent years, Khomeini composed mystic, political and social poetry. His poetry works were published in three collections: ''The Confidant'', ''The Decanter of Love and Turning Point'', and ''Divan''. His knowledge of poetry is further attested by the modern poet
Nader Naderpour
Nader Naderpour ( fa, نادر نادرپور; June 6, 1929 – February 18, 2000) was an Iranian poet.
Among many Iranian poets who shaped up the New Persian Poetry or New Poetry (in Persian: ''She'r-e Now''), Ali Esfandiari aka Nima Yooshij, P ...
(1929–2000), who "had spent many hours exchanging poems with Khomeini in the early 1960s". Naderpour remembered: "For four hours we recited poetry. Every single line I recited from any poet, he recited the next."
Ruhollah Khomeini was a lecturer at
Najaf
Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
and Qom seminaries for decades before he was known on the political scene. He soon became a leading scholar of Shia Islam. He taught political philosophy, Islamic history and ethics. Several of his students – for example,
Morteza Motahhari
Morteza Motahhari ( fa, مرتضی مطهری, also Romanized as "Mortezā Motahharī"; 31 January 1919 – 1 May 1979) was an Iranian Twelver Shia scholar, philosopher, lecturer. Motahhari is considered to have an important influence on th ...
– later became leading Islamic philosophers and also ''
marja'
Marji ( ar, مرجع, transliteration: ''marjiʿ''; plural: ''marājiʿ''), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority giv ...
''. As a scholar and teacher, Khomeini produced numerous writings on Islamic philosophy, law, and ethics.
He showed an exceptional interest in subjects like philosophy and
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
that not only were usually absent from the curriculum of seminaries but were often an object of hostility and suspicion.
Inaugurating his teaching career at the age of 27 by giving private lessons on
irfan
In Islam, ‘Irfan (Arabic/Persian/Urdu: ; tr, İrfan), literally ‘knowledge, awareness, wisdom’, is gnosis. Islamic mysticism can be considered as a vast range that engulfs theoretical and practical and conventional mysticism, but the co ...
and
Mulla Sadra
Ṣadr ad-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī, more commonly known as Mullā Ṣadrā ( fa, ملا صدرا; ar, صدر المتألهین) (c. 1571/2 – c. 1635/40 CE / 980 – 1050 AH), was a Persian Twelver Shi'i Islamic mystic, philosopher, the ...
to a private circle, around the same time, in 1928, he also released his first publication, ''Sharh Du'a al-Sahar'' (Commentary on the
Du'a al-Baha
Du'a al-Baha ( ar, دعاء البهاء) (known as Du'a al-Sahar ( ar, دعاء السحر) is a Du'a recommended to Muslims to recite in pre-dawns during Ramadan, when Muslims usually eat Suhur. Since it is very common among Shia, it is known ...
), "a detailed commentary, in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
, on the prayer recited before dawn during Ramadan by Imam
Ja'far al-Sadiq
Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣādiq ( ar, جعفر بن محمد الصادق; 702 – 765 CE), commonly known as Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (), was an 8th-century Shia Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian.. He was the founder of th ...
", followed, some years later, by ''Sirr al-Salat'' (Secret of the Prayer), where "the symbolic dimensions and inner meaning of every part of the prayer, from the ablution that precedes it to the salam that concludes it, are expounded in a rich, complex, and eloquent language that owes much to the concepts and terminology of
Ibn 'Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , 'Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influenti ...
. As Sayyid Fihri, the editor and translator of ''Sirr al-Salat'', has remarked, the work is addressed only to the foremost among the spiritual elite (akhass-i khavass) and establishes its author as one of their number." The second book has been translated by Sayyid Amjad Hussain Shah Naqavi and released by
BRILL
Brill may refer to:
Places
* Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands
* Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England
* Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK
* Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...
in 2015, under the title
The Mystery of Prayer: The Ascension of the Wayfarers and the Prayer of the Gnostics".
Political aspects
His seminary teaching often focused on the importance of religion to practical social and political issues of the day, and he worked against secularism in the 1940s. His first political book, ''Kashf al-Asrar'' (Uncovering of Secrets) published in 1942, was a point-by-point refutation of ''Asrar-e hezar sale'' (Secrets of a Thousand Years), a tract written by a disciple of Iran's leading
anti-clerical
Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...
historian,
Ahmad Kasravi
Ahmad Hokmabadi Tabrizi ( fa, سید احمد حکمآبادی تبریزی, Ahmad-e Hokmabadi-ye Tabrizi; 29 September 1890 – 11 March 1946), later known as Ahmad Kasravi ( fa, احمد کسروی, Ahmad-e Kasravi), was a pre-eminent Irani ...
, as well as a condemnation of innovations such as international time zones,
[ Prior to the International ]Time Zone
A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...
system, every locality had its own time with 12 noon set to match the moment in that city when the sun was at its highest point in the sky. This was natural for an era when travel was relatively slow and infrequent but would have played havoc with railway timetables and general modern long-distance communications. In the decades after 1880 governments around the world replaced local time with 24 international time zones, each covering 15 degrees of the earth's longitude (with some exceptions for political boundaries. and the banning of hijab by
Reza Shah
Reza Shah Pahlavi ( fa, رضا شاه پهلوی; ; originally Reza Khan (); 15 March 1878 – 26 July 1944) was an Iranian Officer (armed forces), military officer, politician (who served as Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (Iran), ...
. In addition, he went from Qom to Tehran to listen to Ayatullah Hasan Mudarris, the leader of the opposition majority in
Iran's parliament during the 1920s. Khomeini became a ''marja in 1963, following the death of Grand Ayatollah
Seyyed Husayn Borujerdi.
Khomeini also valued the ideals of Islamists such as
Sheikh Fazlollah Noori
Sheikh Fazlollah bin Abbas Mazindarani (; 24 December 1843 – 31 July 1909), also known as Fazlollah Noori (), was a twelver Shia Muslim scholar and politician in Qajar Iran during the late 19th and early 20th century and founder of islamist S ...
and
Abol-Ghasem Kashani
Sayyed Abol-Ghasem Mostafavi-Kashani ( fa, سید ابوالقاسم کاشانی ''Abu’l-Qāsem Kāšāni''; 19 November 1882 – 13 March 1962) was an Iranian politician and Shia Marja.
Early life
His father, Ayatollah Hajj Seyyed Mostafa ...
. Khomeini saw Fazlollah Nuri as a "heroic figure", and his own objections to constitutionalism and a secular government derived from Nuri's objections to the 1907 constitution.
Early political activity
Background
![Ruhollah Khomeini speaking to his followers against capitulation day 1964](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Ruhollah_Khomeini_speaking_to_his_followers_against_capitulation_day_1964.jpg)
Most Iranians had a deep respect for the Shi'a clergy or
Ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
, and tended to be religious, traditional, and alienated from the process of
Westernization
Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economi ...
pursued by the Shah. In the late 19th century the clergy had shown themselves to be a powerful political force in Iran initiating the
Tobacco Protest
The Persian Tobacco Protest (Persian: نهضت تنباکو ''nehzat-e tanbāku'') was a Shia Muslim revolt in Iran against an 1890 tobacco concession granted by Nasir al-Din Shah of Persia to the United Kingdom, granting British control over gr ...
against a concession to a foreign (British) interest.
At the age of 61, Khomeini found the arena of leadership open following the deaths of Ayatollah Sayyed Husayn Borujerdi (1961), the leading, although quiescent,
Shi'ah
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...
religious leader; and
Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani (1962), an activist cleric. The clerical class had been on the defensive ever since the 1920s when the secular, anti-clerical modernizer
Reza Shah Pahlavi
,
, spouse = Maryam Savadkoohi Tadj ol-Molouk Ayromlu (queen consort)Turan AmirsoleimaniEsmat Dowlatshahi
, issue = Princess Hamdamsaltaneh Princess ShamsMohammad Reza Shah Princess Ashraf Prince Ali Reza Prince Gholam Reza Prin ...
rose to power. Reza's son
Mohammad Reza Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ( fa, محمدرضا پهلوی, ; 26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980), also known as Mohammad Reza Shah (), was the last ''Shah'' (King) of the Imperial State of Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow in the Irani ...
, instituted a "
White Revolution
The White Revolution ( fa, انقلاب سفید ''Enqelāb-e Sefid'') or the Shah and People Revolution ( fa, انقلاب شاه و مردم ''Enqelāb-e Shāh o Mardom'') was a far-reaching series of reforms resulting in aggressive moderniz ...
", which was a further challenge to the Ulama.
Opposition to the White Revolution
In January 1963, the Shah announced the "
White Revolution
The White Revolution ( fa, انقلاب سفید ''Enqelāb-e Sefid'') or the Shah and People Revolution ( fa, انقلاب شاه و مردم ''Enqelāb-e Shāh o Mardom'') was a far-reaching series of reforms resulting in aggressive moderniz ...
", a six-point programme of reform calling for
land reform
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...
,
nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to
enfranchise
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
women and allow non-Muslims to hold office,
profit-sharing
Profit sharing is various incentive plans introduced by businesses that provide direct or indirect payments to employees that depend on company's profitability in addition to employees' regular salary and bonuses. In publicly traded companies th ...
in industry, and a literacy campaign in the nation's schools. Some of these initiatives were regarded as dangerous, especially by the powerful and privileged Shi'a
ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
(religious scholars), and as Westernizing trends by traditionalists. Khomeini viewed them as "an attack on Islam". Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution. On 22 January 1963, Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing both
the Shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
and his reform plan. Two days later, the Shah took an armored column to Qom, and delivered a speech harshly attacking the
ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
as a class.
Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programmes, issuing a manifesto that bore the signatures of eight other senior
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
religious scholars. Khomeini's manifesto argued that the Shah had violated the constitution in various ways, he condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of submission to the United States and Israel. He also decreed that the
Nowruz
Nowruz ( fa, نوروز, ; ), zh, 诺鲁孜节, ug, نەۋروز, ka, ნოვრუზ, ku, Newroz, he, נורוז, kk, Наурыз, ky, Нооруз, mn, Наурыз, ur, نوروز, tg, Наврӯз, tr, Nevruz, tk, Nowruz, ...
celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (which fell on 21 March 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies.
![June 3, 1963 speech by Ruhollah Khomeini- Feyziyeh School, Qom (5)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/June_3%2C_1963_speech_by_Ruhollah_Khomeini-_Feyziyeh_School%2C_Qom_%285%29.jpg)
On the afternoon of 'Ashura (3 June 1963), Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feyziyeh
madrasah
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
drawing parallels between the Sunni Muslim caliph
Yazid, who is perceived as a 'tyrant' by Shias, and the Shah, denouncing the Shah as a "wretched, miserable man," and warning him that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country.
On 5 June 1963 (15 of
Khordad
Khordad ( fa, خرداد, ) is the third month of the Solar Hijri calendar. Khordad has thirty-one days. It begins in May and ends in June by the Gregorian calendar. Khordad is the third month of the spring season ( Bahar). It is followed by Tir ...
) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran.
Following this action, there were three days of major riots throughout Iran and the deaths of some 400 people. That event is now referred to as the
Movement of 15 Khordad
The demonstrations of June 5 and 6, also called the events of June 1963 or (using the Iranian calendar) the 15 Khordad uprising ( fa, تظاهرات پانزده خرداد), were protests in Iran against the arrest of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomein ...
. Khomeini remained under house arrest until August.
Opposition to capitulation
![خمینی در نماز](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/%D8%AE%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%8C_%D8%AF%D8%B1_%D9%86%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B2.JPG)
On 26 October 1964, Khomeini denounced both the Shah and the United States. This time it was in response to the "capitulations" or diplomatic immunity granted by the Shah to American military personnel in Iran.
[Khomeini's speech against capitalism](_blank)
IRIB World Service.[Shirley, ''Know Thine Enemy'' (1997), p. 207.] What Khomeini labeled a capitulation law, was in fact a "
status-of-forces agreement", stipulating that U.S. servicemen facing criminal charges stemming from a deployment in Iran, were to be tried before a U.S. court martial, not an Iranian court. Khomeini was arrested in November 1964 and held for half a year. Upon his release, Khomeini was brought before Prime Minister
Hassan Ali Mansur
Hasan Ali Mansur ( fa, حسن علی منصور; 13 April 1923 – 26 January 1965) was an Iranian politician who served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1965. He served during the White Revolution of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and was a ...
, who tried to convince him to apologize for his harsh rhetoric and going forward, cease his opposition to the Shah and his government. When Khomeini refused, Mansur slapped him in the face in a fit of rage. Two months later, Mansur was assassinated on his way to parliament. Four members of the
Fadayan-e Islam
Fadā'iyān-e Islam ( fa, فدائیان اسلام, also spelled as ''Fadayan-e Islam'' or in English "Fedayeen of Islam" or "Devotees of Islam" or literally "Self-Sacrificers of Islam") is a Shia fundamentalist group in Iran with a strong activi ...
, a Shia militia sympathetic to Khomeini, were later executed for the murder.
Life in exile
![خمینی در ترکیه](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/%D8%AE%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%8C_%D8%AF%D8%B1_%D8%AA%D8%B1%DA%A9%DB%8C%D9%87.JPG)
Khomeini spent more than 14 years in exile, mostly in the holy
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
i city of
Najaf
Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
. Initially, he was sent to Turkey on 4 November 1964 where he stayed in
Bursa
( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...
in the home of Colonel Ali Cetiner of the
Turkish Military Intelligence. In October 1965, after less than a year, he was allowed to move to Najaf, Iraq, where he stayed until 1978, when he was expelled by then-Vice President
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
. By this time discontent with the Shah was becoming intense and Khomeini visited
Neauphle-le-Château
Neauphle-le-Château () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.
History
Neauphle-le-Château gained international fame in 1978 when, on October 8, Iranian Islamic leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Kh ...
, a suburb of
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, France, on a
tourist visa on 6 October 1978.
![خمینی در عراق](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/%D8%AE%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%8C_%D8%AF%D8%B1_%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82.jpg)
By the late 1960s, Khomeini was a
marja-e taqlid (model for imitation) for "hundreds of thousands" of Shia, one of six or so models in the Shia world. While in the 1940s Khomeini accepted the idea of a limited monarchy under the
Persian Constitution of 1906
The Persian Constitution of 1906 ( fa, قانون اساسی مشروطه, Qanun-e Asasi-ye Mishirutâh), was the first constitution of the Sublime State of Persia (Qajar Iran), resulting from the Persian Constitutional Revolution and it was w ...
– as evidenced by his book ''Kashf al-Asrar'' – by the 1970s he had rejected the idea. In early 1970, Khomeini gave a series of lectures in Najaf on Islamic government, later published as a book titled variously ''Islamic Government'' or ''
Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist'' (''Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih'').
This was his best known and most influential work, and laid out his ideas on governance (at that time):
* That the laws of society should be made up only of the laws of God (''
Sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
''), which cover "all human affairs" and "provide instruction and establish norms" for every "topic" in "human life."
* Since ''Shariah'', or Islamic law, is the proper law, those holding government posts should have knowledge of ''Sharia.'' Since Islamic jurists or faqih have studied and are the most knowledgeable in ''Sharia'', the country's ruler should be a ''
faqih'' who "surpasses all others in knowledge" of Islamic law and justice, (known as a
marja'
Marji ( ar, مرجع, transliteration: ''marjiʿ''; plural: ''marājiʿ''), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority giv ...
), as well as having intelligence and administrative ability. Rule by monarchs and/or assemblies of "those claiming to be representatives of the majority of the people" (i.e. elected parliaments and legislatures) has been proclaimed "wrong" by Islam.
* This system of clerical rule is necessary to prevent injustice, corruption, oppression by the powerful over the poor and weak, innovation and deviation of Islam and Sharia law; and also to destroy anti-Islamic influence and conspiracies by non-Muslim foreign powers.
![Roollah-khomeini](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Roollah-khomeini.jpg)
A modified form of this ''
wilayat al-faqih ''Vilayat-e Faqih'' ( fa, ولایت فقیه, also ''velāyat-e faqīh''), is Persian for guardianship of Faqīh (an Islamic jurist)
*For the doctrine, see the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist
*For the ''Vilayat-e Faqih'' (''Guardianship of ...
'' system was adopted after Khomeini and his followers took power, and Khomeini was the Islamic Republic's first "Guardian" or "
Supreme Leader". In the meantime, however, Khomeini was careful not to publicize his ideas for clerical rule outside of his Islamic network of opposition to the Shah which he worked to build and strengthen over the next decade. In Iran, a number of actions of the Shah including his repression of opponents began to build opposition to his regime.
![Imam in Paris](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Imam_in_Paris.jpg)
Cassette copies of his lectures fiercely denouncing the Shah as (for example) "the Jewish agent, the American serpent whose head must be smashed with a stone", became common items in the markets of Iran, helping to demythologize the power and dignity of the Shah and his reign. Aware of the importance of broadening his base, Khomeini reached out to Islamic reformist and secular enemies of the Shah, despite his long-term ideological incompatibility with them.
![عکسی از خمینی](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/%D8%B9%DA%A9%D8%B3%DB%8C_%D8%A7%D8%B2_%D8%AE%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%8C.JPG)
After the 1977 death of
Ali Shariati
Ali Shariati Mazinani ( fa, علی شریعتی مزینانی, 23 November 1933 – 18 June 1977) was an Iranian revolutionary and sociologist who focused on the sociology of religion. He is held as one of the most influential Iranian intell ...
(an Islamic reformist and political revolutionary author/academic/philosopher who greatly assisted the
Islamic revival
Islamic revival ( ar, تجديد'' '', lit., "regeneration, renewal"; also ', "Islamic awakening") refers to a revival of the Islamic religion. The revivers are known in Islam as ''mujaddids''.
Within the Islamic tradition, ''tajdid'' has bee ...
among young educated Iranians), Khomeini became the most influential leader of the opposition to the Shah. Adding to his mystique was the circulation among Iranians in the 1970s of an old Shia saying attributed to the Imam Musa al-Kadhem. Prior to his death in 799, al-Kadhem was said to have prophesied that "A man will come out from Qom and he will summon people to the right path". In late 1978, a rumour swept the country that Khomeini's face could be seen in the full moon. Millions of people were said to have seen it and the event was celebrated in thousands of mosques. He was perceived by many Iranians as the spiritual as well as political leader of the revolt. Additionally, the episode with Khomeini's face in the moon showed that in late 1978 he was increasingly regarded as a messianic figure in Iran.
As protests grew, so did his profile and importance. Although several thousand kilometers away from Iran in Paris, Khomeini set the course of the revolution, urging Iranians not to compromise and ordering work stoppages against the regime. During the last few months of his exile, Khomeini received a constant stream of reporters, supporters, and notables, eager to hear the spiritual leader of the revolution.
While in exile, Khomeini developed what historian
Ervand Abrahamian
Ervand Abrahamian; hy, Երուանդ Աբրահամեան (born 1940) is an Iranian-American historian of the Middle East. He is Distinguished Professor of History at Baruch College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, Graduate Center of the City Un ...
described as a "populist clerical version of Shii Islam". Khomeini modified previous Shii interpretations of Islam in a number of ways that included aggressive approaches to espousing the general interests of the mostazafin, forcefully arguing that the clergy's sacred duty was to take over the state so that it could implement shari'a, and exhorting followers to protest.
Despite their ideological differences, Khomeini also allied with the
People's Mujahedin of Iran
The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) ( fa, سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران, sâzmân-e mojâhedīn-e khalq-e īrân), is an Iranian pol ...
during the early 1970s and started funding their armed operations against the Shah.
Khomeini's contact with the US
According to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, Khomeini's contact with the US "is part of a trove of newly declassified US government documents—diplomatic cables, policy memos, meeting records". The documents suggest that the Carter administration helped Khomeini return to Iran by preventing the Iranian army from launching a military coup, and that Khomeini told an American in France to convey a message to Washington that "There should be no fear about oil. It is not true that we wouldn't sell to the US."
According to a 1980 CIA study, "in November 1963 Ayatollah Khomeini sent a message to the United States Government through
ehran University professorHaj Mirza Khalil Kamarei", where he expressed "that he was not opposed to American interests in Iran", "on the contrary, he thought the American presence was necessary as a counterbalance to Soviet and possibly British influence".
Supreme leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei
Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنهای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...
denied the report, and described the documents as "fabricated". Other Iranian politicians including
Ebrahim Yazdi
Ebrahim Yazdi ( fa, ابراهیم یزدی; 26 September 1931 – 27 August 2017) was an Iranian politician, pharmacist, and diplomat who served as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in the interim government of Mehdi Bazarga ...
(Khomeini's spokesman and adviser at the time of the revolution) have questioned the BBC's documents.
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
wrote that it "did not have access to the newly declassified documents and was not able to independently verify them," however it did confirm Khomeini's contact with the Kennedy administration and support for US interest in Iran particularly oil through a CIA analysis report titled "Islam in Iran".
According to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, "these document show that in his long quest for power, he
homeini Khomeini is an Iranian name, derived from the Iranian city of Khomein. The most prominent Khomeini is Ruhollah Khomeini.
Notable people named Khomeini include:
* Ruhollah Khomeini, former Supreme Leader of Iran
*Ahmad Khomeini, son of Ruhollah Kh ...
was tactically flexible; he played the moderate even pro-American card to take control but once change had come he put in place an anti-America legacy that would last for decades."
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Return to Iran
![Imam Khomeini in Mehrabad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Imam_Khomeini_in_Mehrabad.jpg)
Khomeini was not allowed to return to Iran during the Shah's reign (as he had been in exile). On 16 January 1979, the Shah left the country for medical treatment (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return.
Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated (by the BBC) to be of up to five million people.
On his chartered
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
flight back to
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
, he was accompanied by 120 journalists,
including three women.
One of the journalists,
Peter Jennings
Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings (July 29, 1938August 7, 2005) was a Canadian-born American television journalist who served as the sole anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 2005. He dropped o ...
, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?"
Khomeini answered via his aide
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh ( fa, صادق قطبزاده, 24 February 1936 – 15 September 1982) was an Iranian politician who served as a close aide of Ayatollah Khomeini during his 1978 exile in France, and foreign minister (30 November 1979 – ...
: "''Hichi''" (Nothing).
This statement—much discussed at the time and since
—was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego. Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment. To others, it was a reflection of an unfeeling leader incapable or unconcerned with understanding the thoughts, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace.
![Mehdi Bazargan Ayatollah Khomeini](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Mehdi_Bazargan_Ayatollah_Khomeini.jpg)
Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of
Shapour Bakhtiar
Shapour Bakhtiar ( fa, شاپور بختیار, ; 26 June 19146 August 1991) was an Iranian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Iran under the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. In the words of historian Abbas Milani: "more than once in ...
, promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government." On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister,
Mehdi Bazargan
Mehdi Bazargan ( fa, مهدی بازرگان; 1 September 1907 – 20 January 1995) was an Iranian scholar, academic, long-time pro-democracy activist and head of Iran's interim government. He was appointed prime minister in February 1979 by Ay ...
, demanding, "since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed." It was "God's government," he warned, disobedience against him or Bazargan was considered a "revolt against God."
During his time as a student and teacher, Khomeini had developed an "unorthodox personal philosophy" that drew from an obscure interpretation of Shia Islam which proposed that all power should derive from "a divinely appointed religious leader." Khomeini had first promised Iranians a new era where freedom of expression and the nation’s oil wealth would be used for the benefit of the Iranian people, but once in Tehran, he implemented a radical Islamic agenda that went at odds with the desire of most of the Iranian public. Khomeini told Revolutionary Council that the new government would be "a government based on the Sharia", and that opposing this new government would mean also opposing the Sharia of Islam, and that "Revolt against God’s government is a revolt against God, and revolt against God is Blasphemy".
As Khomeini's movement gained momentum, soldiers began to defect to his side and Khomeini declared ill fortune on troops who did not surrender. On 11 February, as revolt spread and armories were taken over, the military declared neutrality and the Bakhtiar regime collapsed. On 30 and 31 March 1979, a referendum to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic passed with 98% voting in favour of the replacement,
[Encyclopædia Britannica](_blank)
with the question: "should the monarchy be abolished in favour of an Islamic Government?"
Islamic constitution
While in Paris, Khomeini had "promised a democratic political system" for Iran, but once in power, he advocated for the creation of theocracy based on the ''Velayat-e faqih''. This led to the purge or replacement of many secular politicians in Iran, with Khomeini and his close associates taking the following steps: Establishing Islamic Revolutionary courts; replacing the previous military and police force; placing Iran's top theologians and Islamic intellectuals in charge of writing a theocratic constitutions, with a central role for ''Velayat-e faqih''; creating the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) through Khomeini's ''Motjaheds'' with the aim of establishing a theocratic government and tearing down any secular opposition ("as Khomeini's competitors in the religious hierarchy"); replacing all secular laws with Islamic laws; neutralising or punishing top theologians that had conflicting ideas with Khomeini including
Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari
Sayyid Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari ( fa, محمد کاظم شریعتمداری), also spelled Shariat-Madari (5 January 1906 – 3 April 1986), was an Iranian Grand Ayatollah. He favoured the traditional Shiite practice of keeping clerics away ...
,
Hassan Tabatabaei Qomi
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Hassan Tabatabaei Qomi ( ar, حسن الطباطبايي القمي; fa, ; 1912–2007) was a prominent Shia marja' who was born in Najaf. He was known as Seyyed Hassan Qomi. Seyyed Hassan was inhabitant in Mashhad, and wa ...
, and
Hossein Ali Montazeri
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri ( fa, حسینعلی منتظری ; 24 September 1922 – 19 December 2009) was an Iranian Shia Islamic theologian, Islamic democracy advocate, writer and human rights activist. He was one of the leade ...
.
Opposition groups claimed that Khomeini's provisional constitution for the Islamic Republic did not first include the post of supreme Islamic clerical ruler. The Islamic government was defined by Khomeini in his book ''
Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih'' (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist) which was published while Khomeini was in exile in 1970, smuggled into Iran, and distributed to Khomeini's supporters. This book included Khomeini's notion of ''wilayat al-faqih'' (Governance of the Jurist) as well as the reasoning and in his view, the necessity of it in running an Islamic state.
![خمینی و مردم](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/%D8%AE%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%8C_%D9%88_%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%85.JPG)
Khomeini and his supporters worked to suppress some former allies and rewrote the proposed constitution. Some newspapers were closed, and those protesting the closings were attacked. Opposition groups such as the National Democratic Front and Muslim People's Republican Party were attacked and finally banned. Through popular support, Khomeini supporters gained an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Assembly of Experts which revised the proposed constitution. The newly proposed constitution included an Islamic jurist
Supreme Leader of the country, and a
Council of Guardians
The Guardian Council, (also called Council of Guardians or Constitutional Council, fa, شورای نگهبان, Shourā-ye Negahbān) is an appointed and constitutionally mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence i ...
to veto un-Islamic legislation and screen candidates for office, disqualifying those found un-Islamic.
In November 1979, the new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted by national referendum. Khomeini himself became instituted as the
Supreme Leader (Guardian Jurist), and officially became known as the "Leader of the Revolution." On 4 February 1980,
Abolhassan Banisadr
Seyyed Abolhassan Banisadr ( fa, سید ابوالحسن بنیصدر; 22 March 1933 – 9 October 2021) was an Iranian politician, writer, and political dissident. He was the first president of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution abolis ...
was elected as the first president of Iran. Critics complain that Khomeini had gone back on his word to advise, rather than rule the country.
Hostage crisis
On 22 October 1979, the United States admitted the exiled and ailing Shah into the country for cancer treatment. In Iran, there was an immediate outcry, with both Khomeini and leftist groups demanding the Shah's return to Iran for trial and execution.
On 4 November, a group of Iranian college students calling themselves the
Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line
The Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line ( fa, دانشجویان مسلمان پیرو خط امام ''Dânešjuyân-e Mosalmân-e peyrov-e Xatt-e Emâm''), also called the Muslim Students of the Imam Khomeini Line, was an Iranian student g ...
, took control of the American Embassy in Tehran, holding 52 embassy staff hostage for 444 days – an event known as the
Iran hostage crisis
On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over t ...
. In the United States, the hostage-taking was seen as a flagrant violation of international law and aroused intense anger and
anti-Iranian sentiment
Anti-Iranian sentiment, also known as Anti-Persian sentiment, Persophobia, or Iranophobia,Ram, H. (2009): ''Iranophobia: The Logic of an Israeli Obsession'', Stanford University Press, is feelings and expression of hostility, hatred, discriminati ...
s.
In Iran, the takeover was immensely popular and earned the support of Khomeini under the slogan "
America can't do a damn thing against us." The seizure of the embassy of a country he called the "
Great Satan
The Great Satan ( fa, شيطان بزرگ; ''Shaytân-e Bozorg'') is a demonizing epithet for the United States of America in Iranian foreign policy statements. Occasionally, these words have also been used toward the government of the United ...
"
helped to advance the cause of theocratic government and outflank politicians and groups who emphasized stability and normalized relations with other countries. Khomeini is reported to have told his president: "This action has many benefits ... this has united our people. Our opponents do not dare act against us. We can put the constitution to the people's vote without difficulty, and carry out presidential and parliamentary elections."
[Moin, ''Khomeini'', (2000), p.228] The new constitution was successfully passed by referendum a month after the hostage crisis began.
The crisis had the effect of splitting of the opposition into two groups – radicals supporting the hostage taking, and the moderates opposing it.
On 23 February 1980, Khomeini proclaimed Iran's
Majlis
( ar, المجلس, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning "sitting room", used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural conne ...
would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages, and demanded that the United States hand over the Shah for trial in Iran for crimes against the nation. Although the Shah died a few months later, during the summer, the crisis continued. In Iran, supporters of Khomeini named the embassy a "
Den of Espionage", publicizing details regarding armaments, espionage equipment and many volumes of official and classified documents which they found there.
Relationship with Islamic and non-aligned countries
![Carpet given to Id Kah mosque by Ayatollah Khomeini](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Carpet_given_to_Id_Kah_mosque_by_Ayatollah_Khomeini.jpg)
Khomeini believed in Muslim unity and solidarity and the export of his revolution throughout the world. He believed Shia and (the significantly more numerous) Sunni Muslims should be "united and stand firmly against Western and arrogant powers."
"Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution." He declared the birth week of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
(the week between 12th to 17th of
Rabi' al-awwal) as the ''Unity week''. Then he declared the last Friday of
Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
as
Quds Day
Quds Day (), officially known as International Quds Day ( fa, روز جهانی قدس, Ruz Jahâni Quds), is an annual Palestinian nationalism, pro-Palestinian event held on the Friday prayer, last Friday of the Islam, Islamic holy month of Ra ...
in 1981.
Iran–Iraq War
![KhomeiniRajai32](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/KhomeiniRajai32.jpg)
Shortly after assuming power, Khomeini began calling for Islamic revolutions across the
Muslim world
The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...
, including Iran's Arab neighbor Iraq, the one large state besides Iran with a Shia majority population. At the same time
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
, Iraq's secular Arab nationalist
Ba'athist
Ba'athism, also stylized as Baathism, (; ar, البعثية ' , from ' , meaning "renaissance" or "resurrection"Hans Wehr''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (4th ed.), page 80) is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation a ...
leader, was eager to take advantage of Iran's weakened military and (what he assumed was) revolutionary chaos, and in particular to occupy Iran's adjacent oil-rich province of
Khuzestan
Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...
, and to undermine Iranian Islamic revolutionary attempts to incite the Shi'a majority of his country.
In September 1980, Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran, beginning the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
(September 1980 – August 1988). A combination of fierce resistance by Iranians and military incompetence by Iraqi forces soon stalled the Iraqi advance and, despite Saddam's internationally condemned use of poison gas, Iran had by early 1982 regained almost all of the territory lost to the invasion. The invasion rallied Iranians behind the new regime, enhancing Khomeini's stature and allowing him to consolidate and stabilize his leadership. After this reversal, Khomeini refused an Iraqi offer of a truce, instead demanding reparations and the toppling of
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
from power. In 1982, there was an attempted military coup against Khomeini.
The Iran–Iraq War ended in 1988, with 320,000–720,000 Iranian soldiers and militia killed.
Although Iran's population and economy were three times the size of Iraq's, the latter was aided by neighboring Persian Gulf Arab states, as well as the Soviet Bloc and Western countries. The Persian Gulf Arabs and the West wanted to be sure the Islamic revolution did not spread across the Persian Gulf, while the Soviet Union was concerned about the potential threat posed to its rule in central Asia to the north. However, Iran had large amounts of ammunition provided by the United States of America during the Shah's era and the United States illegally smuggled arms to Iran during the 1980s despite Khomeini's anti-Western policy (see
Iran–Contra affair
The Iran–Contra affair ( fa, ماجرای ایران-کنترا, es, Caso Irán–Contra), often referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the McFarlane affair (in Iran), or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States ...
).
During war Iranians used human wave attacks (people walking to certain death including child soldiers)
on Iraq, with his promise that they would automatically go to paradise—al Janna— if they died in battle,
and his pursuit of victory in the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
that ultimately proved futile.
By March 1984, two million of Iran's most educated citizens had left the country This included an estimated one and a half million that had fled Iran, victims of political executions, and the hundreds of thousands of "martyrs" from Khomeini's bloody "human wave " attacks on Iraq.
In July 1988, Khomeini, in his words, "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
. Despite the high cost of the war – 450,000 to 950,000 Iranian casualties and US$300 billion – Khomeini insisted that extending the war into Iraq in an attempt to overthrow Saddam had not been a mistake. In a "Letter to Clergy" he wrote: "... we do not repent, nor are we sorry for even a single moment for our performance during the war. Have we forgotten that we fought to fulfill our religious duty and that the result is a marginal issue?"
Fatwa against chemical weapons
In an interview with
Gareth Porter
Gareth Porter (born June 18, 1942) is an American historian, investigative journalist, author and policy analyst specializing in U.S. national security issues. He was an anti-war activist during the Vietnam War and has written about the potentia ...
,
Mohsen Rafighdoost
Mohsen Rafighdoust (also Rafiqdoust, fa, محسن رفیقدوست) is an Iranian Revolutionary Guards military officer and conservative politician. He is a member of the Islamic Coalition Party.
Early life
Rafighdoost was born around 1940 in so ...
, the eight-year war time minister of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
, disclosed how
Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...
had opposed his proposal for beginning work on both nuclear and chemical weapons by a fatwa which had never been made public in details of when and how it was issued.
Rushdie fatwa
In early 1989, Khomeini issued a
fatwa
A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...
calling for the assassination of
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
, an India-born British author. Rushdie's book, ''
The Satanic Verses
''The Satanic Verses'' is the fourth novel of British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie. First published in September 1988, the book was inspired by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism ...
'', published in 1988, was alleged to commit
blasphemy
Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...
against Islam and Khomeini's juristic ruling (fatwā) prescribed Rushdie's assassination by any Muslim. The fatwā required not only Rushdie's execution, but also the execution of "all those involved in the publication" of the book.
Khomeini's fatwā was condemned across the Western world by governments on the grounds that it violated the universal human rights of
free speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been ...
and
freedom of religion
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
. The fatwā has also been attacked for violating the rules of
fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
by not allowing the accused an opportunity to defend himself, and because "even the most rigorous and extreme of the classical jurist only require a Muslim to kill anyone who insults the Prophet in his hearing and in his presence."
Though Rushdie publicly regretted "the distress that publication has occasioned to sincere followers of Islam",
the fatwa was not revoked.
The fatwa was followed by a number of deaths, including the lethal stabbing of
Hitoshi Igarashi
was a Japanese scholar of Arabic and Persian literature and history and the Japanese translator of Salman Rushdie's novel ''The Satanic Verses''. He was murdered in the wake of fatwas issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran – who, by th ...
, the Japanese translator of the book, in 1991. Rushdie himself and two other translators of the book survived murder attempts, the last – in Rushdie's case – in August 2022. The controversy, and subsequent unrest associated with the fatwa has been linked to surges in sales for Rushdie's work.
Life under Khomeini
In a speech on 1 February 1979 delivered to a huge crowd after returning to Iran from exile, Khomeini made a variety of promises to Iranians for his coming Islamic regime: a popularly elected government that would represent the people of Iran and with which the clergy would not interfere. He promised that "no one should remain homeless in this country," and that Iranians would have free telephone, heating, electricity, bus services and free oil at their doorstep.
Under Khomeini's rule,
Sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
(Islamic law) was introduced, with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women by
Islamic Revolutionary Guards
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
and other Islamic groups. Women were required to cover their hair, and men were forbidden to wear shorts. Alcoholic drinks, most Western movies, and the practice of men and women swimming or sunbathing together were banned.
["Khomeini bans broadcast music", ''The New York Times'', 24 July 1979] The Iranian educational curriculum was Islamized at all levels with the
Islamic Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution (1980–1983; fa, انقلاب فرهنگی: Enqelābe Farhangi) was a period following the Iranian Revolution, when the academia of Iran was purged of Western and non-Islamic influences (including traditionalist unpoli ...
; the "
Committee for Islamization of Universities" carried this out thoroughly. The broadcasting of any music other than martial or religious on Iranian radio and television was banned by Khomeini in July 1979.
The ban lasted 10 years (approximately the rest of his life).
According to Janet Afari, "the newly established regime of Ayatollah Khomeini moved quickly to repress feminists, ethnic and religious minorities, liberals, and leftists – all in the name of Islam."
Women and child rights
Khomeini took on extensive and proactive support of the female populace during the ouster of Shah and his subsequent homecoming, advocating for mainstreaming of women into all spheres of life and even hypothesizing about a woman head of state.
However, once he returned, his stances on women's rights exhibited drastic changes.
Khomeini revoked
Iran's 1967 divorce law, considering any divorce granted under this law to be invalid.
Nevertheless, Khomeini supported women's right to divorce as allowed by Islamic law. Khomeini reaffirmed the traditional position of
rape in Islamic law
In Islam, human sexuality is governed by Islamic law ( Sharia). Accordingly, sexual violation is regarded as a violation of moral and divine law. Islam divides claims of sexual violation into 'divine rights' (''huquq Allah'') and 'interpersonal ri ...
in which
rape by a spouse was not equivalent to rape or zina, declaring "a woman must surrender to her husband for any pleasure".
A mere three weeks after assuming power, under the pretext of reversing the Shah's affinity for westernization and backed by a vocal conservative section of Iranian society, he revoked the divorce law.
Under Khomeini the minimum age of marriage was lowered to 15 for boys and 13 for girls;
nevertheless, the average age of women at marriage continued to increase.
Laws were passed that encouraged polygamy, made it impossible for women to divorce men, and treated adultery as the highest form of criminal offense.
Women were compelled to wear veils and the image of Western women was carefully reconstructed as a symbol of impiety.
Morality and modesty were perceived as fundamental womanly traits that needed state protection, and concepts of individual gender rights were relegated to women's social rights as ordained in Islam.
Fatima
Fāṭima bint Muḥammad ( ar, فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد}, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, th ...
was widely presented as the ideal emulatable woman.
At the same time, amidst the religious orthodoxy, there was an active effort to rehabilitate women into employment. Female participation in healthcare, education and the workforce increased drastically during his regime.
Reception among women of his regime has been mixed. Whilst a section were dismayed at the increasing Islamisation and concurrent degradation of women's rights, others did notice more opportunities and mainstreaming of relatively religiously conservative women.
LGBTQ rights
Shortly after his accession as supreme leader in February 1979, Khomeini imposed capital punishment on
homosexuals
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
. Between February and March, sixteen Iranians were executed due to offenses related to sexual violations. Khomeini also created the "Revolutionary Tribunals". According to historian
Ervand Abrahamian
Ervand Abrahamian; hy, Երուանդ Աբրահամեան (born 1940) is an Iranian-American historian of the Middle East. He is Distinguished Professor of History at Baruch College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, Graduate Center of the City Un ...
, Khomeini encouraged the clerical courts to continue implementing their version of the Shari'a. As part of the campaign to "cleanse" the society, these courts executed over 100 drug addicts, prostitutes, homosexuals, rapists, and adulterers on the charge of "sowing corruption on earth." According to author Arno Schmitt, "Khomeini asserted that 'homosexuals' had to be exterminated because they were parasites and corruptors of the nation by spreading the 'stain of wickedness.'" In 1979, he had declared that the execution of homosexuals (as well as prostitutes and adulterers) was reasonable in a moral civilization in the same sense as cutting off decayed skin.
Being
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
, however, was designated by Khomeini as a sickness that was able to be cured through gender-affirming surgery. Since the mid-1980s, the Iranian government has legalized the practice of sex reassignment surgery (under medical approval) and the modification of pertinent legal documents to reflect the reassigned gender. In 1983, Khomeini passed a fatwa allowing gender reassignment operations as a cure for "diagnosed transsexuals", allowing for the basis of this practice becoming legal.
Emigration and economy
Khomeini is said to have stressed "the spiritual over the material".
Six months after his first speech he expressed exasperation with complaints about the sharp drop in Iran's standard of living, saying that: "I cannot believe that the purpose of all these sacrifices was to have less expensive melons." On another occasion emphasizing the importance of martyrdom over material prosperity, he said: "Could anyone wish his child to be martyred to obtain a good house? This is not the issue. The issue is another world." He also reportedly answered a question about his economic policies by declaring that 'economics is for donkeys'.
[The original quote which is part of a speech made in 1979 can be foun]
here
I cannot imagine and no wise person can presume the claim that we spared our bloods so watermelon becomes cheaper. No wise person would sacrifice his young offspring for ayaffordable housing. People n the contrarywant everything for their young offspring. Human being wants economy for his own self; it would therefore be unwise for him to spare his life in order to improve economy ..Those who keep bringing up economy and find economy the infrastructure of everything -not knowing what human tymeans- think of human being as an animal who is defined by means of food and clothes ..Those who find economy the infrastructure of everything, find human beings animals. Animal too sacrifices everything for its economy and economy is its sole infrastructure. A donkey too considers economy as its only infrastructure. These people did not realize what human being rulyis.
This disinterest in economic policy is said to be "one factor explaining the inchoate performance of the Iranian economy since the revolution."
Other factors include the long war with Iraq, the cost of which led to government debt and inflation, eroding personal incomes, and unprecedented unemployment, ideological disagreement over the economy, and "international pressure and isolation" such as
US sanctions
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
following the hostage crisis.
Due to the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
, poverty is said to have risen by nearly 45% during the first 6 years of Khomeini's rule. Emigration from Iran also developed, reportedly for the first time in the country's history. Since the revolution and war with Iraq, an estimated "two to four million entrepreneurs, professionals, technicians, and skilled craftspeople (and their capital)" have emigrated to other countries.
Suppression of opposition
In a talk at the Fayzieah School in Qom on 30 August 1979, Khomeini warned pro-imperialist opponents: "Those who are trying to bring corruption and destruction to our country in the name of democracy will be oppressed. They are worse than
Bani-Ghorizeh Jews, and they must be hanged. We will oppress them by God's order and God's call to prayer."
However, in 1983, the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA) helped him by providing a list of Soviet
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
agents and collaborators operating in Iran to Khomeini, who then executed up to 200 suspects and closed down the Communist
Tudeh Party of Iran
The Tudeh Party of Iran ( fa-at, حزب تودۀ ایران, Ḥezb-e Tūde-ye Īrān, lit=Party of the Masses of Iran) is an Iranian communist party. Formed in 1941, with Soleiman Mirza Eskandari as its head, it had considerable influence in i ...
.
The Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
, title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran
, image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg
, caption = Shah in 1973
, succession = Shah of Iran
, reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979
, coronation = 26 October ...
and his family left Iran and escaped harm, but hundreds of former members of the overthrown monarchy and military met their ends in firing squads, with exiled critics complaining of "secrecy, vagueness of the charges, the absence of defense lawyers or juries", or the opportunity of the accused "to defend themselves." In later years these were followed in larger numbers by the erstwhile revolutionary allies of Khomeini's movement—Marxists and socialists, mostly university students—who opposed the theocratic regime. From 1980 to 1981, the
People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran
The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) ( fa, سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران, sâzmân-e mojâhedīn-e khalq-e īrân), is an Iranian pol ...
and other opposition groups (including leftist and moderate groups) rallied against the takeover of the Islamic Republic Party through large demonstrations. Acting on the orders of Khomeini, the Islamic Republic responded by shooting demonstrators, including children.
[University of Massachusetts Boston](_blank)
"Wavelength – Vol. 03, No. 04 – Spring 1982" (1982). Wavelength (1979-1984). Paper 12. The 1981
Hafte Tir bombing
On 28 June 1981 (7 Tir 1360 in the Iranian calendar; fa, هفت تیر, ), a powerful bomb went off at the headquarters of the Islamic Republican Party (IRP) in Tehran, while a meeting of party leaders was in progress. Seventy-four leading offi ...
escalated the conflict, leading to increasing arrests, torture, and executions of thousands of Iranians. Targets also included "innocent, non political civilians, such as members of the Baha’i religious minority, and others deemed problematic by the IRP."
The number of those executed between 1981 and 1985's "reign of terror" is reported to be between 8,000 and 10,000.
In the
1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners
The 1988 executions of prisoners were a series of mass executions of political prisoners across Iran. The order for the executions was given by Ayatollah Khomeini and it was carried out by Iranian officials; starting on 19 July 1988 and continu ...
, following the
People's Mujahedin of Iran
The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) ( fa, سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران, sâzmân-e mojâhedīn-e khalq-e īrân), is an Iranian pol ...
unsuccessful operation Forough-e Javidan against the Islamic Republic, Khomeini issued an order to judicial officials to judge every Iranian political prisoner (mostly but not all Mujahedin) and kill those judged to be
apostates from Islam
Apostasy in Islam ( ar, ردة, or , ) is commonly defined as the abandonment of Islam by a Muslim, in thought, word, or through deed. An apostate from Islam is referred to by using the Arabic and Islamic term ''murtād'' (). It includes ...
(''mortad'') or "waging war on God" (''
moharebeh
In Islamic law, ''hirabah'' is a legal category that comprises highway robbery (traditionally understood as aggravated robbery or grand larceny, unlike theft, which has a different punishment), rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually ...
''). Almost all of those interrogated were killed, around 30,000 of them.
Because of the large number, prisoners were loaded into
forklift
A forklift (also called lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th century by various c ...
trucks in groups of six and hanged from
cranes in half-hour intervals.
Minority religions
Zoroastrians,
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
are officially recognized and protected by the government. Shortly after
Khomeini's return
Ruhollah Khomeini’s return to Iran on 1 February 1979, after 14 years in exile, was an important event in the Iranian Revolution. It led to the collapse of the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar and the final overthrow of the Shah of ...
from exile in 1979, he issued a fatwa ordering that Jews and other minorities (except those of the
Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
) be treated well. In power, Khomeini distinguished between
Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...
as a secular political party that employs Jewish symbols and ideals and Judaism as the religion of
Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
.
Senior government posts were reserved for Muslims. Schools set up by Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians had to be run by Muslim principals. Conversion to Islam was encouraged by entitling converts to inherit the entire share of their parents (or even uncle's) estate if their siblings (or cousins) remain non-Muslim. Iran's non-Muslim population has decreased. For example, the Jewish population in Iran dropped from 80,000 to 30,000. The Zoroastrian population has also decreased, due to suffering from renewed persecution and the revived legal contrasts between a Muslim and Zoroastrian, which mirrors the laws that Zoroastrians experienced under earlier Islamic regimes. The view that Zoroastrians are ''
najis
In Islamic law, najis ( ar, نجس) means ritually unclean. According to Islam, there are two kinds of najis: the essential najis which cannot be cleaned and the unessential najis which become najis while in contact with another najis.
Contac ...
'' ("unclean") has also been renewed.
Four of the 270 seats in
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
were reserved for each three non-Muslim minority religions, under the
Islamic constitution that Khomeini oversaw. Khomeini also called for unity between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. Sunni Muslims make up 9% of the entire Muslim population in Iran.
One non-Muslim group treated differently were the 300,000 members of the
Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
. Starting in late 1979 the new government systematically targeted the leadership of the Baháʼí community by focusing on the Baháʼí
National Spiritual Assembly
Spiritual Assembly is a term given by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Baháʼí Faith. Because the Baháʼí Faith has no clergy, they carry out the affairs of the community. In addition to existing at the local level ...
(NSA) and
Local Spiritual Assemblies (LSAs); prominent members of NSAs and LSAs were often detained and even executed.
"Some 200 of whom have been executed and the rest forced to convert or subjected to the most horrendous disabilities."
Like most conservative Muslims, Khomeini believed Baháʼí to be apostates.
[For example, he issued a fatwa stating:]It is not acceptable that a tributary on-Muslim who pays tributechanges his religion to another religion not recognized by the followers of the previous religion. For example, from the Jews who become Baháʼís nothing is accepted except Islam or execution.
From Poll Tax, 8. Tributary conditions, (13), ''Tahrir al-Vasileh'', volume 2, pp. 497–507, Quoted in ''A Clarification of Questions: An Unabridged Translation of Resaleh Towzih al-Masael'' by Ayatollah Syed Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini, Westview Press/ Boulder and London, c1984, p.432 He claimed they were a political rather than a religious movement,
declaring:
Ethnic minorities
After the Shah left Iran in 1979, a
Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
delegation traveled to Qom to present the Kurds' demands to Khomeini. Their demands included language rights and the provision for a degree of political autonomy. Khomeini responded that such demands were unacceptable since it involved the division of the Iranian nation.
[Gérard Chaliand, ''A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan'', Interlink Books, 1993. (p. 212–213)] In a speech during the same year, Khomeini hinted that the new government's attitutes were to curb contrasts instead of accepting them. Khomeini is quoted saying: "Sometimes the word minorities is used to refer to people such as Kurds,
Lurs
Lurs () are an Iranian people living in the mountains of western Iran. The four Luri branches are the Bakhtiari, Mamasani, Kohgiluyeh and Lur proper, who are principally linked by the Luri language.
Lorestan Province is named after the Lu ...
,
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...
,
Persians
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
...
,
Baluchis, and such. These people should not be called minorities because this term assumes there is a difference between these brothers." The following months saw numerous clashes between Kurdish militia groups and the Revolutionary Guards.
The referendum on the Islamic Republic was massively boycotted in Kurdistan, where it was thought 85 to 90% of voters abstained. Khomeini ordered additional attacks later on in the year, and by September most of
Iranian Kurdistan
Iranian Kurdistan or Eastern Kurdistan ( ku, ڕۆژھەڵاتی کوردستان, translit=Rojhilatê Kurdistanê) is an unofficial name for the parts of northwestern Iran with either a majority or sizable population of Kurds. Geographically, it ...
was under direct martial law.
Death and funeral
![Funeral of Ruhollah Khomeini, 4 June 1989 (5)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Funeral_of_Ruhollah_Khomeini%2C_4_June_1989_%285%29.jpg)
Khomeini's health declined several years prior to his death. After spending eleven days in Jamaran hospital, Ruhollah Khomeini died on 3 June 1989 after suffering five heart attacks in just ten days,
at the age of 86 just before midnight. He was succeeded as Supreme Leader by
Ali Khamenei
Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنهای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...
. Large numbers of Iranians took to the streets to publicly mourn his death and in the scorching summer heat, fire trucks sprayed water on the crowds to cool them. At least 10 mourners were trampled to death, more than 400 were badly hurt and several thousand more were treated for injuries sustained in the ensuing pandemonium.
According to Iran's official estimates, 10.2 million people lined the route to Tehran's
Behesht-e Zahra
Behesht-e Zahra ( fa, بهشت زهرا, lit. ''The Paradise of Zahra'', from Fatima az-Zahra) is the largest cemetery in Iran. Located in the southern part of metropolitan Tehran, it is connected to the city by Tehran Metro Line 1.
History
In ...
cemetery on 11 June 1989, for the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Western agencies estimated that 2 million paid their respects as the body lay in state.
Figures about Khomeini's initial funeral attendance which took place on 4 June range around 2.5–3.5 million people. Early the following day, Khomeini's corpse was flown in by helicopter for burial at the Behesht-e Zahra. Iranian officials postponed Khomeini's first funeral after a huge mob stormed the funeral procession, destroying Khomeini's wooden coffin in order to get a last glimpse of his body or touch of his coffin. In some cases, armed soldiers were compelled to fire warning shots in the air to restrain the crowds. At one point, Khomeini's body fell to the ground, as the crowd ripped off pieces of the death shroud, trying to keep them as if they were holy relics. According to journalist James Buchan:
The second funeral was held under much tighter security five hours later. This time, Khomeini's casket was made of steel, and in accordance with Islamic tradition, the casket was only to carry the body to the burial site. In 1995, his son
Ahmad
Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet.
Etymology
The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...
was buried next to him.
Khomeini's grave is now housed within a larger mausoleum complex.
Succession
Grand Ayatollah
Hussein-Ali Montazeri
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri ( fa, حسینعلی منتظری ; 24 September 1922 – 19 December 2009) was an Iranian Shia Islamic theologian, Islamic democracy advocate, writer and human rights activist. He was one of the leade ...
, a former student of Khomeini and a major figure of the Revolution, was chosen by Khomeini to be his successor as Supreme Leader and approved as such by the
Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts ( fa, مجلس خبرگان رهبری, majles-e khobregân-e rahbari), also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme ...
in November 1985. The principle of ''
velayat-e faqih
The Guardianship or Governance/''Wilāyat'' of/by an Islamic Jurist/''Faqīh'' ( fa, , Velâyat-e Faqih; ar, وِلاَيَةُ ٱلْفَقِيهِ, Wilāyat al-Faqīh), is a concept in Twelver Shia Islamic law which holds that until the re ...
'' and the Islamic constitution called for the Supreme Leader to be a ''marja'' (a grand ayatollah), and of the dozen or so grand ayatollahs living in 1981 only Montazeri qualified as a potential Leader (this was either because only he accepted totally Khomeini's concept of rule by Islamic jurists,
[Roy, Olivier, ''The Failure of Political Islam'', translated by Carol Volk Harvard University Press, 1994, pp. 173–74. Quoted i]
The Islamic Republic Will Be Run By the Most Learned Jurist
/ref> or, as at least one other source stated, because only Montazeri had the "political credentials" Khomeini found suitable for his successor). The execution of Mehdi Hashemi
Mehdi Hashemi (1944 – 28 September 1987) was an Iranian Shi'a cleric who was defrocked by the Special Clerical Court. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, he became a senior official in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards; he was executed by the Is ...
in September 1987 on charges of counterrevolutionary activities was a blow to Ayatollah Montazeri, who knew Hashemi since their childhood. In 1989 Montazeri began to call for liberalization, freedom for political parties. Following the execution of thousands of political prisoners by the Islamic government, Montazeri told Khomeini: "Your prisons are far worse than those of the Shah and his SAVAK." After a letter of his complaints was leaked to Europe and broadcast on the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, a furious Khomeini ousted him in March 1989 from his position as official successor. His portraits were removed from offices and mosques.
To deal with the disqualification of the only suitable ''marja'', Khomeini called for an 'Assembly for Revising the Constitution' to be convened. An amendment was made to Iran's constitution removing the requirement that the Supreme Leader be a Marja and this allowed Ali Khamenei
Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنهای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...
, the new favoured jurist who had suitable revolutionary credentials but lacked scholarly ones and who was not a Grand Ayatollah, to be designated as successor. Ayatollah Khamenei was elected Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts ( fa, مجلس خبرگان رهبری, majles-e khobregân-e rahbari), also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme ...
on 4 June 1989. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Montazeri continued his criticism of the regime and in 1997 was put under house arrest for questioning what he regarded to be an unaccountable rule exercised by the supreme leader.
Anniversary
The anniversary of Khomeini's death is a public holiday. To commemorate Khomeini, people visit his mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...
placed on Behesht-e Zahra to hear sermons and practice prayers on his death day.
Political thought and legacy
According to at least one scholar, politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran "are largely defined by attempts to claim Khomeini's legacy" and that "staying faithful to his ideology has been the litmus test
Litmus test may refer to:
* Litmus test (chemistry), used to determine the acidity of a chemical solution
* Litmus test (politics), a question that seeks to find the character of a potential candidate by measuring a single indicator
* Litmus Test ...
for all political activity" there. Throughout his many writings and speeches, Khomeini's views on governance evolved. Originally declaring rule by monarchs or others permissible so long as sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
law was followed Khomeini later adamantly opposed monarchy, arguing that only rule by a leading Islamic jurist (a marja'
Marji ( ar, مرجع, transliteration: ''marjiʿ''; plural: ''marājiʿ''), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority giv ...
) would ensure Sharia was properly followed ( velâyat-e faqih), before finally insisting the ruling jurist need not be a leading one and Sharia rule could be overruled by that jurist if necessary to serve the interests of Islam and the "divine government" of the Islamic state.
Khomeini's concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist
The Guardianship or Governance/''Wilāyat'' of/by an Islamic Jurist/''Faqīh'' ( fa, , Velâyat-e Faqih; ar, وِلاَيَةُ ٱلْفَقِيهِ, Wilāyat al-Faqīh), is a concept in Twelver Shia Islamic law which holds that until the r ...
(ولایت فقیه, ''velayat-e faqih'') as Islamic government did not win the support of the leading Iranian Shi'i
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most n ...
clergy of the time.[''The Failure of Political Islam'' by Olivier Roy, translated by Carol Volk Harvard University Press, 1994, p.173–74 quoted i]
"the vilayat-i faqih thesis was rejected by almost the entire dozen grand ayatollahs living in 1981"
/ref> Towards the 1979 Revolution, many clerics gradually became disillusioned with the rule of the Shah, although none came around to supporting Khomeini's vision of a theocratic Islamic Republic.
The Egyptian Jihadist ideologue Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid 'Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn Quṭb ( or ; , ; ar, سيد قطب إبراهيم حسين ''Sayyid Quṭb''; 9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966), known popularly as Sayyid Qutb ( ar, سيد قطب), was an Egyptians, Egyptian author, educato ...
was an important source of influence to Khomeini and the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In 1984, the Islamic Republic of Iran under Khomeini honoured Qutb's "martyrdom" by issuing an iconic postage stamp showing him behind bars. Qutb's works were translated by Iranian Islamists into Persian and enjoyed remarkable popularity both before and after the revolution. Prominent figures such as current Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنهای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...
and his brother Muhammad Ali Khamenei, Aḥmad Aram, Hadi Khosroshahi
Seyyed Hadi Khosroshahi ( fa, سید هادی خسروشاهی; – 27 February 2020) was an Iranian cleric and diplomat who served as Iran's first ambassador to the Vatican.
Career
When he was 15 years old, Khosroshahi joined the leader of mi ...
, etc. translated Qutb's works into Persian.
There is much debate to as whether Khomeini's ideas are or are not compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be a democratic republic. According to the state-run ''Aftab News'', both ultraconservative (Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi
Ayatollah Taqi Mesbah ( fa, تقی مصباح; born Taqi Givechi, fa, تقی گیوهچی), commonly known as Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi ( fa, محمدتقی مصباح یزدی, 31 January 1935 – 1 January 2021) was an Iranian Shi' ...
) and reformist opponents of the regime (Akbar Ganji
Akbar Ganji ( fa, اکبر گنجی , born 31 January 1960 in Tehran) is an Iranian journalist, writer and a former member of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He has been described as "Iran's preeminent political dissident", and a "wildly popu ...
and Abdolkarim Soroush
Abdolkarim Soroush ( ; born Hossein Haj Faraj Dabbagh (born 1945; fa, حسين حاج فرج دباغ), is an Iranian Islamic thinker, reformer, Rumi scholar, public intellectual, and a former professor of phil ...
) believe he did not, while regime officials and supporters like Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 to ...
and Mortaza Motahhari
Morteza Motahhari ( fa, مرتضی مطهری, also Romanized as "Mortezā Motahharī"; 31 January 1919 – 1 May 1979) was an Iranian Twelver Shia scholar, philosopher, lecturer. Motahhari is considered to have an important influence on the ...
believe Khomeini intended the Islamic republic
The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a theoretical form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been u ...
to be democratic and that it is so. Khomeini himself also made statements at different times indicating both support and opposition to democracy.
One scholar, Shaul Bakhash
Shaul Bakhash (in fa, شائول بخاش), is an Iranian-American historian in Iranian studies at George Mason University where he is a "Clarence J. Robinson Professor of History."
Bakhash is Jewish and was born in Iran. He is a former Guggen ...
, explains this disagreement as coming from Khomeini's belief that the huge turnout of Iranians in anti-Shah demonstrations during the revolution constituted a 'referendum' in favor of an Islamic republic. Khomeini also wrote that since Muslims must support a government based on Islamic law, Sharia-based government will always have more popular support in Muslim countries than any government based on elected representatives.
Khomeini offered himself as a "champion of Islamic revival" and unity, emphasizing issues Muslims agreed upon – the fight against Zionism and imperialism – and downplaying Shia issues that would divide Shia from Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
.
Khomeini strongly opposed close relations with either Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
or Western Bloc
The Western Bloc, also known as the Free Bloc, the Capitalist Bloc, the American Bloc, and the NATO Bloc, was a coalition of countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War of 1947–1991. It was spearheaded by ...
nations, believing the Islamic world should be its own bloc, or rather converge into a single unified power. He viewed Western culture as being inherently decadent and a corrupting influence upon the youth. The Islamic Republic banned or discouraged popular Western fashions, music, cinema, and literature. In the Western world it is said "his glowering visage became the virtual face of Islam in Western popular culture" and "inculcated fear and distrust towards Islam," making the word 'Ayatollah' "a synonym for a dangerous madman ... in popular parlance." This has particularly been the case in the United States where some Iranians complained that even at universities they felt the need to hide their Iranian identity for fear of physical attack. There Khomeini and the Islamic Republic are remembered for the American embassy hostage taking and accused of sponsoring hostage-taking and terrorist attacks, and which continues to apply economic sanctions against Iran
There have been a number of sanctions against Iran imposed by a number of countries, especially the United States, and international entities. Iran was the most sanctioned country in the world until it was surpassed by Russia following its inva ...
.
Before taking power Khomeini expressed support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...
. "We would like to act according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We would like to be free. We would like independence." However once in power Khomeini took a firm line against dissent, warning opponents of theocracy for example: "I repeat for the last time: abstain from holding meetings, from blathering, from publishing protests. Otherwise I will break your teeth."
Many of Khomeini's political and religious ideas were considered to be progressive and reformist by leftist intellectuals and activists prior to the Revolution. However, once in power his ideas often clashed with those of modernist or secular Iranian intellectuals. This conflict came to a head during the writing of the Islamic constitution when many newspapers were closed by the government. Khomeini angrily told the intellectuals:
Yes, we are reactionaries
In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the ''status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abse ...
, and you are enlightened intellectuals: You intellectuals do not want us to go back 1400 years. You, who want freedom
Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...
, freedom for everything, the freedom of parties, you who want all the freedoms, you intellectuals: freedom that will corrupt our youth, freedom that will pave the way for the oppressor, freedom that will drag our nation to the bottom.
In contrast to his alienation from Iranian intellectuals, and "in an utter departure from all other Islamist movements," Khomeini embraced international revolution and Third World
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
solidarity, giving it "precedence over Muslim fraternity." From the time Khomeini's supporters gained control of the media until his death, the Iranian media "devoted extensive coverage to non-Muslim revolutionary movements (from the Sandinista
The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a Socialism, socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after ...
s to the African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...
and the Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...
) and downplayed the role of the Islamic movements considered conservative, such as the Afghan mujahidin."
Khomeini's legacy to the economy of the Islamic Republic has been expressions of concern for the ''mustazafin'' (a Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
ic term for the oppressed or deprived), but not always results that aided them. During the 1990s the ''mustazafin'' and disabled war veterans rioted on several occasions, protesting the demolition of their shantytowns and rising food prices
Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale. Food prices have an impact on producers and consumers of food.
Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing an ...
, etc. Khomeini's disdain for the science of economics ("economics is for donkeys") is said to have been "mirrored" by the populist redistribution policies of former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( fa, محمود احمدینژاد, Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād ), born Mahmoud Sabbaghian ( fa, محمود صباغیان, Mahmoud Sabbāghyān, 28 October 1956), , who allegedly wears "his contempt for economic orthodoxy as a badge of honour", and has overseen sluggish growth and rising inflation and unemployment.
In 1963, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini wrote a book in which he stated that there is no religious restriction on corrective surgery for transgender individuals. At the time Khomeini was an anti-Shah revolutionary and his fatwas did not carry any weight with the Imperial government, which did not have any specific policies regarding transsexual individuals.
However, after 1979, his fatwa "formed the basis for a national policy" and perhaps in part because of a penal code that "allows for the execution of homosexuals", as of 2005 Iran "permits and partly finances seven times as many gender reassignment operations as the entire European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
".
Appearance and habits
Khomeini was described as "slim", but athletic and "heavily boned".
He was known for his punctuality:
Khomeini was also known for his aloofness and austere demeanor. He is said to have had "variously inspired admiration, awe, and fear from those around him." His practice of moving "through the halls of the madresehs never smiling at anybody or anything; his practice of ignoring his audience while he taught, contributed to his charisma."
Khomeini adhered to traditional beliefs of Islamic hygienical jurisprudence
Purity ( ar, طهارة, ''ṭahāra(h)'') is an essential aspect of Islam. It is the opposite of ''najāsa'', the state of being ritually impure. It is achieved by first removing physical impurities (for example, urine) from the body, and then ...
holding that things like urine, excrement, blood, wine, and also non-Muslims were some of eleven ritualistically "impure" things that physical contact with which while wet required ritual washing or Ghusl
( ar, غسل ', ) is an Arabic term to the full-body ritual purification mandatory before the performance of various rituals and prayers, for any adult Muslim after sexual intercourse/ejaculation or completion of the menstrual cycle.
The washin ...
before prayer or salat
(, plural , romanized: or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːh, ( or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːtʰin construct state) ), also known as ( fa, نماز) and also spelled , are prayers performed by Muslims. Facing the , the direction of the Kaaba wit ...
. He is reported to have refused to eat or drink in a restaurant unless he knew for sure the waiter was a Muslim.
Mystique
According to Baqer Moin
Baqer Moin ( fa, باقر معین) is a BBC journalist and author. He has been described as "a specialist on Iran and Islam and is head of the BBC's Persian Service" (in 1999) and as "BBC's Central Asia specialist" (2001)
According to the America ...
, as part of Khomeini's personality cult, he "had been transformed into a semi-divine figure. He was no longer a grand ayatollah and deputy of the Imam, one who represents the Hidden Imam
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī ( ar, محمد بن الحسن المهدي) is believed by the Twelver Shia to be the last of the Twelve Imams and the eschatological Mahdi, who will emerge in the end of time to establish peace and justic ...
, but simply 'The Imam'." Khomeini's personality cult fills a central position in foreign- and domestically targeted Iranian publications. The methods used to create his personality cult have been compared to those used by such figures as Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
, Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
and Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
.
An eight-century Hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
attributed to the Imam Musa al-Kazim
Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kazim ( ar, مُوسَىٰ ٱبْن جَعْفَر ٱلْكَاظِم, Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar al-Kāẓim), also known as Abū al-Ḥasan, Abū ʿAbd Allāh or Abū Ibrāhīm, was the seventh Imam in Twelver Shia Islam, after hi ...
that said "A man will come out from Qom
Qom (also spelled as "Ghom", "Ghum", or "Qum") ( fa, قم ) is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. Qom is the capital of Qom Province. It is located to the south of Tehran. At the 2016 census, its popul ...
and he will summon people to the right path. There will rally to him people resembling pieces of iron, not to be shaken by violent winds, unsparing and relying on God" was repeated in Iran as a tribute to Khomeini. However, in Lebanon, this saying was also attributed to Musa al-Sadr
Musa Sadr al-Din al-Sadr ( ar, موسى صدر الدين الصدر; 4 June 1928 – disappeared 31 August 1978) was an Iranian-born Lebanese scholar and political leader who founded the Amal Movement.
Born in the Chaharmardan neighborhood o ...
.
Khomeini was the first and only Iranian cleric to be addressed as "Imam", a title hitherto reserved in Iran for the twelve infallible leaders of the early Shi'a. He was also associated with the ''Mahdi
The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a Messianism, messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the Eschatology, end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a de ...
'' or 12th Imam of Shia belief in a number of ways. One of his titles was ''Na'eb-e Imam'' (Deputy to the Twelfth Imam
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī ( ar, محمد بن الحسن المهدي) is believed by the Twelver Shia to be the last of the Twelve Imams and the eschatological Mahdi, who will emerge in the end of time to establish peace and justic ...
). His enemies were often attacked as ''taghut
''Taghut'' ( ar. طاغوت, ṭāġūt. pl. ṭawāġīt. broadly: "to go beyond the measure") is Islamic terminology denoting a focus of worship other than God. In traditional theology, the term often connotes idols or demons drawn to blood ...
'' and ''Mofsed-e-filarz
Mofsed-e-filarz ( fa, مفسد فی الارض, also Mofsed fel-Arz, Afsad-i fil Arz, or fasad-fel-arz, ar, المفسد في الأرض Al-Mufsid fi al-Arḍ, also fasad fi 'l-ard lit. ''Corrupt on Earth'') is the title of capital crimes (or the ...
'', religious terms used for enemies of the Twelfth Imam. Many of the officials of the overthrown Shah's government executed by Revolutionary Courts were convicted of "fighting against the Twelfth Imam". When a deputy in the majlis
( ar, المجلس, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning "sitting room", used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural conne ...
asked Khomeini directly if he was the 'promised Mahdi', Khomeini did not answer, "astutely" neither confirming nor denying the title.
As the revolution gained momentum, even some non-supporters exhibited awe, called him "magnificently clear-minded, single-minded and unswerving." His image was as "absolute, wise, and indispensable leader of the nation"
The Imam, it was generally believed, had shown by his uncanny sweep to power, that he knew how to act in ways which others could not begin to understand. His timing was extraordinary, and his insight into the motivation of others, those around him as well as his enemies, could not be explained as ordinary knowledge. This emergent belief in Khomeini as a divinely guided figure was carefully fostered by the clerics who supported him and spoke up for him in front of the people.
Even many secularist
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations.
Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...
s who firmly disapproved of his policies were said to feel the power of his "messianic" appeal. Comparing him to a father figure who retains the enduring loyalty even of children he disapproves of, journalist Afshin Molavi
Afshin Molavi ( fa, افشین مولوی) is an Iranian-American author and expert on global geo-political risk and geo-economics, particularly the Middle East and Asia. He is co-director of the Emerge85 Lab, a joint research initiative between ...
writes that defenses of Khomeini are "heard in the most unlikely settings":
Another journalist tells the story of listening to bitter criticism of the regime by an Iranian who tells her of his wish for his son to leave the country and who "repeatedly" makes the point "that life had been better" under the Shah. When his complaint is interrupted by news that "the Imam" – over 85 years old at the time – might be dying, the critic becomes "ashen faced" and speechless, pronouncing "this is terrible for my country."
An example of Khomeini's charisma is the effect a half-hour-long, 1982 speech on the Quran by him had on a Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
scholar from South Africa, Sheikh Ahmad Deedat:
Family and descendants
In 1929, Khomeini married Khadijeh Saqafi
Khadijeh Saqafi ( fa, خدیجه ثقفی; 1913 – 21 March 2009) was an Iranian revolutionary and the wife of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran and figurehead of the Iranian Revolution. In Iran, she was known as "the mother of the ...
,[Taheri, ''The Spirit of Allah'' (1985), p. 90-1] the daughter of a cleric in Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
. Some sources claim that Khomeini married Saqafi when she was ten years old, while others claim she was fifteen years old. By all accounts their marriage was harmonious and happy. She died in 2009. They had seven children, though only five survived infancy. His daughters all married into either merchant or clerical families, and both his sons entered into religious life. Mostafa, the elder son, died in 1977 while in exile in Najaf
Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
, Iraq with his father and was rumored by supporters of his father to have been murdered by SAVAK
SAVAK ( fa, ساواک, abbreviation for ''Sâzemân-e Ettelâ'ât va Amniat-e Kešvar'', ) was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service in Iran during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. SAVAK operated from 1957 until prime ...
. Ahmad Khomeini
Sayyid Ahmad Khomeini ( fa, سید احمد خمینی; 14 March 1946 – 17 March 1995) was the younger son of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and father of Hassan Khomeini. He was the "right-hand" of his father before, during and after the Ira ...
, who died in 1995 at the age of 50, was also rumoured to be a victim of foul play, but at the hands of the regime. Perhaps his "most prominent daughter",["Khamenei vs. Khomeini" by Ali Reza Eshraghi](_blank)
20 August 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009. Zahra Mostafavi, is a professor at the University of Tehran, and still alive.
Khomeini's fifteen grandchildren include:
* Zahra Eshraghi
Zahra Eshraghi Khomeini ( fa, زهرا اشراقی, translit=''Zahrâ Eshrâqi'') (born 1964) is an Iranian activist and former government official who believes in feminism and human rights.
Early life and education
Eshraghi was born in 1964. Sh ...
, granddaughter, married to Mohammad Reza Khatami
Mohammad-Reza Khatami ( fa, محمدرضا خاتمی, born 1959) is an Iranian politician and nephrologist.
Early life and education
Khatami was born in Ardakan, Iran, in 1959. He is younger brother of former president Mohammad Khatami. Khatami ...
, head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front
The Islamic Iran Participation Front ( fa, جبهه مشارکت ایران اسلامی; ''Jebheye Mosharekate Iran-e Eslaami'') was a reformist political party in Iran. It was sometimes described as the most dominant member within the 2nd of Kho ...
, the main reformist
Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement.
Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...
party in the country, and is considered a pro-reform character herself.
* Hassan Khomeini
Sayyid Hassan Khomeini ( fa, سيد حسن خمينی; born 23 July 1972) is an Iranian cleric. He has been called "the most prominent" grandchild of Ruhollah Khomeini, who had 15 grandchildren in total, and the one "who many think could have a p ...
, Khomeini's elder grandson Sayid
''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhammad' ...
Hasan Khomeini, son of the Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini
Sayyid Ahmad Khomeini ( fa, سید احمد خمینی; 14 March 1946 – 17 March 1995) was the younger son of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and father of Hassan Khomeini. He was the "right-hand" of his father before, during and after the Ira ...
, is a cleric and the trustee of the Mausoleum of Khomeini
The mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini ( fa, آرامگاه روح الله خمینی) houses the tombs of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, his wife Khadijeh Saqafi, and his second son Ahmad Khomeini; and some political figures, such as former President ...
and also has shown support for the reform movement
A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary mo ...
in Iran,[Grandchildren of the revolution. By von Najmeh Bozorgmehr and Roula Khalaf 4 March 2009](_blank)
. Retrieved 23 August 2009. and Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh ( fa, میرحسین موسوی خامنه, Mīr-Hoseyn Mūsavī Khāmené, ; born 2 March 1942) is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the forty-ninth and last Prime Minister of Ira ...
's call to cancel the 2009 election results.
* Husain Khomeini (Sayid Husain Khomeini), Khomeini's other grandson, son of Sayid Mustafa Khomeini, is a mid-level cleric who is strongly against the system of the Islamic republic
The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a theoretical form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been u ...
. In 2003, he was quoted as saying: "Iranians need freedom now, and if they can only achieve it with American interference I think they would welcome it. As an Iranian, I would welcome it." In that same year Husain Khomeini visited the United States, where he met figures such as Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah and the pretender to the Sun Throne
The Sun Throne ( fa, تخت خورشید, Takht-e Khurshīd) is the imperial throne of Iran. It has its name after a radiant sun disk on the headboard. The throne has the shape of a platform, similar to the Marble Throne in Golestan Palace. The ...
. Later that year, Husain returned to Iran after receiving an urgent message from his grandmother. According to Michael Ledeen
Michael Arthur Ledeen (; born August 1, 1941) is an American historian, and neoconservative foreign policy analyst. He is a former consultant to the United States National Security Council, the United States Department of State, and the United St ...
, quoting "family sources", he was blackmailed into returning. In 2006, he called for an American invasion and overthrow of the Islamic Republic, telling Al-Arabiyah television station viewers, "If you were a prisoner, what would you do? I want someone to break the prison oors open
* Another of Khomeini's grandchildren, Ali Eshraghi, was disqualified from the 2008 parliamentary elections on grounds of being insufficiently loyal to the principles of the Islamic revolution, but later reinstated.
Bibliography
Khomeini was a prolific writer and speaker (200 of his books are online) who authored commentaries on the Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
, on Islamic jurisprudence
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and e ...
, the roots of Islamic law, and Islamic traditions. He also released books about philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
, gnosticism
Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people ...
, poetry, literature, government and politics.
His books include:
* '' Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih'' (''Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist'')
* ''The Little Green Book'': A sort of manifesto of Khomeini's political thought
* ''Forty Hadith
Forty Hadith, ''arbaʿīniyyāt'' is a subgenre of the Hadith literature. As the name indicates, these are collections containing forty hadith related to one or more subjects depending on the purpose of the compiler.Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi, ''Hadit ...
'' (''Forty Traditions'')
* ''Adab as Salat'' (''The Disciplines of Prayers'')
* '' Jihade Akbar'' (''The Greater Struggle'')
* ''Tahrir al-Wasilah
Tahrir al-Wasilah ( ar, تحرير الوسيلة; ''Exegesis of the Means of Salvation'' or ''Commentaries on the Liberation of the Intercession''; in fa, تحریر الوسیله ''Tahrir al-Vasileh'') is a book by Ayatollah Khomeini as a co ...
''
* ''Kashf al-Asrar
''Kashf al-Asrar'' ( ar-at, کشف الأسرار ''Kashf al-Āsrār'' "Unveiling of Secrets") is a book written in 1943 by Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to respond to the questions and criticisms raised in a 194 ...
''
See also
* Khomeinism
Khomeinism refers to the religious and political ideas of the leader of the Iranian Revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeinism also refers to the ruling clerical class of Iran after 1979. It can also be used to refer to the radicalization of segmen ...
* Political thought and legacy of Ruhollah Khomeini
Khomeinism refers to the religious and political ideas of the leader of the Iranian Revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeinism also refers to the ruling clerical class of Iran after 1979. It can also be used to refer to the radicalization of segmen ...
* Islamic Government
''Islamic Government'' ( fa, حکومت اسلامی, ''Hokumat-i Eslami''), also known as ''The Jurist's Guardianship: Islamic Government'',
( fa, حکومت اسلامی ولایت فقیه, ''Velayat-e faqih: Hokumat-i Eslami '') Abrahamian, ...
(book by Khomeini)
*Muhammad Kazim Khurasani
Ayatullah Sheikh Muhammad Kazim Khurasani ( fa, ; 1839 – 12 December 1911), commonly known as Akhund Khurasani ( fa, ) was a Shia jurist and political activist.
He is known for using his position as a Marja as legitimizing force behind the ...
*Mirza Husayn Tehrani
Ayatollah Mirza Husayn Khalili Tehrani (Persian: میرزا حسین خلیلی تهرانی) was an Usuli Shi'a jurist and among the four sources of emulation at the time of Iranian Constitutional Revolution. He worked alongside Akhund Khurasan ...
*Abdallah Mazandarani
Ayatollah Shaykh Abdallah Mazandarani ( fa, عبدالله مازندرانی) (AD 1840–1912; AH 1256–1330) was a Shia Marja' and a leader of the constitutional movement against the Qajar dynasty. He was a pupil of Mirzaye Rashti. He worked ...
*Mirza Ali Aqa Tabrizi
Mirza Ali-Aqa Tabrizi, () known as Thiqat-ul-Islam Tabrizi (; January 19, 1861 - December 31, 1911) was an Iranian nationalist who lived in Tabriz, Iran, during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and was a reformist Shia cleric. He was hanged b ...
*Mirza Sayyed Mohammad Tabatabai
Mirza Seyyed Mohammad Tabatabai (Persian: آیت الله میرزا سید محمد طباطبائی, also known as Mohammad Sang-e-laji,;''Sang-e-laj'' (سَنگِلَج) is one of the neighbourhoods of the Old Tehran, not far from the Grand Baz ...
*Seyyed Abdollah Behbahani
Seyyed Abdollah Behbahani ( fa, سیدعبدالله بهبهانی, 1840–1910) was a Shi'a theologian and a prominent leader of the constitutional movement. He was born in Najaf and was educated by scholars such as Morteza Ansari.
During the c ...
*Fazlullah Nouri
Sheikh Fazlollah bin Abbas Mazindarani (; 24 December 1843 – 31 July 1909), also known as Fazlollah Noori (), was a twelver Shia Muslim scholar and politician in Qajar Iran during the late 19th and early 20th century and founder of islamis ...
* Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim
Ayatollah al-Sayyid Muhammad Baqir Muhsin al-Hakim at-Tabataba'i (8 July 1939 – 29 August 2003; ar, السيد محمد باقر محسن الحكيم الطباطبائي), also known as Shaheed al-Mehraab, was a senior Iraqi Shia Islamic S ...
* Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr
Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr ( ar, آية الله العظمى السيد محمد باقر الصدر; 1 March 1935 – 9 April 1980), also known as al-Shahīd al-Khāmis (the fifth martyr), was an Iraqi philosopher, and the ideological founde ...
*Islamic fundamentalism in Iran
The history of Islamic fundamentalism in Iran covers the historical development of Islamic fundamentalism, Islamism, Islamic revivalism, and the rise of political Islam in modern Iran. Today, there are basically three types of Islam in Iran: tra ...
* Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order
The Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order (EIKO) ( fa, ستاد اجرایی فرمان امام, ''Setâd-e Ejrây-ye Farmân-e Emâm''), also known as the Executive Headquarters of Imam's Directive or simply Setad, is a parastatal organization in ...
* Exiles of Imam Khomeini
* Ideocracy
Ideocracy (a portmanteau word combining "ideology" and ''kratos'', Greek for "power") is "governance of a state according to the principles of a particular (political) ideology; a state or country governed in this way". It is government based on ...
* List of cults of personality
This is a list of regimes of countries as well as a list of individual leaders around the world which have been described as having created a cult of personality by the media or academia. A cult of personality uses various techniques, including ...
* Ruhollah Khomeini's letter to Mikhail Gorbachev
On 7 January 1989, Ruhollah Khomeini, supreme leader of Iran, sent a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, the General Secretary of the Soviet Union. This letter was Khomeini's only written message to a foreign leader. Khomeini's letter was delivered by t ...
* Ruhollah Khomeini's residency (Jamaran)
Jamaran Hussainiya was the house of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in Jamaran village. On 23 January 1980, Ayatollah Khomeini went to Tehran from Qom to cure a heart ailment. According to doctors recommendation, t ...
* 1979 Iranian Revolution conspiracy theory
The Iranian Revolution of 1979, in which Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was overthrown and replaced by an Islamist government led by Ruhollah Khomeini, has been the subject of conspiracy theories alleging Western involvement, in particular, that the U ...
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
Imam Khomeini's Official Website
Documentary: Imam Khomeini P1
(Free Press TV
Press TV (stylised as PRESSTV) is an Iranian state-owned news network that broadcasts in the English and French languages owned by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the only organization legally able to transmit radio and TV broadc ...
documentary)
Imam Khomeini – Reformer of the Century
(English Subtitles – Press TV Documentary)
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Rouhollah Khomeini's Website
Who Is Imam Khomeini?
Selected bibliography
Syed Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini – Islamic Government (Hukumat-i Islami)
Syed Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini – The Last Will...
to Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
, dated 1 January 1989. ''Kayhan
''Kayhan'' ( fa, کيهان, '' en, The Cosmos'') is a newspaper published in Tehran, Iran. It is considered "the most conservative Iranian newspaper." Hossein Shariatmadari is the editor-in-chief of ''Kayhan''. According to the report of the '' ...
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''Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic''
1993 by the Regents of the University of California
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khomeini, Ruhollah
1900 births
1902 births
1989 deaths
20th-century imams
20th-century poets
Al-Moussawi family
Anti-Americanism
Anti-monarchists
Anti-Zionism
Biographical evaluation scholars
Burials at Behesht-e Zahra
Commanders-in-Chief of Iran
Iran hostage crisis
Iranian anti-communists
Iranian emigrants to France
Iranian emigrants to Iraq
Iranian emigrants to Turkey
Iranian dissidents
Iranian exiles
Iranian grand ayatollahs
Iranian Islamists
Iranian people of the Iran–Iraq War
20th-century Iranian poets
Iranian revolutionaries
Islamic philosophers
Pan-Islamism
People from Markazi Province
People of the Iranian Revolution
Religious policy in Iran
Simple living advocates
Supreme Leaders of Iran
Time Person of the Year