''Kashf al-Asrar'' ( ar-at, کشف الأسرار ''Kashf al-Āsrār'' "Unveiling of Secrets") is a book written in 1943 by
Ruhollah 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 ...
, 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 ...
, to respond to the questions and criticisms raised in a 1943 pamphlet titled ''The Thousand-Year Secrets'' (
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 ...
: ''Asrar-i Hazarsala'')
by
Ali Akbar Hakimzadeh, who had abandoned clerical studies at
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 ...
seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
and in the mid-1930s published a modernist journal titled ''Humayun'' that advocated reformation in
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. ''Kashf al-Asrar'' is the first book that expresses Khomeini's political views.
Background
Ruhollah Khomeini wrote ''Kashf al-Asrar'' to answer questions about the credibility of Islamic 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 ...
beliefs that originated in a pamphlet called ''The Thousand-Year Secrets'', which was written by Ali Akbar Hakamizada.
In 1934, Hakamizada began publishing a modernist journal titled ''Humayun'' that advocated reformation in Islam and criticized Islamic superstition and traditionalism.
In 1943, Hakimzada wrote ''The Thousand-Year Secrets'' which was published in ''
Parcham
Parcham (Pashto and prs, پرچم, ) was the name of one of the factions of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, formed in 1967 following its split and led for most of its history by Babrak Karmal and Mohammed Najibullah. The basic id ...
'', a periodical of
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 ...
. He invited Shia scholars to explain what he called the sect's superstitious beliefs.
According to Khomeini's 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 ...
, one day when his father was going to
Feyziyeh School
Feyziyya School ( fa, مدرسه فیضیه) is an old school in Iran that was founded in the Safavid era. The school has been listed as one of Iran's national monuments as of January 29, 2008. The school served as a focal point for clerical oppos ...
, he encountered a group of seminary students discussing this pamphlet. Khomeini was worried the views of this pamphlet had infiltrated into the seminaries, and wrote ''Kashf al-Asrar'' to answer the pamphlet's questions.
''Kashf al-Asrar'' is the first book that expresses Khomeini's political views.
Content
The book defends against Hakamizada's attacks against such Shia practices as the
mourning of Muharram
The Mourning of Muharram (also known as Azadari, Remembrance of Muharram or Muharram Observances) is a set of commemoration rituals observed primarily by Shia people. The commemoration falls in Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. ...
,
ziyara
In Islam, ''ziyara(h)'' ( ar, زِيَارَة ''ziyārah'', "visit") or ''ziyarat'' ( fa, , ''ziyārat'', "pilgrimage") is a form of pilgrimage to sites associated with Muhammad, his family members and descendants (including the Shī'ī Imā ...
, the recitation of prayers composed by the Imams,
clerical fostering of superstitious beliefs to perpetuate their own power, belief in the intercession of Muhammad and his descendants and the lack of any explicit mention of Imamate in the Quran.
Khomeini also attacks
Wahhabism
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...
and its "idolatrous" devotions, Baháʼí scholar
Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl and Shia scholar Shariat Sanglaji.
[Arjomand 1988, p. 161]
''Kashf al-Asrar'' consists of six chapters, the ordering of which mirrors the division of content in ''The Thousand-Year Secrets'':
"
Tawhid
Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam ( Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single ...
", "
Imamah
{{expand Arabic, date=April 2021
The term imamate or ''imamah'' ( ar, إمامة, ''imāmah'') means "leadership" and refers to the office of an '' imam'' or a state ruled by an ''imam''.
Theology
*Imamate, in Sunni doctrine the caliphate
:* Naqsh ...
", "The Clergy", "Government", "Law", and "
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 ...
". In the first chapter, "Tawhid", Khomeini answers criticisms of Shia Islam by
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 ...
. The second chapter contains
Hadith of Position
The Hadith of Position ( ar, حديث المنزلة, translit=hadith al-manzila) is a widely-reported saying ( ) attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad which equates the standing of his cousin Ali to him with the standing of Aaron to Mos ...
,
Hadith of the two weighty things
The Hadith al-Thaqalayn () refers to a hadith () attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad that introduces the Quran and his progeny as the only sources of divine guidance after his death. Widely reported by both Shia and Sunni authorities, the ...
, and proof of the concept of Imamah by verses of 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, ...
.
The book's third, fourth, and fifth chapters include a discussion of government in the contemporary age.
At the end of ''The Thousand-Year Secret'', Hakamizada asks some challenging questions and invites responses from readers.
At the beginning of the third chapter of ''Kashf al-Asrar'', Khomeini responds to five of the nine questions asked in ''The Thousand-Year Secrets''.
Reception
''The Thousand-Year Secrets'' was supported by Ahmad Kasravi and
Mirza Rida Quli Shari'at-Sanglaji Ayatollah Muhammad Hassan Mirza Rida Quli (Persian: شریعت سنگلجی; 1891 –1944), known as Shari'at-Sanglaji (also spelt as Sharīʿat Sangalaji), was an Iranian reformer, theologian, philosopher, and scholar. He was an opponent of Ruh ...
(d. 1944), the
Wahhabi
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...
-influenced Shia scholar.
Along with the publication of the pamphlet, objections were raised by scholars and seminary students. According to Ayatollah Hossein Badala and Bagheri, some scholars decided to respond to it. One of the responses was written by
Mehdi Al-Khalissi
Sheikh Mahdi Al-Khalissi, also known as Mohammad Mahdi Al-Khalissi and Mahdi Al-Khalisi, (died 1925) was a prominent religious leader in Iraq during the British period of the early 20th century. At the time he was the Supreme Marja (Shia scholar ...
; ''Kashf al-Asrar'' was another answer to the pamphlet; Ruhollah Khomeini taught philosophy at that time. Qom Seminary selected ''Kashf al-Asrar'' as answers to Hakimzada's questions in ''The Thousand-Year Secrets''.
See also
*
Forty Hadith of Ruhullah Khomeini
''Forty Hadith'' ( ar-at, الأربعون حديثًا, Al-Arba‘ūn Ḥadīthān, lit=The Forty Traditions) is a 1940 book written by Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It describes his personal interpretations of ...
*
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 ...
*
Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist
*
The Greatest fight: Combat with the Self
References
External links
The full text of Kashf al-Asrar
{{Authority control
1943 non-fiction books
Ruhollah Khomeini
Shia literature
Islamist works
Iranian books