Imâm Khomeini - a Short Biography[5]

Imâm Rûhullâh al-Musawi al-Khomeini was born on September 24, 1902 into a family of strong religious traditions in Khumayn, a small town some hundred kilometers to the southwest of Tehran.[6] Both his grandfather and father were religious scholars. The former, Sayyid Ahmad, was known as al-Hindi because of a period he had spent in India, where a distant branch of the family is said still to exist. The latter, Āyatullâh Mustafâ, was murdered by bandits only five months after the birth of Rûhullâh, so that his mother and an aunt were responsible for his early upbringing. At the age of sixteen, he lost both mother and aunt in the course of a single year, and the task of supervising his education then fell to an elder brother, Sayyid Murtadâ (better known, in later years, as Āyatullâh Pasandîdeh). Āyatullâh Pasandîdeh recalls that, even in his youth, Imâm Khomeini showed great piety, seriousness, and determination. It was the general consensus in Khumayn that a significant if turbulent career awaited him.[7]

At the age of nineteen, the young Khomeini was sent to study religious sciences in the nearby town of Arâk under the guidance of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karîm Hâ‘iri[8] who had been a pupil of great scholars at the Shî‘i teaching centers in Iraq, most notably Mîrzâ Hasan Shirâzi.[9] His studies under Hâ’iri made Khomeini an heir to the traditions established by the great figures of the nineteenth century— traditions that included political activism as well as learning.

The following year, Hâ’iri accepted an invitation from the people and scholars of Qum to settle there. Qum had always been a center of learning as well as pilgrimage, but Hâ’iri’s arrival there, followed by his reorganization of the religious teaching institution, was the first in a series of development that elevated Qum to the status of spiritual capital of Islamic Iran. The final and decisive development would be the movement of nationwide opposition to the Pahlavi monarchy that Imâm Khomeini was to initiate in Qum in 1962.

Indications of Imâm Khomeini’s future role were already present in those early years. He attained prominence among the numerous students of Hâ’iri, excelling in a wide variety of subjects, but especially ethics and the variety of spiritual philosophy known in Iran as ‘irfân. At the early age of twenty-seven, he wrote a treatise in Arabic on these subjects, Misbâh al-Hidâyah, which was well received by his teachers.[10] Many of Imâm Khomeini’s important associates who came to be well known during the Revolution years—e.g. Āyatullâh Muntaziri[11]—recall that they were first attracted to him by his proficiency in ethics and philosophy and that the classes he taught on them twice a week in Qum were frequently attended by hundreds of people.[12]

Given the current fame of Imâm Khomeini as a revolutionary leader who has achieved a rare degree of success in the purely political sphere, it may appear surprising that he first gained fame as a writer and teacher concerned with devotional and even mystical matters. For Imâm Khomeini, however, spirituality and mysticism have never implied social withdrawal or political quietism, but rather the building up of a fund of energy that finds its natural expression on the sociopolitical plane. The life of Imâm Khomeini is a clear indication that the Revolution wrought by Islam necessarily begins in the moral and spiritual realm.[13] The classes he taught at Qum in the 1930s bore witness to this; topics of an ethical and spiritual nature were constantly interwoven with evocations of the problems of the day and exhortations to his listeners to devote themselves to solving them as part of their religious duty.

The early years of Imâm Khomeini’s activity in Qum coincided with the establishment of the Pahlavi state by Rizâ Khân. Rizâ Khân transformed the Iranian monarchy into a dictatorship of the modern, totalitarian kind and made its chief internal aim the elimination of Islam as a political, social, and cultural religion. Efforts directed towards this aim were directly witnessed by Imâm Khomeini in Qum, and reports reached him regularly from other cities such as Mashhad, Isfahan and Tabriz. What he saw and heard in those years left a deep impression on him; the repressive measures directed against the religious institution in later years by the second and last of the Pahlavi shâhs, Muhammad Rizâ, were for him a natural and direct continuation of what he had experienced in the period of Rizâ Shâh; the father and the son were of a piece.

Imâm Khomeini’s first public statement of a political nature came in a book published in 1941, Kashf al-Asrâr.[14] The book is essentially a detailed, systematic critique of an anti-religious tract, but it also contains numerous passages that are overtly political and critics of the Pahlavi rule.

In 1937, Hâ’iri died, and the religious institution was temporarily headed by a triumvirate of his closest senior associates: Āyatullâhs Sadr, Hujjat, and Khwansâri. Soon, however, a single leader succeeded to the role of Hâ’iri, Āyatullâh Burûjirdi. Imâm Khomeini was active in promoting the candidacy of Burûjirdi, whom he expected to utilize the potentialities of the position of supreme religious authority in order to combat the Pahlavi rule. He remained close to Burûjirdi until his death in 1962, but other influences prevailed on Burûjirdi; history regards him as a religious leader of great piety and administrative ability, but almost totally inactive in political matters.[15]

After the death of Burûjirdi, no single successor to his position emerged. Khomeini was reluctant to allow his own name to be canvassed, but he ultimately yielded to the urgings of close associates that a collection of his rulings on matters of religious practice be published, thus implicitly declaring his availability as leader and authority. It was not, however, primarily through technical procedures such as this that the prominence of Imâm Khomeini spread first within Qum, and then throughout the country. Of greater importance was his willingness to confront the Shâh’s regime at a time when few dared to do so. For example, he was alone among the major religious scholars of Qum in extending support publicly to the students at the religious institution who were campaigning against the opening of liquor stores in the city.

Soon his attention was drawn to matters of greater significance. The first step came in October 1962, when the Shâh promulgated a law abolishing the requirement that candidates for election to local assemblies be Muslim and male. Imâm Khomeini, joined by religious leaders elsewhere in the country, protested vigorously against the measure; it was ultimately repealed.[16] The measure itself was not intrinsically important, because elections to local assemblies were invariably corrupt and their functions were purely formal. But the campaign against it provided a point of departure for more comprehensive agitation against the regime as well as an opportunity to build a coalition of religious scholars that might be mobilized for more fundamental aims in the future.

The next step was taken in 1963, when the Shâh began to promulgate a series of measures for reshaping the political, social and economic life of Iran that were collectively designated the “White Revolution”. The appearance of popular approval was obtained by a fraudulent referendum held on January 26, 1963. However, the measures in question were correctly perceived by a large segment of Iranian society as being imposed on the country by the United States and designed to bring about augmentation of the Shâh’s power and wealth, as well as intensification of the United States dominance, which had been instituted with the CIA coup d’état against Prime Minister Muhammad Musaddiq in August 1953. Imâm Khomeini moved immediately to denounce the fraudulent “revolution” and to expose the motives that underlay it, preaching a series of sermons from Fayziyyah Madrasah[17] in Qum that had a nationwide impact.

The Shâh’s regime responded by sending paratroopers to attack Fayziyyah Madrasah on March 22, 1963. A number of students were killed and the madrasah was ransacked. Far from intimidating Imâm Khomeini, this event marked the beginning of a new period of determined struggle that was directed not only against the errors and excesses of the regime, but against its very existence. The attack on the madrasah had an almost symbolic value, exemplifying as it did both the hostility of the regime to Islam and Islamic institutions and the ruthless, barbaric manner in which it expressed that hostility.

Throughout the spring of 1963, Imâm Khomeini continued to denounce the Shâh’s regime. He concentrated his attacks on its tyrannical nature, its subordination to the United States, and its expanding collaboration with Israel. The confrontation reached a new peak in June with the onset of Muharram, the month in the Muslim calendar when the martyrdom of Imâm Husayn (‘a), the grandson of the Prophet (s), is commemorated and aspirations to emulate his example, by struggling against contemporary manifestation of tyranny, are awakened. On the tenth day of the month, Imâm Khomeini delivered a historic speech in Qum, repeating his denunciations of the Shâh’s regime and warning the Shâh not to behave in such a way that the people would rejoice when he should ultimately be forced to leave the country.[18] Two days later, he was arrested at his residence and taken to confinement in Tehran.

The arrest of Imâm Khomeini brought popular disgust with the Shâh’s regime to a climax, and a major uprising shook the throne. In Qum, Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, Isfahan, Kashan, and other cities, unarmed demonstrators confronted the Shâh’s US-trained and -equipped army, which, upon the command to shoot to kill, slaughtered not less than 15,000 people in the space of a few days. The date on which this uprising began, Khurdâd 15 according to the solar calendar used in Iran, marked a turning point in the modern history of Iran. It established Imâm Khomeini as national leader and spokesperson for popular aspirations, provided the struggle against the Shâh and his foreign patrons with a coherent ideological basis in Islam, and introduced a period of mass political activity under the guidance of the religious leadership instead of the secular parties that had been discredited, with the overthrow of Musaddiq. In all of these ways, uprising of Khurdâd 15 foreshadowed the Islamic Revolution of 1978-1979.

The uprising was suppressed, but the general public and the religious scholars refused to tolerate the imprisonment of Imâm Khomeini. Agitation persisted throughout the country, and numerous religious leaders converged on Tehran to press for Imâm Khomeini’s release. It finally came on April 6,1964, accompanied by a statement in the government-controlled press that Imâm Khomeini had agreed to refrain from political activity as a condition for his release. This was immediately refuted by the Imâm,[19] who resumed his denunciation of the regime with undiminished vigor.

If further proof were needed of the Shâh’s tutelage to the US, it came in October 1964, when legal immunity was granted to American personnel for all offenses committed in Iranian territory. After learning that the Iranian rubber–stamp Majlis (Parliament) had agreed to this measure, Imâm Khomeini spent a sleepless night, and the next day, October 27, he furiously denounced this open violation of Iranian sovereignty and independence.[20] It had by now become apparent to the Shâh and his foreign overlords that Imâm Khomeini could not be intimidated into silence, and it was decided to exile him, in the vain hope of destroying his influence. Accordingly, on November 4,1964 Imâm Khomeini was arrested again and sent into exile in Turkey, accompanied by agents of the Shâh’s secret police.

After a brief stay in Ankara, Imâm Khomeini was obliged to take up residence in Bursa, a city in the west of Turkey. Continual pressure was brought on the Shâh’s regime to permit Imâm Khomeini to leave Turkey for a more favorable place of exile, Najaf, one of the Shî‘i shrine cities of Iraq. In October 1965, consent was given, and Imâm Khomeini proceeded to Najaf, which was to be his home for thirteen years.

In agreeing to this move, the Shâh’s regime had been motivated not only by the desire to free itself from popular pressure, but also by the assumption that Imâm Khomeini would be overshadowed in Najaf by the religious authorities resident there. This assumption proved false. Imâm Khomeini established himself as a major religious presence in Najaf. More importantly, he maintained his influence and popularity in Iran. He issued periodic proclamations concerning developments in Iran that were smuggled into the country and clandestinely circulated at great risk. In addition, his messages addressed to the Muslim world at large were distributed several times in Mecca during pilgrimage season of the year.  In Najaf itself, he received visits during the long years of his exile from a number of important Iranian and other Muslim personalities.

The name and person of Imâm Khomeini and the cause that he embodied were never forgotten in Iran. His example inspired a number of religious scholars and groups, which continued to build on the foundations laid in 1963 and 1964, and unnoticed by most foreign observers, an Islamic movement of unparalleled breadth and profundity came into being.

It was then entirely natural that Imâm Khomeini should swiftly emerge as the leader of the Islamic Revolution of 1978-1979. Notwithstanding his physical absence from the country, he was present in the hearts of his countrymen and infinitely more in tune with their aspirations than politicians who had suffered neither exile nor imprisonment.

On November 23, 1977, the elder son of Imâm Khomeini, Hajj Mustafâ, died suddenly in Najaf, assassinated by the Shâh’s US-instituted security police, SAVAK. Imâm Khomeini bore this blow stoically, but the tragedy inflamed the public in Iran. Massive social corruption and economic dislocation as well as continuing political repression had already aroused universal discontent in Iran, and when the regime aimed its next blow against Imâm Khomeini, discontent overflowed into rebellion, and rebellion, in turn, matured into revolution.

On January 8,1978, one week after President Carter had been in Tehran lauding the Shâh as a wise statesman beloved of his people,[21] the government-controlled press printed an article supplied by the Ministry of Court attacking Imâm Khomeini as an agent of foreign powers. The public reaction was immediate outrage. The following day in Qum, demonstrations broke out that were suppressed with heavy loss of life. This was the first of a series of demonstrations that progressively unfurled across the country, until in the end barely a single region remained untouched by revolutionary fervor. Throughout the spring and summer of 1978, Imâm Khomeini issued a series of proclamations and directives, congratulating the people on their steadfastness and encouraging them to persist until the attainment of the final objective—overthrow of the monarchy and institution of an Islamic republic.

The centrality of the Imâm in the revolutionary movement was obvious from the beginning. His name was constantly repeated in the slogans that were devised and chanted in the demonstrations; his portrait served as a revolutionary banner; and his return from exile to supervise the installation of an Islamic government was insistently demanded. Acting under another of its erroneous assumptions, the Shâh’s regime requested the Ba’athist government in Iraq, in September 1978, to expel Imâm Khomeini from its territory, in the hope of depriving him of his base of operations and robbing the Revolution of its leadership. Imâm Khomeini had never enjoyed cordial relations with the various governments that had ruled Iraq since his arrival there in 1965, and he now informed the Ba’athists that he would be happy to leave Iraq for a country that was not subject to the Shâh’s dictates. Syria and Algeria were considered as possible destinations, but in the end, as Imâm Khomeini testifies himself, no Muslim country offered him refuge with the assurance of his being able to continue his activity freely.[22] So, he went to France, taking up residence at the hamlet of Neauphle-le-Château near Paris in early October 1978.

The move to France proved beneficial. Paradoxically, communication with Iran was easier from France than it had been from Iraq. The declarations and directives that were now being issued with increasing frequency were telephoned directly to Tehran, for further dissemination to a number of centers in the provinces. A never-ending stream of Iranians, from Europe and the United States as well as Iran itself, came to visit and pay homage to the Imâm, and to consult with him. The world’s media also descended on the modest residence of the Imâm at Neauphle-le-Château, and his words began to reach a global audience.      

The month of Muharram that coincided with December 1978 witnessed vast and repeated demonstrations in Tehran and other Iranian cities, demanding the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of an Islamic republic under the leadership of Imâm Khomeini. Despite all the savagery the Shâh had employed, including the slaughter of thousands of unarmed demonstrators, the torture and abuse of detainees, and massacres of the wounded on their hospital beds, and despite the unstinting support he had received from the United States and other foreign powers, the corrupt and murderous rule of the Shâh was approaching its end. His masters decided it was politic for him to leave, and when preparation had been made for the installation of a surrogate administration under Shâhpûr Bakhtiâr, the Shâh left Iran for the last time on January 16, 1979.  The outburst of joy that followed his departure was a fulfillment of the prophecy Imâm Khomeini had made sixteen years earlier.

Once the Shâh left Iran, Imâm Khomeini prepared to return to his homeland. When he did, on February 1, he was met with a tumultuous welcome. With his renewed presence in Iran, the fate of the Bakhtiâr’s government was sealed. After a final outburst of savagery on February 10 and 11, the old regime collapsed in disgrace, and the Islamic Republic of Iran was born.

In the two eventful years that have elapsed since the triumph of the Revolution, Imâm Khomeini has continued to play an indispensable role in consolidating its gains and guiding the destiny of the nation. In a formal sense, his role has been defined by Articles, 107 to 112 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran,[23] which incorporate the key political principle of the “governance of the faqîh (vilâyat-i faqîh).[24] In a more general sense, however, he has continued to provide the Revolution with its very substance, acting as its highest instance of authority and legitimacy. Countless addresses to different groups of citizens that come to visit him, as well as public speeches to wider audiences on particular significant occasions, have confirmed Imâm Khomeini as the teacher and guide of the Islamic Revolution.[25]

Throughout this long and remarkable career, Imâm Khomeini has manifested a unique set of characteristics: spirituality and erudition, asceticism and self-discipline, sobriety and determination, political genius and leadership, compassion for the poor and deprived, and a relentless hatred of oppression and imperialism. Summarizing his assessment of Imâm Khomeini, the late Āyatullâh Mutahhari[26] compared him with ‘Ali ibn Abi Tâlib (‘a), that high exemplar of Islamic courage, wisdom, and spirituality. All who had the privilege to come into the presence of the Imâm will concur in his judgment.   

[5] The translator’s introduction in the English translation as part of an anthology titled Islam and Revolution, originally published by Al-Mizan Press, Berkeley, USA in 1981. Notes with “(Pub.)” at the end are that of, or modified by, the publisher. (Pub.)