Ruhollah Khomeini

Sayyid Ruhollah Khomeini
سید روح‌الله موسوی خمینی
Imam Khomeini Potrait.jpg
Ruhollah Khomeini
1st Supreme Leader of Iran
In office
11 February 1979 – 3 June 1989
President Abolhassan Banisadr
Mohammad-Ali Rajai
Ali Khamenei
Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan
Mohammad-Ali Rajai
Mohammad-Javad Bahonar
Mohammadreza Mahdavi Kani
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Preceded by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
as head of state
Succeeded by Ali Khamenei
Personal details
Khomeyn, Persia
Tehran, Iran
Resting place Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini
Nationality Iranian
Khadijeh Saqafi ( m. 1929)
Children Mostafa
Title Grand Ayatollah
Religion Islam
Denomination Twelver Shīʿā[6][7][8]
Jurisprudence Ja'fari
Creed Usuli
Notable idea(s) New advance of Guardianship
Alma mater Qom Seminary
Teachers Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi
Styles of
Ruhollah Khomeini
Spoken style Imam Khomeini[10]
Religious style Ayatullah al-Uzma Ruhollah Khomeini[10]

Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini (Persian: سید روح‌الله موسوی خمینی[ruːhoɫˈɫɑːhe χomeiˈniː] (About this soundlisten); 24 September 1902 – 3 June 1989), also known in the Western world as Ayatollah Khomeini,[11] was an Iranian politician and cleric. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the end of the 2,500 year old Persian monarchy. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's Supreme Leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei on 4 June 1989.

Khomeini was born in 1902 in Khomeyn, in what is now Iran's Markazi Province. His father was murdered in 1903 when Khomeini was five months old.[12] He began studying the Quran and the Persian language from a young age and was assisted in his religious studies by his relatives, including his mother's cousin and older brother.

Khomeini was a marja ("source of emulation") in Twelver Shia Islam, a Mujtahid or faqih (an expert in Sharia) and author of more than 40 books, but he is primarily known for his political activities. 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 welayat-el faqih, the "Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (clerical authority)", to include theocratic political rule by Islamic jurists. This principle (though not known to the wider public before the revolution),[13][14] was appended to the new Iranian constitution[15] after being put to a referendum.[16] According to The New York Times, Khomeini called democracy the equivalent of prostitution.[17] Whether Khomeini's ideas are compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be democratic is disputed.[18] He was Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1979 for his international influence,[19] and Khomeini has been described as the "virtual face of Shia Islam in Western popular culture".[20] In 1982, he survived one military coup attempt.[21] Khomeini was known for his support of the hostage takers during the Iran hostage crisis,[22] his fatwa calling for the murder of British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie,[19][23] and for referring to the United States as the "Great Satan" and Soviet Union as the "Lesser Satan."[24] Khomeini has been criticized for these acts and for human rights violations of Iranians (including his ordering of execution of thousands of political prisoners, war criminals and prisoners of the Iran–Iraq War).[25][26][27][28][29]

He has also been lauded as a "charismatic leader of immense popularity",[30] a "champion of Islamic revival" by Shia scholars,[20] who attempted to establish good relations between Sunnis and Shias,[31] and a major innovator in political theory and religious-oriented populist political strategy.[32][33] Khomeini held the title of Grand Ayatollah and is officially known as Imam Khomeini inside Iran[34] and by his supporters internationally.[10] He is generally referred to as Ayatollah Khomeini by others.[35] In Iran, his gold-domed tomb in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahrāʾ cemetery has become a shrine for his adherents,[36] and he is legally considered "inviolable", with Iranians regularly punished for insulting him.[37][38]

Early years


Ruhollah Khomeini's birthplace at Khomeyn

Ruhollah Khomeini's ancestors migrated towards the end of the 18th century from their original home in Nishapur, 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, India – whose rulers were Twelver Shia Muslims of Persian origin.[39][40][41][42] During their rule they extensively invited, and received, a steady stream of Persian scholars, poets, jurists, architects, and painters.[43] The family eventually settled in the small town of Kintoor, near Lucknow, the capital of Awadh.[44][45][46][47] Ayatollah Khomeini's paternal grandfather, Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi, was born in Kintoor.[45][47] He left Lucknow in 1830, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Imam Ali in Najaf, Ottoman Iraq (now Iraq) and never returned.[44][47] According to Moin, this migration was to escape from the spread of British power in India.[48] In 1834 Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi visited Persia, and in 1839 he settled in Khomein.[45] Although he stayed and settled in Iran, he continued to be known as Hindi, indicating his stay in India, and Ruhollah Khomeini even used Hindi as a pen name in some of his ghazals.[44] There are also claims that Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi departed from Kashmir, instead of Lucknow.[41] Khomeini's grandfather, Mirza Ahmad Mojtahed-e Khonsari was the cleric issuing a fatwa to forbid usage of Tobacco during the Tobacco Protest.[49][50]



Ruhollah began to study the Qur'an and elementary Persian at the age of six.[51] The following year, he began to attend a local school, where he learned religion, noheh khani (lamentation recital), and other traditional subjects.[48] Throughout his childhood, he continued his religious education with the assistance of his relatives, including his mother's cousin, Ja'far,[48] and his elder brother, Morteza Pasandideh.[52]

Education and lecturing

Khomeini as a student with his friends (second from right)

After World War I arrangements were made for him to study at the Islamic seminary in Isfahan, but he was attracted instead to the seminary in Arak. He was placed under the leadership of Ayatollah Abdul Karim Haeri Yazdi.[53] In 1920, Khomeini moved to Arak and commenced his studies.[54] The following year, Ayatollah Haeri Yazdi transferred to the Islamic seminary in the holy city of Qom, southwest of Tehran, and invited his students to follow. Khomeini accepted the invitation, moved,[52] and took up residence at the Dar al-Shafa school in Qom.[55] Khomeini's studies included Islamic law (sharia) and jurisprudence (fiqh),[51] but by that time, Khomeini had also acquired an interest in poetry and philosophy (irfan). So, upon arriving in Qom, Khomeini sought the guidance of Mirza 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.[56][57] However, perhaps Khomeini's biggest influences were another teacher, Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Shahabadi,[58] and a variety of historic Sufi mystics, including Mulla Sadra and Ibn Arabi.[57]

Khomeini studied Greek philosophy and was influenced by both the philosophy of Aristotle, whom he regarded as the founder of logic,[59] and Plato, whose views "in the field of divinity" he regarded as "grave and solid".[60] Among Islamic philosophers, Khomeini was mainly influenced by Avicenna and Mulla Sadra.[59]

Khomeini in 1938

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.[61] His knowledge of poetry is further attested by the modern poet Nader Naderpour (1929–2000), who "had spent many hours exchanging poems with Khomeini in the early 1960". Naderpour remembered: "For four hours we recited poetry. Every single line I recited from any poet, he recited the next."[62]

Ruhollah Khomeini was a lecturer at Najaf and Qom seminaries for decades before he was known on the political scene. He soon became a leading scholar of Shia Islam.[63] He taught political philosophy,[64] Islamic history and ethics. Several of his students – for example, Morteza Motahhari – later became leading Islamic philosophers and also marja'. As a scholar and teacher, Khomeini produced numerous writings on Islamic philosophy, law, and ethics.[65] He showed an exceptional interest in subjects like philosophy and mysticism that not only were usually absent from the curriculum of seminaries but were often an object of hostility and suspicion.[66]


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)[68][69] published in 1942, was a point-by-point refutation of Asrar-e hazar salih (Secrets of a Thousand Years), a tract written by a disciple of Iran's leading anti-clerical historian, Ahmad Kasravi,[70] as well as a condemnation of innovations such as international time zones,[71] [note 1] and the banning of hijab by Reza Shah. 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.

Early political activity


Khomeini's speech against the Shah in Qom, 1964

Most Iranians had a deep respect for the Shi'a clergy or Ulama,[72] and tended to be religious, traditional, and alienated from the process of Westernization 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 against a concession to a foreign (British) interest.


Opposition to the White Revolution



Khomeini denouncing the Shah on 'Ashura (3 June 1963)


On 5 June 1963 (15 of Khordad) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran.[76] 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.[77] Khomeini was kept under house arrest and released in August.[78][79]

Opposition to capitulation

Khomeini in prayer

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.[80][81] The "capitulation" law (or "status-of-forces agreement") allowed members of the U.S. armed forces in Iran to be tried in their own military courts. Khomeini was arrested in November 1964 and held for half a year. Upon his release, he was brought before Prime Minister Hasan Ali Mansur, who tried to convince Khomeini that he should apologize and drop his opposition to the government. When Khomeini refused, Mansur slapped Khomeini's face in a fit of rage.[82] Two months later, Mansur was assassinated on his way to parliament. Four members of the Fadayan-e Islam were later executed for the murder.[citation needed]

Life in exile

Khomeini in exile at Bursa, Turkey without clerical dress

Khomeini spent more than 14 years in exile, mostly in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf. Initially, he was sent to Turkey on 4 November 1964 where he stayed in Bursa in the home of Colonel Ali Cetiner of the Turkish Military Intelligence.[83] 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[84] by then-Vice President Saddam Hussein. By this time discontent with the Shah was becoming intense and Khomeini visited Neauphle-le-Château, a suburb of Paris, France on a tourist visa on 6 October 1978.[65][85][86]

The Entrance of Khomeini's House in Najaf, Iraq
Khomeini at Najaf






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",[92] became common items in the markets of Iran,[93] helped 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.


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.[97] 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.[98]

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Return to Iran


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 (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.[99] On his chartered Air France flight back to Tehran, he was accompanied by 120 journalists,[100][101] including three women.[101] One of the journalists, Peter Jennings, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?"[102] Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh: "Hichi" (Nothing).[102] This statement—much discussed at the time[103] and since[104]—was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego.[105] Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment.[106]

Khomeini and the interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan


Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar, promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government."[107][108] On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, 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."[109]

As Khomeini's movement gained momentum, soldiers began to defect to his side and Khomeini declared ill fortune on troops who did not surrender.[110] On 11 February, as revolt spread and armories were taken over, the military declared neutrality and the Bakhtiar regime collapsed.[111] 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,[112] with the question: "should the monarchy be abolished in favour of an Islamic Government?"

Islamic constitution


Khomeini with people

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.[116] Opposition groups such as the National Democratic Front and Muslim People's Republican Party were attacked and finally banned.[117] Through popular support, Khomeini supporters gained an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Assembly of Experts[118] which revised the proposed constitution. The newly proposed constitution included an Islamic jurist Supreme Leader of the country, and a Council of Guardians 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.[119][120] 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 was elected as the first president of Iran. Critics complain that Khomeini had gone back on his word[121] to advise, rather than rule the country.[122]

Hostage crisis



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."[125] The seizure of the embassy of a country he called the "Great Satan"[126] 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."[127] The new constitution was successfully passed by referendum a month after the hostage crisis began.


Relationship with Islamic and non-aligned countries

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."[129] "Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution."[130] He declared the birth week of Muhammad (the week between 12th to 17th of Rabi' al-awwal) as the Unity week. Then he declared the last Friday of Ramadan as International Day of Quds in 1981.[131]

Iran–Iraq War

Ruhollah Khomeini with Ahmad Khomeini and Mohammad-Ali Rajai


In September 1980, Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran, beginning the Iran–Iraq War (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 from power.[133][134][135] In 1982, there was an attempted military coup against Khomeini.[21] The Iran–Iraq War ended in 1988, with 320,000–720,000 Iranian soldiers and militia killed.[136]


During war Iranians used human wave attacks (people walking to certain death including child soldiers)[137][138] on Iraq, with his promise that they would automatically go to paradise—alJanna— if they died in battle,[138] and his pursuit of victory in the Iran–Iraq War that ultimately proved futile.[139][36] By March 1984, Iran's population had dropped by well over two million.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

Khomeini in Jamaran, one year before his death


Fatwa against chemical weapons


Rushdie fatwa

Persian Samizdat edition of Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses c.2000



Though Rushdie publicly regretted "the distress that publication has occasioned to sincere followers of Islam",[145] the fatwa was not revoked.


Life under Khomeini


Under Khomeini's rule, Sharia (Islamic law) was introduced, with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women by Islamic Revolutionary Guards and other Islamic groups.[148] Women were required to cover their hair, and men were not allowed to wear shorts. Alcoholic drinks, most Western movies, and the practice of men and women swimming or sunbathing together were banned.[149] The Iranian educational curriculum was Islamized at all levels with the Islamic Cultural Revolution; the "Committee for Islamization of Universities"[150] 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.[149] The ban lasted 10 years (approximately the rest of his life).[151]

Emigration and economy

Khomeini is said to have stressed "the spiritual over the material".[152][153] 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."[154] 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."[155] He also reportedly answered a question about his economic policies by declaring that 'economics is for donkeys'.[156][note 2] This disinterest in economic policy is said to be "one factor explaining the inchoate performance of the Iranian economy since the revolution."[152] Other factors include the long war with Iraq, the cost of which led to government debt and inflation, eroding personal incomes, and unprecedented unemployment,[157] ideological disagreement over the economy, and "international pressure and isolation" such as US sanctions following the hostage crisis.[158]

Due to the Iran–Iraq War, poverty is said to have risen by nearly 45% during the first 6 years of Khomeini's rule.[159] Emigration from Iran also developed, reportedly for the first time in the country's history.[160] 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.[161][162]

Suppression of opposition




In the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, following the People's Mujahedin of Iran 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 (mortad) or "waging war on God" (moharebeh). Almost all of those interrogated were killed, estimates of their number vary from 1,400[168] to 30,000.[25][169][170] Because of the large number, prisoners were loaded into forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes in half-hour intervals.[171]

Minority religions

Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are officially recognized and protected by the government. Shortly after Khomeini's return from exile in 1979, he issued a fatwa ordering that Jews and other minorities (except Bahá'ís) be treated well.[172][173] In power, Khomeini distinguished between Zionism as a secular political party that employs Jewish symbols and ideals and Judaism as the religion of Moses.[174]

Senior government posts were reserved for Muslims. Schools set up by Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians had to be run by Muslim principals.[175] 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.[176] Iran's non-Muslim population has decreased. For example, the Jewish population in Iran dropped from 80,000 to 30,000.[177] 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.[178] The view that Zoroastrians are najis ("unclean") has also been renewed.[178]

Four of the 270 seats in parliament 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 are the largest religious minority in Iran. making up only 4% of the entire Muslim population.[179]


Like most conservative Muslims, Khomeini believed Bahá'í to be apostates.[182] He claimed they were a political rather than a religious movement,[183][184] declaring:


Ethnic minorities


Death and funeral


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,[187] at the age of 86 just before midnight. He was succeeded as Supreme Leader by Ali Khamenei. Iranians poured out into the cities and streets in enormous numbers to mourn Khomeini's death in a spontaneous outpouring of grief. In the scorching summer heat, fire trucks sprayed water on the crowds to cool them.[188] 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.[189][190]


Figures about Khomeini's initial funeral attendance which took place on 4 June range around 2.5–3.5 million people.[192][193] Early the following day, Khomeini's corpse was flown in by helicopter for burial at the Paradise of Zahra cemetery. 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.[194] 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:




Khomeini and his successor, Ali Khamenei

Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, 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 in November 1985.[196] The principle of velayat-e faqih 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,[197][198][unreliable source?] or, as at least one other source stated, because only Montazeri had the "political credentials" Khomeini found suitable for his successor).[199] 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.'[200] After a letter of his complaints was leaked to Europe and broadcast on the BBC, a furious Khomeini ousted him from his position as official successor.[citation needed] Montazeri was related to Mehdi Hashemi that He was arrested, convicted and executed in September 1987 on charges of counterrevolutionary activities.[201] his portraits were ordered by the then Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi to be removed from offices and mosques.[202]

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[197] and this allowed Ali Khamenei, 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.[203][204] Ayatollah Khamenei was elected Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts 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.[205][206]


The anniversary of Khomeini's death is a public holiday.[207][208][209] To commemorate Khomeini, people visit his mausoleum placed on Behesht-e Zahra to hear sermons and practice prayers on his death day.[210]

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 for all political activity" there.[211] Throughout his many writings and speeches, Khomeini's views on governance evolved. Originally declaring rule by monarchs or others permissible so long as sharia law was followed[212] Khomeini later adamantly opposed monarchy, arguing that only rule by a leading Islamic jurist (a marja') would ensure Sharia was properly followed (wilayat al-faqih),[213] 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.[214] Khomeini's concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (ولایت فقیه, velayat-e faqih) as Islamic government did not win the support of the leading Iranian Shi'i clergy of the time.[215] 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.[215]

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,[216] both ultraconservative (Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi) and reformist opponents of the regime (Akbar Ganji and Abdolkarim Soroush) believe he did not, while regime officials and supporters like Ali Khamenei,[217] Mohammad Khatami and Mortaza Motahhari[218] believe Khomeini intended the Islamic republic to be democratic and that it is so.[219] Khomeini himself also made statements at different times indicating both support and opposition to democracy.[220]

Khomeini greeted by the people

One scholar, Shaul Bakhash, 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.[221] 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.[222]

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.[223] Khomeini strongly opposed close relations with either Eastern or Western Bloc nations, believing the Islamic world should be its own bloc, or rather converge into a single unified power.[224] 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.[225] 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,"[226] making the word 'Ayatollah' "a synonym for a dangerous madman ... in popular parlance."[227] 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.[123] There Khomeini and the Islamic Republic are remembered for the American embassy hostage taking and accused of sponsoring hostage-taking and terrorist attacks,[228][229] and which continues to apply economic sanctions against Iran.




Murals of Khomeini and Ali Khamenei, Shah Mosque in Isfahan




Appearance and habits

Khomeini was described as "slim", but athletic and "heavily boned".[239]

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."[241] 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."[242]

Khomeini adhered to traditional beliefs of Islamic hygienical jurisprudence holding that things like urine, excrement, blood, wine etc. and also non-Muslims were some of eleven ritualistically "impure" things that physical contact with which while wet required ritual washing or Ghusl before prayer or salat.[243][244] He is reported to have refused to eat or drink in a restaurant unless he knew for sure the waiter was a Muslim.[245]





Khomeini and a child.

As the revolution gained momentum, even some non-supporters exhibited awe, called him "magnificently clear-minded, single-minded and unswerving."[249] His image was as "absolute, wise, and indispensable leader of the nation"[250]


Even many secularists who firmly disapproved of his policies were said to feel the power of his "messianic" appeal.[252] Comparing him to a father figure who retains the enduring loyalty even of children he disapproves of, journalist Afshin Molavi writes that defenses of Khomeini are "heard in the most unlikely settings":





Family and descendants


In 1929,[256] Khomeini married Khadijeh Saqafi,[257] the 16-year-old daughter of a cleric in Tehran. By all accounts their marriage was harmonious and happy.[257] She died in 2009.[258] 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, Iraq with his father and was rumored by supporters of his father to have been murdered by SAVAK.[259] Ahmad Khomeini, 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.[260] Perhaps his "most prominent daughter",[261] Zahra Mostafavi, is a professor at the University of Tehran, and still alive.

Khomeini's fifteen grandchildren include:

  • Hassan Khomeini, Khomeini's elder grandson Sayid Hasan Khomeini, son of the Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini, is a cleric and the trustee of the Mausoleum of Khomeini and also has shown support for the reform movement in Iran,[262] and Mir-Hossein Mousavi's call to cancel the 2009 election results.[261]


Khomeini was a prolific writer and speaker (200 of his books are online)[267] who authored commentaries on the Qur'an, on Islamic jurisprudence, the roots of Islamic law, and Islamic traditions. He also released books about philosophy, gnosticism, poetry, literature, government and politics.[268]

His books include: