Ayatollah Khomeini's
Gems of Islamism

(Excerpts from some of the legendary Ayatollah’s
books, speeches, comments [1A] )

Elmer Swenson

1. Why should anyone care about the Ayatollah Khomeini, what he wrote or said?
2. Kashf al-Asrar, (Key to the Secrets) (1942), Khomeini's first book.
3. Resaleh Towzih al-Masa'el, (Questions clarified) (1961), Khomeini's first book of fatwas on religious questions.
4. Tahrir al-Vasileh, (Commentary on the Vehicle) (1965), Khomeini's second book of fatwas.
5. Speech on "social justice" and equality by Khomeini at Qom, April 3, 1963 .
6. Velayat-e Faqih, Hokumat-e-Eslami, (The Regency of the Theologian, Islamic Government), aka Hokumat-e-Eslami (Islamic Government) (1970), Khomeini's seminal book on Islamic government as rule by Islamic jurists.
7. Lectures on the Supreme Jihad, (1972). ,
8. Statement to students by Khomeini, September 28, 1977 .
9. Assorted speeches and quotes by Khomeini after he came to power, (1979-1988).
10. Fatwa calling for the killing of novelist Salman Rushdie by Khomeini, February 1989.
11. Religious and Political Will of Khomeini, read after his death.
12. What does it all mean?
13. Bibliograpy

INTRO

Why Should We Care About the Ayatollah Khomeini, What He Wrote or What He Said?

"The Imam", Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-89), is noteworthy to history for essentially one reason, his leadership of the Iranian Revolution of 1979. As mentioned elsewhere on this site,

https://gemsofislamism.tripod.com/islamo-fascism.html
https://gemsofislamism.tripod.com/khomeini_promises_kept.html

one of the most dramatic and unexpected political events of the 20th Century was the Iranian Islamic Revolution: the overthrow of a modernizing, Westernizing Shah (monarch) of Iran, and his replacement with an anti-Western, revolutionary Islamist theocracy led by Khomeini.

For those who weren't around or weren't paying attention when it happened, the Revolution was an astonishing event, above all because

20+ years later, enthusiasm has abated both out and inside Iran. No other Muslim countries followed Iran's example and the Islamic Republic itself hasn't come close to meeting the goals of the revolution like self-sufficiency or an end to poverty.
(see: https://gemsofislamism.tripod.com/khomeini_promises_kept.html),
But the revolution lives on, still a powerful force to be reckoned with in Middle East politics. Though its supporters are no longer a majority they retain power, determined as ever, financing kindred Islamists in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and elsewhere. [7A]

The Ayatollah

Khomeini's importance to the revolution is hard to overstate. He was not just the unifying figure but its architect and emotional, spiritual touchstone. The crowds that gathered for his return from exile and for his funeral ten years later were some of the largest and most emotional in Iran's history. In between these events he ruled Iran. [8A])

A senior Shi'ite Muslim cleric (a "Grand Ayatollah"), Khomeini was from the beginning of his public life a devoted enemy of Iran's then ruler, the Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and everything the Shah stood for: secularism and Westernization. It was Khomeini's 1963 arrest that provoked the first massive demonstrations against the Shah, and Khomeini who worked to inspire and lead clerical opposition to the Shah during his 14 years in exile.

Why This Page?

There is no shortage of books about Khomeini and his times. What this page endeavors to do is use Khomeini's own words (albeit translated) to tell the story of his ideas, his vision, and how he dealt with frustrations to implementing them. To do it without worrying about how not to bite the visa-providing-hand of the Iranian government, and without nostalgia or awe for the original popular enthusiasm and power of the Islamic Revolution. To put emphasis on what Khomeini said that most Iranians and outside observers were either unaware of or ignored, rather than Khomeini's life or why he became the leader of the revolution. Hopefully what you read will shed light on the person some (including the American Ambassador to the United Nations), thought was "some kind of saint." [9A]

Note on translations: All quotes by Khomeini are translated by others. Some are by supporters (Hamid Algar, the IRNA) or apologists (J. Borujerdi), others by detached academic scholars (Hamid Dabashi), unsympathetic professionals (Asghar Schirazi, the FBIS U.S. government agency), or outright professional foes of Khomeini (Iranians Amir Taheri and the members of the Homa Darabi Foundation). Surprisingly, you may find it's sometimes hard to tell the point of view of the translators without knowing it ahead of time!

Notes on "Intro"

[1A] Khomeini is credited with dozens of books, ( http://www.geocities.com/ahlulbayt14/khom.html lists 43 by him, and there is a 22 (16?) volume set of his letters and proclamations between 1964 and 1977 published in Sahifeh-ye Nur. (Introduction by Sayyid Ali Khamenei. 16 volumes. Tehran: Markaz-e Madarek-e Farhangi-ye Enqelab-e Islami, 1361/1982
(info from Theology of Discontent, The Ideological Foundations of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, by Hamid Dabashi, New York University Press, New York and London c1993, p.425, 581)

But the six listed here are the ones most frequently described by his biographers and commentators. So far as I can tell, four of these six -- Resaleh, Velayat-e Faqih, Velayat-e Faqih (The Regency of the Theologian), Jehad-e Akbar and Political Will and Testament -- have been translated into English.

[9A] "... in his first few months in power a majority of Iranian and foreign observers of the revolution were so enthusiastic about its authentic and popular basis that their judgments about Khomeini were coloured by wishful idealism. ... Clearly, both Ambassador Andrew Young, who thought of Khomeini has a kind of saint, and the State Department's Iran Country Director Henry Precht, who believed some American newspapers were misreading and exaggerating Khomeini's early writings, proved to be wrong." from: p.10 Iran Since the Revolution , by Sepehr Zabih, Johns Hopkins Press, 1982

Kashf al-Asrar

Khomeini's first book was Kashf al-Asrar, aka Secrets Unveiled, was published in 1942 "to little notice," while Khomeini was still a minor cleric. A short, unsigned book/pamphlet its ostensive theme was a defense of Shi'ism against theological attacks by its Islamic arch-rival the Wahhabi sect. Those who've written about Khomeini describe its actual theme as (variously): an attack on Iran's recently deposed ruler the militant anti-clerical modernizer Reza Shah, on the renegade Shi'a clergymen who had collaborated with the Shah, or on the "growing number of secular intellectuals" in Iran -- specifically a popular, influential writer by the name of Ahmad Kasravi. Kasravi was assassinated three years later by Fedayeen of Islam, an early Islamist terrorist group. According to Iranian journalist Amir Taheri, the assassins interpreted Khomeini's book as a fatwa (Islamic legal decree) calling for Kasravi's death. [1B]

Khomeini on Killing and Conquest

No complete English translation of the book/pamphlet has ever been published as far as I can tell, but Amir Taheri did translate a snippet of it where Khomeini explains the importance of war, violence and conquest for Muslims:

Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disabled and incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of [other] countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world.

But those who study Islamic Holy War will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world ... Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless.

Islam says: kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean that Muslims should sit back until they are devoured by [the unbelievers]?

Islam say: Kill them [the non-Muslims], put them to the sword and scatter [their armies]. Does this mean sitting back until [non-Muslims] overcome us?

Islam says: kill in the service of Allah those who may want to kill you! Does this mean that we should surrender to the enemy?

Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for Holy Warriors!

There are hundreds of other ayat [Qur'anic verses] and ahadith urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all that mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim. [2B]

Some more nuggets from Kashf al-Asrar were translated for The Little Green Book, a book of Khomeini quotes published after the 1979 Islamic Revolution as a takeoff on "The Little Red Book" of legendary Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse Tung.

On the Danger of Music

We affirm that music engenders immorality, lust, and licentiousness, and stifles courage, valor, and the chivalrous spirit; it is forbidden by Quranic laws and must not be taught in the schools.[3B]

On the Danger of any Innovation in Islamic Law

If anyone, in the guise of pursuing Islamic justice, interprets the Law in a manner contrary to the divine will, he has committed the sin of innovation. Learned men are bound to condemn him or they will themselves be condemned. [4B]

On the Danger of "A Thousand Varieties of Corruption"

Khomeini supporter Hamid Algar translated four pages from Kashf al-Asrar [5B]. A tour de force of fury and self-pity, it rages against just about everything --

Surrounded by idiots and knaves, his wisdom unappreciated, Khomeini could only shake his head in exasperation.

There is much to be said, much that is weighing on my mind, but where are the ears to listen to me, where is the perception to understand me? [Islam and Revolution, p.173]

On Islamic Government (Version 1.0) -- Rule by Islamic Clerics Isn't Necessary, God's Law Is

Although Khomeini is furious with the Shah's regime, he specifically says,

"We do not say that government must be in the hands of the faqih [an Islamic jurist]; rather we say that government must be run in accordance with God's law ..."(p.170)

Elsewhere he asserts that the practical

power of the mujtaheds excludes the government and includes only simple matters such as legal rulings, religious judgments, and intervention to protect the property of minors and the weak. Even when rulers are oppressive and against the people, they [the mujtaheds] will not try to destroy the rulers. [7B]. [source: Kashf-i Asrar, (Secrets Revealed) (Tehran, n.d.) p.186]

anyone who has come general awareness of the beliefs and ordinances of Islam, [Velayat-e Faqih, Hokumat-e-Eslami (Islamic Government), p.27]

several centuries of malicious propaganda on the part of the imperialists. [8B].

Notes on "Kashf al-Asrar"

[1B] In Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah (p.61), Baqer Moin says "the real target of Kasf al-Asrar was not Reza Shah but the renegade clergymen who in Khomeini's eyes had actively collaborated with" Reza Shah
Amir Taheri says Kashf al Asrar (Key to the Secrets)" written

to rebut criticism of Islam by a growing number of secular intellectuals. ... Khomeini's pamphlet was vitriolic both in sentiment and tone and amounted to a virtual death sentence on Kasravi. Without naming the guilty intellectual, Khomeini denounced all those who criticized Islam as mahdur ad-damm, meaning that their blood must be shed by the faithful. The pamphlet was almost totally ignored.

So did Khomeini refrain from really saying what he thought of monarchy in Kashf al-Asrar until the time for frontal attack on monarchy was more propitious? This theory is also problematic. If he was worried about royal retribution it didn't stop him from making bitter attacks on Reza Shah and in any case Khomeini's name did not appear on Kashf al-Asrar which was published unsigned. Further, the monarchy in Iran was decidedly weak when Kashf al-Asrar came out (1942) than when his plan for abolishing monarchy -- Velayat-e Faqih, Hokumat-e-Eslami (The Regency of the Theologian, Islamic Government) -- was first promoted (1970). It was World War II and the Russians and British had just invaded and occupied Iran. Reza Shah had been deposing just a few months earlier and replaced him with his inexperienced young son, the young crown prince (not yet Shah) Muhammad Reza. One of the low points of Pahlavi dynasty, it was a time when premiers like Ahmed Qavam arguably held as much or more power (see: Iran Between Two Revolutions by Ervand Abrahamian, Princeton University Press, 1982, pp.225-263)

Resaleh Towzih al-Masa'el

A decade or so following Kashf, Khomeini wrote a couple of major books on religion, (or more accurately religious law), these being part of the process of moving up the clerical ladder and establishing a reputation as a grand ayatollah. [1C]. One of the publications (Resaleh Towzih al-Masa'el, also Risaleh Towzih al Masa'il aka Questions Clarified), is available in English, translated by J. Borujerdi, with a foreword by Michael M. J. Fischer and Mehdi Abedi.[2C].

This book is a collection of (almost 2900) questions by, and answers for, pious traditional Shi'a on how to be good Muslims. Almost all of them (80%) are about personal behavior, ritual purity, or the five pillars of Islam, (rather than public issues like business, commerce, contracts, employment, politics, etc.). [3C]

Non-Muslim or non-traditionalist outsiders will probably find the answers (a.k.a. fatwas) vary in tone.

• some seem to be straightforward religious advise, (e.g. who can go on hajj to Mecca, when can a body be exhumed from a grave).
• some seem commonsense, but outside the realm of the sacred or spiritual, (e.g. wash your hands before eating, don't eat after you are full (#2637), don't eat anything "harmful" (#2630)).
• some seem arbitrary, (wine is unclean, hashish is not (#111), don't cut bread with a knife or peel fruit (#2637), make sure any locust you eat has grown wings and can fly (#2632)).
• many seem picayune to the point of obsessiveness, (wash a container 3X if contaminated by a dog, but 7X if by a pig (#150,152), when urinating or defecating don't squat in the direction of Mecca (#59) and be sure to follow these (surprisingly) detailed instructions ...

  After urination, one must first wash the anus if it has been soiled by urine; then one must press three times with the middle finger and the base of the penis; then one must put his thumb on top of the penis and his index finger on the bottom and pull the skin forward three times as far as the circumcision ring; and after that three times squeeze the tip of the penis. (#72, (Resaleh p.42))

• A few deal with situations or questions that don't make a whole lot of sense -
  • A body is allowed to exhumed from its grave for (among other reasons), if "they want to take out a living child from the belly of a buried pregnant woman." (#643.)
  • The traditional Muslim practice of establishing kinship relations through the breast feeding of a nursemaid requires that "the child drinks the milk of a woman who is alive. Thus it is useless to drink from the breast of a dead woman." (#2472)
  • It's okay to eat a piece of fish even if the remaining part of the fish "falls into the water [and is] still alive." (#2621)
• .... still others sound like they make sense more as pre-scientific village folk wisdom than sacred truths,
  • Women who are descended from the Prophet Muhammad have menopause "after they finish sixty years of age .... Others who are not of Mohammed's descent enter menopause when they finish the age of fifty." (#435. (Resaleh p.54)

But whether straightforward or weird, not one of Khomeini's answers includes an explanations of WHY a rule must be followed, or why Khomeini answered the question the way he did. The closest Khomeini ever comes to offering an explanation is this run-on sentence in question #2633 on the danger of drinking alcoholic beverages.

Wine is the root of evils and the source of sins and whoever drinks wine loses his sanity and does not recognize God at that time and has no fear of committing any sin and has no respect for anyone and does not respect the rights of his close relatives and does not turn away from flagrant indecencies and the spirit of faith and piety exits from his body and a defective spirit of devilishness, which is distant from God's mercy, will remain in him and God and the angels and the prophets and the faithful will curse him and his prayer will not be accepted for 40 days and on the judgment day his face is black and his tongue is lolling out and his saliva is running over his chest, loudly crying of thirst.

Finally, readers may be surprised to learn is that almost all of Resaleh Towzih al-Masa'el was copied, not written by Khomeini. Resaleh Towzih al-Masa'el is a sort of template, the original having been written by the revered Ayatollah Sayyid Hossein Borujerdi a decade earlier. Borujerdi's book in turn was based on a turn-of-the-century text by Sayyid Kazem Yazdi's (d.1919) `Urwat al-wuthqa ("The Handle of Trust"), making Resaleh ... a relatively newfangled work by the standards of Shi'a clerics. Khomeini was one of many mujtahid clerics who published copies of the work with slight variations on the original,[4C] though which parts are Borujerdi's original fatwas and which are Khomeini's input is not explained.

(Note: in the citations below, the numbers refer to those found in J. Borujerdi's translation, the page numbers refer to the Little Green Book, whose translations are more readable.)

Khomeini on Cleanliness

More than a quarter of the questions in Resaleh (846 out of nearly 2900), talk about purity and impurity. Khomeini relates

• how many times to wash a container contaminated by a dog (three times in "small water" (a quantity of water less than about 380 liters [5C]) after first rubbing it with dirt, #150);
• how many times to wash a container "from which a pig has drunk fluid" (seven times "with small water as well as with Kor ("big water," i.e. greater than 380 liters) or running water," #152);
• that dogs, pigs, non-Muslims, and blood from humans and other mammals are always impure; but that such things as fish ("even if found dead in the water"), pus from a wound, and "the hairs, bones, and teeth of dead animals" (aside from dogs and pigs) are pure (#88, #104)
• Animals that eat human excrement are impure, but can be purified by keeping them from eating human excrement for certain number of days :
  40 days for a camel,
  20 days for cattle
  10 days for sheep,
  7 or 5 for a turkey and
  3 for a chicken.
  (#220 Resaleh Towzih al-Masa'el, (p.63))
• that running water (from a stream or river) with excrement or urine in it is pure provided the "odor, color, or taste" hasn't been changed by the excrement or urine (#29, #30). If it has, it can purified by "running water of rainwater which falls directly into it, or rainwater driven into it by the wind, or carried to it by a drainpipe." (#53, (Resaleh p.66)

... but says not a word about purifying water by boiling or adding iodine. In fact soap is only mentioned in regards to how to clean IT (soap) once IT'S been contaminated. (#164, #165)

COMMENT: Should we care? After all these are religious definitions of cleanliness for religious rituals and duties. You want laws of religion you listen to a religious scholar. You want disease prevention or control you go to a public health worker ... right? Not quite.

More on Purification

If a person crushes a mosquito on his skin and cannot determine whether the blood there from is the insect's or his own, this blood is pure; but if the time between the bite and the death of the mosquito is so short that no such distinction can be made, the blood is impure. (#206, Resaleh, p.61)

What difference does it make? If it's the person's own blood, it's impure and the person must wash himself. If it's the mosquito's blood, there's no such need because it’s an insect and their blood is not impure.

Khomeini on Urinating and Defecating

Urinating and defecating are forbidden in four places: blind alleys, except with the permission of those living along them; the property of a person who has not given permission to do so; places of worship, such as certain madrasas; graves of believers, unless one does so as an insult to them. (#64, (Resaleh p.40))

It is not necessary to wipe one's anus with three stones or three pieces of fabric: a single stone of single piece of fabric is enough. But if one wipes it with a bone, or any sacred object, such as for example, a paper having the name of God on it, one may not say his prayer while in this state. (#69, (Resaleh p.41))

On the Impurity and Inferior Status of non-Muslims

There are eleven things which are impure: urine, excrement, sperm, bones, blood, dogs, pigs, non-Moslem men and women, wine, beer, and the sweat of the excrement-eating camel. (#83 (from Resaleh p.48))

Every part of the body of a non-Moslem individual is impure, even the hair on his hand and his body hair, his nails, and all the secretions of his body. (#107 (Resaleh p.51))

The Non-Muslim's impurity also prevents them from being allowed to possess a copy of the Qur'an

One must avoid giving the Koran to an infidel; it is even recommended that it be forcibly taken away from him if he already has it in his hands. (#139 (Resaleh p.54))

Another restriction gives non-Muslims a major financial incentive to convert to Islam

A Moslem will inherit from an infidel but an infidel will not inherit from a Moslem even though he is the deceased's father or son. (#2783)

In current Islamic Republic of Iran where Khomeini's fatwa was made law, this is an issue of great concern to the non-Muslim minority. As Parviz Ravani, the Zoroastrian MP complained to journalist Robin Wright, [8C]

... if my child becomes a Muslim, then all my property will go to that child upon my death. None of my other children who didn't convert will stand to get anything. That extends even to my nephew. If he becomes a Muslim, then all my property would go to him, not my own children.`

More Khomeini on Music

As you might expect from someone who had condemned music for "engendering immorality, lust," etc. in his first book, Khomeini limits the use of radio and television forbidding the listening/viewing of "unlawful things such as broadcasts of songs and music" (#2889). Since these songs and music contaminate the airwaves,

I do not permit their selling and buying except for those who do not use them unlawfully at all and do not permit their non-religious use by others, either." (#2990)

On Marriage and the Duties of Spouses to Each Other

A woman who has been contracted permanently must not leave the house without the husband's permission and must surrender herself for any pleasure that he wants and must not prevent him from having intercourse with her without a religious excuse. And if she obeys the husband in these the provision of her food and clothing and dwelling and other appliances mentioned in books is obligatory for the husband and if he does not provide them he is indebted to the woman, whether or not he can afford them. (#2412)

So the woman's duty is to not refuse sex with her husband (or "any pleasure that he wants") without a religious excuse (couldn't find any list of such excuses), nor leave the house without his permission. In return he must provide the wife with food, clothing, and a place to live. In addition he must not abstain from having sex with her for longer than four months. (#2418) Interestingly, "servicing the house" is not included in a wife's duties (#2414).

On When a Woman Should Get Married

A woman should get married shortly after she's reached puberty, or better still, just before.

It is recommended that one hurries [sic] in giving husband to a daughter who has attained puberty, meaning that she is of the age of religious accountability. His Holiness, Sadegh [the 6th Imam] salutations to him, bade that it is one of a man's good fortunes that his daughter does not see menses in his own house. (#2459)

When is that? Nine years old. Khomeini reckons that if a girl has started menstruating, "she has finished the age of nine."

A girl who does not know whether or not she has finished nine years of age, when seeing blood which does not have the sign of menses, is not menstruating. And if [the blood] has the signs of menses and she is certain of its menstrual nature she is menstruating and it becomes evident that she has finished the age of nine. (#438)

On Fornication and Sodomy

Considering the strict and detailed laws on just about everything else, you might assume Khomeini would be especially disapproving on sexual sins. But his fatwas on them seem oddly matter-of-fact

During sexual intercourse, if the penis enters a woman's vagina or a man's anus, fully or only as far as the circumcision ring, both partners become impure, even if they have not reached puberty; they must consequently perform their ablutions. (#104 or #349, (Resaleh p.72))

If a person fornicates with one's paternal or maternal aunt before marrying their daughter, he can no longer marry them [i.e. marry their daughters, his cousins]. #2394

There is no concern in the [marriage] contract involving a person who marries his own cousin (paternal or maternal) and fornicates with their mother before having intercourse with them [his cousin]. [i.e. there's no question about being able to marry the cousin.] #2395

The mother and sister and daughter of a boy who performed sodomy are unlawful to the sodomite even if the doer and giver of sodomy are both minors. ... #2405

If he [the sodomite] marries the mother or sister or daughter of a person and then practices sodomy with that person, they do not become unlawful to him. #2406

The same restrictions apply to women from families "related" to the "boy who performed sodomy" as "as a result of suckling", (i.e. where a woman breast-fed a baby from the other family) #2482.

Bestiality also seems to get light treatment. Fatwas warn of that sodomized animals are impure (#86), should be "taken out of the city and sold elsewhere" if a horse or mule (#2631), or burnt if a cow, sheep or camel (#2632), and that the sodomizer has to clean themselves by ritual bathing (#351). But the only punishment mentioned for the sodomite is reimbursing the animal's owner if the animal is destroyed.

If they have intercourse with a cow and sheep and camel their [the animals] urine and dung becomes unclean and drinking their milk will also be unlawful and they [the animals] must be killed and burned without delay, and the person who had intercourse with them must pay money to the owner. Further, if he had intercourse with any beast its milk becomes unlawful. #2632.

Was intergenerational fornication and sodomy even between close relatives so common the fatwas were necessary to sort out restrictions on the different variations? Is that why Khomeini makes no mention of punishment for fornication? Had he given up on enforcing that and just hoped the fornicators were ritually clean for their prayers?
Or did Khomeini not talk about punishments because Islamic government was not in power and not in a position to enforce them?

Khomeini on Enjoining the Good and Forbidding the Evil

Traditionally Muslims are commanded not just to preach to others, but to command them to do what is good and not do what is evil - evil being both acts universally agreed to be crimes (larceny, rape, murder, etc), and religious sins (eating pork, drinking wine, ignoring fast during the holy months of Ramadan, etc.). Khomeini's guidelines on how to deal with sinners start with giving them a warning, then "refraining from conversing" with them, then "breaking all relations with the sinner" (#2807), and work their way up to "beating the sinner" #2823, and finally "wounding and slaying" them. (#2824) Bodily harm is only "acceptable" if "permitted by a fully qualified Expert," an expert meaning an expert in Islamic law such as the Ayatollah Khomeini.

On Slavery

The idea that slavery no longer exists in Islam not withstanding, the book's index lists eight questions and clarifications under the heading of slavery. (The book was originally published in 1961!) One (confusing) example concerns the importance of sellers being able to deliver their goods

... selling a horse which has escaped is incorrect, but if an escaped slave is sold together with something deliverable, like a carpet, that deal is correct even though the slave is never found. And in the case other than a slave it is difficult. #2090

Those concerned about any anti-Khomeini bias in the English edition, will be reassured by comments in the book's foreword. Khomeini's fatwas discriminating against non-Muslims (we are told) are part of the "defenses of Islam," which "meld easily into a defiance of colonial subjugation." Those "who in the early days of the 1978-79 Revolution sought to discredit Khomeini by citing from his Resaleh Towzih al-Masa'il minute rules having to do with how to purify oneself after bodily elimination, after sexual activity, or indeed what exactly constitutes such offenses as bestiality" (allegedly) made themselves ridiculous by "taking these debates to absurd lengths" and displaying "a complete lack of comprehension of the logic of the traditions composing the Risaleh Towzih al-Masa'il." (Resaleh p.xxviii)) [9C]

And indeed an attempt by at least one Khomeini opponent (Shoja-ud-din Shafa) to publicize Resaleh Towzih al-Masa'il fell flat, leaving Khomeini's popularity undiminished. [10C] Maybe that's the most remarkable thing about Resaleh Towzih al-Masa'il: Though it showed him preoccupied with issues more of interest to a medieval village mullah than a revolutionary leader (Khomeini wasn't a grad student when he "wrote" this book, but nearly 60), it did nothing to slow that mullah on the path leading to the take over a nation of 60 million and creation of a legend. A testament to the shrewdness of Khomeini and the haplessness of his royal opponent perhaps.

Notes on "Resaleh Towzih al-Masa'el"

[1C] Abrahamian, Khomeinism, p.10

[10C] ibid. (Resaleh p.xxviii)

Tahrir al-Vasileh

Khomeini's other major book on religious law was Tahrir al-Vasileh, aka Tahrirolvasyleh, (Commentary on the Vehicle). The "Vehicle" it was commenting on was Vasileh tun-Nejat, (Vehicle of Salvation), by S. Abul-Hasan Isfahani. (Like Resaleh Towzih al-Masael, Tahrir al-Vasileh was based on another book.) Khomeini wrote it in Arabic "to get past Iranian censors" in 1965 while he was in exile in Bursa, Turkey.[1D]

Longer than Resaleh, it lists 4400 questions and with roughly twice as many of them covering "socio-political issues abandoned by his contemporaries, such as holy war and `ordering the good and forbidding the evil.`" Khomeini weighs in on economic issues, declaring that "the leader of the Muslim community, ... has the right to fix prices and generally interfere in the regulation of commerce" on behalf of "the interests of Islamic society." [2D] That notwithstanding, Tahrir al-Vasileh still has only has only a little over 1000 fatawa on questions directly or indirectly to public law.[3D] Nothing like enough to develop government policy (see below).

Curiously, though the makers of the English translation of Resaleh describe Tahrir al-Vasileh, "rather than his Resaleh Towzih al-Masael," as the book that "secured" Khomeini's "reputation in the early 1960s," [4D] Resaleh Towzih al-Masael was the book they translated.

They did include a few fatawa from Tahrir al-Vasileh, however, in their edition of Resaleh Towzih al-Masael. These deal with adherents of religions of the Book (ahl-e zemmeh).[5D]

Khomeini on Muslim Apostates --
the Different Definitions of, and Punishments for

1 - Apostasy is leaving Islam and accepting infidelity. One who turns from Islam to infidelity is called an apostate and that is of two kinds:
A) innate-apostate, and that is a person that one of his father or mother was Moslem when his seed was being jelled, and who embraced Islam following puberty and then left Islam.
B) National apostate, and that is a person whose father and mother were infidels when his seed was being jelled and he has expressed infidelity after puberty, and became an original infidel (kafar i aslee), then he embraced Islam and later has returned to infidelity; such as a person who originally was a Christian and became a Moslem and then returned to Christianity.[6D]

2 - Innate-apostate's [embracing of] Islam is apparently unacceptable and, if a man, his ruling is execution and, if a woman, she is condemned to prison for life and [with] beating when praying and straitening of livelihood, but her repenting is acceptable and she will freed if she repents

3 - A national apostate will be caused to repent and in case of refusing to repent will be executed. And it is preferable to give a 3 day reprieve and to execute him on the fourth day if he refused.

4 - Puberty, knowledge, volition and intention are credible in ruling on apostasy.

5 - The child of a Moslem or that of an apostate, whether national or innate, is considered Moslem before the father's apostasy, and therefore, if the child reached puberty and chose infidelity he will be asked to repent (and to return to Islam), else he will be executed.

6 - Apostasy is proven by the witnessing of two just men and by confession.[7D]

So to sum up:

Khomeini on the Rights of Non-Muslim or Women Victims

"Conditions of retaliation,” i.e. under what conditions may a person be killed (executed) as punishment for the killing another:

.... (3) Equality in religion, therefore Moslem will not be retaliated for [killing an] infidel, unless a Moslem has a habit of killing infidels.[8D]

"Mulcts and Blood Money,” a mulct being a penalty or fine, in this case for killing another person:

.... (3) The amount of mulct which has come in the table is for a Moslem man, but the mulct of a Moslem woman will be half of these amounts, i.e. 50 camels or 500 dinars
(4) A tributary's mulct is 8000 derhams [9D] and the mulct of their women is half of that of their men.[9.1D]

So again to summarize:

On the "Poll Tax” Charged to Non-Muslims

Fight those who believe not in God and the Last Day and do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden - such men as practise not the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book - until they pay the tribute [Jizyah] out of hand and have been humbled. [9:29 as translated by A.J. Arberry]

the followers of the tri-religions (Jewish, Christianity and Zoroastrian) ... undertake and guarantee the conditions of tribute, to be mentioned later, their religions will be recognized and an amount of poll tax (Jizyah) will be accepted from them.[10D]

As interpreted by Khomeini the tribute paid by non-Muslims is not necessarily a tax per individual non-Muslim, but can be a tax on pretty much anything -- people, land, income, "beasts of burden and trees and real estate, in any way he finds it expedient” -- set at any rate -- whatever the "Governor-General” decides, depending on the "expediencies of time and place and the situation at hand.”
Other conditions of tribute may include thing like the "hosting" Muslim armies: providing food, housing, etc. (sounding quite a bit like what the American Revolutionaries complained the British forced them to do before the War of Independence!)

1 - There is no specific amount for poll tax, thus its amount depends on the views of Governor-General (Valee) and the expediencies of time and place and the situation at hand.

2 - Governor-General can lay this tax on per capita basis or on the lands or both. Further, he can impose the tax on beasts of burden and trees and real estate, in any way he finds it expedient.

3 - And the tax must be received according to what came in the tributary agreement.

4 - In addition to the poll tax other conditions, such as hosting Moslem military and others can be made, stipulating the length of time, like one day or three days. ...

"Tributary Conditions” also include 15 non-financial regulations on non-Muslims, varying from

On Dealing with Modern Society. Khomeini's Fatawa on mostahdasat or "New Occurrences"

Another much briefer source of information on Tahrir al-Vasileh come from a critic of Khomeini and the Islamic Republic, Asghar Schirazi, in his book The Constitution of Iran.[12D]

Khomeini attempted to update shari’ah law with legal rulings on mostahdasat or "new occurrences" in Tahrir al-Vasileh. He included a grand total of 105 fatawa for the modern world:

While Islamic government is

simple, practical, and swift ... When the juridical methods of Islam were applied, the shari’ah judge in each town, assisted only by two bailiffs and with only a pen and an inkpot at this disposal, would swiftly resolve disputes among people and send them about their business. [Islam and Revolution, p.58]

In contrast “the Commander of the Faithful” (Caliph Ali who ruled for five years from 656-661 before his assassination)

according to tradition ... lived more frugally than the most impoverished of our students. [Islam and Revolution, p.57]

COMMENT: How do we know all this? Were there Islamic governments that were militarily strong, balanced their budgets, eliminated poverty, had strong health care and education, no bureacracy, etc.? Sort of. Khomeini goes into no detail, but the "governments" he cites as Islamic are those of the Prophet Muhammad (who ruled Medina for 10 years and Mecca for two), and the Imam Ali (who was Caliph of Islam for five years a quarter century later). [5.1vf] Both of these polities existed 1400 years ago.

We know they were militarily successful because the Islamic Empire expanded during their time. We are told they were just, upright, and had little poverty by oral reports (ahadith). But non-Muslim complain these were from insiders, friends of the regime not from travelers or other outsiders and are not known to be immune from manipulation. And while Muslims who don't doubt these rulers' virtue, some wonder if the early Muslim era of Islam can really be called a political and economic "system", and if so, whether it can be duplicated today by returning to strict sharia. As for its superior 7th Century "health care and education," or there being an "entire system of government" in shari'ah law lying "ready for you," ... there doesn't seem to be much evidence for it.

On Proof that Islam Calls for Rule by faqih, or “Rule By Jurisprudent”

While it's all very nice to explain how governance by the faqih would be functionally better than that of kings and presidents, what is crucial is to prove this system is called for by the shari'ah -- i.e. by the ahadith of the Prophet Muhammad and Shi'ite Imams (i.e. transmitted narratives of what the Prophet and Imams did and said) that shari'ah is built upon. After all, the point of having a faqih in charge is to enforce shari'ah law, so rule of the faqih must be shari'ah consistent.

So although Khomeini starts by claiming the rightness of rule by the faqih is obvious to any informed Muslim
("elicits immediate assent and has little need of demonstration"),
he generously takes 40 pages or so to “prove” its religious legality in somewhat the same way a secular lawyer would use legal precedents to argue some action was legal. It's a radical and refreshing change from the xenophobic soapbox demagoguery of the rest of the book, but that doesn't mean it's persuasive!

Some of Khomeini's argument:

1. `The seat [of judge] you are occupying is filled by someone who is a prophet, the legatee of a prophet, or else a sinful wretch.` (Hadith of Ali ibn Abi Talib, first of the twelve Shi'a Imams) [Islam and Revolution, p.81]
   
   Khomeini ingeniously reasons that since fuqaha traditionally fill the roll as judges, being
   “by definition learned in matters pertaining to the function of judge” (Islam and Revolution, p.84),
   and since they are not sinful wretches or prophets, by process of elimination they must be “legatees of the prophet" --
   “we deduce from the tradition quoted above that the fuqaha are the legatees."
   What do these “legatees” inherit from the prophet? Why they inherit the prophet's role as ruler! (Or so Khomeini goes on to "prove" in similar tendentious style.)
   
   
2. `Refrain from judging, because judging is reserved for an imam who is knowledgeable of the law and legal procedure and who behaves justly toward all the Muslims; it is reserved for a prophet or the legatee of a prophet.` (Hadith of Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq, the 6th Imam) (Islam and Revolution, p.83)
   
   Again, the hadith says only imams can judge, and trained jurists (fuqaha) are traditionally judges in the Muslim community ... therefore fuqaha judges must be imams. Who are imams? Khomeini goes on to "prove” imams refers not to the twelve Imams of early Twelver Shia Islam, but to "leaders” and "guides” of Muslims in not only a spiritual but also a political sense.
   
   
3. `In case of newly occurring social circumstances you should turn for guidance to those who relate our traditions, for they are my proof to you, as I am God's proof.` (Hadith of the 12th Imam) (Islam and Revolution, p.84)
   
   Fuqaha all study thoroughly the Islamic "traditions," aka ahadith.
   
   
4. When two Shi'a Muslim have a dispute, they must `seek out one of you who narrates our traditions, who is versed in what is permissible and what is forbidden, who is well acquainted with our laws and ordinances, and accept him as judge and arbiter ...` (from the maqbula of Umar ibn Hanzala) (Islam and Revolution, p.93)`
   
   
5. Those with `rule and authority` over Muslims `should not be ignorant and unaware of the law.` (Hadith by Ali) (Islam and Revolution, p.67)
   
   Fuqaha all study Islamic law thoroughly.
   
   
6. `Those that come after me` [the prophet Muhammad speaking] will be ones who `transmit my traditions and practice, and teach them to the people after me.` (Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad) (Islam and Revolution, p.68)
   
   Fuqaha all know and transmit the traditions and practice of the Prophet. Careful study of the Sunna reveals "those that come after" the Prophet will have the same power as the Prophet, i.e. will be rulers also.
   
   
7. `The fuqaha [plural of faqih] are the trustees of the prophets, as long as they do not concern themselves with the illicit desires, pleasures, and wealth of this world.` The Prophet was then asked: `O Messenger of God! How may we know if they do so concern themselves?` He replied: `By seeing whether they follow the ruling power. If they do that, fear for your religion and shun them.` (Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad)(Islam and Revolution, p.76)
   
   
8. (6th Imam) Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq's hadith: `The scholars are the heirs of the prophets, for although the prophets bequeathed not a single dinar or dirham, they bequeathed their saying and traditions. Whoever, then, acquires a portion of their traditions has indeed acquired a generous portion of their legacy.`

COMMENT: Obvious questions come up: If God ordained the fuqaha to rule, why didn't he just say so in the Qur'an, or have his last prophet or one of the imams say so in a ahadith? (It's not like who should rule is a minor point of Divine Law!) And what about the hadith quoted by Khomeini (#7 in the list above), where the Prophet tells Muslims fuqaha should not `follow the ruling power,` and `If they do that, fear for your religion and shun them`? Doesn't this suggest

1. fuqaha and "the ruling power" are not the same, and
2. fuqaha should be STAYING AWAY from the "ruling power," not becoming it!?

Such questions (and many others) seemed to trouble Khomeini's peers as well. Even after the revolution was underway and Khomeini's enormous popularity and power had become manifest, only one of the other dozen grand ayatollahs accepted his thesis. [6vf]

The senior most Ayatollah, Abol-Qassem Mussavi-Kho'i (also transliterated Abu al-Qasim al-Khu'i), who "had a massive following, not only in Iraq and Lebanon, but also in Iran itself," opposed Khomeini "to his death" on the grounds that

According to Iranian historian Ervand Abrahamian, this is in keeping with centuries of Shi'a scholarship were most Islamic jurists (fuqaha) believed

the term velayat-e faqih meant no more than the legal guardianship of the senior clerics over those deemed incapable of looking after their own interests - minors, widows, and the insane.

Unlike their Sunni counterparts, Shi'i clergy did not have a "consistent theory of the state," and following the occultation of the Hidden Imam tended to followed one of three approaches to governance:

1. "true believers should shun the authorities like the plague."
2. "others, however, argued that one should grudgingly accept the state. `If the ruler is bad, ask God to reform him; but if he is good, ask God to prolong his life` - Imam Jafar Sadeq
3. "Others wholeheartedly accepted the state - especially after 1501, when the Safavids established a Shi'i dynasty in Iran."

"It is significant that in all these discussions, which lasted on and off for some eleven centuries, no Shi'i writer ever explicitly contended that monarchies per se were illegitimate or that the senior clergy had the authority to control the state. (italics added) Most viewed the clergy's main responsibilities, which they referred to as the velayat-e faqih (jurist's guardianship), as being predominantly apolitical. They were

Khomeini on Why This Rule by Faqih Is Not Found in the Muslim World

Explanations of why fuqaha were not in power might seem a peripheral subject compared to why Islam requires that they should be in power - at least for an Islamic scholar lecturing Islamic students. But it was this issue, and not the second, that Khomeini dwelled on in the next decade leading up to the revolution. What did he claim and how well did it corresponded to reality?

Khomeini on the Enemies of Islamic Government:
(1) Foreign Imperialists

Why was the Muslim world not clamoring for his so-obviously-correct form of governance?
Imperialist propaganda.

European Imperialists ...

have known the power of Islam themselves for it once ruled part of Europe, and they know that true Islam is opposed to their activities. They have also realized they cannot make the true religious scholars submit to their influence, nor can they affect their thinking. From the very outset, therefore, they have sought to remove this obstacle from their path by disparaging Islam and besmirching the religious leaders. They have resorted to malicious propaganda so that today, we imagine that Islam simply consists of a handful of legal topics. They have also tried to destroy the reputation of the fuqaha and the `ulama, who stand at the head of Islamic society, by slanderous accusations and other means. [Islam and Revolution, p.140]

God, Exalted and Almighty, by means of the Most Noble Messenger (peace and blessing be upon him), sent laws that astound us with their magnitude. He instituted laws and practices for all human affairs . . . There is not a single topic in human life for which Islam has not provided instruction and established a norm. [But] in order to make the Muslims, especially the intellectuals and the younger generation, deviate from the path of Islam, foreign agents have constantly insinuated that Islam has nothing to offer, that Islam consists of a few ordinances concerning menstruation and parturition . . .[p.29-30]

if someone wishes to speak about Islamic government and the establishment of the Islamic government, he must observe the principles of taqiya [dissimulation of the truth] and count upon the opposition of those who have sold themselves to imperialism. [Islam and Revolution, p.34]

Khomeini on Why Foreigners Want to Undermine Islam:
(A) To Steal Its Wealth

This is just the beginning of the evil doings of foreigners. They want to undermine Islam because it stands in the way of their greed ...

Once when I was in Hamadan, a former student of the religious sciences, a man who had forsaken the religious garb but who preserved his Islamic ethics, came to see me and showed me a map on which certain places had been marked in red. He told me that those red symbols indicated all the mineral resources existing in Iran that had been located by foreign experts.

Foreign experts have studied our country and have discovered all our mineral reserves -- gold, copper, petroleum, and so on. They have also made an assessment of our people’s intelligence and come to the conclusion that the only barrier blocking their way are Islam and the religious leadership. [Islam and Revolution, p.139-40]

COMMENT: Why wouldn't it be natural for foreigners make maps of oil deposits in Iran if they, and not Iranians, had the geological knowledge to find petroleum and the pumping and piping technology to extract, refine and transport it?

Khomeini on Why Foreigners Want to Undermine Islam:
(B) To Promote Vice Among Muslims

Islam has laid down no laws for the practice of usury, for banking on the basis of usury, for the consumption of alcohol, or for the cultivation of sexual vice, having radically prohibited all of these. The ruling cliques, therefore, which are the puppets of imperialism and wish to promote these vices in the Islamic world will naturally regard Islam as defective. The must import the appropriate laws from Britain, France, Belgium and more recently America. [Islam and Revolution, p.31-2]

These enemies of Islam are everywhere. Their target is the vulnerable young

The agents of imperialism are busy in every corner of the Islamic world drawing our youth away from us with their evil propaganda. [Islam and Revolution, p.127] ....

Come to the aid of Islam; save Islam! They are destroying Islam! Invoking the laws of Islam and the name of the Most Noble Messenger (upon whom be peace and blessing), they are destroying Islam! Agents – both foreigners sent by the imperialists and natives employed by them – have spread out into every village and region of Iran and are leading out children and young people astray ... [Islam and Revolution, p.128]

Sexual vice has now reached such proportions that it is destroying entire generations, corrupting our youth, and causing them to neglect all forms of work. [Islam and Revolution, p.33-4]

Khomeini doesn't spend much time on the issue of non-Muslims, as opposed to Imperialists. But he makes it clear they need to be kept in line. There's a brief mention of the need to destroy

centers of evil propaganda run by the churches, the Zionists, and the Baha’is in order to lead our people astray and make them abandon the ordinances and teaching of Islam ... [Islam and Revolution, p.128]

Khomeini on the 300-Year-Long Plan by to Foreigners to Undermine Islam

Their attack on Islam did not arise as some ad hoc tactic in pursuit of imperial power or profit, but is an elaborate, long-term plan (or plans) of centuries -- three centuries in fact.

The British imperialists penetrated the countries of the East more than 300 years ago. Being knowledgeable about all aspects of these countries, they drew up elaborate plans for assuming control of them. Then came the new imperialists, the Americans and others. They allied themselves with the British and took part in the execution of their plans. ... [italics added] [Islam and Revolution, p.139]

Khomeini mentions this 300-year-long attack on Islam not once, but four times (p.27-28, p.34, p.38).

One of the few examples he gives of foreign iniquity in Iran is the 1905 Constitution, were Iranian revolutionaries used the new-fangled system of constitutional monarch and elected parliament in an attempt to reign in their weak, not-very patriotic monarch and prevent the encroachment of their much larger expansionist neighbor Czarist Russia.

It is sometimes insinuated that the injunctions of Islam are defective, and said that the laws of judicial procedure, for example, are not all that they should be. In keeping with this insinuation and propaganda, agents of Britain were instructed by their masters to take advantage of the idea of constitutionalism in order to deceive the people and conceal the true nature of their political crimes ... At the beginning of the constitutional movement, when people wanted to write laws and draw up a constitution, a copy of the Belgian legal code was borrowed from the Belgian embassy and a handful of individuals (whose names I do not wish to mention here) used it as the basis for the constitution they then wrote, supplementing its deficiencies with borrowings from the French and British legal codes. [Islam and Revolution, p.30-1]

Not mentioned, probably because he felt he didn't have to, was the CIA-engineered coup of 1953 that returned the Shah to power, overthrowing nationalist Prime Minister Mossedegh. And the "capitulation" controversy of 1964, whereby the Shah gave U.S. military personnel diplomatic immunity, which deprived Iranian courts of the right to hear any complaints against them.

Khomeini on the Need to Destroy Centers of non-Muslim Propaganda

The plan starts with the opening of one Christian or foreign-sponsored school in Islamic territory. Negligent ‘Ulema ...

failed to prevent it from being established so that now, as you can observe, these schools have multiplied, and their missionaries have gone out into the provinces and villages, turning our children into Christians or unbelievers.[Islam and Revolution, p.34]

In our own city of Tehran now there are centers of evil propaganda run by the churches, the Zionists, and the Baha’is in order to lead our people astray and make them abandon the ordinances and teaching of Islam. Do we not have a duty to destroy these centers that are damaging to Islam? Is it enough for us simply to possess Najaf? [Islam and Revolution, p.128]

More Enemies of Islamic Government:
(2) The Jews, Who've Attacked Islam Continuously Throughout Its History

Although you might think the outsider status of Jews in Iran (they were victims of massacres and discriminatory laws in the past several centuries) and their small numbers (at the time of the revolution there were about 80,000 Jews in Iran, about 0.22% of the population) [19vf] would make them non-players in this titanic struggle, you would be (according to Khomeini) very wrong.

From the very beginning, the historical movement of Islam has had to contend with the Jews, for it was they who first established anti-Islamic propaganda and engaged in various stratagems, and as you can see, this activity continues down to the present. Later they were joined by other groups, who were in certain respects more satanic then they. These new groups began their imperialist penetration of the Muslim countries about three hundred years ago, and they regarded it as necessary to work for the extirpation of Islam in order to attain their ultimate goals. ... the imperialists ... felt that the major obstacle in the path of their materialistic ambitions and the chief threat to their political power was nothing but Islam and its ordinances. [Islam and Revolution, p.27-8]

Khomeini on How the Jews Published and Distributed Falsified Qur'ans

The evil work of the Jews includes the publishing of distorted editions of the Koran with verses critical of Jews removed, as well as plans to “dominate the entire world.” Propagation and instruction

... is particularly important under the present circumstances, for the imperialists, the oppressive and treacherous rulers, the Jews, Christians, and materialists are all attempting to distort the truths of Islam and lead the Muslims astray. ... We see today that the Jews (may God curse them) have meddled with the text of the Qur'an and have made certain changes in the Qur'ans they have had printed in the occupied territories. [Islam and Revolution, p.127]

COMMENT: It seems a little odd that for a crime of such outrageousness Khomeini provides no details -- who found the tampered copies of the Qur'an, where they and when they found them, what passages were removed or altered, where the books are now. Translator/annotator/supporter Hamid Algar who has been helpfully providing footnotes with explanatory and supporting evidence throughout, has no such details either. He does explain that Khomeini is talking about a rumour that after the Six Day War copies of the Qur'an were circulating in the territories seized by the Zionists, as well as in African countries, from which all verses critical of the Jews had been excised. But as to the facts as opposed to the rumour, Algar is silent.
Bear in mind that issuing copies of the Qur’an with anti-Jewish passages removed would not only be highly blasphemous but highly unlikely to succeed. Even in poor parts of the Muslim world complete copies of the Qur'an are everywhere, as are (to a lesser extent) Muslims who've memorized the Qur'an (known as hafiz or hafith) and could easily smoke out fraudulent Qur'ans.
... all of which leads to the distinct impression that Khomeini purpose was to keep the anti-Zionist rage pot boiling by repeating rumours no matter how improbable.

On the Jews (alleged) plan for world domination

... It is our duty to prevent this treacherous interference with the text of the Qur'an. We must protest and make the people aware that the Jews and their foreign backers are opposed to the very foundations of Islam and wish to establish Jewish domination throughout the world. Since they are a cunning and resourceful group of people, I fear that - God forbid! - they may one day achieve their goal, and that the apathy shown by some of us may allow a Jew to rule over us one day. [italics added] [Islam and Revolution, p.127]

More Enemies of Islamic Government:
(3) "Negligent, Lazy, Idle" Clerics Who Don't Agree With Him

The last group of enemies of Islam are the "negligent, lazy idle and apathetic people" (clerics) who have removed themselves from worldly concerns of politics, having "fallen under" the "influence" of the "propaganda institutions of imperialism." (Islam and Revolution, p.141) Some of them even having "sold themselves to imperialism." (Islam and Revolution, p.34) as mentioned earlier.

These "akhunds" are actually "pseudo-saints." Their ideas are "foolish," "block the progress of the Islamic movement," (Islam and Revolution, p.141) and "will destroy" the "standing in society" of clerical students. Khomeini threatens that if they

"do not wake up and begin to assume their responsibilities after repeated admonition and advice, it will be obvious that the cause of their failure is not ignorance, but something else ... we will adopt a different attitude toward them." [Islam and Revolution, p.143]

As for clerics who are working for the Shah's government, they get less friendly comments,

our youths must strip them of their turbans ... I am not saying they should be killed; they do not deserve to be killed. But take off their turbans! ... They do not need to be beaten much, just take off their turbans and do not permit them to appear in public wearing turbans. [Islam and Revolution, p.145]

The main target of Khomeini's venom was thought to be Grand Ayatollah Abol-Qassem Mussavi-Kho'i, [20vf] the senior Shia cleric mentioned above with the massive following and strong opposition to Khomeini's thesis (likely this was no coincidence!).

COMMENT: It has to be pointed out that Mussavi-Kho'i had good reason to eschew politics besides laziness, idleness, and selling out to imperialism. He lived in the holy Shiite city of Najaf under the dominion of Saddam Hussein (Khomeini lived their also, but as an exile not particularly interested in the Iraqi situation. For example, his Velayat-e Faqih lectures were given in Persian, preventing both Iraqi government spies and most local Arab Shi'a from understanding him.) President Saddam was not only

1. ideologically committed as a secular Arab Ba'athist nationalist to making sure clerics were kept in their place, and
2. a dictator famous for his ruthlessness with opponents, but also
3. unlike the Shah of Iran, a Sunni Muslim in a Shia majority country, whose survival depended on squashing potential rallying points for Shia rebellion -- such as senior religious leaders. (For example, Saddam's regime executed 48 Muslim clerics in Iraq in just five years (from 1979-1983) during the Iran-Iraq War, according to pro-Khomeini author Abdel-Majid Trab Zemzemi.) [21vf]

Perhaps because of the bad reviews for his lecture series/book, Khomeini set aside preaching the need for velayat-e-faqih [8vf] and concentrated on creating the image of himself as a leader who could unite the anti-Shah opposition, [vf9] while seeking "the support of the Islamists and the hujjat al-Islam, younger clergy of lower rank," [10vf] rather than the senior clergy.

But Velayat-e Faqih didn't go away, it reappeared through the back door. Khomeini's strategy as a unifying leader was a brilliant success. When he returned from exile it was to a tumultuous welcome as "the Imam," not only the undisputed leader of the revolution but a "semi-divine" savior figure. [11vf] In his role as saviour, he and his core supporters were able to take control of the new republican constitution and give it the post of guardian jurist, dupped "Supreme Leader" (Rahbar-e Moazam), to be held by a high ranking Islamic jurist, a position filled by none other than Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Khomeini's lack of intellectual coherence and support from the top clerics didn't matter, he (and his very able underlings) made up for it in political smarts and determination. Velayat-e Faqih triumphed ... now back to Velayat-e Faqih.

Notes on "Islamic Government"

[1vf] Khomeini, Ruhollah, Islam and Revolution : Writing and Declarations of Imam Khomeini, Translated and Annotated by Hamid Algar, Mizan Press, Berkeley, 1981, p.25

Some translations of the phrase Velayat-e Faqih are:

[21vf] Trab Zemzemi, Abdel-Majid. translated from the French by Zinab Mohammad, The Iraq-Iran War, Islam and Nationalisms, United States Publishing Company, 1986, p.42-3)

Lectures on the Supreme Jihad, (Jehad-e Akbar)

Another series of lectures were given by Khomeini "toward the end of 1972" for his students as a sort of spiritual companion piece to the political Velayat-e Faqih. The lectures were a "call to his students to purify themselves in preparation for the struggle that lay ahead of them and responsibilities that would fall on their shoulders." These lectures were also turned into a book, not with printing presses but "laboriously typed under the supervision of Khomeini's students [in Iraq] and sent to Mecca from whence pilgrims took them to Iran on their return journey." [1E]

One chapter of Jehad-e Akbar has been translated by Hamid Algar for his Islam and Revolution.[2E] It's much more a straightup work of religious inspiration than anything else quoted here, urging its audience to say no to sin and damnation, yes to God and what Khomeini calls "the fountainhead of magnificence." Even here, though, you can find political implications and hints of what lay in store for an "Islamic" Iran.

On How Mortals can Become infallible (Esmat')

One point, the full impact of which is buried in footnotes, may answer a question left over from his Islamic Government lecture series/book. Why did Khomeini think traditional Shia belief -- not to mention all the other leading Shi'a jurists of his day -- was/were wrong, that divine and truly just governments did not have to wait until the return of the 12th Imam from occultation? And why the extraordinary devotion of Khomeini's followers to him? The huge ecstatic crowds and unprecedented title of "Imam" bestowed to him? [3E]

Part of the answer lies in the concept of esmat or infallibility. Traditionally esmat, was considered by Shi'a to be the exclusive attribute of the Prophet and the Twelve Imams, all divinely prevented from committing sin. But Khomeini argued esmat was not a supernatural property beyond the grasp of any mortal human. It was `nothing other than perfect faith.` [4E]

infallibility is borne by faith. If one has faith in God, and if one sees God with the eyes of his heart, like sun, it would be impossible for him to commit a sin.`

.... In front of an armed powerful [master], infallibility is attained.[5E]

There is not a single topic in human life for which Islam has not provided instruction and established a norm. [Islam and Revolution, p.29-30]

While Khomeini doesn't say in so many words in Jehad-e Akbar that he had obtained infallibility, at least one scholar of his work believed this was exactly what he was suggesting to his student/followers who read Jehad-e Akbar. That he had "secure[d] the all-important attribute of infallibility for himself as a member of the awlia' (friends of God)."[7E]

Ruling a country of 50 million with all the complexities of a modern economy and society may seem like a daunting task for the most skilled and energetic person or persons. But what fear need you have if you know God has made you free from error.

On the Unimportance of Life in the Temporal World

Further on in Jehad-e Akbar a couple of lines hint at what motivated Khomeini to urge thousands of school children to hang the "key to Paradise" around their necks and go to clear Iraqi minefields and charge Iraqi machine guns during the Iran-Iraq War [8E].

If you have any tie or link binding you to this world in love, try to sever it. This world, despite all its apparent splendor and charm, is too worthless to be loved ... What do you possess in this world that makes you so attached to it?[9E]

Notes on " Supreme Jihad"

[1E] Moin, Khomeini, p.157

[9E]Islam and Revolution, p.357

Statement by Khomeini to His Students September 28, 1977

In addition to his speeches and books, Khomeini made public statements and wrote many letters to his followers while in exile (mainly in Najaf, Iraq) like the one excerpted below. The translation is by Hamid Dabashi, the original from a collection of Khomeini's writings. [1F]
Khomeini was interested in Islamic mysticism and its "long and elaborate tradition" that through "ascetic and spiritual exercises," `the perfect man` (al-Insan al-Kamil) may develop. Khomeini was also interested in Islamic state of course, and this may have led him to contemplate how a state of perfection could be achieved not by "ascetic and spiritual exercises," but by the Islamic state enforcing Islamic law.

On the Complete and Total Nature of Islam

While `secular governments ... are only concerned with the social order` and as long as they don't hurt others, leave sinners alone neglecting to correct behavior that cries out for perfection

What he wants to do in the privacy of his homes, drinking wines .... gambling, or other such dirty deeds, the government has nothing to do with him. Only if he comes out screaming, then he would be prosecuted, because that disturbs the peace.

Islam and divine governments are not like that. These [governments] have commandments for everybody, everywhere, at any place, in any condition. If a person were to commit an immoral dirty deed right next to his house, Islamic governments have business with him. [Italics added]

has rules for every person, even before birth, before his marriage, until his marriages, pregnancy, birth, until upbringing of the child, the education of the adult, until puberty, youth, until old age, until death, into the grave, and beyond the grave. [The Islamic rules] do not come to an end simply [because the person] is put into the grave ... That is just the beginning.[2F]

Notes on "Statement by Khomeini to His Students September 28, 1977"

[1F] Dabashi, Hamid, Theology of Discontent, The Ideological Foundations of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, New York University Press, New York and London c1993
Dabashi found the quotes (or at least cites them) in a collection of Khomeini's writings, Sahifeh-ye Nur, vol.I, p.234-235)

[2F] Dabashi, Theology of Discontent, (1993), p.476-7

Assorted Speeches and Quotes from after Khomeini came to power.

In 1979, Khomeini's big moment came. The demonstrations, riots, strikes, and general political upheaval he had worked so hard to create boiled over into the Iranian revolution. Shah Pahlavi followed political blunders and overconfidence with indecisiveness and illness. [1G] In mid-January he left Iran "on vacation" never to return. Two weeks later, Khomeini made his triumphal return as national leader and savior. Though in his mid-70s and possessing no experience in affairs of state, in the coming months it became apparent that he and his core supporters were intent on not only taking power but excluding through intimidation and shrewd political maneuvering the democratic and leftist forces who had thought they controlled the revolution. The anti-Shah revolution became the Islamic Revolution. Iran became an Islamic Republic. Khomeini became the "Supreme Leader" both of Iran and its revolution, both formally and informally for the next ten years until his death.

Naturally as a national leader, Khomeini's speeches and statements were broadcast on the radio and quoted in the print media in Iran extensively during this time. The U.S. government's Foreign Broadcast Information Service, ( www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/FBIS.html )[2G] -- which makes translated transcripts of "daily broadcasts, government statements, and select news stories from non-English sources," such as the National Voice of Iran -- is a major English language source of source of these speeches and comments. Author Daniel Brumberg in particular, made use of this source.

More on the Unimportance of Life in the Temporal World

Continuing a theme of his book Jehad-e Akbar Khomeini told an audience early in the revolution:

`Dying does not mean nothingness: it is life.`[3G]

On the Unimportance of Prosperity in the Temporal World

Although in his speech upon arriving in Tehran Feb. 1, 1979 Khomeini had promised the poor "free housing, electricity and water,"[4G] it became clear as the revolution progressed that prices would be going up not down, and scarcity and shortages becoming worse, not better,https://gemsofislamism.tripod.com/khomeini_promises_kept.html#Class_Division so it may not have been a coincidence that Khomeini began to emphasise religion and downplay economic wellbeing during this time.

`I cannot believe that the purpose of all these sacrifices was to have less expensive melons.[5G]

Does it seem reasonable for a person to shout for his stomach and them give up his life, is this reasonable? Could anyone which his child to be martyred to obtain a good house? This is not the issue. The issue is another world. Martyrdom is meant for another world. This is a martyrdom sought by all of God's saints and prophets ... The people want this meaning.[6G]

On the Unimportance of Both Life and Prosperity in the Temporal World

At times a calamity becomes a blessing ... It is under pressure that the spirits soar to the higher world ... If we Muslims ... were like other nations, and had been running after wealth, status ... or were running for bread and sex, many would have been disappointed. But the nation that goes to war for martyrdom ... such a nation can hardly think of anything else. As for its economy, it does not matter. These matters are for those who are tied to economies.[8G]

Khomeini on the Unimportance of Democracy

What the nation wants is an Islamic republic: not just a republic, not a democratic republic, not a democratic Islamic republic. Do not use this term, `democratic.` That is the Western style. [1979 March 1] [9G]

How could the revolution have been about democracy, Khomeini asked `when most of [the Iranian people] never heard of the word "democracy",`[10G]

Khomeini on Tolerating Dissent

Sputtering with rage that newspapers and protesters opposed his new constitution that gave him the post of Supreme Leader for life, Khomeini told radio listeners

Theocracy is something that God, the exalted ... has ordained ... Wake up, you gentlemen ... because the deviationists are ... trying to ... smash our movement ... [They] speak out [against] the concept of theocracy ... I shall strike you in the mouth. Stop this talk ... Enough is enough: what ought to be done must be done.[12G]

Khomeini on what is most important about Islam

If Islamic rule wasn't about less expensive melons, a good house, the word `democracy,` what was it about?

The aim of the prophets [is] to guide mankind toward knowledge of God. All other issues are subsidiary to it. [13G]

The aim of the prophets was not to bring about social justice . . . not for the sake of people . . . but for God. [14G]

Khomeini's Consistency

Khomeini on Freedom to Vote. His Consistency.

About a month and a half after the final collapse of the monarchy, a referendum was held on whether Iran should be an Islamic Republic. At first Khomeini ordered Iranians to vote yes:

`I demand of you, my sisters and brothers, to go and drop that ballot card . . . which says "yes".` (29 March 1979)

The next day he did an about face, insisting that

`you are free to vote for whatever you like . . . But I recommend that . . . to obey the orders of God . . . you should try and vote for the Islamic Republic.[15G]

Khomeini on Political Rights. His Consistency

About a year later, speaking about the Revolutionary Guard (Pasdaran), the paramilitary/military force that served as the revolution's enforcers, he told Iranians the Guard must

`deal with all people with kindness and with Islamic manners` the `slightest violation` of someone's rights `would lead to prosecution.`

But in the very same speech he also called for a `purging` of all `deviant groups . . engaged in mixing Islamic ideas with Marxist ideas`. [16G]

And again two months later:

You should make sure that these people who indulge in corruption . . . are crushed with full force. Such people, wherever they are should be sentence to death. [17G]

Then a week later its back to Mr. Nice Guy at the opening of the Parliament where he warns the deputies to

act with calm and mutual respect and ... shun ... the unprincipled taking of sides in order to crush the opposite.`[18G]

Khomeini on the Majles (Parliament). His Consistency

One of the Khomeini's more jarring inconsistencies was his insistence that the parliament of the Islamic Republic (Majles-e-Shura e Eslami) had important power. Under the constitution he and his supporters had fought successfully to put in place, the Iranian parliament was well down the food chain, subordinate to other clerical bodies -- the vali-ye faqih which controlled the military and appoints half of the members of the Council of Guardians; the Council of Guardians itself which vetoed any legislation from the parliament it considered unIslamic [NOTE: ], and decided who could and could not run for a seat in parliament. [19G] In fact, Khomeini himself in his book Velayat-e Faqih, Islamic Government had originally called for no parliament on the grounds Islam law was perfect and required no further legislation.

But to "rally support" for the first election of the Majles, and perhaps because a major issue of the Anti-Shah revolution was anger at the Shah's usurping of the 1906 constitution and its parliament, Khomeini felt compelled to talk up the parliament and claim importance for it that his own constitution had made sure it didn't have.

Khomeini on Consistency in General

`Before the revolution, I believed that once the revolution succeeded then there would be honest people to carry out the task . . . Therefore I . . . stated that the clergy would leave and attend to their own profession. But I later realized that . . . most of . . .[the honest people] were dishonest . . . I later stated . . . that I had made a mistake. This is because we intend to implement Islam. Accordingly . . . I may have said something yesterday, changed it today, and will again change it tomorrow. This does not mean that simply because I made a statement yesterday, I should adhere to it, Today I am saying that . . . the `ulema should continue with their jobs.` [23G]

Khomeini on Why Inconsistency (i.e. Dishonesty) is Necessary

As Khomeini complained in Islamic Government, imperialist propaganda against Islamic government sometimes made dissimulation or taqiyya necessary :

if someone wishes to speak about Islamic government and the establishment of the Islamic government, he must observe the principles of taqiya ... [Islam and Revolution, p.34]

On Humor and Music. `There Is No Humor in Islam,` `You must suppress music`

Issues and themes appeared that had not been mentioned by Khomeini, or at the very least not talked about widely, in his campaign against the Shah.

Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious. Islam does not allow swimming in the sea and is opposed to radio and television serials. Islam, however, allows marksmanship, horseback riding and competition in [such sports].[24G]

Music

stupefies persons listening to it and makes their brain inactive and frivolous .... If you want independence for your country, you must suppress music and not fear to be called old-fashioned. Music is a betrayal of the nation and of youth.[25G]

On the Importance of Hatred for America

Naturally, you would expect Khomeini to preach independence from the United States and militancy against its policies, as he did before the revolution sarcastically calling the US "friends of humanity"

those so-called friends of humanity have appointed their agent to rule their country [Iran] in order to prevent the poor from benefiting from its riches[26G]

... and after ...

superpowers are stripping us naked ... One of their big plans is to ... replace [our brains] ... with European ones: to ... rob us of our intellectual independence.[27G]

But there was more. In addition to cutting `economic and cultural links` to that country, it was important that America be `slapped in the face,` and `punched in the mouth.`[28G]

Nor was all this hate to be just a catharsis to break the spell of "westoxification." It was to carry on for as long as it took for Islam to triumph over America and the rest of the world. As he pronounced in late 1988, less than a year before his death,

And I am confident that the Iranian people, particularly our youth, will keep alive in their hearts anger and hatred for the criminal Soviet Union and the warmongering United States. This must be until the banner of Islam flies over every house in the world. [29G]

Khomeini on the Importance of Opportunity for Martyrdom

Traditionally Islam, and particularly Shi'a Islam, has revered shahada, the act of paying the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the faith, [30G] while forbidding suicide.[31G] A martyr's death could not be deliberate. In the annual Shi'a celebration of Imam Hoseyn death at Karbala, it was Hoseyn's courage and religious devotion that was celebrated, not the fact that he had been killed. But Khomeini took this one step further, perhaps to its logical conclusion, preached that not only was martyrdom a highly meritorious act, so were opportunities for it.

Thus continuing the war with Iraq after Iraq had been driven out of Iran was not a bloody disaster Iranian's should be angry with Khomeini for insisting on, it was an important opportunity for the young to die fighting enemies of Islam. `Dying does not mean nothingness: it is life.` [33G]

If the great martyr ... confined himself to praying ... the great tragedy of Kabala would not have come about ... Among the contemporary ulema, if the great Ayatollah ... Shirazi ... thought like these people, a war would not have taken place in Iraq ... all those Muslims would not have been martyred.[ [34G]

The importance of Muslims martyring themselves was a theme he came back to more than once.

Khomeini on the Spreading Islam and the Iran-Iraq Gulf War

In explaining the importance of the Iran-Iraq war to his people Khomeini was want to say that the

`Islamic Revolution . . . is being exported . . . [so that] . . . with the dispensations of the Supreme Lord, the banner of Islam is likely to be hoisted throughout the globe in the not-too-distant future.` [39G]

In part this was because the sakes of the war, were America had joined forces with nationalist Saddam, were huge for (Khomeini's) Islam

`It is our belief ... that Saddam [Hussein] wishes to return Islam to blasphemy and polytheism ... if America becomes victorious ... and grants victory to Saddam, Islam will receive such a blow that it will not be able to raise its head for a long time ...The issue is one of Islam versus blasphemy, and not of Iran versus Iraq.`[40G]

On World Dominance of Islam and Destruction of Capitalism

Khomeini:

We have often proclaimed this truth in our domestic and foreign policy, namely that we have set as our goal the world-wide spread of the influence of Islam and the suppression of the rule of the world conquerors ... We wish to cause the corrupt roots of Zionism, capitalism and Communism to wither throughout the world. We wish, as does God almighty, to destroy the systems which are based on these three foundations, and to promote the Islamic order of the Prophet ... in the world of arrogance.[41G]

`We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry `There is no God but God` resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle.' [42G]

`Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution.` [43G]

Islamic Revolution ... is being exported ... [so that] with the dispensations of the Supreme Lord, the banner of Islam is likely to be hoisted throughout the globe in the not-too-distant future. [44G]

It bears repeating that the whole idea of the Islamic Republic was that Islam could not be Islam without Islamic government, i.e. Islamic rule. This, and not some peaceful mass conversion to Islam under existing self-government of non-Muslims states, is what Khomeini had in mind by the hoisting of the banner of Islam. Knowing that Khomeini believed in following the example of The Prophet and the Companions who expanded Islam by conquest and was not one to talk about nonviolence as a political means, this was not a good sign for peaceful coexistence.

Khomeini on His Clerical Opponents

For someone whose interpretation of true Islam required rule by the leading member or members of the fuqaha, it was, needless to say, infuriating that those leading fuqaha didn't agree. What was Khomeini's reply? His clerical opponents weren't really clerics. They were phonies.

In 1982, a major storm developed between President Bani Sadr and the more radically Islamic Islamic Republican Party, whose membership was constituted of Khomeini's core supporters. As the political outsiders, i.e. everyone who wasn't a fundamentalist, began to rally round Bani-Sadr, and a cohesive opposition to Khomeini began to jell. Khomeini lashed out at the opposition clerics, including the venerable Ayatollah Mohammad-Kazem Shari'atmadari. These `turbaned` impostors, were ``infiltrating the clergy and engaging in sabotage.` They had formed

imam committees. Who is this imam? ... Anybody who wished to do something puts it under the name of the imam.`

This was unacceptable:

I warn ... the clergy ... I tell them all and discharge myself of my final responsibility, to repulse all these mullahs.` [45G]

On Islamic Government (Version 3.0) -- Rule by Islamic Clerics Is Necessary, God's Law Is Subordinate To It

Shortly before his death Khomeini issued a fatwa that completed his reversal from his original position on Islamic government. (i.e. that shari'ah law is necessary, rule by Islamic jurists is not.) The pressure of ruling a country of 60-odd million, and disputes between conservative sticklers for traditional shari'ah and his underclass revolutionary base, compelled him to declare all ordinances of Islam "secondary" to Islamic Government and governance of Islamic jurists.

This, his theologically most controversial and far reaching statement, was spelled out in a public reprimand of his second in command, `Ali Khamene`i. (1 January 1988)

It appears from your Excellency’s statements at the Friday prayer [Khutab jamat] that you do not regard government to be equivalent to the absolute governance [wilayat-i mutlaqa], which was bestowed on the most noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny) by God, and which is the most important part of the divinely ordained position, and which has preponderance over all other ordinances that are dependent upon his position (as wali-yi mutlaq). Your interpretation of what I have said -- that the government is empowered to act only within the framework of the existing secondary divine ordinances [preserved in the shari’ah] -- runs entirely counter to what I have in fact said. Were the powers of government to lie only within the framework of secondary divine decrees, the designation of the divine government and absolute deputed guardianship (wilayat-i mutlaqa-yi mufawwada) to the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him and his progeny) would have been in practice entirely without meaning and content. ... I must point out, the government which is a branch of the absolute governance of the Prophet of God is among the primary ordinances of Islam, and has precedence over all secondary ordinances such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage. [46G]

On succeeding where the prophet failed

'I should say that so far the purpose of the Prophets has seldom been realized. Very little.'

Anticipating that some rival clerics would find this claim blasphemous, he contradicted himself saying

`tomorrow court mullahs ... [should] not say that Khomeini said that the Prophet is incapable of achieving his aims.`"

His denials notwithstanding, was Khomeini calling into question Muhammad as the final prophet, "the seal of the prophets"?

Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but he is the messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets; and Allah is ever Aware of all things - Q33:040

Notes on "Assorted Speeches and Quotes from after Khomeini came to power"

[1G] political blunders and overconfidence with indecisiveness and illness. see www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution causes of revolution

[47G] Brumberg, Reinventing Khomeini, (2001), p.133. Source: 'Khomeini Addresses Leadership,` broadcast 30 November 1985, FBIS-SAS-85-043, 2 December 1985

Fatwa Against Salman Rushdie

On 14 February, 1989, a fatwa by Khomeini was broadcast on Tehran Radio calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie. Rushdie, an Indian-born British citizen, had written a book called Satanic Verses, depicting a character (a prophet of God named "Mahound" who mixes "Satanic verses with the divine" -- hence the title of the novel) obviously and irreverently modeled on the Prophet Muhammad.

On Dealing with Offensive Literary Works

In the name of God the Almighty. We belong to God and to Him we shall return. I would like to inform all intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book Satanic Verses, which has been compiled, printed, and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Qor'an, and those publishers who were aware of its contents, are sentenced to death. I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, where they find them, so that no one will dare to insult the Islamic sanctities. Whoever is killed on this path will be regarded as a martyr, God willing. In addition, if anyone has access to the author of the book but does not possess the power to execute him, he should point him out to the people so that he may be punished for his actions. May God's blessing be on you all. Rullah Musavi al-Khomeini.

So famous is (or was) Khomeini's fatwa on Rushdie that many non-Muslims assumed the word fatwa was some kind of Islamic term for death threat, rather than legal opinion. Even the more knowledgeable may have come to believe that what Khomeini did -- issue a death warrant without trial, defense, etc - was just the Islamic way of doing things. But was this fatwa in keeping with Islamic jurisprudence? Rushdie was charged with apostasy, and apostasy by a mentally sound adult male is indeed a capital crime in Islamic fiqh. But fiqh also

lays down procedures according to which a person accused of an offense is to be brought to trial, confronted with his accuser, and given the opportunity to defend himself. A judge will then give a verdict and if he finds the accused guilty, pronounce sentence. ...

Even the most rigorous and extreme of the classical jurist only require a Muslims to kill anyone who insults the Prophet in his hearing and in his presence. They say nothing about a hired killing for a reported insult in a distant country. [0H]

Some speculated that Khomeini had motives for issuing the fatwa other than his duty to protect Islam by punishing blasphemy/apostasy, namely:

According to Robin Wright, "as the international furor grew, Khomeini declared that the book had been a `godsend` that had helped Iran out of a `naive foreign policy`". [3H]

Whatever his reasons, the death threat was serious. On February 24, "Khomeini offered a U.S. $3 million bounty for the death of Rushdie, who went into hiding and lived under the protection of U.K. security services for many years there after. [4H] Teams of fatwa-driven assassins managed to slay or injure Rushdie's translators and publishers in Italy, Japan, and Norway. Several bookstores around the world were bombed; films and plays threatened. [5H]

Salman Rushdie's Apology

To non-Islamist ears, a head of state calling for the murder of a citizen of another country for the crime of writing a book might seem quite outrageous enough, but there was more to come. Could Rushdie undo the damage, appeal for clemency for an act (book writing) that had caused no one any physical harm? Two days after the fatwa was issued Iranian President Khamene'i (a former "favourite pupil" (http://www.khamenei.de/biograph/biogrsalam.htm) and long-time lieutenant of Khomeini) suggested that `if [Rushdie] apologizes and disowns the book, people may forgive him.` Two days following that, Rushdie issued "a carefully worded statement" regretting

profoundly the distress the publication has occasioned to the sincere followers of Islam. Living as we do in a world of many faiths, this experience has served to remind us that we must all be conscious of the sensibilities of others.` [6H]

On Forgiving Blasphemers who Apologize

The imperialist foreign media falsely alleged that the officials of the Islamic Republic have said the sentence of death on the author of The Satanic Verses will be retracted if he repents. His Excellency, Imam Khomeini, long may he live, has said:

This is denied 100%. Even if Salman Rushdie repents and become the most pious man of all time, it is incumbent on every Muslim to employ everything he has got, his life and wealth, to send him to Hell.

His Excellency the Imam added:

If a non-Muslim becomes aware of Rushdie's whereabouts and has the ability to execute him quicker than Muslims, it is incumbent on Muslims to pay a reward or a fee in return for this action. [7H]

No apology could ever overrule the death sentence. God may be merciful, but that doesn't mean Khomeini has to be!

Notes on "Fatwa Against Salman Rushdie"

[0H]Bernard Lewis's comment on Rushdie fatwa in The Crisis of Islam : Holy War and Unholy Terror, 2003 by Bernard Lewis, p.141-2)

[1H] Moin, Baqer, Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah, (2001), p.267,
The Gulf War : It's Origins, History and Consequences by John Bulloch and Harvey Morris, 1989, (p.xvi)]

[7H] from Moin, Khomeini, (2001), p.284

Religious and Political Will of Khomeini

On June 3 1989 Khomeini died. The next morning his 29-page will was read by a "sobbing" President Khamene'i to a weeping Assembly of Experts. [1I]

To share his wisdom with the world the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), ("the country's official national news outlet" and part of the "Ministry of National Guidance"), has made a full-text translation into English available (at the time of writing) at http://server32.irna.com/occasion/ertehal/english/will/lmnew1.htm

The will, which except for a postscript, was written six years earlier, covered no new ground [2I] and contained much of what you'd expect from any good Muslim, or founder of a revolution: a plea that his successors "devote and dedicate themselves to the service of Islam;" that everyone "advance towards self-awareness, self-sufficiency and independence," and so on.

What you might not expect from most people, but most definitely would from Khomeini was his trademark venom which he shared with a long list of enemies:

Khomeini On His Enemies