Ruhollah Khomeini

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Not to be confused with Ali Khamenei.
For other people named Khomeini, see Khomeini (name).
Ruhollah Khomeini
روح‌ الله خمینی
عکسی از خمینی.JPG
1st Supreme Leader of Iran
In office
3 December 1979 – 3 June 1989
President Abolhassan Banisadr
Mohammad-Ali Rajai
Ali Khamenei
Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan
Mohammad-Ali Rajai
Mohammad-Javad Bahonar
Mahdavi Kani
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Preceded by Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
As Shah of Iran
Succeeded by Ali Khamenei
Personal details
Khomeyn, Iran
Tehran, Iran
Nationality Iranian
Political party Islamic Republican Party
Spouse(s) Khadijeh Saqafi (m. 1929–89)
Children Mostafa
Religion Usuli Twelver Shia Islam[6][7][8]
Styles of
Ruhollah Khomeini
Emblem of Iran.svg
Reference style Eminent marji' al-taqlid, Ayatullah al-Uzma Imam Khumayni[9]
Spoken style Imam Khomeini[10]
Religious style Ayatullah al-Uzma Ruhollah Khomeini[10]


Khomeini was a marja ("source of emulation") in Twelver Shi'a Islam, a Mujtahid or faqih (an expert in Islamic law) and author of more than 40 books, but he is primarily known for his political activities. He spent more than 15 years in exile for his opposition to the last Shah. In his writings and preachings he expanded the theory of velayat-e faqih, the "guardianship of the jurisconsult (clerical authority)", to include theocratic political rule by Islamic jurists. This principle (though not known to the wider public before the revolution[11][12]), was appended to the new Iranian constitution[13] after being put to a referendum.[14]

He was named Man of the Year in 1979 by American news magazine TIME for his international influence,[15] and has been described as the "virtual face of Islam in Western popular culture"[16] where he remains a controversial figure. He was known for his support of the hostage takers during the Iran hostage crisis,[17] his fatwa calling for the death of British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie,[15][18] and for referring to the United States as the "Great Satan". Khomeini has been criticized for these acts and for human rights violations of Iranians (including his ordering of execution of thousands of political prisoners[19][20][21]), and the pursuit of victory in the Iran–Iraq War that ultimately proved futile.[22]

He has also been lauded as a "charismatic leader of immense popularity",[23] a "champion of Islamic revival" by Shia scholars,[16] who attempted to establish good relations between Sunnis and Shias,[24] and a major innovator in political theory and religious-oriented populist political strategy.[25][26]

Khomeini held the title of Grand Ayatollah and is officially known as Imam Khomeini inside Iran and by his supporters internationally.[10] He is generally referred to as Ayatollah Khomeini by others.[27] In Iran, his gold-domed tomb in Tehrān's Behesht-e Zahrāʾ cemetery has become a shrine for his supporters,[22] and he is legally considered "inviolable", with Iranians regularly punished for insulting him.[28]

Early years[edit]


The ancestors of Ruhollah Khomeini migrated towards the end of the 18th century from their original home of Nishapur, Khorasan Province, in northeastern Iran, for a short stay, to the kingdom of Awadh – a region in the modern state of Uttar Pradesh, India – whose rulers were Twelver Shia Muslims of Persian origin.[29][30][31] During their rule they extensively invited, and received, a steady stream of Persian scholars, poets, jurists, architects, and painters.[32] The Khomeini family eventually settled in the small town of Kintoor, just outside Lucknow, the capital of Awadh.[33][34][35][36] Ayatollah Khomeini's paternal grandfather, Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi, was born in Kintoor.[34][36] He left Lucknow in 1830, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Imam Ali in Najaf, Ottoman Iraq (now Iraq) and never returned.[33][36] According to Moin, this migration was to escape from the spread of British power in India.[37] In 1834 Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi visited Persia, and in 1839 he settled in Khomein.[34] Although he stayed and settled in Iran, he continued to be known as Hindi, indicating his stay in India, and Ruhollah Khomeini even used Hindi as a pen name in some of his ghazals.[33] There are also claims that Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi departed from Kashmir, instead of Lucknow.[30]


Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, whose name means "spirit of God", was born on 22 or 24 September 1902 in Khomeyn, Markazi Province. He was raised by his mother, Hajieh Agha Khanum, and his aunt, Sahebeth, following the murder of his father, Seyed Mostafa Hindi, five months after his birth in 1903.[38]

Ruhollah began to study the Qur'an and elementary Persian at the age of six.[39] The following year, he began to attend a local school, where he learned religion, noheh khani (lamentation recital), and other traditional subjects.[37] Throughout his childhood, he continued his religious education with the assistance of his relatives, including his mother's cousin, Ja'far,[37] and his elder brother, Morteza Pasandideh.[40]

Education and lecturing[edit]

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

After World War I arrangements were made for him to study at the Islamic seminary in Esfahan, but he was attracted instead to the seminary in Arak. He was placed under the leadership of Ayatollah Abdul Karim Haeri Yazdi.[41] In 1920, Khomeini moved to Arak and commenced his studies.[42] The following year, Ayatollah Haeri Yazdi transferred to the Islamic seminary in the holy city of Qom, southwest of Tehran, and invited his students to follow. Khomeini accepted the invitation, moved,[40] and took up residence at the Dar al-Shafa school in Qom.[43] Khomeini's studies included Islamic law (sharia) and jurisprudence (fiqh),[39] but by that time, Khomeini had also acquired an interest in poetry and philosophy (irfan). So, upon arriving in Qom, Khomeini sought the guidance of Mirza Ali Akbar Yazdi, a scholar of philosophy and mysticism. Yazdi died in 1924, but Khomeini continued to pursue his interest in philosophy with two other teachers, Javad Aqa Maleki Tabrizi and Rafi'i Qazvini.[44][45] However, perhaps Khomeini's biggest influences were yet another teacher, Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Shahabadi,[46] and a variety of historic Sufi mystics, including Mulla Sadra and Ibn Arabi.[45]

Khomeini studied Greek philosophy and was influenced by both the philosophy of Aristotle, whom he regarded as the founder of logic,[47] and Plato, whose views "in the field of divinity" he regarded as "grave and solid".[48] Among Islamic philosophers, Khomeini was mainly influenced by Avicenna and Mulla Sadra.[47]

Khomeini in his youth 1938

Apart from philosophy, Khomeini was interested in literature and poetry. His poetry collection was released after his death. Beginning in his adolescent years, Khomeini composed mystic, political and social poetry. His poetry works were published in three collections: The Confidant, The Decanter of Love and Turning Point, and Divan.[49]

Ruhollah Khomeini was a lecturer at Najaf and Qom seminaries for decades before he was known on the political scene. He soon became a leading scholar of Shia Islam.[50] He taught political philosophy,[51] Islamic history and ethics. Several of his students – for example, Morteza Motahhari – later became leading Islamic philosophers and also marja'. As a scholar and teacher, Khomeini produced numerous writings on Islamic philosophy, law, and ethics.[52] He showed an exceptional interest in subjects like philosophy and mysticism that not only were usually absent from the curriculum of seminaries but were often an object of hostility and suspicion.[53]

Political aspects[edit]

His seminary teaching often focused on the importance of religion to practical social and political issues of the day, and he worked against secularism in the 1940s. His first book, Kashf al-Asrar (Uncovering of Secrets)[54][55] published in 1942, was a point-by-point refutation of Asrar-e hazar salih (Secrets of a Thousand Years), a tract written by a disciple of Iran's leading anti-clerical historian, Ahmad Kasravi,[56] as well as a condemnation of innovations such as international time zones,[57] [note 1] and the banning of hijab by Reza Shah. In addition, he went from Qom to Tehran to listen to Ayatullah Hasan Mudarris, the leader of the opposition majority in Iran's parliament during the 1920s. Khomeini became a marja' in 1963, following the death of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Husayn Borujerdi.

Early political activity[edit]


Khomeini's speech against the Shah in Qom, 1964

Most Iranians had a deep respect for the Shi'a clergy or Ulama,[58] and tended to be religious, traditional, and alienated from the process of Westernization pursued by the Shah. In the late 19th century the clergy had shown themselves to be a powerful political force in Iran initiating the Tobacco Protest against a concession to a foreign (British) interest.


Opposition to the White Revolution[edit]



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


On 5 June 1963 (15 of Khordad) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran.[62] This sparked three days of major riots throughout Iran and led to the deaths of some 400. That event is now referred to as the Movement of 15 Khordad.[63] Khomeini was kept under house arrest and released in August.[64][page needed]

Opposition to capitulation[edit]

Khomeini in prayer


Life in exile[edit]

Khomeini at Bursa (Turkey)
Khomeini at Najaf (Iraq)

Khomeini spent more than 14 years in exile, mostly in the holy Shia city of Najaf, Iraq. Initially he was sent to Turkey on 4 November 1964 where he stayed in the city of Bursa hosted by a colonel in the Turkish Military Intelligence named Ali Cetiner in his own residence.[68] In October 1965, after less than a year, he was allowed to move to Najaf, Iraq, where he stayed until 1978, when he was encouraged to leave by then-Vice President Saddam Hussein.[69] By this time discontent with the Shah was becoming intense and Khomeini went to Neauphle-le-Château, suburb of Paris, France on a tourist visa. During this last four months of his exile he was courted by press and politicians.[70][71]

By the late 1960s, Khomeini was a marja-e taqlid (model for imitation) for "hundreds of thousands" of Shia, one of six or so models in the Shia world.[72] While in the 1940s Khomeini accepted the idea of a limited monarchy under the Iranian Constitution of 1906–07 – as evidenced by his book Kashf al-Asrar – by the 1970s he had rejected the idea. In early 1970, Khomeini gave a series of lectures in Najaf on Islamic government, later published as a book titled variously Islamic Government or Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist (Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih).





Cassette copies of his lectures fiercely denouncing the Shah as (for example) "... the Jewish agent, the American serpent whose head must be smashed with a stone",[77] became common items in the markets of Iran,[78] helped to demythologize the power and dignity of the Shah and his reign. Aware of the importance of broadening his base, Khomeini reached out to Islamic reformist and secular enemies of the Shah, despite his long-term ideological incompatibility with them.


As protest grew so did his profile and importance. Although thousands of kilometers away from Iran in Paris, Khomeini set the course of the revolution, urging Iranians not to compromise and ordering work stoppages against the regime.[81] During the last few months of his exile, Khomeini received a constant stream of reporters, supporters, and notables, eager to hear the spiritual leader of the revolution.[82]

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran[edit]

Return to Iran[edit]

Arrival of Khomeini on 1 February 1979. When asked about his feelings of returning from exile in the plane, he replied Hichi; "Nothing"

Khomeini was not allowed to return to Iran during the Shah's reign (as he had been in exile). On 17 January 1979, the Shah left the country (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated (by BBC) to be of up to five million people.[83] On his chartered flight back to Tehran 120 journalists accompanied him,[84][85] including three women.[85] One of the journalists, Peter Jennings, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?"[86] Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh: "Hichi" (Nothing).[86] This statement—much discussed at the time[87] and since[88]—was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego.[89] Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment.[90] To others, it was a reflection of an unfeeling leader incapable or unconcerned with understanding the thoughts, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace.[88]

Khomeini and the interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan



Islamic constitution[edit]




Hostage crisis[edit]

Main article: Iran hostage crisis


On 4 November, Iranian students calling themselves Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, took control of the American Embassy in Tehran, holding 52 embassy staff hostage for 444 days – an event known as the Iran hostage crisis. In the United States, the hostage-taking was seen as a flagrant violation of international law and aroused intense anger and anti-Iranian sentiments.[107][108]



Relationship with Islamic and non-aligned countries[edit]

Khomeini believed in Muslim unity and solidarity and the export of his revolution throughout the world. He believed Shia and (the more numerous) Sunni Muslims should be "united and stand firmly against Western and arrogant powers."[113] "Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution."[114] He declared the birth week of Muhammad (the week between 12th to 17th of Rabi' al-awwal) as the Unity week. Then he declared the last Friday of Ramadan as International Day of Quds in 1981.[115]

Iran–Iraq War[edit]

Main article: Iran–Iraq War
Ruhollah Khomeini with Ahmad Khomeini and Mohammad-Ali Rajai


In September 1980, Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran, starting what would become the eight-year-long Iran–Iraq War (September 1980 – August 1988). A combination of fierce resistance by Iranians and military incompetence by Iraqi forces soon stalled the Iraqi advance and, despite Saddam's internationally condemned use of poison gas, Iran had by early 1982 regained almost all of the territory lost to the invasion. The invasion rallied Iranians behind the new regime, enhancing Khomeini's stature and allowing him to consolidate and stabilize his leadership. After this reversal, Khomeini refused an Iraqi offer of a truce, instead demanding reparations and the toppling of Saddam Hussein from power.[117][118][119] In 1982, there was an attempted military coup against Khomeini.[120] The Iran–Iraq war ended in 1988, with 320,000–720,000 Iranian soldiers and militia killed.[121]




Fatwa against chemical weapons[edit]

In an interview with Gareth Porter, Mohsen Rafighdoost, the eight-year war time minister of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, disclosed how Khomeini had opposed his proposal for beginning working on both nuclear and chemical weapons by a fatwa which had never been made public in details of when and how it was issued.[124]

Rushdie fatwa[edit]

An illegal Persian edition of The Satanic Verses, denounced by Khomeini



Though Rushdie publicly regretted "the distress that publication has occasioned to sincere followers of Islam",[127] the fatwa was not revoked. Khomeini explained,



Life under Khomeini[edit]


Under Khomeini's rule, Sharia (Islamic law) was introduced, with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women by Islamic Revolutionary Guards and other Islamic groups[131] Women were required to cover their hair, and men were not allowed to wear shorts. Alcoholic drinks, most Western movies, the practice of men and women swimming or sunbathing together were banned.[132] The Iranian educational curriculum was Islamized at all levels with the Islamic Cultural Revolution; the "Committee for Islamization of Universities"[133] carried this out thoroughly. The broadcasting of any music other than martial or religious on Iranian radio and television was banned by Khomeini in July 1979.[132] The ban lasted 10 years (approximately the rest of his life).[134]

Emigration and economy[edit]

Khomeini is said to have stressed "the spiritual over the material".[135][136] Six months after his first speech he expressed exasperation with complaints about the sharp drop in Iran's standard of living, saying that: "I cannot believe that the purpose of all these sacrifices was to have less expensive melons."[137] On another occasion emphasizing the importance of martyrdom over material prosperity, he said: "Could anyone wish his child to be martyred to obtain a good house? This is not the issue. The issue is another world."[138] He is also reportedly famous for answering a question about his economic policies by declaring that 'economics is for donkeys'.[139][note 2] This disinterest in economic policy is said to be "one factor explaining the inchoate performance of the Iranian economy since the revolution."[135] Other factors include the long war with Iraq, the cost of which led to government debt and inflation, eroding personal incomes, and unprecedented unemployment,[140] ideological disagreement over the economy, and "international pressure and isolation" such as US sanctions following the hostage crisis.[141]

Due to the Iran–Iraq war, poverty is said to have risen by nearly 45% during the first 6 years of Khomeini's rule.[142] Emigration from Iran also developed, reportedly for the first time in the country's history.[143] Since the revolution and war with Iraq, an estimated "two to four million entrepreneurs, professionals, technicians, and skilled craftspeople (and their capital)" have emigrated to other countries.[144][145]

Suppression of opposition[edit]



In the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, following the People's Mujahedin of Iran unsuccessful operation Forough-e Javidan against the Islamic Republic, Khomeini issued an order to judicial officials to judge every Iranian political prisoner (mostly but not all Mujahedin) and kill those judged to be apostates from Islam (mortad) or "waging war on God" (moharebeh). Almost all of those interrogated were killed, estimates of their number vary from 1,400[149] to 30,000.[150][151][152]

Minority religions[edit]

Life for religious minorities largely deteriorated under Khomeini. Senior government posts were reserved for Muslims. Schools set up by Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians had to be run by Muslim principals.[153] Conversion to Islam was encouraged by entitling converts to inherit the entire share of their parents (or even uncle's) estate if their siblings (or cousins) remain non-Muslim.[154] Iran's non-Muslim population has decreased. For example, the Jewish population in Iran dropped from 80,000 to 30,000.[155]


Shortly after Khomeini's return from exile in 1979, he issued a fatwa ordering that Jews and other minorities (except Bahá'ís) be treated well.[157][158] In power, Khomeini distinguished between Zionism as a secular political party that employs Jewish symbols and ideals and Judaism as the religion of Moses.[159]


Like most conservative Muslims, Khomeini believed Bahá'í to be apostates.[162] He claimed they were a political rather than a religious movement,[163][164] declaring:


Ethnic minorities[edit]


Death and funeral[edit]

After eleven days in Jamaran hospital, Khomeini died on 3 June 1989 after suffering five heart attacks in just ten days,[167] at the age of 86 just before midnight. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei. Iranians poured out into the cities and streets in enormous numbers to mourn Khomeini's death in a spontaneous outpouring of grief. In the scorching summer heat, fire trucks sprayed water on the crowds to cool them. Ten mourners were trampled to death, more than four hundred were badly hurt and several thousand more treated for injuries sustained in the ensuing pandemonium.[168][169]

The crowds were lining the 32-kilometre (20 mi) route to Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on 11 June 1989, for the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as 10,200,000 people, that is one-sixth of the population of Iran. Western agencies estimated that 2 million paid their respects as the body lay in state.[170]



The second funeral was held under much tighter security five hours later. This time, Khomeini's casket was made of steel, and in accordance with Islamic tradition, the casket was only to carry the body to the burial site. In 1995, his son Ahmad was buried next to him. Khomeini's grave is now housed within a larger mausoleum complex.


Ali Khamenei and Hussein-Ali Montazeri

Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, a former student of Khomeini and a major figure of the Revolution, was chosen by Khomeini to be his successor as Supreme Leader and approved as such by the Assembly of Experts in November 1985.[174] The principle of velayat-e faqih and the Islamic constitution called for the Supreme Leader to be a marja (a grand ayatollah), and of the dozen or so grand ayatollahs living in 1981 only Montazeri qualified as a potential Leader (this was either because only he accepted totally Khomeini's concept of rule by Islamic jurists,[175][176][unreliable source?] or, as at least one other source stated, because only Montazeri had the "political credentials" Khomeini found suitable for his successor).[177] In 1989 Montazeri began to call for liberalization, freedom for political parties. Following the execution of thousands of political prisoners by the Islamic government, Montazeri told Khomeini 'your prisons are far worse than those of the Shah and his SAVAK.'[178] After a letter of his complaints was leaked to Europe and broadcast on the BBC, a furious Khomeini ousted him from his position as official successor.

To deal with the disqualification of the only suitable marja, Khomeini called for an 'Assembly for Revising the Constitution' to be convened. An amendment was made to Iran's constitution removing the requirement that the Supreme Leader be a Marja[175] and this allowed Ali Khamenei, the new favoured jurist who had suitable revolutionary credentials but lacked scholarly ones and who was not a Grand Ayatollah, to be designated as successor.[179][180] Ayatollah Khamene'i was elected Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on 4 June 1989. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Montazeri continued his criticism of the regime and in 1997 was put under house arrest for questioning what he regarded to be an unaccountable rule exercised by the supreme leader.[181][182]

Political thought and legacy[edit]

Khomeini giving a speech in 1979

According to at least one scholar, politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran "are largely defined by attempts to claim Khomeini's legacy" and that "staying faithful to his ideology has been the litmus test for all political activity" there.[183] Throughout his many writings and speeches, Khomeini's views on governance evolved. Originally declaring rule by monarchs or others permissible so long as sharia law was followed[184] Khomeini later adamantly opposed monarchy, arguing that only rule by a leading Islamic jurist (a marja'), would insure Sharia was properly followed (wilayat al-faqih),[185] before finally insisting the ruling jurist need not be a leading one and Sharia rule could be overruled by that jurist if necessary to serve the interests of Islam and the "divine government" of the Islamic state.[186]

Khomeini's concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists (ولایت فقیه, velayat-e faqih) did not win the support of the leading Iranian Shi'i clergy of the time.[187] Towards the 1979 Revolution, many clerics gradually became disillusioned with the rule of the Shah, although none came around to supporting Khomeini's vision of a theocratic Islamic Republic.[187]

There is much debate to as whether Khomeini's ideas are or are not compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be a democratic republic. According to the state-run Aftab News,[188] both ultraconservative (Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi) and reformist opponents of the regime (Akbar Ganji and Abdolkarim Soroush) believe he did not, while regime officials and supporters like Ali Khamenei,[189] Mohammad Khatami and Mortaza Motahhari[190] believe Khomeini intended the Islamic republic to be democratic and that it is so.[191] Khomeini himself also made statements at different times indicating both support and opposition to democracy.[192]

One scholar, Shaul Bakhash, explains this disagreement as coming from Khomeini's belief that the huge turnout of Iranians in anti-Shah demonstrations during the revolution constituted a 'referendum' in favor of an Islamic republic.[193] Khomeini also wrote that since Muslims must support a government based on Islamic law, Sharia-based government will always have more popular support in Muslim countries than any government based on elected representatives.[194]

Khomeini offered himself as a "champion of Islamic revival" and unity, emphasizing issues Muslims agreed upon – the fight against Zionism and imperialism – and downplaying Shia issues that would divide Shia from Sunni.[195] Khomeini strongly opposed close relations with either Eastern or Western Bloc nations, believing the Islamic world should be its own bloc, or rather converge into a single unified power.[196] He viewed Western culture as being inherently decadent and a corrupting influence upon the youth. The Islamic Republic banned or discouraged popular Western fashions, music, cinema, and literature.[197] In the Western world it is said "his glowering visage became the virtual face of Islam in Western popular culture" and "inculcated fear and distrust towards Islam,"[198] making the word 'Ayatollah' "a synonym for a dangerous madman ... in popular parlance."[199] This has particularly been the case in the United States where some Iranians complained that even at universities they felt the need to hide their Iranian identity for fear of physical attack.[107] There Khomeini and the Islamic Republic are remembered for the American embassy hostage taking and accused of sponsoring hostage-taking and terrorist attacks,[200][201] and which continues to apply economic sanctions against Iran.

Khomeini greeted by the people





Khomeini's legacy to the economy of the Islamic Republic has been expressions of concern for the mustazafin (a Quranic term for the oppressed or deprived), but not always results that aided them. During the 1990s the mustazafin and disabled war veterans rioted on several occasions, protesting the demolition of their shantytowns and rising food prices, etc.[206] Khomeini's disdain for the science of economics ("economics is for donkeys"[note 2]) is said to have been "mirrored" by the populist redistribution policies of former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who allegedly wears "his contempt for economic orthodoxy as a badge of honour", and has overseen sluggish growth and rising inflation and unemployment.[207]

In 1963, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini wrote a book in which he stated that there is no religious restriction on corrective surgery for transgender individuals. At the time Khomeini was an anti-Shah revolutionary and his fatwas did not carry any weight with the Imperial government, which did not have any specific policies regarding transsexual individuals.[208] However, after 1979, his fatwa "formed the basis for a national policy" and perhaps in part because of a penal code that "allows for the execution of homosexuals", as of 2005 Iran "permits and partly finances seven times as many gender reassignment operation as the entire European Union".[209][210]

Mural of Khomeini

Appearance and habits[edit]

Khomeini was described as "slim," but athletic and "heavily boned."[211]

He was known for his punctuality:


Khomeini was also known for his aloofness and austere demeanor. He is said to have had "variously inspired admiration, awe, and fear from those around him."[213] His practice of moving "through the halls of the madresehs never smiling at anybody or anything; his practice of ignoring his audience while he taught, contributed to his charisma."[214]

Khomeini adhered to traditional beliefs of Islamic hygienical jurisprudence holding that things like urine, excrement, blood, wine etc. and also non-Muslims were some of eleven ritualistically "impure" things that physical contact with which while wet required ritual washing or Ghusl before prayer or salat.[215][216] He is reported to have refused to eat or drink in a restaurant unless he knew for sure the waiter was a Muslim.[217]





Khomeini and child

As the revolution gained momentum, even some non-supporters exhibited awe, called him "magnificently clear-minded, single-minded and unswerving."[221] His image was as "absolute, wise, and indispensable leader of the nation"[222]


Even many secularists who firmly disapproved of his policies were said to feel the power of his "messianic" appeal.[224] Comparing him to a father figure who retains the enduring loyalty even of children he disapproves of, journalist Afshin Molavi writes of the defenses of Khomeini he is "heard in the most unlikely settings":



An example of Khomeini's charisma is the effect a half-hour-long, 1982 speech on the Quran by him had on a Muslim Scholar from South Africa, Sheikh Ahmad Deedat:


Among some non-Muslim supporters, Khomeini made a different but also favorable impression. Before Khomeini's coming to power, American academic and activist Richard A. Falk wrote that, "the depiction of him [Khomeini] as fanatical, reactionary and the bearer of crude prejudices seems certainly and happily false".[228] Furthermore, Khomeini's "entourage was uniformly composed of moderate, progressive individuals,"[229] and that "having created a new model of popular revolution based, for the most part, on nonviolent tactics, Iran may yet provide us with a desperately-needed model of humane governance for a third-world country."[230]

Family and descendants[edit]

Main article: Khomeini Family

In 1929,[231] Khomeini married Khadijeh Saqafi,[232] the 16-year-old daughter of a cleric in Tehran. By all accounts their marriage was harmonious and happy.[232] She died in 2009.[233] They had seven children, though only five survived infancy. His daughters all married into either merchant or clerical families, and both his sons entered into religious life. Mostafa, the elder son, died in 1977 while in exile in Najaf, Iraq with his father and was rumored by supporters of his father to have been murdered by SAVAK.[234] Ahmad Khomeini, who died in 1995 at the age of 50, was also rumoured to be a victim of foul play, but at the hands of the regime.[235] Perhaps his "most prominent daughter",[236] Zahra Mostafavi, is a professor at the University of Tehran, and still alive.

Of Khomeini's fifteen grandchildren the most notable include:



Works Cited[edit]

Khomeini was a prolific writer and speaker (200 of his books are online)[242] who authored commentaries on the Qur'an, on Islamic jurisprudence, the roots of Islamic law, and Islamic traditions. He also released books about philosophy, gnosticism, poetry, literature, government and politics.[243] Some of his books:

Pictures gallery[edit]


  1. ^ Prior to the International Time Zone system, every locality had its own time with 12 noon set to match the moment in that city when the sun was at highest point in the sky. This was natural for an era when travel was relatively slow and infrequent, but would have played havoc with railway timetables and general modern long-distance communications. In the decades after 1880 governments around the world replaced local time with 24 international time zones, each covering 15 degrees of the earth's longitude (with some exceptions for political boundaries).
  2. ^ a b The original quote which is part of a speech made in 1979 can be found here:

    "I cannot imagine and no wise person can presume the claim that we spared our bloods so watermelon becomes cheaper. No wise person would sacrifice his young offspring for [say] affordable housing. People [on the contrary] want everything for their young offspring. Human being wants economy for his own self; it would therefore be unwise for him to spare his life in order to improve economy [...] Those who keep bringing up economy and find economy the infrastructure of everything -not knowing what human[ity] means- think of human being as an animal who is defined by means of food and clothes[...] Those who find economy the infrastructure of everything, find human beings animals. Animal too sacrifices everything for its economy and economy is its sole infrastructure. A donkey too considers economy as its only infrastructure. These people did not realize what human being [truly] is."

See also[edit]


  2. ^ "History Of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini - Iran Chamber Society". Retrieved 5 January 2013. 
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External links[edit]

Selected bibliography
Political offices
Preceded by
New title
Supreme Leader of Iran
Succeeded by
Ali Khamenei