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Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution in Iran Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 8-2006 Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution in Iran Dustin John Byrd Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Islamic Studies Commons Recommended Citation Byrd, Dustin John, "Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution in Iran" (2006). Master's Theses. 3864. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/3864 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI AND THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IN IRAN by Dustin John Byrd A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillmentof the requirements for the Degreeof Master of Arts Department of Comparative Religion WesternMichigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan August 2006 Copyrightby Dustin John Byrd 2006 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to begin by acknowledging a few important influences on my work: Drs. Rudolf Siebert, David Ede, and Dr. Nancy Folk all from the Department of Comparative Religion. Their support and enthusiasm for my work has been greatly appreciated. From Dr. Siebert I have benefited from his voluminous theoretical knowledge, especially of the Critical Theory of Religion of the Frankfurt School for Social Research. Through our classes, international conferences, and discourses over Saturday lunches, and most importantly, through his own embodiment of theory and praxis, he has persistently encouraged me to see the world in a radical and uncompromisingly honest way. Dr. Ede has given me valuable insights into revolutionary Iran and the social situation prior to the 1979 revolution. His emphasis on discovering the best source material and his research methods have helped me tremendously. Dr. Falk, although tough on me when I've deserved it, has never failed in pushing me further in my studies and allowing me not to take myself too seriously. To these three I owe a debt of gratitude. Lastly, I would like to thank my children, Benjamin, Layla, and Maxwell, who have had mountains of patience as I have struggled to complete this work. Their love and dedication to me is beyond anything I can repay. Dustin John Byrd 11 AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI AND THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IN IRAN Dustin John Byrd, M.A. WesternMichigan University, 2006 This thesis examines the events leading up to the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and the role of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in bringing about that revolution. It attempts to demonstrate the social, psychological, political, and religious factors that led to the rise of Khomeini as the leader of the revolution. It furthermore focuses on Khomeini's strategy to oppose, destabilize, and eventually overthrow the Shah of Iran through various means. This thesis is limited to the study of Khomeini as a revolutionary figure, not as a head of state, and therefore I do not examine Khomeini after the overthrow of the Shah. This thesis revisits the later half of 20th century Iran, beginning with Khomeini's political awakening in 1941, and ending with his triumph as the supreme authority in Iran. The social and political context of Iran is essential in understanding the success of Khomeini. A key component to Khomeini's rise to power is his "Prophetic Charisma." Based on the works of Max Weber and Erich Fromm as well as the Islamic tradition, I develop this category and demonstrate how it applies to Khomeini. "Charismic Authority," from which Khomeini drew legitimacy, is also thoroughly examined because of the major role it played in deposing the Shah. The research sheds new light into a period of Middle Eastern history that still has an impact ruler. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .... ........................ ...................... u CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................... 1 II. IMAM KHOMEINI'S POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY .... 4 1941 - 1960: Political Awakening: Reform the Shah in Order to Resist the Shah............................ 5 1961 - 1964: Political Activism: Contra Dictatora Coronada . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 10 1964 - 1979: Exile and the Return of the Imam ... 20 III. A THEORY OF "PROPHETIC CHARISMA" .......... 41 Weber's Concept of Charisma ........................... 42 Weberian and Islamic Prophets .......................... 48 General Role of the Prophet ............................... 53 Weberian Roles of the Prophet ........................... 54 Erich Fromm's Prophet and Priest ...................... 57 Prophet Muhammad as Standard Bearer forWhat is "Prophetic" ...................................... 66 The Prophetic and Martyrdom: 'Ali and Hussein .. 77 IV. KHOMEINI'S PROPHETIC CHARISMA................ 86 Modernization without Westernization? ............. 90 Khomeini's Theory - Praxis Dialectic .................. 92 1ll Khomeini and the Priest .................................... 96 Khomeini's Attempt to Bring the Prophet to the Priest ...................................................... 98 Conclusion ...................................................... 106 V. CHARISMATIC AUTHORITY IN THE SHI'A: ALLAH, MUHAMMAD, 'ALI, TWELVE IMAMS, AND THE 'ULAMA .................................................................... 108 Khomeini's Charismatic Authority .................. 119 Khomeini's Prophetic Authority ......................121 Political Environment of Pre-Revolutionary Iran ................................................................ 122 Criteria for Establishing the Prophetic Authority ....................................................... 130 Khomeini's is Recognized as being Prophetic ....................................................... 131 People's Acceptance of Khomeini as "Revolutionary Leader" ................................. 134 VI. KHOMEINI AND THE POLITICAL LEFT ................137 Marxist - Leninist Philosophy ........................ 139 Five Marxist-Influenced Iranian Opposition Groups .......................................................... 145 Tudeh Party ......................................... 146 National Front ..................................... 149 Freedom Movement oflran .................. 151 lV Mujahideen-i Khalq .............................. 156 Fedayeen-i Khalq . .. .. .. .. .. 160 Marxist Intellectuals Behind the Revolution: The Politics of Return .................................... 162 Jalal Al-i Ahmad ................................... 162 'Ali Shari'ati .......................................... 172 Khomeini's Use of Leftist - Islamic Language ........................................................ 185 Summary ........................................................ 193 VII. FINAL CONCLUSIONS .......................................... 195 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................. 198 V CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In the West, the image ofAyatollah Khomeini denouncing America as the "Great Satan" conjures up visions of terrorist attacks, irrational religious mobs burning the U.S. flag, blind-folded hostages being led from a battle scared embassy, and an oppressive government which has stripped away the human rights ofwomen and minorities. But before these images were permanently burned into the minds ofmany Americans andWesterners, Khomeini had been resisting foreign cultural and political influence in Iran for decades. Before he was effectively the head ofstate ofthe Islamic Republic ofIran, he was a religious revolutionary who led a popular revolt against a very unpopular monarch. Although Khomeini was not loved by the West, who often portrayed him as a reactionary religious zealot, he had mass support by Iranians ofevery sort. Leading a "coalition ofdissent" made ofleftist intellectuals, communists, socialist, modernist Muslims, clerics, and commoners, he was able to overcome a well-entrenched and foreign supported dictator, i.e. MuhammadReza Pahlavi, the "Shah oflran." This successful revolution ushered in a new era in geo-politics, one that would see the rise of Islamic militancy, a renewal ofIslam as a guiding political and religious philosophy, and new tensions betweenthe Westernsecular world and the religious world oflslam - which some even claim to be a new ''world war."1 However, the goal ofthis work is to examine the personal role ofKhomeini 1 See Bacevich, Andrew J. The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. in the Islamic Revolution oflran, not the Islamic Republic oflran. I shall be analyzing Ayatollah Khomeini as a revolutionary, not as a statesman. Therefore my inquiry will belimited to Khomeini's political life prior to the successful overthrow of the Shah in January of 1979. First, I shall review the political life of Khomeini, beginning in the 1940's when he firstbecame interested in political issue, through 1960's when he first beganto publicly oppose the Shah and subsequently was exiled to Turkey, Iraq, andFrance, and finallyhis returnas the "supreme leader" oflran. Secondly, in examining how Khomeini so successfullyled the nation in a revolution, I shall provide a ''theory of prophetic charisma," primarily based on the works of the sociologist Max Weber, and or the critical theory of society developed by the social-psychologist Erich Fromm. Next, I shall demonstrate how the theory of "prophetic charisma"
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