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Islam and Revolution Imam Khomeini Islam and Revolution www.islamic-sources.com ISLAM and REVOLUTION 1 2 ISLAM and REVOLUTION Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini Translated and Annotated by Hamid Algar Mizan Press, Berkeley Contemporary Islamic Thought, Persian Series 3 Copyright © 1981 by Mizan Press All Rights Reserved Designed by Heidi Bendorf LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Khumayni, Ruh Allah. Islam and revolution. 1. Islam and state-Iran-Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. Iran-Politics and government-1941-1979-Addresses, essays, lectures. 3. Shiites-Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Algar, Hamid. II. Title. ISBN 0-933782-04-7 hard cover ISBN 0-933782-03-9 paperback Manufactured in the United States of America 4 CONTENTS FOREWORD 9 INTRODUCTION BY THE TRANSLATOR 13 Notes 22 I. Islamic Government 1. INTRODUCTION 27 2. THE NECESSITY FOR ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT 40 3. THE FORM OF ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT 55 4. PROGRAM FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ISLAMIC GOVT. 126 Notes 150 II. Speeches and Declarations A Warning to the Nation/1941 169 In Commemoration of the Martyrs at Qum/ April 3, 1963 174 The Afternoon of ‘Ashura/June 3, 1963 177 The Granting of Capitulatory Rights to the U.S./ October27, 1964 181 Open Letter to Prime Minister Hoveyda/April 16, 1967 189 Message to the Pilgrims/February 6, 1971 195 The Incompatibility of Monarchy With Islam/ October 13, 1971 200 5 Message to the Muslim Students in North America/ July 10, 1972 209 In Commemoration of the First Martyrs of the Revolution/February 19, 1978 212 Message to the People of Azerbayjan/ February 27, 1978 228 Message to the People of Abadan/ August 21, 1978 231 Declaration on the Occasion of ‘Id-i Fitr/ September 6, 1978 233 Message to the Pilgrims/September 27, 1978 237 In Commemoration of the Martyrs of Tehran/ October 11, 1978 239 Muharram: The Triumph of Blood Over the Sword/ November 23, 1978 242 The Formation of the Council of the Islamic Revolution/January 12, 1979 246 The Fortieth Day After ‘Ashura/January 15, 1979 249 Declaration Upon Arrival at Tehran/February 1, 1979 252 Address at Bihisht-i Zahra/February 1, 1979 254 Martial Law Is Contrary to the Shari’a/ February 11, 1979 261 Address to a Group of Women in Qum/ March 6, 1979 263 The First Day of God’s Government/April 1, 1979 265 The Anniversary of the Uprising of Khurdad 15/ June 5, 1979 268 Message to the Pilgrims/September 24, 1979 275 Address to Monsignor Bugnini, Papal Nuncio/ November 12, 1979 278 New Year’s Message/March 21, 1980 286 6 The Meaning of the Cultural Revolution/ April 26, 1980 295 Message to the Pilgrims/September 12, 1980 300 Notes 307 III. Interviews THIRTY MILLION PEOPLE HAVE STOOD UP 321 THE RELIGIOUS SCHOLARS LED THE REVOLT 329 Notes 344 IV. Lecture on the Supreme Jihad THE FOUNTAINHEAD OF MAGNIFICENCE 351 Notes 361 V. Lectures on Surat al-Fatiha 1. EVERYTHING IS A NAME OF GOD 365 2. MIGRATING TO GOD AND HIS MESSENGER 378 3. VEILS OF DARKNESS, VEILS OF LIGHT 389 4. HE IS THE OUTWARD AND THE IN WARD 404 5. THE SAME THING IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES 416 Notes 426 APPENDIX: Legal Rulings 437 Notes 443 INDEX 447 7 8 FOREWORD The present anthology is designed to serve as a detailed and reliable introduction to the ideas and pronouncements of Imam Khomeini for those who have no access to the original Persian texts. Imam Khomeini has been a prolific writer and frequent speaker, and this volume represents only a fraction of his total output. We have excluded writings that deal with technical aspects of Islamic jurisprudence and philosophy, although passing reference to such matters inevitably does occur in some of the texts we have translated. We begin with the best-known work of Imam Khomeini, his lectures on Islamic Government, and then proceed to offer a selection of his speeches and declarations, which, chronologically arranged, form an outline documentary history of the Islamic Revolution. These are followed by two interviews that Imam Khomeini granted me and two items indicating the lasting concern of Imam Khomeini with moral purification and spiritual realization as the ultimate purpose of all correctly guided human activity. The first of these items is an extract from lectures given at Najaf in 1970, and the second, a series of lectures given in late 1979 and early 1980 on the opening chapter of the Qur’an. Finally, some of the most significant legal rulings of the Imam are presented in the appendix. In the introduction, I have made no attempt to document my summary biography of Imam Khomeini, because I am engaged in writing a comprehensive and fully documented account of the Imam’s life and achievements, to which this anthology is intended 9 as a companion volume. Those who desire further information on the Imam are urged to consult this forthcoming work. The notes accompanying the texts are addressed to two separate sets of readers: those whose acquaintance with Islam is minimal, and who would never have thought of reading a book on the subject had it not been for the Islamic Revolution of Iran; and those with a previous and specialized interest in the subject. I hope each type of reader will be easily able to identify the notes intended to benefit him and overlook the rest. The reader will notice that the title of Imam is consistently used in this book before the name of Khomeini. This contravenes the stubborn practice of the Western press, which insists on designating him Ayatullah (“Sign of God”), but conforms to current Iranian usage. The title “Ayatullah” in Shi’i Islam is generally bestowed on high-ranking religious scholars, and has also been applied to Imam Khomeini. However, since his role has been unique among the religious scholars of Iran and has exceeded what is implied in the title “Ayatullah,” he has received the designation of Imam in recent years. It is important to note that the word imam applied to Khomeini has its general and original sense of leader, and not the particular and technical sense it has acquired when applied to the Twelve Imams believed by Shi’i Muslims to be the successors of the Prophet. Concerning the difference between the two applications of the word, see pp. 80 and 83. As for the transliteration of Persian and Arabic names and terms, those whom the subject interests will understand how I have proceeded; those whom it does not, will not care. It is necessary only to add that I have consciously departed from the system of transliteration adopted in this volume in the case of well-known proper names for which a different orthography has become established in English usage, above all the name of Imam Khomeini himself. Acknowledgments are due to the friends who made it possible for me to spend a week at the headquarters of Imam Khomeini at Neauphle-le-Chateau in December 1978; to all those who extended assistance and hospitality to me during my visit to Iran in December 1979, especially Ahmad Ajall-Lu’iyan and Mustafa 10 Safavi; to Husayn ‘Abbasi, who supplied the photograph on the back cover; and to Javad Larijani, who assisted me in the understanding of several passages in this book. Hamid Algar Berkeley 18 Rabi’ aI-Awwal 1401/5 Bahman 1359/ January 25, 1981 11 12 INTRODUCTION BY THE TRANSLATOR MAM RUHULLAH AL-MUSAVI AL-KHOMEINI was born on September 24, I 1902 into a family of strong religious traditions in Khumayn, a small town some hundred kilometers to the southwest of Tehran.1 Both his grandfather and father were religious scholars. The former, Sayyid Ahmad, was known as al-Hindi because of a period he had spent in India, where a distant branch of the family is said still to exist. The latter, Ayatullah Mustafa, was murdered by bandits only five months after the birth of Ruhullah, so that his mother and an aunt were responsible for his early upbringing. At the age of sixteen, he lost both mother and aunt in the course of a single year, and the task of supervising his education then fell to an elder brother, Sayyid Murtaza (better known, in later years, as Ayatullah Pasandida). Ayatullah Pasandida recalls that even in his youth, Imam Khomeini showed great piety, seriousness, and determination. It was the general consensus in Khumayn that a significant if turbulent career awaited him.2 At the age of nineteen, the young Khomeini was sent to study the religious sciences in the nearby town of Arak under the guidance of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karim Ha’iri,3 who had been a pupil of great scholars at the Shi’i teaching centers in Iraq, most notably Mirza Hasan Shirazi.4 His studies under Ha’iri made Khomeini an heir to the traditions established by the great figures of the nineteenth century, traditions that included political activism as well as learning. The following year, Ha’iri accepted an invitation from the people and scholars of Qum to settle there. Qum had always been 13 a center of learning as well as pilgrimage, but Ha’iri’s arrival there, followed by his reorganization of the religious teaching institution, was the first in a series of developments that elevated Qum to the status of spiritual capital of Islamic Iran. The final and decisive development would be the movement of nationwide opposition to the Pahlavi monarchy that Imam Khomeini was to initiate in Qum in 1962. Indications of Imam Khomeini’s future role were already present in those early years. He attained prominence among the numerous students of Ha’iri, excelling in a wide variety of subjects, but especially ethics and the variety of spiritual philosophy known in Iran as ‘irfan.
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