Ruhollah Khomeini

Ruhollah Khomeini
روح‌الله خمینی
Official portrait, 1981
1st Supreme Leader of Iran
In office
3 December 1979 – 3 June 1989
President
Prime Minister
DeputyHussein-Ali Montazeri (1985‍–‍1989)
Preceded byPosition established (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as Shah)
Succeeded byAli Khamenei
Personal details
Born
Ruhollah Mostafavi Musavi

(1900-05-17)17 May 1900 or
(1902-09-24)24 September 1902
Khomeyn, Mazandaran, Sublime State of Persia
Died(1989-06-03)3 June 1989 (aged 86 or 89)
Tehran, Iran
Resting placeMausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini
Spouse
(m. 1929)
Children7, including Mostafa, Zahra, Farideh, and Ahmad
RelativesKhomeini family
EducationQom Seminary
Signature
Websiteimam-khomeini.ir
Notable idea(s)New advance of guardianship
Notable work(s)
Religious life
ReligionIslam
DenominationTwelver Shi'a[1]
JurisprudenceJa'fari
CreedUsuli
Muslim leader
TeacherSeyyed Hossein Borujerdi
Styles of
Ruhollah Khomeini
Reference styleEminent marji' al-taqlid, Ayatullah al-Uzma Imam Khumayni[2]
Spoken styleImam Khomeini[3]
Religious styleAyatullah al-Uzma Ruhollah Khomeini[3]

Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini[a] (17 May 1900 or 24 September 1902 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian revolution, which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and served as the first supreme leader of Iran, the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the Islamic Republic until his death in 1989.

Born in Khomeyn, in what is now Iran's Markazi province, his father was murdered when Khomeini was two years old. He began studying the Quran and Arabic from a young age assisted by his relatives. Khomeini became a high ranking cleric in Twelver Shi'ism, an ayatollah, a marja' ("source of emulation"), a mujtahid or faqīh (an expert in fiqh), and author of more than 40 books. His opposition to the White Revolution resulted in his state-sponsored expulsion to Bursa in 1964. Nearly a year later, he moved to Najaf, where speeches he gave outlining his religiopolitical theory of Guardianship of the Jurist were compiled into Islamic Government.

Khomeini was Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1979 for his international influence and in the next decade was described as the "virtual face of Shia Islam in Western popular culture", where he was known for his support of the hostage takers during the Iran hostage crisis, his fatwa calling for the murder of British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie for Rushdie's description of Islamic prophet Muhammad in his novel The Satanic Verses, which Khomeini considered blasphemous,[4] pursuing the overthrow of Saddam Hussein the Iran–Iraq War, and for referring to the United States as the "Great Satan" and Israel as the "Little Satan".

The subject of a pervasive cult of personality, Khomeini is officially known as Imam Khomeini inside Iran and by his supporters internationally. His state funeral was attended by up to 10 million people, or one fifth of Iran's population, one of the largest funerals and human gatherings in history.[5][6] In Iran, he is legally considered "inviolable" -- insulting him is punishable with imprisonment;[7] his gold-domed tomb in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery has become a shrine for his adherents. His supporters view him as a champion of Islamic revival, independence, and anti-imperialism, and resistance to foreign influence in Iran.[8] Critics have criticised him for anti-Western and anti-Semitic rhetoric, anti-democratic actions, and human rights violations including the 1988 execution of thousands of Iranian political prisoners,[9][10] as well as for using child soldiers extensively during the Iran–Iraq War for human wave attacks.[11][12][13]

  1. ^
    • Bowering, Gerhard; Crone, Patricia; Kadi, Wadad; Stewart, Devin J.; Zaman, Muhammad Qasim; Mirza, Mahan, eds. (2012). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought. Princeton University Press. p. 518. ISBN 978-1-4008-3855-4.
    • Malise Ruthven (2004). Fundamentalism: The Search for Meaning (Reprint ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-19-151738-9.
    • Jebnoun, Noureddine; Kia, Mehrdad; Kirk, Mimi, eds. (2013). Modern Middle East Authoritarianism: Roots, Ramifications, and Crisis. Routledge. p. 168. ISBN 978-1-135-00731-7.
  2. ^ "Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Chapter 1, Article 1". Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini calls on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses" | 14 February 1989". history.com. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  5. ^ "The ten largest gatherings in human history". The Telegraph. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  6. ^ "Which Famous Figure Had the Biggest Public Funeral?". history.com. 29 August 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  7. ^ "Article 514 of the Islamic Penal Code".
  8. ^ "Iranian Revolution | Summary, Causes, Effects, & Facts". britannica.com. 26 October 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  9. ^ Ehteshami, Anoushiravan (2017). Iran: Stuck in Transition (The Contemporary Middle East). Routledge. p. 108. ISBN 9781351985451. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 individuals may have been executed at that time, in response to a religious edict issued by Ayatollah Khomeini
  10. ^ "Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran's 1998 Prison Massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity" (PDF). Amnesty International. 4 December 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  11. ^ Overton, Iain (13 April 2019). "How a 13-year-old boy became the first modern suicide bomber". gq-magazine.co.uk. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  12. ^ Fard, Erfan (16 April 2021). "Antisemitism Is Inseparable from Khomeinism". besacenter.org. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  13. ^ "Iran and the "Great Satan"". theweek.com. 17 February 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.


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