Khomeinism

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Heads of state Ali Khamenei Omar al-Bashir Muammar Gaddafi Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ruhollah Khomeini Mohamed Morsi Zia ul-Haq Ziaur Rahman Alija Izetbegović A.P.J Abdul Kalam Mohammed Omar House of Saud House of Thani Hibatullah Akhundzada
Key ideologues Muhammad Abduh Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī Qazi Hussain Ahmad Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani Muhammad Asad Hassan al-Banna Rached Ghannouchi Safwat Hegazi Muhammad Iqbal Ali Khamenei Ruhollah Khomeini Necip Fazıl Kısakürek Abul A'la Maududi Abul Hasan Nadwi Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani Yusuf al-Qaradawi Sayyid Qutb Tariq Ramadan Ata Abu Rashta Rashid Rida Navvab Safavi Ali Shariati Haji Shariatullah Hassan Al-Turabi Ahmed Yassin Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
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Khomeinism (also transliterated Khumaynism) refers to the religious and political ideas of the leader of the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeinism may also refer to the ideology of the clerical class which has ruled Islamic Republic of Iran founded by Khomeini, following his death. It can also be used to refer to the "radicalization" (according to some) of segments of the Twelver Shia populations of Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, and the Iranian government's "recruitment" of Shia minorities in Afghanistan,^[1] Pakistan,^[2] Saudi Arabia^[3] and Africa.^[4] The word Khomeinist and Khomeinists, derived from Khomeinism, can also be used to describe members of Iran's clerical rulers and attempt to differentiate them from "regular" (non-Wilayat ul-Faqih supporting) Shia Muslim clerics.

Under Khomeini's leadership, Iran replaced its millennia-old monarchy with a theocratic republic. Khomeini brought about a major paradigm shift in Shia Islam. He declared that Islamic jurists are the true holders of religious and political authority, who must be obeyed as "an expression of obedience to God",^[5] and whose rule has "precedence over all secondary ordinances in Islam such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage."^[6] Khomeini's doctrines would make a major influence on the landscape of Shia Islam; which traditionally upheld political quietism over a thousand years. Another significant revision was on Mahdism, the messianic belief in the reappearance of their Twelfth Imam and the proper way to wait for Him. Traditional Twelver theologians urged believers to wait patiently for his return, but Khomeini and his followers called upon Shia Muslims to actively pave the way for Mahdi's global Islamic rule.^[7]

Since his death, politics in the legal sphere of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been "largely defined by attempts to claim Khomeini's legacy", according to at least one scholar, and "staying faithful to his ideology has been the litmus test for all political activity" there.^[8]

According to Vali Nasr, outside Iran, Khomeini's influence has been found among the large Shia populations of Iraq and Lebanon. In the non-Muslim world, Khomeini had an impact on the West and even Western popular culture where it is said he became "the virtual face of Islam" who "inculcated fear and distrust towards Islam."^[9]