By Ibrahim Usman
From a simple prayer mat, Imam Khomeini changed the world. He took Iran to a lofty status and made it an inspiration that now 24 years after his demise;
the country is still being looked upon as a role model, a source of freedom from shackles of aged long slavery and servitude. From the immense depth of anonymity, he presented Islam and Muslims, through the ladder of piety and knowledge, to a lofty status as luminaries of light and learning to the world.
Imam Ruhullah a- Musawi al-Khomeini came at the best time of human history when the two arrogant power representing the East and the West, were enslaving countries of the world; the world was forcefully made to belong to either of the two blocs, no neutrality. It was the time when religion was referred to as “opium of the masses” for continued oppression and subjugation, but Imam Khomeini changed the world view concerning religion in general and Islam in particular. He presented Islam as a spring board for emancipation, new world view to the disgruntled university youths who were tired of the impracticable jargons of the western and eastern. He presented Islam as an energizer, catalyst that salvages mankind from slavery and servitude. He turned bar attendants to mosque attendants, through total denial of servitude but to the Creator.
Imam Khomeini’s insistence on the concept of Wilayati faqih (government of the jurists) served as a major blow to government of Shah. Even when the Imam was deeply engaged in Islamic education in his Qom days, he had always believed that leadership of political activities should be in the hands of the foremost religious scholars. For the first time, he assumed a public political stance in a proclamation on May 4, 1944, that called for action to deliver the Muslims of Iran and the entire Islamic world from the tyranny of foreign powers and their domestic accomplices. The Imam begins by citing Qur’an, 34:46 (“Say: ‘I enjoin but one thing upon you, that you rise up for Allah, in pairs and singly, and then reflect’”).
The Imam’s interpretation of “rising up” is, however, both spiritual and political, both individual and collective, a rebellion against lassitude in the self and corruption in society. The same spirit of comprehensive revolt inspires the first work written by Imam Khomeini titled, Kashf al-Asrar (Tehran, 1945). It is said that, he completed the book in forty-eight days from a sense of urgency. In the book, the Imam alludes that verses in the Qur’an that deal with governance are more in number than those with rituals (ibadaat). In the book, he lays bare the atrocities and unpopular laws of the Shah regime.
No doubt that the “better system” already envisaged by Imam Khomeini in 1944 was wilayat-i faqih, which became the constitutional cornerstone of the Islamic Republic of Iran established in 1979. Between January 21 and February 8, 1970, his celebrated series of Najaf lectures on Wilayat-i faqih, the theory of governance that was to be implemented after the triumph of the Islamic Revolution were collected. The text of these lectures was published in Najaf, not long after their delivery. This theory can be summarized as the assumption by suitably qualified Ulama (scholars) of the political and juridical functions. Imam Khomeini delineated a program for the establishment of an Islamic government, laying particular stress on the responsibilities of the Ulama to transcend their petty concerns and to address the people fearlessly: “It is the duty of all of us to overthrow the taghut, the illegitimate political powers that now rule the entire Islamic world”, the Imam pointed out. The text of the lectures on Wilayat-i faqih was smuggled back to Iran by visitors who came to see the Imam in Najaf, as well as by ordinary Iranians who came on pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Ali (AS). The same channels were used to convey to the people of Iran, the numerous letters and proclamations in which the Imam commented on the events that took place in his homeland during the long years of exile.
The first such document, a letter to the Iranian ulama assuring them of the ultimate downfall of the Shah’s regime, is dated April 16, 1967. On the occasion of the Six Day War in June 1967, the Imam issued a declaration forbidding any type of dealing with Israel as well as the consumption of Israeli goods. This declaration was widely and openly publicized in Iran, which led to the ransacking of Imam Khomeini’s house in Qum and the arrest of Sayyid Ahmad Khomeini, his second son, who had been living there. During the arrest, some of the unpublished works of the Imam were lost or destroyed. It was also at this time that the Shah’s regime contemplated moving the Imam from Iraq to India; a location from which communications with Iran would have been far more difficult, but the plan was aborted.
Imam Khomenini itemized several reasons why Islamic government is necessary, which included prevention of encroachment by oppressive ruling classes on the rights of the weak, plundering and corrupting the people for the sake of pleasure and material interest, discouraging innovation in Islamic law, and so. He believed that, “Religion is the only thing that dissuades mankind from treachery and crime”.
It was out of this strong belief in religious authority that Imam Khomeini sent a historic letter to the then president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. Imam Khomeini wrote: “Your Excellency, Gorbachev. One should turn to the truth. The basic problem of your country is not the issue of ownership, economics or liberty. Your problem is the absence of true faith in God-the source of all existence and creation; the same problem that has driven, or will drive, the West to worthlessness and dead end… It is clear to all that from now on, communism must be looked up in the political history museum of the world, for Marxism has no answer to any of the real requirements of human beings. All because it is a materialist doctrine and with materialism mankind cannot be salvaged from the crisis of absence of faith in spiritualism- which is the most basic pain of human society in the West and in the East”.
While some might think the complexity of the modern world would move Muslims to learn from countries that have modernized ahead of them, and even borrow laws from them, Imam Khomeini corrected this erroneous view thus: “The laws of God (Shariah), cover "all human affairs … There is not a single topic in human life for which Islam has not provided instruction and established a norm… The entire system of government and administration, together with necessary laws, lies ready for you. If the administration of the country calls for taxes, Islam has made the necessary provision; and if laws are needed, Islam has established them all. … Everything is ready and waiting." In Kashful Asrar, the Imam dismissed the idea that Islam is devoid of a political system. He explained that, the Holy Prophet (SAW) who was a ruler not only explained and conveyed the rules but also strictly applied them. His Caliphs were not only lawgivers but also law – enforcers.
Imam Khomeini is the leader of all times. He lives. These are the words of Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqub Zakzaky, Leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria during the 2009 Imam Khomeini conference in London: “The entire world needs only one Khomeini and it has one! The world only needs to follow the teachings of Imam Khomeini. You cannot talk of Imam Khomeini as being a former leader, he is still the leader.” The vision of Imam Khomein will be cherished and preserved by generations to come. His call for freedom and justice for mankind will echo throughout the world, now and forever. He died June 3, 1989. Peace be upon him the day he was born, the day he died and the day he will be raised back to life.