The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr. M. R. Hashemi

Political aspects of Imam Khomeini overshadowed his other facets. As a consequence, his scholarship in other fields of humanity is remained in obscurity. It is time to deal with his thought in an academic manner and shed light on his works in order to grasp his thoughts and ideas. Imam Khomeini was an authority in Fiqh, Islamic philosophy, mysticism, as well as poetry. Thus, a thorough research on his works and thoughts are a worthy endeavour. Herein the content of a speech delivered by Hamid Algar, Professor at Berkeley Univ. in New York on July 4, 1994 is presented. With reference to certain verses from the Holy Quran, Hamid Algar offers the view that Imam was among those who were very firm against the unbelievers and merciful in dealing with the believers. In this speech he pointed Imam's greater political Jihad and his predictions of the disappearance of communism. He told that Imam exemplified all the dimensions of Islam simultaneously. Indeed the more we study Imam's thoughts and works, his advises and declarations, the more we realise the great thinker and leader that he was.

If we call Imam Khomeini "great" this simply inserts him into a long list of figures who have exercised an important role in the development of humanity. I Assume Imam to be simply one more influential personality among others in recent history. When searching for an Ayat from the Holly Quran with which to open the presentation, entirely by chance I opened the Quran at the following:

"O You who believe! If there are those among you who should turn away from their religion then Allah will bring forth a people whom He loves and who love Him, and they are humble to the believers and powerful and harsh towards the unbelievers. They struggle on the path of Allah and they fear not the censure of any censurer. This is the super abundance of Allah that He grants to whom He wills, and Allah is all encompassing, all knowing." (5:54)

It seems to me that this Ayat is, indeed the most appropriate of all possible Ayat of the Holy Quran with which to begin an evocation of the specific greatness of Imam. It's true that the verse refers to the plural (people), but Imam may be regarded as a supreme example of the category mentioned in our present stage. It immediately struck me, upon seeing the Ayat, that we have here an enumeration of many of the characteristics of the Imam. The first and foremost one is that his whole being was permeated by love of Allah, a love which enabled him to dispense with the illusions, the fears and the deficiencies that halt many of us in this world, the same love which is mentioned in the Ayat. Next the Imam was indeed among those who was gentle and humble towards the believers. The Imam on one hand, was a manifestation of the power of Allah, one who brought about, by Allah's permission a tremendous transformation, which was none other than a manifestation of the Divine Power. Yes, at the same time he was a man who, in his behaviour, in his comportment, was indeed humble before the believers and at the same time he was among those who were firm, powerful and unafraid with respect to the unbelievers. In fact, we may say that Imam also manifested the quality expressed in the Ayat where Allah says :

Muhammad, the Messenger, and those who are with him are extremely firm against the unbelievers; kind and merciful among themselves. (48:290) Imam was among those who were very firm against the unbelievers and merciful in dealing with the believers. The first Ayat, we mentioned speaks of Jihad. The word Jihad has had numerous misuses in the present age. Its reality begins with an inner dimension. The inner Jihad, the Jihad Imam spoke of in the celebrated lecture delivered in Najaf, was clearly exemplified by him in his own person. Beyond that he declared jihad against the outward enemy and not necessarily a jihad that involves recourse to weapons; but a Jihad definitely on occasion if necessary included that. Thus we find in the person of Imam one who practiced Jihad in all its comprehensive forms. The description of these people whom Allah shall bring forth continues :

"And they fear not the censure of any censurer." (5:54).

This is another necessary corollary of that first attribute that Allah has mentioned. "He loves them and they love Him", in other words there is a firm primary relationship of love between Allah and those of His chosen servants that are mentioned here. Once that a firm relationship of love is in existence, it follows that the believer should not fear the censure of any censurers. Out of fearlessness of any man comes a total disregard for reproaches of any kind from the enemies of Allah. This is, of course, another very clear and outstanding attribute of Imam Khomeini. "And that is none other than the super abundance, the generosity of Allah." This combination of unique attributes is none other than the generosity of Allah, and it is, moreover, given by Him. He gives it, He bestows it, upon whomever He wills. Its not something to be acquired by efforts, which brings me to what I call, hesitantly and with reservations, the greatness of Imam. If we speak of the greatness of Imam, it is precisely because we see manifested in him qualities which were indeed the result of a divine gift. It is not a question of exertion on his part, although without doubt he was one whose whole life was devoted to conscientious effort and struggle. But in a certain sense we may say that the greatness of Imam was precisely a reflection of the greatness of Allah Himself. I hope this does not sound like an exaggerated form of expression. I think when one speaks of the greatness of Imam, it is the greatness of Allah reflected in him in a certain fashion. But it is not his greatness, it is the greatness of Allah manifested in the form of a choice human being. There are those individuals in whom the Divinely accorded function of vicegerency and instrument of Divine Will is realised, and it seems that Imam was one of those persons. He was a sign of Allah, who was emptied and purified of any individual volition, who was motivated and determined by the love of Allah. By his desire to serve Allah, by his wish to submerge himself in obedience to Allah, he achieved this high state. He was a person who was able, without effort or conscious, (but simply by being what he was), to transcend the differences between Sunni and Shi'i and to present himself also as Hujjatul Islam (a proof of Islam). This, of course, was recognised by Muslim across the world in the Imam. In the years immediately following the revolution in Iran I had the opportunity to travel to a wide verity of Muslim countries in Asia and Africa. Places as far apart as Manila and Mobasa, Istambul and Singapore. I would see, on the walls of Muslim quarters, pictures of Imam and encounter great excitement on the part of everyone who heard that I had met with him and been to Iran. This is extremely important to understand. Imam should not be regarded simply as a figure who inaugurated a turning point in Iranian history. He is a figure who belongs to the collective memory of the entire Ummah, and who contributed to the ongoing awakening despite the very harsh conditions we now face. This contribution toward awakening was considerable. We come now to another extremely important dimension of Imam, that is that we see in him one who exemplified all the dimensions of Islam simultaneously.

Imam is unique. He was able to do all of this and, at the same time, he was a Faqih and an Aref. He was an implementer of the Shari'at and one who walked upon the Tariqat. He was, at the same time, one who was submerged in contemplation of the Divine reality at times. He also struggled on the political sphere. We cannot assign these qualities and attributes to a simple versatility or a high degree of personal accomplishment. It seems to me that the matter must be sought beyond this. It is, rather, that the Imam had penetrated the inner core of Islam and having come to the heart of it, having internalised it and settled himself in it, he necessarily automatically participated in all the dimensions we have mentioned. These are purely analytical distinctions which appear to us who have not realised that degree of integration in the totality of Islam. For Imam, however, these distinctions clearly did not exist; the one implied the other. Particularly important is that we try to examine the connection between Imam's political Jihad and activity and his contribution to what is called Erfan or mysticism. Mysticism has been defined as turning away from this world; and of course, in many cases, it has been that. But in the case of Imam we see it correlated with a high degree of practical activity in the world. In fact, a degree of practical activity in the world, yielding a success far greater than that which has yet been obtained by any other Muslim movement. I think if we wish to understand the remarkable political insight that Imam demonstrated on a large number of occasions we will be doing ourselves an injustice if we rationalise to be simply some kind of political perspicacity. We should regard this on the contrary, a certain particular kind of vision that he attained. For example, his instance, from the Fall of 1978 onwards, that the movement in Iran should continue until the point of overthrowing of the monarchy and explosion of American influence from Iran. This was at a time when the Iranian army still appeared to be solid in support of the position of the Shah. American support also was unwavering and most significantly a large number of people from within Iran were convinced that this was an excessively ambitious goal. More than one hinted that Imam was out of touch. Having been abroad, in exile, for so many years, they said he was overtaxing the resources of the Iranian people. Yet, Imam never hesitated. He insisted that the movement had the potential of complete overthrow of the Iranian monarchy and of course this proved true.

Another instance was Imam's confident prediction of the disappearance of communism and the breakup of the soviet union. It is true, of course, that at the time Imam made these remarks to Mr. Gorbachev the Soviet Union was already in deep crisis. But not even the most well informed experts on soviet affairs were predicting that the Soviet Union itself would collapse and disintegrate and that Maxism, as apolitical ideology, would be discredited around the world. Yet, Imam clearly and calmly made that prediction. There are many important instances of the interrelation between Erfan and political activity in Imam Khomeini and ultimately I think the unity of these two goes back to his penetration to what I call the innermost dimension of Islam. Now that the Imam has passed from us, a crack has appeared-a crack in the fortress of Islam. From this point of view indeed we must mourn his passage. We mourn him with a sadness and sense of loss which is not lessened by the passage of time. However, at the same time we remember him with gratitude to Allah for the gift of his life to the Ummah. Hopefully, we do not limit this remembrance to a ritualistic fashion on a certain date in the calendar, but we remember him actively with consciousness. Let us remember some of the important lessons he taught. Let us remember the comprehensive Jihad that starts with our own persons and should also embrace our social and political lives and if necessary go to the point of taking weapons in our hands to defeat the enemies of Islam. Let us also remember the insistence of Imam on unity among all Muslims, let us remember the clear analysis of the West that Imam gave us. He described the West as a collection of international bandits. Nothing has changed, the international bandits are still there. Let us never forget the essential nature of the system, which has consolidated itself since Imam's death. This system remains the same. Let us also remember his insistence that the abominable genocide-state of Israel completely disappear from the face of the globe. Let us also remember the achievement of Imam in the destruction of the tyrant regime in Iran. This was regarded as something impossible but he had the vision to see that it was possible. The New York times wrote in December 1978 : "The unthinkable become the inevitable." It should be aspiration and duty of all Muslims to make that which the kuffar believe unthinkable to become inevitable. Allah says :

"tyou see the mountains and imagine them to be solid and fixed and yet they will pass away just as the cloud passes." (27:88)

The west looked at its position in Iran and thought it to be solid as mountains, and yet these mountains disappeared and crumbled and passed away as the cloud pass. Let us not only hope, but act and work so that those mountains of tyranny, oppression, and genocide that surround the Muslims, by the Will of Allah, also crumble and pass away like the cloud.

In conclusion, let me remark that we benefit by praying for Imam Khomeini (R.) that he be resurrected in the proximity of his noble ancestor, the best of humanity, and his pure progeny, and that we shall be resurrect with those who followed him and who strove to imitate his example.

(On the occasion of the 19th demise anniversary of late Imam Khomeini R.)