Khomeinism

Khomeinism, also transliterated Khumaynism, refers to the religious and political ideas and practices connected with the leader of the 1979 Iranian Islamic RevolutionRuhollah Khomeini. While primarily referring to the ideas and practices of Khomeini himself, Khomeinism may also refer to the ideology of the clerical class which has ruled the Islamic Republic of Iran founded by Khomeini, following his death, and to the "radicalization" of segments of the Twelver Shia populations of Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, and to the Iranian government's "recruitment" of Shia minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Africa. The words Khomeinist and Khomeinists, derived from Khomeinism, can also be used to describe members of Iran's clerical rulers as opposed to "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 (clerics specializing in Islamic jurisprudence) are the true holders of religious and political authority, who must be obeyed as "an expression of obedience to God", and whose rule has "precedence over all secondary ordinances in Islam such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage".Hamid Algar Khomeini's doctrines would make a major influence on the landscape of Shia Islam; which had upheld political quietism for over a thousand years. Another significant revision of tradition 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.

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. 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 was said that he became "the virtual face of Islam" who "inculcated fear and distrust towards Islam".Nasr, ''Shia Revival'', 2006, p. 138

Background

Ayatollah Khomeini was a senior Islamic jurist cleric of Twelver Shi'i Islam (which makes up about 80% of the Shi'i population). Shia theology holds that Wilayah or Islamic leadership (political and religious) belongs to a divinely-appointed line of Shia Imams descended from a cousin ( Ali) and daughter (Fatima) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the last of which is the 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi. The God-given ( Infallible) knowledge and sense of justice of the Imams makes them the definitive reference for (Shia) Muslims in every aspect of life, religious or otherwise, including governance. However, the twelfth Imam disappeared into what Shia believe is "occultation" (''ghaybat'') in 939 AD and so has not been present to rule over the Muslim community for over a thousand years.

In the absence of the Imam, Shia scholars/religious leaders accepted the idea of non-theocratic leaders (typically a hereditary monarch such as a sultan, king, or shah) managing political affairs, defending Shia Muslims and their territory, but no consensus emerged among the scholars as to how Muslims should relate to those leaders. Shia jurists have tended to stick to one of three approaches to the state: cooperating with it, becoming active in politics to influence its policies, or most commonly, remaining aloof from it.

For many years of his career Khomeini opted for the second of these three, believing Islam should encompass all aspects of life, especially the state, and disapproving of the political developments in his countryIran's weak Qajar dynasty (1789–1925), the Western concepts and language borrowed in the 1906 constitution, and especially the aggressively secularist and modernizing Pahlavi dynasty (1925–1979). Precedents for this approach included the theory of "co-working with the just sultan" put forward by Sayyed Murtaza during the Buyid era (934-1062 CE) in his work ''Al-Resala Al-Amal Ma'a Sultan'' about 1000 years ago, an idea that was developed further by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201 – 1274 CE). Clerical political influence was institutionalized during the Safavid Empire about 500 years ago. In modern times the Grand Ayatollah Mirza Shirazi intervened against Nasir al-Din Shah when in 1890 that Qajar monarch gave a 50-year monopoly over the distribution and exportation of tobacco to a foreign non-Muslim. Shirazi issued the famous fatwa against the usage of tobacco as part of the Tobacco Protest.

In 1970, Khomeini broke from this tradition, developing a fourth approach to the state, a revolutionary change in Shia Islam proclaiming that monarchy was inherently unjust, and that religious legal scholars should not just become involved in politics but rule. During this phase, the Egyptian Jihadist ideologue Sayyid Qutb was an important influence on Khomeini and the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Origin of the term

"Khomeinism" was perhaps first used as the title of a book by Ervand Abrahamian (''Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic'', 1993), where Abrahamian argued that it was more useful to think of Khomeini as a populist in the same vein as South American caudillos, than as the "fundamentalist" or traditionalist he was often described as in the West.
It is also the title of an unsympathetic report on Khomeini's ideology from a group called "Counter Extremism Project", emphasising Khomeini's "controversial interpretation" of Shi'ism, his "rejection of Western interference and influence" in the Muslim world, authoritarian rule in Iran, his successors' support for allied militias in Lebanon, Iraq, etc. and is used in the title of a chapter by Mojtaba Mahdavi in a 2014 book ''A Critical Introduction to Khomeini'', (Cambridge University Press), which describes "five distinct stages" in the evolution of Khomeini's thought "beginning with political quietism and concluding with political absolutism". The title of a PhD. thesis by Mohammad Rezaie Yazdi (''Khomeinism, the Islamic Revolution and Anti Americanism''), where Yazdi "attempts to show how the Ayatullah" emphasized a clash between the United States and "Iranian national freedom and religious pride"

Tenets

At least one scholar (Ervand Abrahamian) has argued that Khomeini's "decrees, sermons, interviews, and political pronouncements" have outlasted his theological works because it is the former and not the latter that the Islamic Republic of Iran "constantly reprints." Without the decrees, sermons, interviews, and political pronouncements "there would have been no Khomeinism deology Without Khomeinism there would have been no revolution. And without the Islamic Revolution, Khomeini would have been no more than a footnote to Iranian history."

Improvisational ability

Outside of his doctrinal beliefs, Khomeini has also been noted for being a "brilliant tactician," with a great "ability to improvise." Elaine Sciolino writes:

Khomeini once protested the shah's enfranchisement of women, and then encouraged women to participate in his revolution and vote for his government when he needed their numbers. He once promised that clerics would hold only temporary positions in government and then allowed them to hold the most senior positions. He pledged to continue the war against Iraq until its defeat and then abruptly made peace. He once said that the fact that "''I have said something does not mean that I should be bound by my word.''" Indeed, it is that suppleness, that ability to improvise that has outlived Khomeini and that continues to pervade the Islamic Republic, keeping it going.

At least one scholar (Daniel Brumberg) has argued that Khomeini's ability to swing from one "religiopolitical...perspective to another" has been exploited by followers to advance their various and competing agendas. In particular reformists such as Muhammad Khatami in search of more democracy and less theocracy. Another (Abrahamian) argues that Khomeini's "ideological adaptability" belie the "label of fundamentalist" applied to him in both the West and in Iran.

Governance

Rulers

As to how jurists should influence governance, Ayatollah Khomeini's leadership changed direction over time as his views on governance evolved. On who should rule and what should be the ultimate authority in governance:
*Khomeini originally accepted traditional Shia political theory, writing in "Kashf-e Asrar" that, "We do not say that government must be in the hands of" an Islamic jurist, "rather we say that government must be run in accordance with God's law ... " suggesting a parliament of Shi'a jurists could choose a just king. ( امام خمينى، كشف الاسرار: ۱۸۷ – ص ۱۸۵)
*Later he told his followers that "Islam proclaims monarchy and hereditary succession wrong and invalid." Only rule by a leading Islamic jurist ( velayat-e faqih) would prevent "innovation" in ''Sharia'' or Islamic law and ensure it was properly followed. The need for this governance of the faqih was "necessary and self-evident" to good Muslims.

*Once in power and recognizing the need for more flexibility, he finally insisted the ruling jurist need not be one of the most learned, that ''Sharia'' rule was subordinate to interests of Islam (Maslaha – `expedient interests` or `public welfare`), and the "divine government" as interpreted by the ruling jurists, who could overrule Sharia if necessary to serve those interests. The Islamic "government, which is a branch of the absolute governance of the Prophet of God, is among the primary ordinances of Islam, and has precedence over all secondary ordinances such as prayer (salat), fasting (sawm), and pilgrimage (hajj)."

Lack of detail on governing

While Khomeini was keenly focused on the ulama's right to rule and the state's "moral and ideological foundation", he did not dwell on the state's actually functioning or the "particulars" of its management. According to some scholars (Gheissari and Nasr) Khomeini never "put forward a systematic definition of the Islamic state and Islamic economics;... never described its machinery of government, instruments of control, social function, economic processes, or guiding values and principles." In his plan for Islamic Government by Islamic Jurists he wrote: "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. All that remains is to draw up ministerial programs ..."

Power of modern government

Scholar Shadi Hamid argues that an important feature of Khomeinism was the combining of conservative Islamic teachings not with iron-age horse powered technology, but with power of the modern state "in all of its sprawling, overbearing glory", something unique in Islamic history.

Sharia (Islamic law)

In his manifest Islamic Government, Khomeini emphasized the wonder and preciousness of sharia, divine law.

and how being divine, no human should ever attempt to change it.

However, at least one scholar notes a number of ways that Khomeini made sharia (or at least the sharia of Usuli Shi'ism) "subordinate to the revolution".
*traditionally the fatwa pronounced by a grand ayatollah ceased to be in effect when the ayatollah died. Khomeini affirmed fatwa, such as his fatwa calling for the killing of Salman Rushdie, could remain valid. Roy, ''Failure of Political Islam'', 1994: p. 179
*Khomeini defrocked a grand ayatollah ( Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari) and "promoted clerics as a function of their political allegiance and not their religious rank".

Mahdism

Khomeini's insistence on a religious state governed by select members of Shia clergy was closely linked to his reformulation of Twelver Shi'ite messianic beliefs on Mahdism. Traditional Twelver Shi'ite belief held that, during the occultation of the twelfth Imam when injustice reigned, Muslims should remain aloof from the corruption of politics and wait patiently for the re-emergence of al-Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam. Fundamentally countermanding this tenet, Khomeini asserted that Shias must "prepare for Mahdi’s global revolution" by establishing a religious state. Such a government would be headed by an oligarchy of Shiite clerics, who would rule (Khomeini believed) on behalf of the 12th Imam. This millenarian belief became the core rationale behind the system of '' Velayat-e-Faqih'' (guardianship of the jurist).

Khomeini's ideas on Mahdism would be further developed after his death; most notably by his successor Ali Khamenei and the principalist cleric Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi. Yazdi called for cultivating a generation based on Mahdist ideology and values. Building on Khomeni's ideas, Ali Khamenei demarcated five stages as part of the millenarian framework: "an Islamic Revolution, an Islamic regime, an Islamic government, an Islamic society, and an Islamic civilization." The doctrine of Mahdism is taught in Islamist seminaries and it is also a core ideological hallmark of the Basij and the IRGC institutions. Since the emergence of the 2009 Green movement, a "cult of Mahdism" has been heavily promoted by the IRGC and state-backed clergy in an attempt to deter the youth from embracing secular ideas; and it is strongly tied to the inner circle of Ali Khamenei. Mohammadi Golpayegani, chief staff of the Office of Supreme Leader backed the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, claiming that it was a “prelude to the reappearance" of 12th Imam.

Conspiracy theories

Throughout his political career Khomeini expressed a belief in the existence of plots and conspiracies fomented by foreigners and their Iranian agents against Islam and Muslims. Abrahamian argues that this belief, shared among adherents of most political persuasions in Iran to varying degrees, can be explained by the domination of Iran's politics by foreign powers for the past 200 years until the Islamic revolution, first by Russia and Britain, later by the United States. Foreign influence was involved in all of Iran's three military coups: 1908 (Russian), 1921 (UK) and 1953 (UK and US).

One of the reasons Khomeini gave in his 1970 lecture series for why theocratic rule of humanity by Islamic jurists was essential, was that (he believed) it was the only form of government that would protect the Muslim world from the conspiracies of colonialists, who were responsible for,

the decline of Muslim civilization, the conservative `distortions` of Islam, and the divisions between nation-states, between Sunnis and Shiis, and between oppressors and oppressed. He argued that the colonial powers had for years sent Orientalists into the East to misinterpret Islam and the Koran and that the colonial powers had conspired to undermine Islam both with religious quietism and with secular ideologies, especially socialism, liberalism, monarchism, and nationalism.

He claimed that Britain had instigated the 1905 Constitutional Revolution to subvert Islam: "The Iranians who drafted the constitutional laws were receiving instructions directly from their British masters."

In the contemporary world, Khomeini held Western colonial conspiracies responsible for keeping the country poor and backward, exploiting its resources, inflamed class antagonism, dividing the clergy and alienating them from the masses, causing mischief among the tribes, infiltrating the universities, cultivating consumer instincts, and encouraging moral corruption, especially gambling, prostitution, drug addiction, and alcohol consumption.Abrahamian, ''Khomeinism'', p. 122

At least one scholar (Abrahamian) sees "far-reaching" consequences in the belief in ever-present conspiracies. If conspiracy dominates political action then

"those with views different from one's own were members of this or that foreign conspiracy. Thus political activists tended to equate competition with treason, ... One does not compromise and negotiate with spies and traitors; one locks them up or else shoots them. ... The result was detrimental for the development of political pluralism in Iran. ... Differences of opinion within organizations could not be accommodated; it was all too easy for leaders to expel dissidents as 'foreign agents'.

Abrahamian believes that what he calls this "paranoid style" paved the way for the mass executions of 1981–82, where "never before in Iran had firing squads executed so many in so short a time over so flimsy an accusation."

Populism

Another way Khomeini's views changed direction over time was concerning political populism and relations between social classes. Before 1970, Khomeini had had the conventional traditional "paternalistic" religious views on class. Since "God had created both private property and society, society should be formed of a hierarchy of mutually dependent strata (''qeshreha'')." The poor should not be envious of the rich, and the rich should be grateful to God, avoid any displays of wealth and make generous charitable contributions to the poor. This changed markedly after 1970 when his political movement began to gain momentum. In his writings,

Ervand Abrahamian argues that, while these and other points demonstrate Khomeini "came to power by openly exploiting class antagonisms",Abrahamian, ''Khomeinism'', p. 27 at the same time "careful scrutiny" of his writing during this time show him to have been "remarkably vague" on the specifics of how he planned to help the poor – "especially on the question of private property".Abrahamian, ''Khomeinism'', p. 31

In this way, Abrahamian argues, Khomeini's "ideas, and his movement" despite being Islamic, bear a striking resemblance to populist movements in other countriesparticularly those of South America such as Juan Perón and Getúlio Vargas. Like them, Khomeini led a "radical but pragmatic" protest movement "against the established order". The movement was not of the working class and poor, but of the "propertied middle class". "The lower classes, especially the urban poor" were not so much served by his movement as mobilized by Khomeini.Abrahamian, ''Khomeinism'', p. 17 These movements attacked "the upper class and foreign powers," but not property rights. They preached "a return to `native roots` and eradication of `cosmopolitan ideas.`Abrahamian, ''Khomeinism'', p. 38 It claimed "a noncapitalist, noncommunist `third way` towards development," but was intellectually "flexible", emphasizing "cultural, national, and political reconstruction," not economic and social revolution."

Like those movements it celebrated the oppressed poor and gave them a label – ''mostazafin'' by Khomeini, ''descamisados'' (coatless ones) by Peron, ''trabalhadores'' by Vargas. But the actual power flowed from its leader, who was "elevated ... into a demigod towering above the people and embodying their historical roots, future destiny, and revolutionary martyrs."

Democracy

Whether Khomeini's ideas are compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be democratic is disputed, with both supporters and opponents on each side of the issue. Notable Iranians who believe he did not, include Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi (a senior cleric and main theorist of Iranian ultraconservatives who opposes democracy), Akbar Ganji (a pro-democracy activist and writer who is against the Islamic government) and Abdolkarim Soroush (an anti-regime Iranian philosopher in exile), according to Reza Parsa writing in the state-run ''Aftab News''. Other followers of Khomeini who maintain he did support democracy and that the Islamic Republic is democratic include Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Khatami and Morteza Motahhari.

Khomeini preached to his followers about theocratic rule by jurists, but not to the public. He made statements before the revolution indicating support for "democracy", but opposition to it once in power.
During a pre-revolutionary meeting with Karin Samjabi in Paris in November 1978, he stated that the future government of Iran would be 'democratic and Islamic`. but after he had returned to Iran and the Shah's government had collapsed, told a huge crowd of Iranians, "Do not use this term, `democratic.` That is the Western style,`"

One explanation for this change of position is that Khomeini needed the support of the pro-democracy educated middle class to take power. Another is that Khomeini used another definition of "democracy" than "Western parliamentary" or representative democracy ( Shaul Bakhash). According to scholar Bakhash, Khomeini believed that the huge turnout of Iranians in anti-Shah demonstrations during the revolution meant that Iranians had already voted in a `referendum` for an Islamic republic. Khomeini wrote that in Muslim countries, Islam and Islamic law,

truly belong to the people. In contrast, in a republic or a constitutional monarchy, most of those claiming to be representatives of the majority of the people will approve anything they wish as law and then impose it on the entire population.

In drawing up the constitution of his Islamic Republic, he and his supporters agreed to include Western-democratic elements, such as an elected parliament and president, but some argue he believed Islamic elements, not Western-style elected parliaments and presidents, should prevail in government. After the ratifying of the Islamic constitution he told an interviewer that the constitution in no way contradicted democracy because the `people love the clergy, have faith in the clergy, and want to be guided by the clergy` and that it was right that Supreme Leader oversee the work of the non-clerical officials `to make sure they don't make mistakes or go against the law and the Quran.'

As the revolution was consolidated, terms like "democracy" and "liberalism" – considered praiseworthy in the West – became words of criticism, while "revolution" and "revolutionary" were terms of praise.
According to Khomeini, proponents of "democracy" and even " Islamic democracy" are misguided. He stated in a 1980 interview:

"But as for ‘democratic,’ we won’t accept it even if you put it next to ‘Islamic.’ Even apart from this, as I said in an earlier talk, to juxtapose “democratic” and “Islamic” is an insult to Islam.

Still another scholar, non-Iranian Daniel Brumberg, argues that Khomeini's statements on politics were simply not "straightforward, coherent, or consistent," and that in particular he contradicted his writings and statements on the primacy of the rule of the jurist with repeated statements on the importance of the leading role of the parliament, such as `the Majlis heads all affairs`, and `the majlis is higher than all the positions which exist in the country.` This, according to Brumberg, has created a legacy where his followers "exploited these competing notions of authority" to advance "various agendas of their own." Reformist seizing on his statements about the importance of majlis, and theocrats on those of rule by the clergy.

Over the decades since the revolution, Iran has not evolved towards a more liberal representative democratic system as some reformists and democrats had predicted, nor has theocratic rule of Islamic jurists spread to other countries as its founder had hoped.

Third World

According to at least one observer ( Olivier Roy), from the overthrow of the shah until the death of Khomeini in 1989,

Human rights

Before taking power, Khomeini expressed support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "We would like to act according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We would like to be free. We would like independence," he stated. However, once in power, Khomeini took a firm line against dissent, warning opponents of theocracy for example: "I repeat for the last time: abstain from holding meetings, from blathering, from publishing protests. Otherwise I will break your teeth." Khomeini believed that, since Islamic government was essential for Islam, what threatened the government threatened Islam.

Since God Almighty has commanded us to follow the Messenger and the holders of authority, our obeying them is actually an expression of obedience to God.

Iran adopted an alternative human rights declaration, the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, in 1990 (one year after Khomeini's death), which differs from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, requiring law to be in accordance with Sharia,Mathewson Denny, Frederick. "Muslim Ethical Trajectories in the Contemporary World" in ''Religious Ethics'', William Schweiker, ed. Blackwell Publishers, 2004. , p. 272 denying complete equality with men for women, and forbidding speech that violates the "dignity of Prophets", or "undermines moral and ethical values."

One observer, Iranian political historian Ervand Abrahamian, believes that some of the more well-known violations of international human rights initiated by Khomeinithe fatwa to kill British-citizen author Salman Rushdie and the mass executions of leftist political prisoners in 1988can be explained best as a legacy for his followers. Abrahamian argues Khomeini wanted to "forge unity" among "his disparate followers, ndraise formidable – if not insurmountable – obstacles in the way of any future leader hoping to initiate a detente with the West," and most importantly to "weed out the half-hearted from the true believers", such as heir-designate Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, who protested the killings and was dismissed from his position.

Economics

In the realm of economics, Khomeini was known both for his lack of interest and conflicting views on the subject.Moin, ''Khomeini,'' (2001), p. 258

He famously replied to a question before the revolution about how the Islamic Republic would manage Iran's economy by saying economics was "for donkeys" (also translated as "for fools"), and expressed impatience with those who complained about the inflation and shortages following the revolution saying: "I cannot believe that the purpose of all these sacrifices was to have less expensive melons." His lack of attention has been described as "possibly one factor explaining the inchoate performance of the Iranian economy since the 1979 revolution," (along with the mismanagement by clerics trained in Islamic law but not economic science).

Khomeini has also been described as being "quite genuinely of two minds", and of having "ambiguous and contradictory attitudes" on the role of the state in the economy. He agreed with conservative clerics and the bazaar (traditional merchant class) on the importance of strict sharia law and respect for the sanctity of private property, but also made populist promises such as free water and electricity and government-provided homes for the poor, which could only be provided, if at all, by massive government intervention in the economy in violation of traditional Shariah law. While Khomeini was alive, these conflicting attitudes were represented in the clash between the populists of the Parliament and the conservatives of the Guardian Council.

After his death until 1997, the " bazaari side" of the legacy predominated with the regime of President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Rafsanjani and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, emphasized `reconstruction,` `realism,` `work discipline,` `managerial skills,` `modern technology,` `expertise and competence,` `individual self-reliance,` `entrepreneurship,` and `stability.`"

The populist side of Khomeini's economic legacy is said to be found in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who allegedly "mirrored" Khomeini's disdain for the "donkey" science of economics, wearing "his contempt for economic orthodoxy as a badge of honour", and overseeing sluggish growth and rising inflation and unemployment under his administration.

Khomeini strongly opposed Marxism. `Atheistic Marxists` were the one group he excluded from the broad coalition of anti-Shah groups he worked to rally behind his leadership. In his last will and testament, he urged future generations to respect property on the grounds that free enterprise turns the `wheels of the economy` and prosperity would produce `social justice` for all, including the poor.

Islam differs sharply from communism. Whereas we respect private property, communism advocates the sharing of all things – including wives and homosexuals.

What one scholar ( Ervand Abrahamian) called the populist thrust of Khomeini can be found in the fact that after the revolution, revolutionary tribunals expropriated "agribusinesses, large factories, and luxury homes belonging to the former elite," but were careful to avoid "challenging the concept of private property."

On the other hand, Khomeini's revolutionary movement was influenced by Islamic leftist and thinker Ali Shariati, and the leftist currents of the 1960s and 1970s. Khomeini proclaimed Islam on the side of the ''mustazafin'' and against exploiters and imperialists. In part for this reason, a large section of Iran's economy was nationalized during the revolution. At least as of 2003, Iran's public sector and government workforce remains very large. Despite complaints by free marketeers, "about 60% of the economy is directly controlled and centrally planned by the state, and another 10–20% is in the hands of five semi-governmental foundations, who control much of the non-oil economy and are accountable to no one except the supreme leader."

Women in politics

In October 1962 when the shah introduced a plan to (among other things) let women vote for the first time, Khomeini (and other religious people) were enraged: `The son of Reza Khan has embarked on the destruction of Islam in Iran. I will oppose this as long as the blood circulates in my veins.`" Religious Muslims fought the bill and the shah backed down. Historian Ervand Abrahamian also states that Khomeini had argued "for years" that women's suffrage was "unIslamic."

Before the Revolution, Khomeini opposed allowing women to serve in parliament, likening it to prostitution.

We are against this prostitution. We object to such wrongdoings ... Is progress achieved by sending women to the majlis? Sending women to these centers is nothing but corruption.

However, in the late 1970s, before the Revolution, Khomeini changed his stance:

In an Islamic order, women enjoy the same rights as men – rights to education, work, ownership, to vote in elections and to be voted in. Women are free, just like men to decide their own destinies and activities.

Religious philosophy, fiqh, teachings

Khomeini made a number of changes to Shia clerical system. Along with his January 1989 ruling that sharia was subordinate to the revolution, he affirmed against tradition that the fatwa pronounced by a grand ayatollah survived that ayatollah (such as the fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie), and defrocked Ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, a political opponent.

Fiqh

In ''Fiqh'', (Islamic jurisprudence) some scholars have argued Khomeini championed innovative reinterpretations of doctrine, prompted by the challenges of managing a country of 50 million plus.

*Use of ''Maslaha,'' or ''maslahat'' (`expedient interests` or `public welfare`). This was a common concept among Sunni, but "before the 1979 revolution most" Shi'ite jurists had "rejected maslahat as a dangerous innovation (bid‘ah)."
*Wider use of "secondary ordinances". Clerics had traditionally argued that the government could issue these "when addressing a narrow range of contractual issues not directly addressed in the Qur'an." Khomeini called for their use to deal with the deadlock between the Majles and the Council of Guardians
*Ijtihad

Esmat

'' Esmat'' is perfection through faith. Khomeini believed not only that truly just and divine Islamic government need not wait for the return of the 12th Imam/Mahdi, but that "divinely bestowed freedom from error and sin" (''esmat'') was not the exclusive property of the prophets and imams. ''Esmat'' required "nothing other than perfect faith" and could be achieved by a Muslim who reaches that state. Hamid Dabashi argues Khomeini's theory of Esmat from faith helped "to secure the all-important attribute of infallibility for himself as a member of the awlia' riend of Godby eliminating the simultaneous theological and Imamological problems of violating the immanent expectation of the Mahdi." Thus, by "securing" this "attribute of infallibility for himself", Khomeini reassured Shia Muslims who might otherwise be hesitant about granting him the same ruling authority due the 12 Imams.

The Prophets

Khomeini believed the Islamic prophets have not yet achieved their "purpose". In November 1985, he told radio listeners, "I should say that so far the purpose of the Prophets has seldom been realized. Very little." Aware of the controversial nature of the statement he warned more conservative clerics that "tomorrow court mullahs . . . houldnot say that Khomeini said that the Prophet is incapable of achieving his aims." He also controversially stated that Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, was superior in status to the prophets of God.

Khomeini's authority and charismatic personality prevented less popular jurists from protesting these changes as un-Islamic bid‘ah.

Istishhad

Perhaps the most significant legacy of Khomeini internationally is a broader definition of martyrdom to include Istishhad, or "self-martyrdom". Khomeini believed martyrdom could come not only from "inadvertent" death but "deliberate" as well. While martyrdom has always been celebrated in Islam and martyrs promised a place in heaven, (Q3:169–71) the idea that ''opportunities'' for martyrdom were important has not always been so common. Writing in 2006, Vali Nasr states that "until fairly recently" willingness to die for the cause" (with suicide bombing or other means) was seen as a "predominantly Shia phenomenon, tied to the myths of Karbala and the Twelfth Imam", though it has since spread to Sunni Islam.

Iran–Iraq War

Khomeini not only praised the large numbers of young Shia Iranians who became "shahids" during the Iran–Iraq War but asserted the war was "God's hidden gift", or as one scholar of Khomeini put it, "a vital outlet through which Iran's young martyrs experienced mystical transcendence." Khomeini explained:

"If the great martyr (Imam Husayn ibn Ali) ... confined himself to praying ... the great tragedy of Kabala would not have come about ... Among the contemporary ulema, if the great Ayatollah ... Shirazi ... thought like these people ho do not fight for Islam a war would not have taken place in Iraq ... all those Muslims would not have been martyred."

Death might seem like a tragedy to some but in reality...

If you have any tie or link binding you to this world in love, try to sever it. This world, despite all its apparent splendor and charm, is too worthless to be loved

Khomeini never wavered from his faith in the war as God's will, and observers have related a number of examples of his impatience with those who tried to convince him to stop it. When the war seemed to become a stalemate with hundreds of thousands killed and civilian areas being attacked by missiles, Khomeini was approached by Ayatollah Mehdi Haeri Yazdi, a grand ayatollah and former student with family ties to Khomeini. He pleaded with Khomeini to find a way to stop the killing, saying, "it is not right for Muslims to kill Muslims." Khomeini answered reproachfully, asking him, "Do you also criticize God when he sends an earthquake?" On another occasion Khomeini showed his disdain for a delegation of Muslim heads of state who had come to Tehran to offer to mediate an end to the war by keeping them waiting for two hours, and speaking to them for only ten minutes without providing a translator before getting up and leaving.

Vali Nasr writes that necessity may have been a motivator for use of martyrdom by "hundreds of thousands of volunteers" at least early on in the war when many of the "most seasoned officers" in Iran's military had been purged and the hostage crisis "left Iran internationally isolated" and "conventional means of repelling the Iraqi invasion were hard to come by."

Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq

While istishhad suicide attacks did not win the Iran–Iraq War for Iran, suicide bombings did spread to Lebanon, where observers agree they won victories for the Lebanese branch of the Islamic Da'wa Party, Shia 'allies' of the Islamic Revolution. The 1983 bombings against U.S. and French peacekeeping troops by Hizballah killed over 300 and drove the US and French from Lebanon. Another longer bombing campaign did likewise to the Israeli army. Khomeini is credited, by some, with inspiring these "suicide bombers".

The power of suicide operations as a military tactic has been described by Shia Lebanese as an equalizer where faith and piety are used to counter the superior military power of the Western unbeliever:

You look at it with a Western mentality. You regard it as barbaric and unjustified. We, on the other hand, see it as another means of war, but one which is also harmonious with our religion and beliefs. Take for example, an Israeli warplane or, better still, the American and British air power in the Gulf War. .... The goal of their mission and the outcome of their deeds was to kill and damage enemy positions just like us ... The only difference is that they had at their disposal state-of-the-art and top-of-the-range means and weaponry to achieve their aims. We have the minimum basics ... We ... do not seek material rewards, but heavenly one in the hereafter.

The victory of Hezbollah is known to have inspired the Sunni groups Hamas in Palestine, and al-Qaeda in its worldwide bombing campaign. In the years after Khomeini's death, "Martyrdom operations" or "suicide bombing" spread beyond Shia Islam and beyond attacks on military and are now a major force in the Muslim world. According to one estimate, as of early 2008, 1,121 Muslim suicide bombers have blown themselves up in Iraq alone.

Ironically and tragically, by the early twenty first century, thousands of Muslims, particularly Shia, have become victims, not just initiators, of martyrdom operations. In the Iraq civil war, Salafi Jihadi ideologue Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi declared "all-out war" on Shia Muslims in Iraq in 2005 in response to a US-Iraqi offensive on the town of Tal Afar

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