Early Life

Born on September 24, 1902, Ruhollah Mousavi whose given name means "inspired of God" was born into a family
of Shi'ite religious scholars in the small Iranian village of Khomein.

As a young boy, Khomeini was lively, strong, and good at sports. He was even considered the leapfrog champion of
his village and the surrounding area. He was known for his great ability at memorizing both religious and classical
poetry, and also excelled at his studies at the local maktab, a school dedicated to teaching the Qu'ran.

Because of his scholarly success, Khomeini's older brother decided to send him to the city of Arak (or Sultanabad)
in 1920. There, Khomeini studied with the renowned Islamic scholar Yazdi Ha'iri. Ha'iri left Arak for the city of
Qom in 1923, and Khomeini followed. There, he committed all of his efforts to furthering his own religious studies
while also becoming a teacher for younger students at Ha'iri's school.

Political and Religious Leader

When Ha'iri died in the 1930s, the Ayatollah Boroujerdi succeeded him
as the most important Islamic figure in Qom. As a result, Boroujerdi
gained Khomeini as a follower. It is interesting to note that both Ha'iri
and Boroujerdi believed that religion should not involve itself with
government affairs. So, while the leader of Iran, Reza Shah, weakened
the powers of religious leaders and promoted a more secularized
country, the most powerful religious figures in Iran remained silent and
encouraged their followers to do the same.

Moreover, the same deference was encouraged when Reza Shah's son,
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, turned to the U.S. for help quelling protests
for democratic reforms in Iran's capital, Tehran, in the 1950s. One of
those who were muted by the beliefs of the senior religious leaders was
Khomeini.

Unable to speak out against what he saw as a country leaving its Islamic
roots and values behind, Khomeini turned his efforts toward teaching.
He began to cultivate a group of dedicated pupils who became his
staunchest supporters during his days as an Islamic revolutionary. On
March 31, 1961, Ayatollah Boroujerdi died and Khomeini was in a
position to take up the mantle left by the late religious leader. After
publishing his writings on Islamic science and doctrines, many Shi'ite
Iranians began to see Khomeini as Marja-e Taqlid (a person to be
oiuimitated).

In 1962, Khomeini began protesting the intentions of the Shah in

earnest. His first act of defiance was to organize the ulama (religious
leaders) against a proposed law of the Shah's that would effectively end the
requirement for elected officials to be sworn in on the Qu'ran. This action was just the beginning
in a long string of events that would change Iranian politics forever.

In June 1963, Khomeini made a speech suggesting that if the Shah did not change the political
direction of Iran, the populace would be happy to see him leave the country. As a result,
Khomeini was arrested and held in prison. During his incarceration, people took to the streets
with cries for his release, and were met by the government with military force. Even so, it was
nearly a week before the unrest was resolved. Khomeini was held in prison until April 1964,
when he was allowed to return to Qom.

The Shah continued to cultivate close ties with the United States, and to be what Khomeini
considered "soft" on Israel. This prompted Khomeini to pronounce his belief that Jews would
take over Iran and that the U.S. considered all Iranians to be little more than slaves to America's
Western ideals. After delivering another inflammatory speech in the fall of 1964, Khomeini was
arrested and deported to Turkey. Prevented by Turkish law from wearing the traditional clothes
of a Shi'ite cleric and scholar, Khomeini took up residence in Najaf, Iraq in September 1965. He
remained there for 13 years.

Years in Exile

During his years in exile, Khomeini developed a theory of what a state founded on Islamic
principles and led by the clergy would look like, called Velayat-e faqeeh. He taught his theory at
a local Islamic school, mostly to other Iranians. He also began making videotapes of his sermons,
which were smuggled into and sold in Iranian bazaars. Through these methods, Khomeini
became the accepted leader of the Iranian opposition to the government of the Shah. The
opposition was, indeed, picking up steam.

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RELIGIOUS FIGURES
 Muhammad

 (C. 570–632)

DICTATORS

Saddam Hussein

 (1937–2006)

POLITICAL FIGURES

Muammar al-Qaddafi

 (1942–2011)

In 1975, crowds gathered for three days at a religious school in Qom and could only be moved
by military force. In response, Khomeini released a jubilant statement in support of the
protestors. He declared that "freedom and liberation from the bonds of imperialism" was
imminent.

More protests occurred in 1978 in Khomeini's defense, and were again put down violently by
Iranian government forces. In the wake of these protests, the Shah felt that Khomeini's exile in
Iraq was too nearby for comfort. Soon thereafter, Khomeini was confronted by Iraqi soldiers and
given a choice: either stay in Iraq and abandon all political activity, or leave the country. He
chose the latter. Khomeini moved to Paris, which was to be his last place of residence before his
triumphant return to Iran.

During his stay there, he defended himself against critics who accused him of being power-
hungry with statements such as, "It is the Iranian people who have to select their own capable
and trustworthy individuals and give them the responsibilities. However, personally, I can't
accept any special role or responsibility."

The Iranian Revolution

The year of his return was 1979, mere months after his move to Paris. Students, the middle-class,
self-employed businessmen, and the military all took to the street in protest. The Shah turned to
the U.S. for help, but ultimately had to leave the country himself in the face of the revolution at
his doorstep. Despite statements such as the one he made in Paris, Khomeini was widely
acknowledged as the new leader of Iran, and came to be known as the Supreme Leader. He
returned home to cheering crowds, and began laying the groundwork for the Islamic state he had
for so long been imagining.

During this period, he put other clerics to work on writing an Islamic constitution for Iran. He
also began iterating more authoritarian sentiments than before: "Don't listen to those who speak
of democracy. They all are against Islam. They want to take the nation away from its mission.
We will break all the poison pens of those who speak of nationalism, democracy, and such
things."

Iranian Hostage Crisis

Meanwhile, the Shah needed a place to serve out his exile. It became known that the Shah was ill
with cancer. With this in mind, the U.S. reluctantly allowed the Shah to enter the country. In
protest, a group of Iranians seized more than sixty American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in
Tehran on November 4, 1979. Khomeini saw this as a chance to demonstrate the new Iranian
defiance of Western influence.

The new Iranian government and the Carter Administration of the U.S. entered a standoff in that
wouldn't end until after Ronald Reagan's inauguration in late January of 1981, under the pressure
of sanctions and oil embargoes imposed by the U.S. on Iran. This is now known as the Iranian
Hostage Crisis.

Once in power, the Ayatollah Khomeini was no more sympathetic to the cries of the secular left
than the Shah had been to Khomeini's cries for reform. Many who protested against his regime
were killed, and Khomeini had his doctrines and beliefs taught in public schools. He also ensured
that clerics sympathetic to his beliefs filled the government ranks, from the smallest town all the
way to his own office.

Moreover, Khomeini believed that the ideas on which the new Iran had been built needed to be,
in his words, "exported." Iraq and Iran had long been in territorial dispute over border areas and
claims on petroleum reserves. Sensing an opportunity, on September 22, 1980, Iraq’s leader,
Saddam Hussein launched an attack by land and air against Iran. Hussein hoped to catch Iran,
weakened by revolution. Though Iraq made some early gains, but June, 1982, the war wore
down to a stalemate that lasted another six years. Finally, after hundreds of thousands of lives
and hundreds of billions of dollars were lost, the UN brokered a cease-fire in August, 1988,
which both sides accepted. Khomeini called this compromise "more deadly than taking poison."

The Rushdie Fatwa and Death

Khomeini is also well known for releasing a fatwa (a legal document issued by a Muslim cleric)
calling for the death of Indian-British author Salman Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses in
1989. The book is a work of fiction that can be interpreted as depicting the Prophet Mohammed
as a false prophet, and casts considerable doubt on many Islamic beliefs.

Shortly after the Rushdie fatwa was declared, the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died, on
June 3, 1989. Iran remains a religion-based society, and Khomeini's life's work and decade of
rule will no doubt continue to influence the country far into the future.