Summary of Week 5 reading about Khumayni

- Khumayni rise to international fame which was due to the visible effects of his ideas and his
overwhelming popularity among Iranians (1960)
- His importance was not from religious learnings but from effective politicization of Islam and
success in shaping Iran after the revolution.
- Khumayni’s understanding/ ideology focuses on his understandings of “man” and how to
perfect mankind so that men and society could be made just and moral

Early political career

- Khumayni took up the challenge of the anti ulama modernists

- He defended Shi’i traditions, Ulama Hierarchy, and the need for taqlid
- Khumayni linked Ulama to Islamic people (inseparable/ they are one)
- Khumayni blamed attacks on Islam on European dress which caused alcoholism, prostitution,
drugs, mixed schools, unveiling of women, destruction of families, corruption. All which caused
decline in Islamic society in Iran.
- Khumayni answer to this was to return to strict laws (pristine Islam that affected extreme legal
punishments like the cutting of hands)
- Khumayni had not come to his later position that monarchy was inherently anti-Islamic, due to
the argument that a bad government was better than no government according to Pahlavi’s
monarchy.
- Khumayni also says that a king does not have to be a military officer, but someone who should
not violate the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (fqih) (official laws of the country)
- He called for the implementation of Clause Two of the Supplementary Fundamental Law which
established in theory a council of five mujtahids to review all legislation to guarantee its
compatibility with Islam (an Islamic government)
- The people demanded that the government must be run in accordance to gods law, this demand
is a very clear call for greater involvement in the politics of the nation by the Ulama.
- Ayatullah burujirdi urged this engagement of politics for all members of the ulama.
- Khumayni concerns :
o Enfranchisement of women
o Replacement of the term “holy Quran” with “holy book”
 (SEEN as attacks on Islam)
- Khumayni said the government could still make itself acceptable by implementing the
constitution.
- Arrest, released, arrested, released. ????????
- Khumayni was exiled to Turkey then to Iraq then France
- He rethought his ideas of the relationship between politics and religion (Islam).

Khumayni on Islamic Government

- Lectures on Islamic government

o extension of vilayet by ijtihad (eliminate the acceptance of dual authority in society like
political and religious)
- Islam is more than just a religion; it is a complete system of life “even before the embryos are
formed until he is placed in a tomb”
- Quran and sunnah contain all laws needed for mans happiness and perfect state
- Divine law must be brought back into effect.
- Possible Answer: Khumayni used to say that Shah could remain as monarch if he implemented
the constitution, but now he says the form of government and the political and administrative
policies, they pursuit anti-Islamic.
- The corrupting influence on Dar al Islam was the lack of proper leadership, which allowed the
west to pollute Islam.
- Rulers are subject to a higher law (Quran and Hadith)
- Islamic government is the rule of Divine law over men
- There is no need for legislation in Islam
- The shariya is the only legitimate law, and we must strive to implement it
- Possible Answer: it is not sufficient to merely have a legally knowledgeable ruler, he must be the
most learned and just of the legal experts
- ^ while the fuqaha should rule, it is not necessary that all officials in an Islamic state must be
fuqaha
- The fuqaha’ had the duty to protect Islam. They are tasked with establishing the belief in the
face of external opposition. Promoting the rights of the oppressed. Fighting the oppressors.
Distributing public wealth. Collection of religious taxes.
- ^ Government officials only need to know the law pertaining to their functions and duties, yet
they must still have some knowledge of the law.
- According to Khumayni , the ruler must have the same right to authority and loyalty as the profit
and imams, it will be the duty of all people to obey him
- A single member of the fuqaha has the task of implementing the government, administrating it,
and executing the law. However not all fuqaha have the authority of the imam.
- Any member of the ulama that wishes to accumulate wealth is corrupted.
- Khumayni says that Shi’i Islam will provide all solutions to Iran’s problems.
- The solution to poverty is seen as Charity (sadaqat) and the redistribution of wealth
- Possible Answer: in keeping with the 12er sharia notion, that all believers are either muqallid or
mujtahid. Those who are muqallid need guidance to come to perfection, therefore the Ulama
who are the representatives of the imams who are the inheritors of the profit are to lead man to
the correct path. To bring man to the correct path Shariya must be implemented. However,
Khumayni believed that the old brutal punishments of islam from back in the day should be
reinstated as he believed that within a year, all criminal activity would be gone due to the
society accepting the cruel islamic punishments. Sharia punishments were designed to protect
the uma, Khumayni said that the leaders must be willing to subordinate themselves and others
for the greater good of the muslim community. The needs of the uma as a whole is of primary
importance, and everything else is subordinate. As proof from the revolution, threats to the
purity of the nation have been destroyed by any means necessary.
-