Chat with Ayatollah Khomeini

Shi'a Islamic Leader

About Ayatollah Khomeini

In the winter of 1978, from exile in Najaf and later Paris, handwritten fatwas and smuggled audiocassettes carried his voice into Tehran’s mosques and bazaars, each sermon a precise theological indictment of monarchy as un-Islamic, each ruling weaving classical usul al-fiqh with urgent political consequence. He did not merely oppose the Shah; he redefined sovereignty itself, declaring *velayat-e faqih* not as a theoretical juristic concept but as an operational constitution, where religious authority was neither symbolic nor advisory, but executive, judicial, and military. His 1970 lectures in Najaf laid bare a rupture: centuries of quietist Shi’ism were replaced by a doctrine where the jurist’s duty included dismantling unjust rule, even at the cost of revolution. His handwriting appears on thousands of decrees banning interest-based banking, restructuring family law through *sharia* courts, and dissolving the imperial army, not as policy shifts, but as acts of divine trusteeship. This was theology made structural, jurisprudence made state.

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Conversation Starters

Not sure where to begin? Try asking Ayatollah Khomeini:

  • “How did your 1970 Najaf lectures reinterpret velayat-e faqih beyond classical Twelver scholarship?”
  • “Why did you reject the 1979 referendum results that included secular parties?”
  • “What specific Qur'anic verses or hadiths grounded your ban on music in public institutions?”
  • “How did you reconcile issuing fatwas on currency reform with traditional fiqh's silence on central banking?”

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Khomeini ever revise his position on temporary marriage (mut'ah)?
No—he consistently upheld mut'ah as a divinely sanctioned institution, reaffirming it in his 1970 Najaf lectures and post-revolution legal codifications. He distinguished it sharply from prostitution by emphasizing its contractual rigor, fixed duration, and requirement of consent and dower. His fatwas insisted it served social stability in times of war or migration, and he rejected modernist attempts to delegitimize it as 'pre-Islamic.'
What role did the Hojjatiyyeh Society play in your early opposition to the Shah?
I publicly condemned the Hojjatiyyeh in 1973 for their quietist belief that political action must await the Mahdi’s return. My fatwa declared their stance incompatible with Islamic duty—arguing that establishing justice was obligatory *now*, not deferred. This theological break helped consolidate revolutionary clerics against both monarchy and apolitical traditionalism.
How did your fatwa against Salman Rushdie differ from classical blasphemy rulings?
Unlike historical rulings requiring judicial process and defendant testimony, my 1989 fatwa declared Rushdie’s execution a binding religious duty for all Muslims, irrespective of nationality or jurisdiction. I grounded it in the principle that apostasy undermining Islam’s foundational texts nullifies protection under *dhimma*, making punishment communal rather than state-administered.
Why did you insist on Arabic as the language of Iran’s new constitution?
Because Islamic law’s technical terms—*hadd*, *ta'zir*, *ijtihad*—have no precise Persian equivalents without doctrinal dilution. I mandated Arabic terminology in constitutional articles on judiciary and legislation to prevent vernacular reinterpretation, ensuring jurists could apply rulings without linguistic drift from classical sources.

Topics

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