RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI - IRAN

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 01478463
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: February 2, 2018
• Case Number: F-2016-00493
• Publication Date: February 27, 1979

Approved for Release: 2018/01/30 C01478463
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Ruhollah KHOMEINI
(Phonetic: kohmayNEE)
Religious Leader
Addressed as:
Your Eminence
After 15 years of
exile in Turkey, Iraq and
France, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, the charismatic
and intransigent symbol
of opposition to the Shah,
returned to Iran on 1
February 1979. Within 10
days the government of
Prime Minister Shapur
Bakhtiar had collapsed and the Provisional Govern-
ment of the Islamic Republic of Iran had been
established. It was another victory in the Aya-
tollah's long and single-minded campaign to re-
store the dominant influence that the clergy once
had in every aspect of Iranian life. Khomeini has
said that he does not intend to run the country
but to retreat to his modest home in the holy city
of Qom and provide useful advice .His influence
will remain strong, however.
Because he believes that Shi'a Islam is a
total political-economic-social system that needs
little further explanation, Khomeini has tended to
speak in ambiguities and pious generalities of
virtue and vice and has avoided discussing specific
programs. Moreover, what he says is often mis-
translated--a situation that compounds the problem
of learning just what he really means. He says
that his Islamic republic will be based on uni-
versal suffrage, but he vaguely states that the
"final shape and type of government" will be de-
fined by "the people," guided by their religious
leaders. Corruption, he says, will disappear, and
Shi'a values will be restored. Alcohol and nar-
cotics will be banned, and movies, books and
magazines will be heavily censored. (He does,
however, promise freedom of the press--except for
articles "harmful to the nation.") According to
him, there will be a heavy emphasis on morality,
enforced by Shari'a law (religious law), which
will replace the present French-influenced legal
system. He speaks of redistribution of wealth in
&nu)
IRAN
(cont.)
CR M 79-10982
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favor of "the oppressed," national control of the
economy, and an industrialization program empha-
sizing development of heavy industry instead of
the mere assembly of imported parts.
Khomeini's statements on individual rights,
like many of his statements, sometimes seem pro-
gressive, but they can be misleading. He asserts
that "woman is equal to man. Like him she is free
to choose her destiny and activities." The free-
dom he would grant to women, however, is the
freedom to be "moral." He opposes coeducation
because, he claims, it undermines the family, and
he favors the veiling of women to avoid tempta-
tion. He says he favors religious freedom for
everyone except the Baha'i, who are considered
heretics by most Muslims and pro-Shah by Khomeini.
He has attempted to reassure Christians, Jews,
Zoroastrians and Sunni Muslims, but they are
worried.
Attitude Toward
Other Countries
Khomeini says that his Islamic republic will
be independent and nonaligned. He has attacked
the United States, the United Kingdom, and the
USSR for interfering in Iran's internal affairs
and has blamed them for Iran's poverty. He has
strongly criticized President Jimmy Carter for his
support of the monarch. On 1 January 1979, how-
ever, Khomeini declared that he was willing to
start with a clean slate after the Shah and the
dynasty were gone. He asserted that future US-
Iranian relations would depend entirely on the US
Government, which would have to show respect for
Iran and avoid interfering in its affairs. Simi-
larly, the USSR, as one of the countries that has
"harmed" Iran, would not be allowed to interfere
in Iranian affairs. As for Communism, he scorn-
fully declared that one could not be a Muslim and
a Communist at the same time.
Early Life
After religious studies in Qom and in Isfahan
in Iran, as well as in the holy cities of Najaf
and Karbala in Iraq, Khomeini returned to Qom to
teach. In 1963 the Shah antagonized the clergy
when he launched the Shah-people revolution, which
ended the clergy's dominance in education, mar-
riage and divorce and stripped religious groups of
their large landholdings. Apparently because of
his oratorical ability and the circulation of his
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dissident views, Khomeini was selected to lead the
opposition elements in the clergy. In January
1963 his violent attacks on land reform and women's
rights brought him nationwide attention. In June
1963 he was arrested. Riots ensued in several
cities--the worst demonstrations since the over-
throw of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosadeq in 1953--
and were put down by martial law. These events
enhanced Khomeini's reputation as a forceful
leader, and he rece ved the title ayatollah (prom-
inent leader).
Released from jail later in 1963, Khomeini
was held under house arrest, but he continued to
oppose the Shah. In 1964, when the government
submitted a bill to Parliament that would have
granted exemptions from the jurisdiction of Iranian
courts to US military personnel serving in Iran,
he attacked the measure as a return to the days of
the 19th and early 20th centuries when British and
Russian nationals had special privileges in Iran.
He also attacked the United States and called on
the army to overthrow the Shah. He was immediately
placed under close arrest again and taken to
Turkey. In 1965 he rejected an Iranian offer that
would allow him to return home provided that he
abstain from political activity. Instead, he
settled in Iraq, where some of his followers
joined him, and he continued to speak, write, and
work against the Shah. tober 1978 Khomeini
left Iraq for France.
Personal Data
Khomeini, who is about 78 years
old, speaks in low, measured tones. His black
turban marks him as a descendant of Ali, the lead-
ing imam of the Shi'a Muslims. Khomeini has
written two or three books--all of them about
Islamic jurisprudence. A number of his lectures
have been recorded, edited and published by his
students. He speaks Arabic.
27 February 1979
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