www.echoofislam.com
ISSN: 1019-0775
No. 252, July 2015
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
The Most Important Principles
of Imam Khomeini’s Thinking
1. Demonstrating the true Islam and neglecting the
American version of Islam
2. Trusting in the divine promise and distrusting in
imperialistic and oppressive powers
3. Believing in people’s will and power and fighting
against governmental centralization
4. Supporting the oppressed people, denying economic inequality and fighting against aristocracy
5. Explicit fighting with international bullies front and
supporting the oppressed people
6. Believing in independence and denying domination
7. Relying on the national unity
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
Special Issue, July 2015
Managing Director: Ahmad Nesari
[email protected]
Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Saeed Karami
Translator & Editor: Saeed Kalati
● Imam Khomeini and Islamic Awakening Trend
● Democracy and Religion: Iranian Islamic Republic Experience
● The Truly Nature of The Islamic Revolution
● Plans for Redrawing the Middle East: The
Project for a “New Middle East”
● Islamic Revolution, A Social Development With
Political And Cultural Dimensions
● Three Decades of Islamic Honor
● Islamic Revolution, Greatest and Rarest Event
of the Contemporary History
● Aspects of Imam Khomeini’s political thought
● The Necessity and Importance of Islamic Unity
● The International Quds Day
● Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini from
the Viewpoint of International Relations Theories
● Ayatollah Khamenei’s Message to European and North American
Youth, An Introduction to Globalization of the Divine Values
● A Brief Look at Ayatollah Khamenei’s Political
Philosophy Book
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48
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Editorial Board: Hussein Sarvar,
Hussein Hojati, Saeed Kalati
Public Relations & Executive
Manager: Maryam Hamzelou
Coleagues: Abdollah SultanMuhammadi, Kolsum Pouravaz
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Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
Imam Khomeini
and Islamic
Awakening Trend
Muhammad Ali Taskhiri
Discussing about Islamic
awakening, which is amongst
the most beautiful issues, is
very important and necessary,
because Islamic Awakening is
the most important issue and
phenomenon for the Muslim
Ummah which is considered
as a turning point in the brilliant history of this Ummah.
In this article, the author tries
to analyze Islamic Awakening
from the viewpoint of Imam
Khomeini through three aspects: the truth, causes and
how to continue (despite the
confronting risks). The author
also tries to uncover the link
connects these three aspects
to each other.
The Truth of Informing
and Islamic Awakening
There is no need to refer
to the Islamic structure as a
4
general concept; however, reminding a point as bedrock to
understand the truth of Islamic
Awakening is helpful here.
As a belief, Islam bestows
life to human being against
universe, life and being and
a certain perspective in terms
of history, present and future.
This field is followed by the social structure of Islam in order
to cover all aspects of human
being life. Therefore, a truly
awake and conscious Muslim
is featured by the following
traits:
First: He has a deep understanding on nature and truth of
Islam.
Second: his faith in religion is
logical.
Third: His emotions are filled
with faith and his sentiments
and feelings are completely
compatible with these princi-
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
ples.
Fourth: Islam is manifested
in his practical and personal
aspects of life.
Understanding Islam
This factor has two dimensions, understanding theoretical principles and structure of
Islam and the executive and
practical aspect. The comparative understanding of Islam
here refers to understanding
the purposeful Islamic commands. According to Islam,
the Islamic ruler is tasked with
committing this responsibility.
The highest form of this type
of understanding is intuitive
knowledge or intuition and
what is inspired as revelation
and in the next degree what
is gained through correct and
original Ijtihad.
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
Belief in future of the Islamic Awakening
The clear future of the Islamic Awakening in the various society is a phenomenon which
has been emphasized by
Imam Khomeini several times
and he used to try to convince
people to believe it. He was
completely assured that the
future of this awakening will
be brilliant. Naturally, hoping
in something will direct us towards it and strengthens our
determination. In this direction
we see that Imam Khomeini
predicted collapse of the Soviet Union. This prediction was
announced when there was
no sign of this collapse. He initially sent his famous letter to
Gorbachev in 1989. This letter
is among very little numbers of
Imam Khomeini sent to leaders of other countries. In this
letter Imam says, “Its better
any research about communism is assigned to the World
Museum from now on.” This
letter is a great document that
indicates a faithful man can
see with God’s eye and God.
Manifestation of various types of awakening in
the Muslim Ummah and its
achievements
The colonialist countries
have always struggled to ignore the depth of Islamic
Awakening and its development amongst the Muslim
Ummahs and even we see
westernized people who try to
deny the fact of Islamic Awakening among the Muslim nations. Here the question is that
One of very important issues
on which Imam
Khomeini used
to emphasis was
movement
and activity of
Muslim masses
across the whole
world.
what is the reason and cause
behind these animosities and
ignoring the truth? The reason
is that people are prevented
from being familiar with what
is happening, otherwise, the
Islamic movement will burn
them as fire does and Imam
Khomeini tried to explain this
for people. Imam Khomeini
used to seize any opportunity
to explain achievements for
the people’s information and
always emphasized them.
Extensive Movement
and Activity
One of very important issues
on which Imam Khomeini used
to emphasis was movement
and activity of Muslim masses
across the whole world. One of
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
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Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
these activities was the grand
Islamic revolution in Palestine.
We all know that Imam always
concerned about crisis of Palestine and he spared no efforts to solve this problem and
he never left his ideal about
Palestine. He also advised us
to continue this ideal after his
death. For Imam Khomeini,
the Zionist Regime was a tumor which must be eradicated
and despite opposition of the
United States and Israel, Muslims can fight and defat this
corrupted regime. Imam Khomeini was very hopeful about
Palestine nation’s Islamic
Awakening and believed that
it is the sole way for Palestinian to get rid of this corrupted
regime.
Imam named the last Friday
of Ramadan as the Day of
Quds and asked all Muslims
across the globe to conduct
rallied in defense of innocent
people of Palestine. Another
sample of such movements
was the rising of Afghan Muslims against the eastern superpower of the time, the Soviet
Union.
Counteracting Colonial
Myths
Another manifest of the Islamic Awakening is producing
extensive political knowledge
about conspiracies and myths
of Colonialism and counteracting them. One of these myths
was the myth of Invincibility of
Israel, or the myth that said
the sole way of happiness is
following one of socialism or
imperialism ways, the myth
6
that religion will make you feeble, the contradiction between
religious inclinations and revolution and the myth of limiting
the world into two east and
west blocs.
Great Signs of Victory
Reading Imam Khomeini’s
remarks about symbols and
signs of the Islamic Awakening
in the Muslim societies indicate that many of them have
been realized now.
• A general trend has
been developed for recognizing Islam and its vital aspects.
Today, people consider Islam
as a way to get rid of all dangers and problems they may
face; while the Colonialism
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
has conducted everything to
convince Ummah to forget Islam and its rules.
• A relative awareness
about conspiracies of the global imperialism was developed
in the Muslim ummah and they
found that imperialism has
many plots to destroy personality and identity of Muslims.
•
Muslim nations recognized their own abilities and
have found in which historical
epoch are living.
•
A strong tie has been
formed between various Muslim nations.
•
Designing good plans
to revive the great Islamic glories and dignities and forming
an integrated Muslim country
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
across the world by Muslims.
Various Factors of
Islamic Awakening
Reviewing factors of the contemporary Islamic Awakening
from Imam Khomeini’s viewpoint may confuse one who
intends to categorize them in
a certain set of conclusion, but
it is normal because we are
speaking about a social phenomenon which coexists with
human being. Therefore, this
phenomenon influences human being and is influenced
by human being equally and
strengthens itself in this way.
For instance consider a conscious and patient leader who
plays a key role in facilitating
developments, but developments affect the leader in turn
in order to make him a more
experienced, stronger leader
to survive until the end.
For Imam Khomeini the following factors were important
in making a movement victor:
•
Divine confirmation
•
Availability of a known
leader
•
A collection of scholars
and thinkers to train people
•
People’s preparedness
to conduct this development
•
Oppression and tyranny of rulers
• Islam’s strength and
capacity to manage this development.
Divine Confirmations
Imam Khomeini has many
times confirmed the fact that
divine grace and attention has
helped Islamic Revolution and
remind them their vital role in
this social movement. He used
to deny all those scholars who
did not believe in power of oppressive people. He used to attack these people and warned
people to boycott them.
It was struggles
of religious
scholars and
leaders that
helped Islam
to play its vital
role and affect
people’s soul and
rescue them from
regression. Islam is
able to realize
capabilities hidden
in human’s nature
and reveals the gift
treasures in their
souls.
we were only means to realize
this.
Leadership
It is an important fact, because it has been happened
several times that many awakenings occurred in different
parts of the world, but because
of lack of leadership or a weak
leadership they failed very
soon. Accordingly, the leader
always is threatened by the
foes of the Islamic Awakening
Committed scholars a
necessity for victory of a
movement
Since Imam Khomeini was
completely aware of scholars
role in directing people and
establishing a truly movement,
he used to address them and
People’s development
and inclination towards
Islam and spirituality
In fact, it was struggles of
religious scholars and leaders
that helped Islam to play its
vital role and affect people’s
soul and rescue them from
regression. Islam is able to realize capabilities hidden in human’s nature and reveals the
gift treasures in their souls. If
the internal and natural knowledge is manifested over the
external life, then the complete
redemption will be achieved. It
is necessary to mention that
scholar are successful only
when they devoid their soul
from temporary and baseless
joys of the world and devote
themselves completely to their
goal and objective.
Exacerbation of oppression made by oppressive
rulers and attack of colonialists
When this factor is strengthened and especially when
people feel that they are under
increasing oppression, they
will be aroused and try to use
what they have to rescue and
materialize the social developments.
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
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Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
Democracy and Religion:
Iranian Islamic Republic Experience
Yahya Fozi (Ph.D. in Political Science)
The Islamic republic in Iran introduced a new political model named “religious democracy” which is of
great importance for those who try to harmonize religion with modern institutions.
The Islamic republic in Iran introduced a new political model
named “religious democracy”
which is of great importance
for those who try to harmonize
religion with modern institutions. This new model, in fact,
8
has risen as a certain and independent political philosophy
and governance method in the
face of modern models. In fact,
the idea of “religious democracy” challenges thesis like “End
of History”[i] and “End of Ideol-
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
ogy”[ii] which regard western
democratic systems as the
greatest human work and his
absolute fate in social-political
arena and introduce the modern age as an end to the role of
religion and ideology in public
parts of human life. This writing tries to answer questions
about the theoretical principals
of this political model as well
as characteristics of religious
democracy in post-revolution
Iran. To answer such issues
we first explore different views
about the relationship between
religion and democracy as a
theoretical debate.
A. Religion and Democracy;
different views
There are different views
about the relationship between religion and democracy.
Some believe in inconsistency
of these two and calling the
religious democracy a paradox,1 they point that democracy is based on equality; freedom and the voice of majority
while religion does not accept
them (regard all humans as
equal. They believe freedom
of thought is limited in Islam
and the third important issue
is that they say the voice of
majority could not found rules
in Islam since God is the only
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
legislator there.)
There is a second view
which believes in consistency of Islam and democracy.
They try to redefine the Islamic principles in order to prove
that Islam and democracy are
in no fundamental contradiction.2 They say Islam is the
source of freedom and equality too and defends the voice of
majority in social fields. They
reject the first view by explaining some rules on inequality
through jurisprudence on one
hand, and on the other they
say that such rules are mostly in judicial and some certain
fields which do not limit political participation They believe
that freedom is not limited in
Islam but it is a divine gift to
the human being. They also
try to defend the voice of majority through Shora (Consultation) and Bay’at (Oath of allegiance) concepts as well as
the principle of commandment
of good and prohibition of evil.
This group believes the voice
of majority can set examples
for religious rules and also be
the foundation for undefined
issues.
There is also a third view
which believes since there is
no absolute definition for democracy and religion, their
consistency or inconsistency
depends on how we define
them. They say democracy
has no unique form and political thinkers and writers have
named different models for it.3
Democracy is a
tool or kind of
human experience to reduce
mistakes and a
tool to realize
national will, and
so if we define “the
ruling of national
will” as the essence
of democracy,[6]
then realization of
this national will
would be closely related to culture and
traditions of that
certain nation.
There is also not a unified
reading for religion where
some views accept more
space for reasoning with a
better flexibility toward modern
issues while others give no
space to reasoning and introduce some inflexible religious
approaches. Absolutely each
of these views could set different relationship between religion and democracy. Thus we
could not speak of consistency
between Islam and democracy
but should think of consistency or inconsistency between
some certain forms of each.
Some intellectuals believe
democracy is different from
liberal democracy and there
aren’t essential relations between them.4 But try emphasis
on the paradox of public discourse in this society because
there are a challenge between
individualism values in the libSpecial Issue, No. 252, July 2015
9
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
eralism and populism value
in the democracy.5 Therefore,
democracy is a tool or kind of
human experience to reduce
mistakes and a tool to realize
national will, and so if we define “the ruling of national will”
as the essence of democracy,6 then realization of this national will would be closely related to culture and traditions
of that certain nation .The ruling of national will in a secular
nation would be completely
different from its form in a religious nation. So democracy needs a
complementary political culture to be stabilized.7 In order
to have a stabilized democracy in religious nations we
need a relationship between
democracy and their religion.
Democracy needed connection to traditions and culture of
that nation so in religious nations we should speak of religious democracy while in liberal nations, liberal democracy is
defined. Thus what sets differences among democracies is
the cultural background where
democracy is founded.
Since liberal democracy is
framed by liberal values. And
any action challenging these
values is not acceptable, then
religious democracy will be
framed by religion and the
governing values would define
differences among these two
democracies.
Hence religious democracy, due to its roots in religious
10
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
Imam Khomeini
and a great
part of Islamist
groups defended
Islamic republic
which in fact
was a new model
trying to establish
relations between
Islam and democracy.
traditions, could be the proper
model for establishing popular, effective and modern governments in religious nations.
Post-revolution Iran tried to
activate this political model,
B. Theoretical principles and
characteristics of religious democracy in Iran after toppling
of Shah’s regime by Islamic
revolution in Iran, the debate
on alternative government
raised among intellectuals
who mostly circled around
the kind of relation between
Islam and the proper system.
While some groups spoke of
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
is divine rules.11 In fact he believed democracy is different from liberal democracy and it has changed
pictures through history and
served different ideologies like
socialism or liberalism,12 so it
could be a functional frame for
accepted rules and traditions
of the nation it serves. So Muslims also could use democracy to govern their nations and
even the Islamic democracy
could prove superior to others
and remove their shortages
due to its human nature.
Imam Khomeini believed the
main difference
between Islam
and democracies is not in
Islam’s inconsistency with freedom
and equality but in
different views its
takes toward such
issues compared
with materialists.
popular democratic republic
or Islamic democratic republic, which was some sort of
social or liberal democracy,
Imam Khomeini and a great
part of Islamist groups defended Islamic republic which in
fact was a new model trying
to establish relations between
Islam and democracy and its
defenders believed in the third
mention theory that democracy is a tool that could be used
to realize national will in a religious sphere .the Theoretical
principles and characteristics
of religious democracy in Iran
will be discussed below.
Imam Khomeini defended
democracy as a political tool
when he said “republic, as it
is everywhere regarded republic”8 but he emphasized
that this republic is based on
constitutions which are Islamic rules.9 He added “when we
say republic, it means both
conditions for the elected and
the current rules in Iran are
based on Islam and the shape
of republic is elected by people
and the republic would be as it
is everywhere else”.10 He emphasized that republic would
be the form of governance and
Islam will fill its content which
He believed the main difference between Islam and
democracies is not in Islam’s
inconsistency with freedom
and equality but in different
views its takes toward such
issues compared with materialists. Divine schools, he
said, could provide a more
realistic definition for freedom
and equality due to their more
comprehensive conception of
human aspects while materialists defend freedom of animally aspects of human because
of their view toward humanity
thus the main difference between Islamic democracies
and others is in their epistemology and worldview since
liberalism in its epistemology
depends of a self dependent
and instrumental human mind
while Islam believes mind and
revelation in cooperation could
provide the correct concept
of truth for humankind. Liberalism, also, is humanist and
materialist in its worldview
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
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Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
while Islam circles around theism and afterlife meanwhile in
anthropology, liberalism only
thinks of human’s material
and natural needs where Islam also thinks of his spiritual
happiness. Thus liberal democracy works inside human
desires and carvings while Islamic democracy works inside
divine rules which are based
on material and spiritual needs
together, designed for his
founding religious political
system In the aftermath of
Islamic revolution in Iran,
Imam Khomeini insisted on
holding referendum about
foundation of Islamic republic. Then Iranian public decided with a 98% majority for
the religious political system.
completion. Second main difference in Islamic democracy
could be its higher goals (like
human happiness and human
making) while liberal democracy has no higher goal and is
a kind of struggle to keep the
current situation.
Imam Khomeini ordered fast
ratification by public representatives and then the
Constitution were ratified
by the majority of Iranians
in a direct referendum. The
Constitutions insisted on Islamic rules in governing the
nation with dependence on
public voice. Based on this
Constitution, a person who
is knowledgeable and capable of executing Islamic Law
(Fiqh) is elected by public as
a leader, thus public elect the
The religious democracy
founded on these theoretical
assumptions in Iran, has the
following characteristics:13
1.
12
Public
acceptance
of
2. Public acceptance of Constitution based on observing
Islamic rules
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
leader, also elect president
and representatives.
3. Emphasis on equal and
free political participation
The right for equal and free
political participation provided in the Constitution
Women and religious minorities had an equal and even
outstanding in this system.
Minorities have more representatives compared with
their small population. Women have important and equal
role in legislation and despite
some traditional problems,
statistics show a growth in
political and social participation of women in post-revolution Iran where some jurisprudential rules have paved
the way.
Meanwhile, Iran has gained
an outstanding position
among many countries for
over 30 elections for presi-
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
dent, parliament and guardian council members as well
as local elections, over the
past 30 years.
4. Supervisory Mechanisms
Supervision over power is of
main characteristics in this
democracy which enjoys internal mechanisms like virtue
of authorities beside powerful external mechanisms like
supervisory organizations,
The Iranian
religious democracy, in general,
is based on an
instrumental and
methodological
view toward
democracy.
press, political parties, and
civil institutions which are on
grow after the Islamic revolution as different channels to
criticize the government.
5. Relation between Religious Law and voice of
majority
Since ruling is only for God,
the question is how to avoid
contradiction with the principle of legislation by public
representatives? The answer in Iranian Islamic Re-
public is that regulations
approved by representatives
are further discussed by Jurisprudents in the Guardian
Council for any inconsistency with Islamic rules thus in
fields with no clear religious
rule, including a vast part of
issues, the voice of majority and reasoning by experts
plays an important role and
additionally the Shiite jurisprudential rules which are
based on reasoning, primary and secondary rules, time
and location can reason new
rules with high flexibilities. All
mentioned factors provide
the Islamic democracy with
great power to come over
modern issues.
Conclusion
The Iranian religious democracy, in general, is based on
an instrumental and methodological view toward democracy. The main claim in religious
democracy is to establish a
government based on majority religious values because
It believes the democracy is
stable only when reaches out
of political borders to become
an inner part of individual and
social life. This would happen
in Islamic societies only when
the democracy is rooted in Islamic traditions and customs.
In other words observing the
cultural situation and realities
in Islamic societies, the best
and most stable democracy is
religious democracy.
Endnotes:
1- Sayyid Qutb -Ma’alim fi alTariq, Milestones, Egypt Kazi Publications 1964 & Hassan al-Banna,
“Why Do the Muslims Fight” contained in Jihad in Modern Islamic
Thought A Collection, ed., Sheikh
Abdullah Bin Muhammad Bin Humaid, http://www.majalla.org
2- Forough Jahanbakhsh-Islam,
Democracy and Religious Modernism in Iran (1953-2000): From
Bazargan to Soroush , Brill Academic Publishers, January 2001
3- Held David, Models of Democracy, Second Edition, Polity
Press, Greatin, 1996&. Schumpeter, Joseph, capitalism and democracy, 3 ED. Allen and Unwin
Pub., 1950 & Giddens Anthony,
New Rules of sociological method,
Hutchinson, London, 1976 & Giddens Anthony, The Constitution of
Society, Polity Press, Cambridge,
1984 & Arguy Hermet, Culture et
Democratic, UNESCO, Orient Albin Michel, 1993
4- Isaiah Berlin, Four Essays on
Liberty, Oxford University Press,
1969 & Andrew Vincent, Modern
Political Ideologies, Wiley-Blackwell; 2 edition 995 &C. Macpherson The Real World of Democracy-canadian broadcasting corp,
1972
5- R.J.Amison, Liberal Democratic
Community, Ed. by :W. Chapman,
New York University Press.1993
p. 214
6- Schumpeter, Joseph, Capitalism and Democracy, 3 Ed. Allen
and Unwin Pub., 1950
7- Habermas, Democracy, and the
Post-National Constellation 1998
8- R. Khomeini, Sahifeh-ye Imam,
Tehran, 1378
9- Ibid.
10- Ibid.
11- Ibid.
12- Ibid.
13- Islamic Republic Constitution
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
13
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
The Truly Nature of
The Islamic Revolution
Prof. Seyed Yahya Yasrebi, master of philosophy and Islamic mysticism, dedicates all his time to criticism and theorizing in logic, epistemology, philosophy, mysticism and
sociology of religion for some years; also, he has published
a variety of books on criticism of the political and social
situation of society of Iran and World of Islam. In his opinion, evolution in political and social life of people is only
possible through evolution in humanities; as evolution in
humanities need to be started from logic, epistemology and
philosophy. We made an interview with Prof. Yasrebi about
this issue.
Q. Nature and Theoretical Framework of the Islamic
Revolution
A) Maybe the best description for defining the nature of
14
the Islamic revolution is “Islamic” itself. In other words,
this revolution was a revolution
under framework of the Islamic
teachings whose principles are
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
objectives were determined by
Islam. There are several main
elements in the framework of
this revolution including:
1. Monotheism. In the Islamic system, the society is based
on monotheism, which guarantees equality and social justice for people of that society.
For a monotheistic system, all
people are equal and the society has only a commander
who is God. Today political philosophers have concluded that
all oppressions made during
the whole history of mankind
are rooted in atheism. In other words, all oppressive rulers
have used somehow atheism to dominate their people.
However, monotheism means
believing in the fact that the
power is exclusive to God and
heavens.
The political philosophers
continue that the primary inequalities were religious mostly. Because, most people believe that kings have found
their power from God, hence
the king of any nation was
the God’s representative to
that nation, each nation’s God
used to support his nation, so
other people and nation used
to be humiliated because they
were not deserved to be supported by that God.
However, Islam was an exception to this vile rule and
addressed all people with any
color and race and for it the
sole criterion and standard to
approach God was piety. As
God says, “we have not sent
thee but as a universal (messenger) to men, giving them
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
glad tidings, and warning them
(against sin), but most men
understand not” (Saba/28).
2. Justice. This principle determines fundamental rules of
human being’s social life based
on the divine guidelines. Just
is a trait and quality for God
and this trait of the Almighty
God should be manifested in
the Islamic system. For this
reason, it is considered as one
of the fundamental conditions
for this system’s managers.
3. Prophecy and Imamah.
Managing society in an Islamic system is based on an
approach, known as Imamah.
Imamah is the manager of a
system which intends to fill
both world and afterworld of
people with welfare and security. Management in a system
based on prophecy and Imamah initially deals with organizing people’s world and then
organize their afterworld life.
In order to provide people with
afterworld happiness, Imamah
directs the worldly life into the
path heading to God proximity. In this regard Ibn Khaldun
says, “The main feature of the
religious politics is that it is
originated from God and God
has put virtue of all people in
world and afterworld, as world
virtues are an introduction to
reach the afterworld ones.”
Q. Viewpoints of Imam
Khomeini and Ayatollah
Khemenei about liberal-democracy and its future
A) There are two issues for
debate here, one is judging
about liberal-democracy sys-
Justice determines fundamental rules of
human being’s
social life based
on the divine
guidelines. Just
is a trait and quality
for God and this
trait of the Almighty
God should be
manifested in the
Islamic system.
tem and another is about its
future. We rose against both
Western and Eastern blocks in
order to reach a regime which
is neither the eastern socialism and communism nor western liberal democracy. Clerics,
religious scholars consider the
western society a self-alienated and pagan society and the
eastern society a bed involved
with paganism and incompatible with the human nature.
We were seeking for a society where has strengths of
west and east, while is free
from their failure and deficits.
Puper says, “Churchill said
sometimes that democracy
is the worst form of government. Democracy is not good
per se… but it is a tool used to
avoid oppression and tyranny.”
Liberal-democracy
regimes
can be criticized through various viewpoints. Like other
Muslim thinkers, Imam Khomeini criticizes liberal democracy system fundamentally. He
says in this regard, “we need
to act based on justice. We
will show them (east and west)
that what is democracy? Both
eastern and western democracies are corrupted.”
Among negative effects of
democracy, two items can be
pointed out:
1.World-dominated
2.Politics-dominated
Most policies of the imperialistic system prevent scholars
from their main objectives. As
it is evident, the objective of
scholars is rescuing human beings, rather a certain race and
nation. The scholars’ mission
is rescuing ignorant people in
each nation; however, unfortunately the modern stream
of intellectual is indifferent to
what occurs around him. So,
if we can define the Islamic
system better and introduce it
as a role model in our society,
without doubt it can be a good
alternative for the democracy
regime.
Q. What is the most challenge of Imam Khomeini and
Ayatollah Khamenei after Islamic revolution both inside
and outside of Iran?
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
15
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Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
A) The most important inside
efforts of Imam Khomeini and
Ayatollah Khamenei were on
establishing the Islamic system. In order to maintain the
physical and apparent survival against threats and conspiracies, Imam used to resist
against all conspiracies and
hazards and tried to protect
this infant regime against various harms of west and east.
For implementing values and
materializing all Islamic values
in all personal and social sidelines of people, it can be said
that “Today, Islamic republic
is our regime. The old regime
has gone and buried forever.
Today we have many duties
and responsibilities. Our biggest mission is protecting the
Islam’s reputation. If it is supposed that the Islamic Republic maintains and we are not
16
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
Our biggest mission is protecting the Islam’s
reputation. If
it is supposed
that the Islamic Republic
maintains and we
are not Islamic. It
would be a Taghut
government, in the
name of Islam; it is
Taghut which have
changed its name.
Islamic. It would be a Taghut
government, in the name of
Islam; it is Taghut which have
changed its name.”
The most important challenge and effort of Imam Khomeini outside of Iran was directed into two directions:
a) Introducing Islam to
the world. Imam Khomeini
tried to introduce the Islamic revolution both in west and
east based on his special approach. Therefore, the Islamic
revolution of Iran found a global reputation.
b) Supporting
Islamic
movements across the world.
The Late Imam Khomeini and
Ayatollah Khamenei support
Islamic and freedom-seeking
movements, as it has been included in the new constitution
of Iran; “the Islamic Republic
of Iran wishes happiness and
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
bliss of Human being across
the whole human scoeity and
recognizes
independence,
freedom and just government
for all people; thus, while Iran
avoids to meddle in internal
affairs of other nations, it supports righteous fight of the oppressed against oppressors
anywhere in the world”
Q. The impact of Islamic
revolution on other resistant
movements
A) After victory of Islamic revolution in Iran, new inclinations
to revive Islamic regime was
developed in other countries.
It is necessary to mention that
before Islamic republic victory,
some groups such as Muslim
Brotherhood in Egypt were
active, but none of them followed a certain target, rather
they tried to implement Islamic
rules by themselves; however, although some countries
called themselves Islamic
States, but in fact they did not
Islamic. The victory of Islamic
Revolution of Iran helped Palestine resistance and harmed
the global status of Israel and
weakened the strong position
of superpowers in the world.
Q. Role and Position of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei in managing
crises
The regime we were asking
for was not definable according to the east communist
systems, nor could be categorized as a member of western
liberal democracy societies.
Moreover, both western and
eastern systems have started
to compete and they did not
decide to compromise, at all.
Regarding what was said
and ever-trembling condition
of the world, leadership of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah
Khamenei faced many problems and there were various
crises in the country which
rooted in the internal differences including armed battled
of terrorist groups and the imposed war of Saddam Regime.
Q. Fields of growth and
development of the united
Ummah
A) After victory of Islamic
Revolution in Iran, more attention was paid to the Islamic
unity. However, the enemies
figured out this very soon and
decided to counteract this unity. Imam was emphasizing the
extraordinary facilities of Muslims. However, despite their
importance, Muslims’ facilities
was not considered and moreover, new facilities have been
developed for Muslims which
were left useless. There were
several sorts of facilities including:
1. Facilities which were
available but were not used.
Muslims had a good position
in the world, in terms of power
criteria including:
a) Population: about one fifth
of the world population were
Muslims out which 65% lived
in Asia and 25% lived in Arab
states and 10% in Africa. With
populous countries such as Indonesia (180 million people),
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt,
Iran, and Turkey.
b) 22 percent of oil reservoirs
and 25% of natural gas reservoirs, 40 percent of export
shares in the oil market and
70% of the world’s phosphate
market belonged to Muslims.
c) 50 percent of the world’s
strategic points. Out of 14 strategic points of the world seven
points are located in Muslim
states: Strait of Hormuz, Bosporus strait, Bab-el-Mandeb,
Suez Canal, Dardanelles
strait, Strait of Malacca and
Gibraltar.
2) Facilities that become
available later such as:
1. Increasing the literate population of Muslims and their
readiness to reach a better
and more clear understanding
of Islam;
2. Muslims’ experience on
political and social life developments in other countries
that can be used as a source
of bravery for Muslims to develop their Islamic system;
3. Expansion of mass media
which helped Muslims to be in
touch and to move towards a
unite goal.
Therefore, as you see both
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah
Khamenei tried their best to
make Muslims aware of their
capabilities and to direct them
to a proper status in the world
through integrating them.
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Plans for Redrawing the
Middle East: The Project for
a “New Middle East”
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
This article first published by
GR in November 2006 is of particular relevance to an understanding of the ongoing process
of destabilization and political
fragmentation of Iraq, Syria and
Yemen.
“Hegemony is as old as Mankind…” -Zbigniew Brzezinski,
former U.S. National Security
Advisor
The term “New Middle East”
was introduced to the world in
June 2006 in Tel Aviv by U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice (who was credited by the
Western media for coining the
term) in replacement of the older and more imposing term, the
“Greater Middle East.”
18
This shift in foreign policy
phraseology coincided with the
inauguration of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Oil Terminal
in the Eastern Mediterranean. The term and conceptualization of the “New Middle East,”
was subsequently heralded by
the U.S. Secretary of State and
the Israeli Prime Minister at the
height of the Anglo-American
sponsored Israeli siege of Lebanon. Prime Minister Olmert and
Secretary Rice had informed
the international media that a
project for a “New Middle East”
was being launched from Lebanon.
This announcement was a
confirmation of an Anglo-Amer-
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
ican-Israeli “military roadmap”
in the Middle East. This project,
which has been in the planning stages for several years,
consists in creating an arc of
instability, chaos, and violence
extending from Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria to Iraq, the Persian Gulf, Iran, and the borders
of NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan.
The “New Middle East” project was introduced publicly by
Washington and Tel Aviv with
the expectation that Lebanon
would be the pressure point
for realigning the whole Middle
East and thereby unleashing
the forces of “constructive chaos.” This “constructive chaos”
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
–which generates conditions of
violence and warfare throughout the region– would in turn be
used so that the United States,
Britain, and Israel could redraw
the map of the Middle East in
accordance with their geo-strategic needs and objectives.
New Middle East Map
Secretary Condoleezza Rice
stated during a press conference that “[w]hat we’re seeing
here [in regards to the destruction of Lebanon and the Israeli attacks on Lebanon], in a
sense, is the growing—the ‘birth
pangs’—of a ‘New Middle East’
and whatever we do we [meaning the United States] have to
be certain that we’re pushing
forward to the New Middle East
[and] not going back to the old
one.”1 Secretary Rice was immediately criticized for her statements both within Lebanon and
internationally for expressing indifference to the suffering of an
entire nation, which was being
bombed indiscriminately by the
Israeli Air Force.
The Anglo-American Military Roadmap in the Middle
East and Central Asia U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s speech on
the “New Middle East” had set
the stage. The Israeli attacks
on Lebanon –which had been
fully endorsed by Washington and London– have further
compromised and validated
the existence of the geo-strategic objectives of the United
States, Britain, and Israel. According to Professor Mark Levine the “neo-liberal globalizers
and neo-conservatives, and
ultimately the Bush Administration, would latch on to creative
destruction as a way of describing the process by which they
hoped to create their new world
orders,” and that “creative destruction [in] the United States
was, in the words of neo-conservative philosopher and Bush
adviser Michael Ledeen, ‘an
awesome revolutionary force’
for (…) creative destruction…”2
Anglo-American
occupied
Iraq, particularly Iraqi Kurdistan,
seems to be the preparatory
ground for the balkanization (division) and finlandization (pacification) of the Middle East. Already the legislative framework,
under the Iraqi Parliament and
the name of Iraqi federalization,
for the partition of Iraq into three
portions is being drawn out.
It should be
noted that in
his book, The
Grand Chessboard: American
Primacy and
Its Geo-strategic Imperatives,
Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former U.S.
National Security
Advisor, alluded to
the modern Middle
East as a control
lever of an area he,
Brzezinski, calls the
Eurasian Balkans.
(See map below)
Moreover, the Anglo-American military roadmap appears
to be vying an entry into Central
Asia via the Middle East. The
Middle East, Afghanistan, and
Pakistan are stepping stones
for extending U.S. influence into
the former Soviet Union and the
ex-Soviet Republics of Central Asia. The Middle East is to
some extent the southern tier
of Central Asia. Central Asia in
turn is also termed as “Russia’s
Southern Tier” or the Russian
“Near Abroad.”
Many Russian and Central
Asian scholars, military planners, strategists, security advisors, economists, and politicians
consider Central Asia (“Russia’s
Southern Tier”) to be the vulnerable and “soft under-belly” of the
Russian Federation.3
It should be noted that in
his book, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and
Its Geo-strategic Imperatives,
Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former
U.S. National Security Advisor,
alluded to the modern Middle
East as a control lever of an
area he, Brzezinski, calls the
Eurasian Balkans. The Eurasian
Balkans consists of the Caucasus (Georgia, the Republic of
Azerbaijan, and Armenia) and
Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and
Tajikistan) and to some extent
both Iran and Turkey. Iran and
Turkey both form the northernmost tiers of the Middle East
(excluding the Caucasus4) that
edge into Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
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The Map of the “New Middle East”
A relatively unknown map of
the Middle East, NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan, and Pakistan has been circulating
around strategic, governmental,
NATO, policy and military circles since mid-2006. It has been
causally allowed to surface in
public, maybe in an attempt to
build consensus and to slowly
prepare the general public for
possible, maybe even cataclysmic, changes in the Middle
East. This is a map of a redrawn
and restructured Middle East
identified as the “New Middle
East.”
Note: The following map was
prepared by Lieutenant-Colonel
Ralph Peters. It was published
in the Armed Forces Journal in
June 2006, Peters is a retired
colonel of the U.S. National War
Academy. (Map Copyright Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Peters
2006).
Although the map does not
officially reflect Pentagon doctrine, it has been used in a
training program at NATO’s Defense College for senior military
officers. This map, as well as
other similar maps, has most
probably been used at the National War Academy as well as
in military planning circles.
This map of the “New Middle
East” seems to be based on
several other maps, including
older maps of potential boundaries in the Middle East extending
back to the era of U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson and World
War I. This map is showcased
and presented as the brainchild
20
of retired Lieutenant-Colonel
(U.S. Army) Ralph Peters, who
believes the redesigned borders
contained in the map will fundamentally solve the problems of
the contemporary Middle East.
The map of the “New Middle
East” was a key element in the
retired
Lieutenant-Colonel’s
book, Never Quit the Fight,
which was released to the public on July 10, 2006. This map
of a redrawn Middle East was
also published, under the title
of Blood Borders: How a better Middle East would look, in
the U.S. military’s Armed Forces
Journal with commentary from
Ralph Peters.5
It should be noted that Lieutenant-Colonel Peters was
last posted to the Office of the
Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelli-
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
It should be
noted that Lieutenant-Colonel
Peters was last
posted to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff
for Intelligence,
within the U.S. Defence Department,
and has been one
of the Pentagon’s
foremost authors
with numerous
essays on strategy
for military journals
and U.S. foreign
policy.
gence, within the U.S. Defence
Department, and has been one
of the Pentagon’s foremost authors with numerous essays on
strategy for military journals and
U.S. foreign policy.
It has been written that Ralph
Peters’ “four previous books
on strategy have been highly
influential in government and
military circles,” but one can be
pardoned for asking if in fact
quite the opposite could be taking place. Could it be Lieutenant-Colonel Peters is revealing and putting forward what
Washington D.C. and its strategic planners have anticipated for the Middle East?
The concept of a redrawn Middle East has been presented as
a “humanitarian” and “righteous”
arrangement that would benefit
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
just borders in the Middle East
— to borrow from Churchill —
generate more trouble than can
be consumed locally.
While the Middle East has far
more problems than dysfunctional borders alone — from
cultural stagnation through
scandalous inequality to deadly religious extremism — the
greatest taboo in striving to understand the region’s comprehensive failure isn’t Islam, but
the awful-but-sacrosanct international boundaries worshipped
by our own diplomats.
Of course, no adjustment of
borders, however draconian,
could make every minority in
the Middle East happy. In some
instances, ethnic and religious
groups live intermingled and
have intermarried. Elsewhere,
the people(s) of the Middle East
and its peripheral regions. According to Ralph Peter’s:
International borders are
never completely just. But the
degree of injustice they inflict
upon those whom frontiers
force together or separate
makes an enormous difference — often the difference
between freedom and oppression, tolerance and atrocity,
the rule of law and terrorism,
or even peace and war.
The most arbitrary and distorted borders in the world are
in Africa and the Middle East.
Drawn by self-interested Europeans (who have had sufficient
trouble defining their own frontiers), Africa’s borders continue
to provoke the deaths of millions
of local inhabitants. But the un-
Accepting that
international
statecraft has
never developed
effective tools
-short of war
-for readjusting
faulty borders, a
mental effort to
grasp the Middle
East’s “organic”
frontiers nonetheless helps us understand the extent
of the difficulties
we face and will
continue to face.
reunions based on blood or belief might not prove quite as joyous as their current proponents
expect. The boundaries projected in the maps accompanying
this article redress the wrongs
suffered by the most significant
“cheated” population groups,
such as the Kurds, Baluch and
Arab Shia [Muslims], but still
fail to account adequately for
Middle Eastern Christians, Bahais, Ismailis, Naqshbandis and
many another numerically lesser minorities. And one haunting
wrong can never be redressed
with a reward of territory: the
genocide perpetrated against
the Armenians by the dying Ottoman Empire.
Yet, for all the injustices the
borders re-imagined here leave
unaddressed, without such major boundary revisions, we shall
never see a more peaceful Middle East.
Even those who abhor the topic of altering borders would be
well-served to engage in an exercise that attempts to conceive
a fairer, if still imperfect, amendment of national boundaries between the Bosphorus and the
Indus. Accepting that international statecraft has never
developed effective tools —
short of war — for readjusting
faulty borders, a mental effort
to grasp the Middle East’s
“organic” frontiers nonetheless helps us understand
the extent of the difficulties
we face and will continue
to face. We are dealing with
colossal, man-made deformities that will not stop generating hatred and violence
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
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until they are corrected. 6
“Necessary Pain”
Besides believing that there is
“cultural stagnation” in the Middle East, it must be noted that
Ralph Peters admits that his
propositions are “draconian” in
nature, but he insists that they
are necessary pains for the people of the Middle East. This view
of necessary pain and suffering
is in startling parallel to U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s belief that the devastation of Lebanon by the Israeli
military was a necessary pain
or “birth pang” in order to create the “New Middle East” that
Washington, London, and Tel
Aviv envision.
Moreover, it is worth noting
that the subject of the Armenian Genocide is being politicized
and stimulated in Europe to offend Turkey.7
The overhaul, dismantlement, and reassembly of the
nation-states of the Middle East
have been packaged as a solution to the hostilities in the Middle East, but this is categorically
22
misleading, false, and fictitious.
The advocates of a “New Middle East” and redrawn boundaries in the region avoid and
fail to candidly depict the roots
of the problems and conflicts
in the contemporary Middle
East. What the media does not
acknowledge is the fact that almost all major conflicts afflicting
the Middle East are the consequence of overlapping Anglo-American-Israeli agendas.
Many of the problems affecting the contemporary Middle
East are the result of the deliberate aggravation of pre-existing regional tensions. Sectarian
division, ethnic tension and internal violence have been traditionally exploited by the United
States and Britain in various
parts of the globe including Africa, Latin America, the Balkans,
and the Middle East. Iraq is just
one of many examples of the
Anglo-American strategy of “divide and conquer.” Other examples are Rwanda, Yugoslavia,
the Caucasus, and Afghanistan.
Amongst the problems in the
contemporary Middle East is
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
the lack of genuine democracy
which U.S. and British foreign
policy has actually been deliberately obstructing. Western-style
“Democracy” has been a requirement only for those Middle Eastern states which do
not conform to Washington’s
political demands. Invariably,
it constitutes a pretext for confrontation. Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
and Jordan are examples of undemocratic states that the United States has no problems with
because they are firmly alligned
within the Anglo-American orbit
or sphere.
Additionally, the United States
has deliberately blocked or
displaced genuine democratic
movements in the Middle East
from Iran in 1953 (where a
U.S./U.K. sponsored coup was
staged against the democratic
government of Prime Minister
Mossadegh) to Saudi Arabia,
Egypt, Turkey, the Arab Sheikdoms, and Jordan where the
Anglo-American alliance supports military control, absolutists, and dictators in one form or
another. The latest example of
this is Palestine.
The Turkish Protest at NATO’s Military College in Rome
Lieutenant-Colonel
Ralph
Peters’ map of the “New Middle East” has sparked angry
reactions in Turkey. According
to Turkish press releases on
September 15, 2006 the map
of the “New Middle East” was
displayed in NATO’s Military
College in Rome, Italy. It was
additionally reported that Turkish officers were immediately
outraged by the presentation of
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Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
a portioned and segmented Turkey.8 The map received some
form of approval from the U.S.
National War Academy before
it was unveiled in front of NATO
officers in Rome.
The Turkish Chief of Staff,
General Buyukanit, contacted
the U.S. Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, General Peter
Pace, and protested the event
and the exhibition of the redrawn map of the Middle East,
Afghanistan, and Pakistan.9
Furthermore the Pentagon has
gone out of its way to assure
Turkey that the map does not
reflect official U.S. policy and
objectives in the region, but this
seems to be conflicting with Anglo-American actions in the Middle East and NATO-garrisoned
Afghanistan.
Is there a Connection between Zbigniew Brzezinski’s
“Eurasian Balkans” and the
“New Middle East” Project?
The following are important
excerpts and passages from
former U.S. National Security
Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski’s
book, The Grand Chessboard:
American Primacy and Its
Geo-strategic
Imperatives.
Brzezinski also states that both
Turkey and Iran, the two most
powerful states of the “Eurasian
Balkans,” located on its southern
tier, are “potentially vulnerable to internal ethnic conflicts
[balkanization],” and that, “If
either or both of them were to
be destabilized, the internal
problems of the region would
become unmanageable.”10
It seems that a divided and
balkanized Iraq would be the
best means of accomplishing
this. Taking what we know from
the White House’s own admissions; there is a belief that “creative destruction and chaos” in
the Middle East are beneficial
assets to reshaping the Middle
East, creating the “New Middle
East,” and furthering the Anglo-American roadmap in the
In contrast, the
Eurasian Balkans are truly
reminiscent of
the older, more
familiar Balkans
of southeastern
Europe: not only
are its political
entities unstable
but they tempt and
invite the intrusion
of more powerful
neighbors, each
of whom is determined to oppose
the region’s domination by another.
Middle East and Central Asia:
In Europe, the Word “Balkans”
conjures up images of ethnic
conflicts and great-power regional rivalries. Eurasia, too,
has its “Balkans,” but the Eurasian Balkans are much larger,
more populated, even more religiously and ethnically heterogenous. They are located within
that large geographic oblong
that demarcates the central
zone of global instability (…)
that embraces portions of
southeastern Europe, Central
Asia and parts of South Asia
[Pakistan, Kashmir, Western
India], the Persian Gulf area,
and the Middle East.
The Eurasian Balkans form
the inner core of that large
oblong (…) they differ from
its outer zone in one particularly significant way: they are
a power vacuum. Although
most of the states located
in the Persian Gulf and the
Middle East are also unstable, American power is that
region’s [meaning the Middle
East’s] ultimate arbiter. The
unstable region in the outer zone
is thus an area of single power
hegemony and is tempered by
that hegemony. In contrast,
the Eurasian Balkans are truly
reminiscent of the older, more
familiar Balkans of southeastern Europe: not only are
its political entities unstable
but they tempt and invite the
intrusion of more powerful
neighbors, each of whom is
determined to oppose the region’s domination by another.
It is this familiar combination of a
power vacuum and power suction that justifies the appellation
“Eurasian Balkans.”
The traditional Balkans represented a potential geopolitical prize in the struggle for
European supremacy. The
Eurasian Balkans, astride the
inevitably emerging transportation network meant to
link more directly Eurasia’s
richest and most industrious
western and eastern extrem-
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
23
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Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
ities, are also geopolitically
significant. Moreover, they are
of importance from the standpoint of security and historical
ambitions to at least three of
their most immediate and more
powerful neighbors, namely,
Russia, Turkey, and Iran, with
China also signaling an increasing political interest in the region.
But the Eurasian Balkans are
infinitely more important as a
potential economic prize: an
enormous concentration of
natural gas and oil reserves
is located in the region, in addition to important minerals,
including gold.
The world’s energy consumption is bound to vastly
increase over the next two or
three decades. Estimates by
the U.S. Department of Energy anticipate that world demand will rise by more than
50 percent between 1993 and
2015, with the most significant increase in consumption occurring in the Far East.
The momentum of Asia’s
economic development is
already generating massive
pressures for the exploration and exploitation of new
sources of energy, and the
Central Asian region and the
Caspian Sea basin are known
to contain reserves of natural
gas and oil that dwarf those
of Kuwait, the Gulf of Mexico,
or the North Sea.
Access to that resource and
sharing in its potential wealth
represent objectives that stir
national ambitions, motivate
corporate interests, rekindle
historical claims, revive impe-
24
The Middle East,
in some regards,
is a striking
parallel to the
Balkans and
Central-Eastern
Europe during
the years leading
up the First World
War. In the wake of
the the First World
War the borders of
the Balkans and
Central-Eastern Europe were redrawn.
rial aspirations, and fuel international rivalries. The situation
is made all the more volatile by
the fact that the region is not
only a power vacuum but is also
internally unstable.
The Eurasian Balkans include
nine countries that one way or
another fit the foregoing description, with two others as
potential candidates. The nine
are Kazakstan [alternative and
official spelling of Kazakhstan]
, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan,
Armenia, and Georgia—all of
them formerly part of the defunct Soviet Union—as well as
Afghanistan.
The potential additions to the
list are Turkey and Iran, both
of them much more politically and economically viable,
both active contestants for
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
regional influence within the
Eurasian Balkans, and thus
both significant geo-strategic
players in the region. At the
same time, both are potentially vulnerable to internal ethnic conflicts. If either or both
of them were to be destabilized, the internal problems
of the region would become
unmanageable, while efforts
to restrain regional domination by Russia could even become futile. 11
Redrawing the Middle East
The Middle East, in some regards, is a striking parallel to the
Balkans and Central-Eastern
Europe during the years leading up the First World War. In
the wake of the the First World
War the borders of the Balkans
and Central-Eastern Europe
were redrawn. This region experienced a period of upheaval, violence and conflict, before
and after World War I, which
was the direct result of foreign
economic interests and interference.
The reasons behind the First
World War are more sinister
than the standard school-book
explanation, the assassination
of the heir to the throne of the
Austro-Hungarian (Habsburg)
Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo. Economic
factors were the real motivation
for the large-scale war in 1914.
Norman Dodd, a former Wall
Street banker and investigator
for the U.S. Congress, who examined U.S. tax-exempt foundations, confirmed in a 1982
interview that those powerful
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
individuals who from behind the
scenes controlled the finances,
policies, and government of the
United States had in fact also
planned U.S. involvement in a
war, which would contribute to
entrenching their grip on power.
The following testimonial is
from the transcript of Norman
Dodd’s interview with G. Edward Griffin;
We are now at the year 1908,
which was the year that the
Carnegie Foundation began operations. And, in that year, the
trustees meeting, for the first
time, raised a specific question,
which they discussed throughout the balance of the year, in
a very learned fashion. And
the question is this: Is there
any means known more effective than war, assuming
you wish to alter the life of an
entire people? And they conclude that, no more effective
means to that end is known to
humanity, than war. So then,
in 1909, they raise the second question, and discuss it,
namely, how do we involve
the United States in a war?
Well, I doubt, at that time, if
there was any subject more
removed from the thinking of
most of the people of this country [the United States], than its
involvement in a war. There
were intermittent shows [wars]
in the Balkans, but I doubt very
much if many people even
knew where the Balkans were. And finally, they answer that
question as follows: we must
control the State Department.
And then, that very naturally
raises the question of how do
we do that? They answer it by
saying, we must take over and
control the diplomatic machinery of this country and,
finally, they resolve to aim at
that as an objective. Then,
time passes, and we are eventually in a war, which would
be World War I. At that time,
they record on their minutes a
shocking report in which they
dispatch to President Wilson
a telegram cautioning him
to see that the war does not
end too quickly. And finally, of course, the war is over.
At that time, their interest shifts
over to preventing what they call
a reversion of life in the United
States to what it was prior to
1914, when World War I broke
out.
The redrawing and partition
of the Middle East from the
Eastern Mediterranean shores
of Lebanon and Syria to Anatolia (Asia Minor), Arabia, the
Persian Gulf, and the Iranian
Plateau responds to broad economic, strategic and military
objectives, which are part of a
longstanding Anglo-American
and Israeli agenda in the region.
The Middle East has been
conditioned by outside forces
into a powder keg that is ready
to explode with the right trigger, possibly the launching of
Anglo-American and/or Israeli
air raids against Iran and Syria.
A wider war in the Middle East
could result in redrawn borders
that are strategically advantageous to Anglo-American interests and Israel.
NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan
has been successfully divided,
all but in name. Animosity has
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
25
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
been inseminated in the Levant, where a Palestinian civil
war is being nurtured and divisions in Lebanon agitated. The
Eastern Mediterranean has
been successfully militarized by
NATO. Syria and Iran continue
to be demonized by the Western media, with a view to justifying a military agenda. In turn,
the Western media has fed, on a
daily basis, incorrect and biased
notions that the populations of
Iraq cannot co-exist and that the
conflict is not a war of occupation but a “civil war” characterised by domestic strife between
Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.
Attempts at intentionally creating animosity between the different ethno-cultural and religious
groups of the Middle East have
been systematic. In fact, they
are part of a carefully designed
covert intelligence agenda.
Even more ominous, many
Middle Eastern governments,
such as that of Saudi Arabia, are
assisting Washington in fomenting divisions between Middle
Eastern populations. The ultimate objective is to weaken the
resistance movement against
foreign occupation through a
“divide and conquer strategy”
which serves Anglo-American and Israeli interests in the
broader region.
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
specializes in Middle Eastern
and Central Asian affairs. He
is a Research Associate of the
Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
Notes
1 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Special Briefing on the Travel
to the Middle East and Europe of Secretary Condoleezza Rice (Press
Conference, U.S. State Department, Washington, D.C., July 21, 2006).
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/69331.htm
2 Mark LeVine, “The New Creative Destruction,” Asia Times, August 22,
2006.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HH22Ak01.html
3 Andrej Kreutz, “The Geopolitics of post-Soviet Russia and the Middle
East,” Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) (Washington, D.C.: Association of
Arab-American University Graduates, January 2002).
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2501/is_1_24/ai_93458168/pg_1
4 The Caucasus or Caucasia can be considered as part of the Middle
East or as a separate region
5 Ralph Peters, “Blood borders: How a better Middle East would look,”
Armed Forces Journal (AFJ), June 2006.
http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2006/06/1833899
6 Ibid.
7 Crispian Balmer, “French MPs back Armenia genocide bill, Turkey angry, Reuters, October 12, 2006; James McConalogue, “French against
Turks: Talking about Armenian Genocide,” The Brussels Journal, October
10, 2006.
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1585
8 Suleyman Kurt, “Carved-up Map of Turkey at NATO Prompts U.S. Apology,” Zaman (Turkey), September 29, 2006.
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&hn=36919
9 Ibid.
10 Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and
Its Geo-strategic Imperatives (New York City: Basic Books, 1997).
11 Ibid.
Related Global Research articles on the March to War in the Middle
East
US naval war games off the Iranian coastline: A provocation which could
lead to War? 2006-10-24
“Cold War Shivers:” War Preparations in the Middle East and Central Asia
2006-10-06
The March to War: Naval build-up in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern
Mediterranean 2006-10-01
The March to War: Iran Preparing for US Air Attacks 2006-09-21
The Next Phase of the Middle East War 2006-09-04
Baluchistan and the Coming Iran War 2006-09-01
British Troops Mobilizing on the Iranian Border 2006-08-30
Russia and Central Asian Allies Conduct War Games in Response to US
Threats 2006-08-24
Beating the Drums of War: US Troop Build-up: Army & Marines authorize
“Involuntary Conscription” 2006-08-23
Iranian War Games: Exercises, Tests, and Drills or Preparation and Mobilization for War? 2006-08-21
Triple Alliance:” The US, Turkey, Israel and the War on Lebanon 200608-06 The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil 2006-07-26 Is the Bush Administration Planning a Nuclear Holocaust? 2006-02-22 The Dangers of a Middle East Nuclear War 2006-02-17 Nuclear War against Iran 2006-01-03 Israeli Bombings could lead to Escalation of Middle East War 2006-07-15 Iran: Next Target of US Military Aggression 2005-05-01 Planned
US-Israeli
Attack
on
Iran
2005-05-01
Copyright © 2015 Global Research
26
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
Islamic Revolution, A Social
Development With Political
And Cultural Dimensions
Hoj. Zu-ilm, The teacher of Qom Seminary shared
his ideas about Islamic revolution of Iran and its
principles with us.
1. Please explain about
theoretical nature and framework of the Islamic Revolution.
Islamic revolution of Iran was a
social development with political
and cultural intellectual dimensions which was formed based
on monotheistic worldview and
truly Islamic beliefs. It was beyond the sole political nature or
sole economic nature and tried
to change the paradigm governing the social system in Muslim
societies. The nature of this revolution, more than anything else,
was monotheistic and based on
a cultural and training approaching. This revolution aimed at
developing and improving the
Iranian society and to maximize
political and economic power of
the Islamic civilization.
2. How can you interpret
Imam Khomeini’s intellectual
structure?
Imam Khomeini’s intellectual
architecture is nothing but the
truly Islamic intellectual architecture which has been developed based on both intellectual
and traditional resources and I
respect to all needs, challenges,
priorities and capacities of the
contemporary human being.
The elements of this intellectual architecture can be described
through three wings:
The first wing includes epistemological and anthropological
principles which are based on
monotheistic worldview which
provide a special perception on
human being, freedom, justice,
politics, culture, etc. the second wing of Imam Khomeini’s
intellectual architecture deals
with processes and structures
governing the social systems,
economic, political, legal, ethical, training, defensive systems.
Family is the best system which
is described in the west very different from what it is. And finally,
the third wing of Imam Khomeini’s intellectual architecture is
the lifestyle and the interaction
between human beings and the
government in order to revive
the great human values and to
open the new and helpful way
to human beings despite many
crises in life and society of the
west.
3.What is Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei’s
perspective about liberal democracy and its future?
Although liberal democracy
in contrast to other dictator regimes have considerable advantages for Imam Khomeini
and Ayatollah Khamenei, but
since it is based on rationalization, income-orientation and
promoting freedoms without
ethics and spirituality and also
since it has removed the religion
from the society and politics, it
fails to solve the current problems. In fact, the current democracy in the liberal regimes determines the society’s destination
through in terms of capitalistic
calculations and deletes people
from decision making processes
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
27
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
and considers the most important roles for parties and owners
of power and wealth. Therefore,
such regimes will face serious
challenges which undermine
any positive perspective for such
societies if these approaches
are not changed properly.
4. Analyze the effect of Islamic revolution on the resistant movements.
Undoubtedly, resistive movements not only in the Muslim
world, but also in sub-Saharan
Africa and Latin America have
influenced by the Islamic Revolution. The Islamic Revolution
revived the spirit of hope and
self-esteem among public general, especially the youth and
elites and challenged the belief
of invincibility of superpowers
and on the other hand, the victory of Islamic revolution, without
relying on superpowers demonstrated that nations can achieve
their purposes via maintaining
their unity and cohesion and relying spirituality and resistance
and it was the greatest experi-
28
ence of the Islamic Revolution
of Iran led by the Late Imam
Khomeini.
5. Role and status of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah
Khamenei in Managing crises.
Relying on two key factors,
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah
Khamenei succeeded to manage challenges and difficulties.
The first factor is enjoying the
company of people and their
awareness and knowledge. And
the second factor is reliance on
religious values and truly incentives of faithful people who consider the religious sovereignty
as their supporter and servant.
6. Intellectual mindset of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah
Khamenei on evolution of the
Islamic revolution.
The intellectual principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei are rooted in the
most fundamental truly thoughts
of Islam. A brief review of these
intellectual principles makes the
followings points clear:
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
1) Monotheistic thought and
deep belief in the Almighty God
and spiritual and ethical values;
2) Belief in nations’ power and
trust in people for playing their
political and social mission and
role and realizing the religious
democracy and playing the
real role if people in promoting
ahead; 3) Rationality and wisdom and the necessity of using
positive achievements of human
being in order to improve the
society; 4) Justice and the necessity of setting all political and
social policies and approaches
to establish the justice in the
society and emphasizing the
people’s right, especially social
and economic rights of deprived
classes of the society; 5) the
originality of ethics and its sovereignty on power and politics
and fighting against the opportunistic behaviors and political
Machiavellism; 6) believing in
the human dignity and legible
freedoms and human’s rights in
various areas; 7) The originality
of culture and spirituality against
the economy and politics and
belief in corrigibility of the governing trends over economics
and politics through changing
the culture and improving the
spirituality; 8) Fighting against
imperialism and the necessity
of fighting against the hegemonic regime in the world relying
on the Mahdaviat thought and
belief in the final victory of right
over the wrong.
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
Three Decades
of Islamic Honor
Ayatollah Khamenei led the Liberal
Democracy bases into passivity
The chief of the Islamic
Center in Berlin said: “By propounding the Islamic civilization, Ayatollah Khamenei led
the bases of Liberal Democracy of the west into passivity
and now there isn’t any stronger logic to confront with it in
Europe.
Rasa News Agency Re-
ports – In an interview with
the international correspondent of Rasa, Salah al-Din
Turk Ilmaz, the chief of Berlin’s Islamic Center said:
“Imam Khamenei was specially emphasizing on the
awakening of the oppressed
[nations] before and after
the revolution in Iran and fi-
nally this ideology became
the most important slogan of
[Iranian] revolution and being
heard by the world nations.
While some were avoiding
this message from being
spread in the world, and were
preventing the nations awakening from happening.
“What Imam [Khomeini]
meant by exporting the revolution to other countries was
in fact exporting the awakening and this is a reality
that the world nations must
be awake and defend their
rights against the oppressors. That’s why the arrogant
powers built the wall of ignorance and tyranny around
the Islamic countries. They
do so to avoid the message
of Imam [Khomeini] to reach
them.” He added.
Ilmaz declared: “Ayatollah
Khamenei interoperated the
message of Imam Khomeini
to the people after his demise
and similar to Imam Ali that
was the extender of prophet’s path, [Imam Khamenei]
could well extend the path of
Imam Khomeini.”
“The Supreme Leadership
is an implement for the people to be awake and must
be introduced to the people
around the world. Ayatollah
Khamenei quite well applied
this divine tool that the iron
walls of the arrogant powers
perished.” He said.
He pointed out: “if you perpend the speeches of the supreme leader, you would
notice several different strategies in confronting US and
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
29
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
Israel. The first of all is to
stress on a political system
depended on the supreme
leadership as a system which
pursues justice and is a preface of the government of
Imam Mahdi.”
Declaring the second strategy regarding Iran’s foreign
policy, he said: “The second
strategy of his, that has been
announced lately and has
had a widespread reaction
from European countries, is
the announcement of Islamic
civilization that is in confrontation to the civilization based
on western Liberal Democracy. This ideology has seriously challenged the west and
while this ideology is crossing western borders, there is
no strong logic to confront it.”
“The third strategy is to use
an active strategy and not
being passive in dealing with
the west. Ayatollah Khamenei always stresses that they
shouldn’t always be the aggressor and questioner and
we defend. Rather we should
show them that we have a lot
to say and the world [should]
listen to us.” Added the chief
of the Islamic Center in Berlin.
At the end of his interview,
Ilmaz emphasized: “another
strategy of Iran’s leader in
dealing with US and Israel is
to announce [the slogan of]
“Economic and Political epic”
because the outer image of a
political epic can be the explanation of an Islamic political system to the world.”
30
Islamic Revolution,
Greatest and Rarest Event of
the Contemporary History
DR. Manouchehr Muhammadi is the professor of scientific sciences and philosophy in Iranian universities. He
also is a theorist of the Islamic revolution. For this volume we made an interview with him which you can find
it as follows.
Please say your opinion about nature and theoretical
framework of the Islamic Revolution.
According to the explicit confess of friends and foes, without
doubt the Islamic R e v o l u tion of Iran and all historians
and sociopolitical scholars is
amongst the greatest and at
the same time rarest events
of the contemporary and even
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
the whole history of mankind. If
we compare this revolution, in
terms of its modern definition,
with other great revolutions in
the world, we will find that there
are fundamental differences
between them both in terms of
content and form. The Islam-
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
ic revolution depicted its future
goals and plan through devising
two valuable mottos and based
implementation of its domestic
and foreign policies on them. In
other words, realization of “independence, freedom, and Islamic Republic” ideal in Iran and
materialization of “neither Eastern Bloc, nor Western Bloc” slogan was followed in the foreign
policy area.
Can you explain about the
intellectual formation of Imam
Khomeini?
After victory of the Islamic
revolution in Iran and establishment of the Islamic Republic
regime based on the religious
democracy, a dynamic and powerful current, Velai society, was
formed which overshadowed
all dimensions of the system, it
was a framework that guaranteed survival and continuation
of the Islamic revolution and at
the same time acted as an hindrance against our revolution’s
foes and opponents. In fact, it
was the second achievement
of the Islamic revolution which
developed a powerful social
system, a system that has been
formed by three wings: ummah,
leader (vali-e Faqih) and Velai
school.
What is your analysis
on the impact of the Islamic
revolution on the resistance
movements?
Supporting by the pure Islamic
thought backbone and denying
domination of east and west, the
Islamic revolution challenged
the current ideologies and jeop-
The Islamic revolution depicted
its future goals
and plan through
devising two
valuable mottos
and based
implementation of
its domestic and
foreign policies
on them. In other
words, realization
of “independence,
freedom, and Islamic Republic” ideal
in Iran and materialization of “neither
Eastern Bloc, nor
Western Bloc” slogan was followed in
the foreign policy
area.
ardize interests of the superpowers in the region through
offering a religious democracy
based political regime and fighting against oppression. For this
reason, this revolution affected
considerably power equations in
this strategic region in the world.
After victory of revolution in Iran
and reviving the islamic values,
Muslims succeeded to return to
their religious identity and reinvigorate the Islamic life across
the whole Muslim world which
was followed by the following
achievements:
1) Posing Islam as a complete
collection of lifestyle again;
2) Believe in the fact that the
western model of the separation
of religion from politics which
resulted in social, economic,
military and political problems in
the Muslim societies has been a
delusion;
3) The belief that power and
success of Muslims depends on
returning to Islam; and
4) posing religion as divine
rules to develop an ideal society
based on the social justice and
ethics;
5) posing the sacred jihad
against all oppressors and being ready to be martyred for god
sake as the sole way of fighting
and victory. Therefore, the revolution’s achievements for the
Muslim world are:
1) Islamic awakening;
2) positive developments in
Palestine issue;
3) strengthening anti- imperialistic spirit;
4) achieving self-esteem and
releasing from inferiority complex;
5) converting mosques to political activity centers;
6) development of Islamic
freedom
movements;
7) promoting religious behavior;
8) respecting Islamic sensitivity;
9) protecting sacred values;
10) following political claims;
11) encouraging international
participation; and
12) globalization of Shiism
School.
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
31
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
Aspects of Imam Khomeini’s
political thought
Professor John Northman
The following article discusses different aspects of
Imam Khomeini’s (RA) political
thought:
The political thoughts of Imam
Khomeini (RA) are a part of his
macro ideas being influenced
by different aspects of his
thought.
Given the fact that Imam
Khomeini was a multi-dimensional personality who authored
numerous works in mysticism,
jurisprudence, philosophy, theology and politics and in view
of him being the founder and
leader of the Islamic Republic,
obviously his political thoughts
encompass all concepts that
32
have some governmental and
societal applications.
The most central concepts
of his political thought are the
following: the relationship between religion and politics, justice, freedom, independence,
democracy, legalism, culture,
Muslim unity, interest of Islam
and Muslims, global invitation
to Islam, its expansion, revitalization of national - Islamic
identity, foreign policy based
on Islamic ideals and defending the oppressed and dispossessed throughout the world.
Thought is an idea or opinion produced by thinking or
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
occurring in the mind. Political
thought is a collection of ideas
and opinions that shape, in a
rational, logical and demonstrative method, the development
of a political life. In fact, it refers to thinking about politics at
any level of conceptualization
and articulation. It can be descriptive and explanatory and
a political thinker is one who
can argue about his ideas and
opinions demonstratively and
logically in a way such that his
thoughts are no longer considered to be merely his personal
idea and preferences.
The political thoughts of
Imam Khomeini (RA) are a
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
part of his macro ideas being
influenced by different aspects
of his thought. Given the fact
that Imam Khomeini is a multi-dimensional personality who
authored numerous works in
mysticism, jurisprudence, philosophy, theology and politics
and in view of him being the
founder and leader of an Islamic thought-based system,
obviously his political thoughts
encompass all concepts that
have some governmental and
societal applications. Imam
Khomeini is one of the greatest
contemporary Muslim thinkers;
he is one of the history-making
men of the Islamic world.
He was a great thinker having full knowledge of various
branches of science. This trait
of him made him a multi-dimensional personality.
Many people who engage
in politics and political issues
have written books and articles about Imam Khomeini’s
political thought. Obviously, we
cannot, for the sake of brevity,
delve into all angles of his political thought. Therefore, we will
make very brief and cursory references to some of the angles
of Imam Khomeini’s thought
and we request the reader to
refer to special books in this regard in order to find more details.
The most brilliant and outstanding features of Imam
Khomeini’s political thought can
be enumerated as follows:
1. The relationship between
religion and politics: One of
the central concepts in Imam
Khomeini’s thought is the rela-
Given the fact
that Imam Khomeini is a multidimensional personality who
authored numerous works in
mysticism, jurisprudence, philosophy,
theology and politics and in view
of him being the
founder and leader of an Islamic
thought-based system, obviously his
political thoughts
encompass all
concepts that have
some governmental
and societal applications.
tionship and interplay between
religion and politics in a way
such that we find the cornerstone of his political thought in
the very relationship. The belief
in the necessity of a government and in defending the necessity of the existence of political system in society is among
the basic and fundamental discussions in Imam Khomeini’s
political thought. He was one
of the scholars who firmly believed in the necessity of establishing a political system during
the period of occultation. He, by
presenting rational and textual
proofs, proved that, firstly, the
very existence of a government
is essential for human society.
Secondly, the society stands in
need of an acceptable government at all times including the
time of the occultation of the
infallible Imam (AS) and that efforts must be made to solidify it.
2. Justice: Justice is one of
the key concepts underscored
by late Imam Khomeini (RA).
It is considered to be the most
pivotal social political orientation of the political system from
his perspective. In his theoretical and practical stance, Imam
Khomeini considers the establishment of equity and justice
in society as one of the most
important objectives of the political system: “God, the Exalted and Glorified, says that ‘We
sent Our apostles with clear
arguments, and sent down with
them the Book and the balance
that men may conduct themselves with equity and that social justice may prevail among
them.’” Indeed, one of the characteristics of Imam Khomeini’s
political is that he maintained
that government is not but a tool
for actualization and materialization of justice and spirituality
in society because if justice is
established in the society, man
is enabled to move towards
growth and prosperity. Similarly, if the society is deprived of
justice, it will also be deprived of
prosperity and salvation.
3. Freedom: Freedom was
one of the main mottos of the
Islamic revolution and one
of the concepts which Imam
Khomeini defended fundamentally. He termed freedom not as
motto and political tool but as
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
33
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
In fact, it is clear
that these freedoms will not be
unlimited and
unconstrained.
According to
Imam Khomeini
these freedoms are
limited at
the point where
they harm the
interest of the
country.
a basic human right. He maintained that it is man’s basic right
to be free and it is immaterial
whether the freedom has anything to do with others i.e. civic
and social freedom or individual
freedom which includes freedom of belief, freedom of expression, freedom of thought,
freedom of parties and freedom of press. In fact, it is clear
that these freedoms will not be
unlimited and unconstrained.
According to Imam Khomeini
these freedoms are limited at
the point where they harm the
interest of the country. Imam
Khomeini considered religious
and country rules which are derived from Islam as the border
of freedom and was saying that
there was a border between
freedom and conspiracy in the
world and in all countries.
34
4. Independence: Independence in all areas, absence of affiliation, negation of aliens’ intervention, severance of strangers’
influence, not being under others’ supervision and sovereignty of the country are definitions
which Imam Khomeini gives for
independence.
5. Democracy: Democracy,
people’s role in determining
their destiny and their active
presence in various political and
social arenas are other pivotal
aspects of Imam Khomeini’s
political thought. When it comes
to a nation’s role in determining its destiny, Imam Khomeini
says: “We do not intend to impose something on Muslims.
Islam does not allow us to be
dictators. We are obedient to
the people’s vote. Whatever the
vote of people is, we follow it.
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
God does not authorize us, and
the Prophet does not authorize us to impose something on
Muslims.”
6. Conformity to law: Conformity to law is one of the basic
principles of Imam Khomeini’s
political thought. According to
him, acting upon the law is obligatory upon each and every
individual in society regardless
of his position and rank. In his
government, it is not the person
but the divine law that matters.
Everyone should be subservient to the law irrespective of
who he is.[9] Imam Khomeini
believed in the rule of law to
such an extent that, in his view,
even the Holy Prophet (PBUH)
was obedient to it.[10]
7. Culture: Imam Khomeini is
one of the most influential thinkers of the present era in the
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
contemporary history of Iran.
He considers culture as the
basis and pillar for political and
economic issues. He was of
the opinion that if cultural problems are addressed and man
is educated properly, all other
problems will be solved: “So,
culture is a man-making factory. The Prophets also came for
the same purpose. They came
to mend the man…” According
to Imam Khomeini, a complete
and man-making culture exists
only within Islam, and educating of society and people is
possible only through the Islamic culture. Educating of a nation
depends on whether or not that
nation’s culture is a good culture. You should endeavor to
make the [Iranian] culture an
independent Islamic culture.”
8. Unity: Unity among various strata of people is another
constituent of Imam Khomeini’s
thought in the world of politics.
He considered unity to be the
secret behind the victory of the
Islamic revolution. He believed
that unity was one of the blessings of the Islamic revolution
which led to dignity of the Iranian nation and the Islamic Ummah.
9. Maslahah (public good):
Imam Khomeini believed that
according to Islam, those in
charge of the religious government cannot act according
to their own opinions nor can
they persist on them; rather
everything happening in the
government should be on the
basis of divine laws. Of course,
a qualified Islamic ruler is allowed to act according to the
public interest of Muslims or
that of his own government.
[14] During his lifetime, Imam
Khomeini reiterated many a
time that he would take action
wherever he found the act in
the interest of Islam and Muslims.
10. Invitation to Islam: Invitation to Islam and expansion of
Islamic teachings among various nations are other key concepts within Imam Khomeini’s
political thought. His invitation
of Islam to Gorbachev, the
ex-leader of the communist
party of the former Union of
Socialist Soviet Republic can
be viewed from this angle: “You
must invite non-Muslim strata… to the advanced and justice-seeking religion of Islam.”
Unity among
various strata of
people is another constituent
of Imam Khomeini’s thought
in the world of
politics. He considered unity to be
the secret behind
the victory of the
Islamic revolution.
He believed that
unity was one of
the blessings of the
Islamic revolution
which led to dignity
of the Iranian nation
and the Islamic
Ummah.
11. Revival of Islamic identity:
The revival of Islamic identity
is another pivotal area within
the political thought of Imam
Khomeini. He considered revival of Islamic – national
identity as a secret behind independence and sovereignty
of a country. It is a barrier to
global powers’ hegemonic and
expansionist policy. He used
to emphasize by saying that:
“No form of independence is
achieved until and unless we
know and believe in ourselves.”
12. Foreign policy: Foreign
policy, a policy governing relations with foreign countries, the
way the Islamic states should
interact in the international
level, defending the rights of
the oppressed and the downtrodden all over the world are
some of the features characterizing Imam Khomeini’s political
thought. Nafy-e Sabil (no domination over Muslims)[18] is one
of the important jurisprudential
rules of Islam which denies
non-believers any rule and authority over Muslims. Based on
this jurisprudential rule, Imam
Khomeini strongly opposed any
kind of hegemony and intervention on the part of non-Muslim
countries over Muslim affairs.
Imam Khomeini’s opposition
to imperialism, to the imperial
powers’ domination over Muslims and to Muslims’ dependence on them are in line with
the same objective.
Source: islamquest.com
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
35
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
The Necessity
and Importance
of Islamic Unity
Idris Tuzun
The Current situation of the
West and the Muslims
The treatment to be prescribed
for a great yet unfortunate continent, an illustrious yet hapless
state, and a noble, high-minded people without guardian nor
companion, is Islamic unity.
The 20th century is a time
period in which all Jewish and
Christian nations united and all
Muslim nations disintegrated,
crumbled and went down.
The European communities
have waged wars among themselves which were called “Hundred Years‟ War”, “Thirty Years‟
War” and “Ten Years‟ War”. In
the same way, the two world
36
wars in which millions of people
lost their lives took place mostly
among the Europeans. These
Europeans states which fought
each other for a long time buried axes and established a “European Union” later. They lifted
borders and visas to each other.
The Western countries established the United Nations (UN)
and the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) in political
and military arena.
In addition, while referring to
America we say the „United‟
States Of America and to Britain
we say the „United‟ Kingdom.
Also, while the Jews had lived
scattered around the world for
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
centuries they came together
motivated by the idea of Zionism
in the 20th century. They became a political and economical
power though they have a twenty million population.
When it comes to Muslims: Although there are many common
points binding Muslims to each
other they have been unable to
establish Islamic unity among
themselves due to European
imperialism and oppressive regimes.
From the beginning of 16th
century to the end of 20th century most of the Muslim countries have been colonized by the
Europeans. Only the Ottomans
endured for a long time and finally it collapsed at the end of
the World War I.
At the end of the World War
II the Islamic countries mostly achieved independence yet
they were administered by the
oppressive regimes which were
the puppets of the Europeans.
These notorious administrations
are knocked down by public
protests which are called Arab
spring. These events remove
the obstacles before the Islamic
unity to a degree.
In the coming years, a new
power will emerge on the earth
by the unification of 1.5 billion
Muslims which is one fifth of
the world population and which
have a great economic potential.
The Necessity and Importance of Unity:
The Muslims have to unite
so as to be protected from the
attacks and oppression of their
enemies. Imam Bediuzzaman
says as follows regarding this
circles surrounding each other.
While we have to be coordinated and cooperative in the face
of their attacks, is it not inappropriate for morality of Muslims to
hold a competitive partisanship
and antagonistic fanaticism
among ourselves which means
to make easy their attacks and
open the doors to let them intrude the private lands of Muslims?
These enemy units are comprised of seventy kind of enemies which look upon you with
anger and greed and which take
an aggressive position towards
you, including those people of
unfaith and enemy of Islam withSpecial Issue, No. 252, July 2015
Sukarno-indonesia
Dr. Abdul Kalam - india
Muhammad Ali Jinnah - pakistan
It is known that
in history even
when the most
primitive tribes
confronted with
a foreign enemy they forgot
about the internal
disputes among
them and united
against that enemy.
The communities
and nations which
claim service to
Islam should ignore
simple and little
tensions among
themselves and
should adopt a
common strategy
against their enemies which attack
united.
Ahmet Necdet Sezer-turkey
issue:
“If three 1‟s do not unite or
come together, they will have
only the value of 3. But if they
unite or come together, they will
gain the value of 111. Four separate 4‟s make 16. But if they
come together in true brotherhood, along the same line for
the fulfilment of the same duty,
they will have the value of
the power of 4444. History records numerous events which
bear witness to the fact that 16
self-sacrificing people in true
brotherhood have obtained the
moral strength of more than
4000 people. This is because
each individual in a true, sincere
union can also see with the eyes
of the other brothers and sisters,
and hear with their ears. It is as
if each of the ten persons in true
solidarity and unity has the value
and power of seeing with twenty eyes, thinking with ten intellects, hearing with twenty ears,
and working with twenty hands.”
(21st Gleam)
It is known that in history even
when the most primitive tribes
confronted with a foreign enemy they forgot about the internal disputes among them and
united against that enemy. The
communities and nations which
claim service to Islam should
ignore simple and little tensions among themselves and
should adopt a common strategy against their enemies which
attack united.
O believers! Do you know how
many enemies are there who
are in the position of attacking to
Muslims? There are more than
one hundred units which are like
Imam Khomeini - I. R. Iran
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
37
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
in Muslims, the foreign policy of
non-Muslim countries and several kind of disasters. In the face
of all these enemies your effective weapon is Islamic fraternity.
Then, know and wake up that it
is so contrary to the conscience
and contrary to Islamic awareness to shake down this Islamic fortress with simple enmities
and excuses.
It is reported in the hadithes
that “Sufyan and dajjacal, dangerous horrible figures to head
conspiracy and heretic centres,
will destroy the human kind and
captivate the Muslims taking advantage of disputes and fights of
Muslims and humanity”.
Our current situation is not too
much different.
The Areas of Unity:
The cooperation that the Muslims will make in scientific, economic and political areas is the
most significant basic which will
save them from the disasters
that they experience. For that
reason, all Muslims, as individual, community, association or
nation, should target this unity
and they should be enemy of
everything which will give harm
to this unity.
The unity in terms of science
and knowledge:
The cooperation in terms of
science, knowledge and education should be established
among Muslim countries. Once,
the books of Muslim scholars,
for example Ibn Sina (Avicenna), were taught in the Western
universities. Now the situation
is exact opposite. The centre of
science and technology is Europe and America.
38
The Muslims can reverse the
current situation by diagnosing
and solving their problems in
science and technology by establishing international universities, research centres and think
tanks.
Economic unity:
The Islamic countries should
establish an economic unity
among themselves.
The Islamic countries were
colonies of the Western countries for hundreds of years. Their
resources were exploited by the
Westerners and they were kept
poor. The main factor behind the
riches of the West is the colonization activities that they made
for hundreds of years. Ziya Pasha, a Europe admirer statesman of the Ottomans said in his
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
poem 140 years ago as follows:
“I travelled where the unbelief
dominates and I saw beautiful
cities and mansions / I travelled
the lands of Islam and saw all ruined buildings.” Today, the situation is not different. We have to
be sensitive in the face of different versions of old colonization
system.
The Muslims have a great
deal of potential in terms of resources. Most of the world oil reserves are in lands of Muslims.
The economic cooperation, exportation and importation will
save them from dependence to
the Western countries.
Political and Military unity:
Once, the Muslims were the
greatest power in world politics.
For example, the supremacy
of Ottoman sultans in diploma-
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
cy lasted indisputably for 150
years. But today the situation is
exact opposite.
Israel oppresses the Palestinians and Americans intervenes
and occupies Afghanistan and
Iraq and Syria mass murders its
people but the Muslim countries
with their 1.5 billion populations
are unable to do anything. The
political and military cooperation
that the Muslims will achieve
among themselves may put
them into supreme position
again that they had in history.
Imam Bediuzzaman spoke as
follows in Damascus Sermon
that he gave 100 years ago:
“O my brothers in this mosque
and those in the great mosque
of the Islamic world who will
come fifty years later! Do not
think that I have climbed to this
pulpit to give lesson to you. I
have climbed here to claim our
rights from you. That is, the interests and happiness in the
world and hereafter of little nations like Kurds are dependent
on the dominant leading nations
such as you Arabs and Turks.
Because of your inertia and
weariness we, your helpless little brothers as the other Islamic
communities, get damaged.
Especially, O great Arabs
who are full awake and will be
awake! I negotiate these words
first to you. Because you were
masters and imams of all Islamic communities and you were
fighters of Islam. Then the great
Turkish nation assisted you in
this sacred duty. Because of
this reason if you palter in your
duty this is a great responsibility
and a sin. But, your loyalty and
communities with peace.
We pray that may Allah give
us unity and togetherness, as
the companions were in, as
members of religion of tawhid.
***
It is known that
while two strong
man wrestling
each other one
kid could beat
both of them. If
two mountains
are in balance in
two sides of a scale
a little pebble stone
can disrupt the
balance and it can
push one to up the
other to down.
dutiful behaviour will yield much
good results for you. We expect
from divine mercy that the Arab
communities integrate each
other and form a great union
like of United States of America and establish a great unity
among Muslims in half or most
of the world as in the old times
by emancipating them from captivity. If the end of the world does
not come, the coming generation will see it, Allah wills.”
In brief; a unity which the Islamic countries will establish among
themselves will save them from
oppression and tyranny of the
other nations. Furthermore, we
could say that such a unity will
provide the other non-Muslim
I would like to end the subject
with the following important suggestion of Imam Nursi:
“O people of belief! If you do
not want be captivated derogatively then be mindful! Against
those who want to take advantage the disputes among you,
take shelter in the fortress of ( َ
ْ ‫ىمْؤ‬
‫ُمــا ا َ َّمــ ِوا ة َ و ْ ِخــا‬
ُ ) “the beِ ‫نــو‬
lievers are but brothers”. Otherwise, you will neither be able to
protect your life nor defend your
rights.
It is known that while two
strong man wrestling each other
one kid could beat both of them.
If two mountains are in balance
in two sides of a scale a little
pebble stone can disrupt the
balance and it can push one to
up the other to down.
O people of faith! Your power can decrease because of
your greed and fanaticism and
you can be crushed by a little
power. If you are anxious about
your social life, then, make the
following hadith of the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) the principle of your life and get rid of the
worldly derogation and unhappiness in the hereafter; ( ‫ــان‬
ِ َ‫ك َْالبُ ْىي‬
ْ
ُ َ‫ــوص ي‬
ُ‫ــع ضًــا اَل ُمؤْ ِمــه‬
ُ ‫ْال َم ْر‬
ْ َ‫شــدُّ بَ ْعضُــهُ ب‬
ِ ‫ص‬
‫“ ) ِل ْل ُمؤْ ِمـ ِه‬The situation of a believer to the other one is like a brick
in the wall, by that way they support each other.‟”
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
39
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
The International
Quds Day
based on racial discrimination,
is considered an essential pillar of Imam’s thoughts. One of
the significance points in this
regard is that Imam insisted on
paying attention to the International intellectuals from all lifestyles that hold common views
on the issue. This aspect places the issue beyond the national and religious bindings,
which would provide a suitable seedbed for the all-human
contemplation on the Palestine issue and prompt unity in
the Islamic society and peace
among the international community. Imam emphasized that
the ‘Quds Day’ was «an international day and would not
specifically be limited to only
the Qods issue.»
International Quds Day portrays great wisdom and insightfulness of Imam Khomeini
Several political analysts
believe that Imam Khomeini
confronted the plots and conspiracies hatched by the arrogant powers against the Muslim nations by declaring last
40
Friday from blessed month of
Ramadan as an International
Quds Day.
Imam Khomeini’s struggle against apartheid regime
of Israel
In fact, the struggle against
the Zionism, a movement
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
Imam sought to set pattern for global peace
The Islamic revolution of Iran
has set a long-term pragmatic strategy in a bid to launch
a justice-based peace in the
region and reclaim the rights
of the oppressed Palestinian
nation. The strategy aims at
countering almost a century-long Zionist plot that has
shattered the lives of Palestinians. The proposed peace strategic plan predicts the delivery
of justice to the Palestinians
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
and maintains peace in their
predecessors land. This would
apparently uphold a balance
of power in the Middle East
region and its habitants would
benefit from significant
stability. As a result, the people in the region would undertake serious efforts in implementing the ideals of Imam
Khomeini led greater revolution that intended a truthful
liberated life by snubbing any
eastern or western pressure.
Imam Khomeini confronted
vicious plots of Israeli regime
Given that fact, an announcement by the founder
of the Islamic Republic, Imam
Khomeini, to mark the International «Quds Day» could be
viewed as his comprehensive
strategy aimed at confronting the Zionism’ conspiracies
which had sought the destruction of the Palestinians and
eradication of the Islamic symbols form the holy land.
The Zionists’ unjust schemes
are not restricted to this land
but they have also been pursuing an expansion policy to
other Muslim lands as well.
The Zionists greed policies
have posed serious challenges to the regional and global
security. The declaration of the
last Friday from holy month of
Ramadan as an «International Qods Day» served greater
interest of the Muslim community and Palestinians instead
of serving limited national or
ethnic visions.
Imam set ambitions and aspirations for Palestinian peo-
ple
The revolution victory in Iran
made evident that acknowledgment of the Palestinians’
rights and return of land to its
real inhabitants was sole solution to these historical crises.
As a result, the people belonging to various lifestyles, including women, children, clergymen and intellectuals kick
started a coordinated movement against Zionists’ bullying
and bullet policy after being inspired by the experience of the
mobilized struggle of the Iranian masses against the Shahled tyrant monarch system.
The Palestinians boosted
their combat against the Zionism to a significant level by
benefiting from Friday congre-
The very first
resistance
movement
known as the
‘Great Intifada’
was launched
in 1987 that continued until 1991.
The second resistance movement,
which began
in 2000, became
popular as ‘Aqsa
Intifada’.
gations and using mosques
as bases. The involvement
of above-mentioned decisive
factors and people’s contribution to the resistance movement highlighted the issue on
the international arena.
The very first resistance
movement known as the ‘Great
Intifada’ was launched in 1987
that continued until 1991. The
second resistance movement,
which began in 2000, became
popular as ‘Aqsa Intifada’. The
latter movement emerged following the fruitless so-called
peace negotiation between
Arabs and Israel. The struggle reflected the frustration
and disappointment of the
Palestinians who became disappointed of any backing by
the Arab regimes that were
passive to the Palestinian issue. The negligence could
easily be viewed among the
Arabs head of states during
the summit in Jordanian capital, Oman, in 1987. There, for
the first time, the Palestinian
issue became of its secondary nature, instead of that they
threw their weight behind Iraq
in its imposed war against the
Islamic republic, and opposition to Iran was placed at top
of the agenda. Meanwhile,
the people of Palestine who
had become frustrated of the
Palestinian Liberation Front
(P.L.O) performance since it
had abandoned the resistance
against the Zionist regime,
and restricted itself to engaging in unproductive political
games in order to settle the
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
41
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
issue. Another decisive factor
involved in formation of second ‘Intifada’ was the Islam
and growing hope among the
people that the resistance can
deliver desirable results. It was
obvious that without relying on
people the occurrence of the
revolution would be impossible. It happened after previous
political games were not able
to bring about a miraculous
outcome. Therefore, Imam
Khomeini guidance and leadership influenced the occupied Palestine like many other
countries. The influence of the
Islamic revolution became evident than any other place since
the Palestinian Muslims under
the Zionists’ savage rule had
been turned more oppressed
and downtrodden than other
Muslim nations. Imam’s support made them learnt that the
Muslim community can rise
up inspiring by Islam and can
gain victory again. However,
according to Imam, liberation
of Quds from clutches of the
Zionist regime would only require some span of time.
‘Intifada’ resistance movement did not remain restricted
to the urban areas and refugees’ camps, but spread to
remote villages as well. In the
past, the Palestinians struggle
was limited to sole social reform and has had never characteristics of a revolution.
The freedom activists belonging to ‘Intifada’ movement
believed that the rulers and
power retainers could not be
representatives of the young
generation’s inspirations. The
42
frustration among wandering
Palestinian youth reached to
such an extent, as they were
forced to concluding that they
had nothing to loose. This was
the starting point for the launch
of the resistance movement.
As a result, the outcome of the
Imam Khomeini guidance
and leadership
influenced the
occupied Palestine like many
other countries.
The influence of the
Islamic revolution
became evident
than any other
place since the
Palestinian Muslims under the Zionists’ savage rule
had been turned
more oppressed
and downtrodden
than other Muslim
nations.
Imam’s practical politics and
its influence on Palestinian
nation’s movement could be
seen as in following events.
Mobilization of the public
and clergymen: Widespread
mobilizations of traditional
and non-governmental urban
movements across Iran are
considered a potential power effective in bringing about
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
great social changes in the
society. Moreover, by relying
on people power, Imam did
not pursue the existing norms
such as formation of political
groupings or guerilla movements with intention of pressing his agenda ahead. However, by benefiting ordinary
existing entities of society,
he made the common people
aware of the struggle’s objectives. In fact, the ties among
the Iranian masses were not
cemented through organized
combative institutions, but it
happened through Imam’s unprecedented courageous way
of perceptive communication,
which was understandable for
all walks of society including
illiterate people. On the same
pattern, the Palestinian resistance was formed at the juncture of history when decades
long, non-indigenous political and diplomatic efforts had
reached to a dead end in reviving the Palestinians rights,
and non-religious ideologies
had suffered serious blow in
organizing the masses and resources of the land.
For instance, by relying on
masses generated movements, the Islamic Revolution
proved the ever-emerging
weak points and contradictions among the bullying powers. This issue became more
evident when the US threw
its weight behind Shah-led
regime against people-oriented and the most independent
revolution of the century. In
the same way, ‘Intifada’ has
played the same role in high-
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
lighting the existing theoretical and practical contradictions among the pro-Israeli
systems. Such contradictions
become more obvious when
so-called democratic systems
throw their support behind the
Zionists’ crimes against the
people who are willing to take
destiny in their own hands.
The method of combat: the
awakening process in Palestinians’ resistance, as an initial step, resembles to the
Islamic revolution in Iran.
However, some of its
motives were different from the Iranian
revolution. This is
while the generation of young
Palestinians has
stepped in the
political and social arena after
experiencing a
humiliating
life
under the Zionists
tyrant rule.
By
means
of
military might, and
spreading propaganda
among the Palestinians, Zionist regime gave impression
that any change in the current
state of affairs was impossible.
In such circumstances when
Israel campaigned hard to
earn acknowledgement of its
existence, and undertook serious efforts to demonstrate the
occupied land as a stable on
domestic and regional level,
in the meantime, the Muslim
combatants in Iran toppled
Mohammad Rida Pahlavi-led
regime that was treacherous
to the Palestine’s ideals. The
Shah oust in Iran tuned into
an important event that helped
Palestinians in setting their
future strategy for struggle in
the occupied land. The new
generation had nothing except
legacy of pains and sufferings,
but they were gifted with particular talent, which helped in
drawing new bright horizons
for the nation.
Muslims’ growing senility toward Quds issue, wakefulness
of regional nations and Imam
and revolution’s support for
Palestine were positive signs
for the struggle.
Moreover, most significant
was picking up of patterns
from the people struggle in
Iran, which was previously
considered a stable island un-
der the US and western dominance. On the other hand,
since this generation in the occupied land had suffered more
pains, accordingly, they were
also gifted with high-level of
awareness, and were able to
present a rational assessment
of the circumstances by comparing the present Palestinian
movements with the past. The
frustrated and annoyed people
in the occupied land that had
been mobilized in mosques
and religious centers resisted with pieces of
stones against the
advanced
weapons, and embraced
death
while smile on
their face. This
norm of struggle played an
important
role
in advancement
of the movement
despite the great
losses. Even, the
specialists of physiological
war do not have potential to counter such type of
struggle, since it transforms
signals of fear and disappointment from its own court to the
enemy’s ground, and brings
destruction to enemy with its
own hand.
The declaration of the International ‘Quds Day’ by Imam
Khomeini was a good tiding for reviving the Palestine
struggle. A brief look at Imam’s
message will highlight the importance of issue regarding
the topic.
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
43
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
Imam Khomeini’s message on Quds Day
I call the world Muslims and
the Islamic governments to
join the Palestinians in order to
segregate the Zionist regime
and its supporters. I declare
the last Friday from the holy
month of Ramadan as International Quds day, and invite
the Muslims around the globe
to hold rallies in solidarity with
the Palestine and in favor of
their legal rights on that day. I
hope that the holy day, which
44
is religiously, coincided with
the «decree days» could determine the destiny of Palestinians as well.
Imam’s dynamic thought
triggered Islamic Awakening
If we have a look at the political and cultural issues of the
Middle East region, particularly the Palestine issue, we find
out that the Islamic revolution
found its real place among the
Muslims and revival movements across the world by
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
setting an example of civilized
and people-oriented struggle.
Therefore, the importance of
Palestine issue in Imam Words
especially delivered on declaring an International Quds Day,
is of worth to be contemplated.
The ever-lasting initiative by
Imam in regard with declaring an International Quds Day
would emphasize on an all-out
opposition of the Muslim World
against the existence of Israel.
This day became a source
of compassion and integration
among the Muslim World. In
this way, a significant step toward the Islamic unity was taken which leveled the grounds
for a united Muslim community
excluding the ethnic and national connections.
Quds Day launched a great
physiological war against the
Zionist regime and played
a role of the most effective
people-oriented pressure tool
against the Zionist regime,
and forced them to hold back
their greed plans. The Quds
Day is a big event that undermines the legitimacy of Israel.
The each year mark would
grab the Muslims attention toward the strategic thoughts of
Imam, and would voice concerns about illegitimate nature of Israel to the world. This
day also brings a relief to the
believers’ heart. On the other hand, the video footage of
hundreds of thousands of protesters across the world would
spread a physiological insecurity against the Zionist regime.
‘Quds Day’ has underlined the
Palestine issue beyond its na-
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
tional aspect and has granted
it with an international status.
The Zionist regime has long
campaigned to degrade the
issue as a national conflict between Israel and Arabs. Nevertheless, a clear stance by
Imam as a prominent religious
and academic personality injected a fresh spirit to forgotten Islamic perspectives in
struggle against Israel. Imam’s
guidance produced positive
results, and accordingly Palestinian fighters heeded to
the Islamic option instead of
nationalistic or western inclinations.
One of the precious and irreplaceable heritage issues
of Imam Khomeini is the universal and international day of
Quds. The announcement of
such an issue in a special time
framework origins from Imam
Khomeini’s
deep
political
thought and pure mystical inception, which represents the
mixture and blend of religion
and politics that would never
be separated from each other. Imam Khomeini’s unique
attitude towards the Zionist regime originated from his great
and multi-dimensional knowledge regarding the Zionist nature and essence. Quds Day
is the convention with eternal
ideals of Imam Khomeini and
the oath of allegiance with revolution’s leader. In this day,
the Islamic nation, once again,
initiates relations with Islamic
ideological thoughts of Imam
Khomeini and states to the
world that this movement will
never stop its plans.
One of the precious and irreplaceable
heritage issues
of Imam Khomeini is the universal and international day of Quds.
The announcement
of such an issue in
a special time
framework origins
from Imam Khomeini’s deep political
thought and pure
mystical inception,
which represents
the mixture and
blend of religion
and politics that
would never
be separated from
each other.
The selection of last Friday
as «World Quds Day» from the
founder of the Islamic Republic has great significance from
viewpoint of timing because
the participants of rallies are
fasting
people that would give the
rally a special holiness. The
Quds Day is placed among
the nights and days of ‘Qadr’,
and it is the night which is according to Quranic expression
better than one thousands
months and full of spiritual-
ity. This is the night when the
whole of the holy Quran was
revealed to the holy prophet.
Moreover, the divine angels
and the Great Spirit descend
down from heavens in order to
determine the fate of individual
and social lives of people and
societies. The spiritual peace
and security prevails and encompasses the human beings
from dawn to dust.
The Muslims and other people chant a plentiful of slogans,
which are triggered from the
heart of the anti-oppression
religion of Islam, and these
slogans on the last Friday
of Ramadan. These slogans
from all over the world target
the black point of Israel and
besiege this occupier Zionist
regime. The demonstrators
and participants draw a barrier
around the selfishness desires
of Israel by chanting their slogans of «God is great». They
shake the pillars of brutal Zionist regime with monotheistic
words and slogans.
The Quds Day is designed to
declare the dangers the Zionism poses to the Muslim world
and its holy sanctuaries. The
crimes of Israel are reminded
to all on this day. The denial
and doubts about occurrence
of cruelty from humankind
mind departs and replaces
with knowledge and awareness of repeated painful incidents being taking place in the
occupied territories. The warning bells about killing of people are ranged and the sound
of that rings disturbs the clam
of ears. The street demonstra-
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
45
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
tions warn about the dangers
posed by the occupation of Israel.
It will besiege Israel, and
Zionist regime is surrounded
by loud voices of Allah Akbar
(God is great). Finally, the
monotheistic words and expressions will shake the brutal
rule of Israel.
The other aspect of this issue
is the state of the oppressed
Palestinian
whose
words
come out from other Muslims’
mouths. The sounds of the injured and poor people of Palestine are spread in Islamic
countries. In this day, the Muslims out of Palestine, call the
injustice for poor, oppressed
Palestinian, and remained
those who are deprived of the
basic human rights. Discrimination is completely obvious
in their personal and social
life aspects and every day the
scope of poverty, richness,
stone and gun extends much
more than before.
In front of the colonists’ cruelty, the Muslims should not be
silent since their atrocity will
increase. The special groups
of murdering continue their
slaughter more darely and
easily. If people revolt against
such bloodthirstiness, the least
effect would be the understanding of the world’s liberals
about their terrible and aggressive behaviors. Quds Day is
millions of Muslims marching
against Israel’s improvidence.
On Quds Day, the line of
faithful is separated from the
infidels. Those who object to
oppression symbol in their
46
On Quds Day,
people from
all over the
world join to
each other.
The slogans of
«Death to Israel»
and «Down with
America» weakens
the enemies’ power.
People from every
nation, race, and
religion step forward regardless of
their social, political place and voice
their support for the
Palestinians.
hearts and thoughts will express their feeling in action
and speech. In this day, people
are examined via their words,
actions, and their love to Palestine and the detesting feels
to Israel. Those who believe
Israel as the humanity and
Muslims’ enemy join to demonstrators’ lines and practice
Imam Ali’s words: «Show your
animosity towards oppressor
and be helpful to oppressed
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
ones.»
On Quds Day, people from
all over the world join to each
other. The slogans of «Death
to Israel» and «Down with
America» weakens the enemies’ power. People from
every nation, race, and religion step forward regardless
of their social, political place
and voice their support for the
Palestinians.
The demonstrators chant
the following slogans ‘God is
great’, ‘there is no God, but Allah’, ‘Mohmammad (s.a) is Allah’s prophet’ and «Israel is the
enemy of God». This symbol
of the united Ummah, which
recall us of another Abraham’s
dawn, will enlighten the ray of
hope in the hearts of Palestinian combatants and will level
the way for struggle. Quds Day
is a prelude towards establishing the oppressed party on the
earth. The world’s oppressed
and poor people take part in
the demonstration and hope
for the restoring Palestinians’
rights. Quds Day relates to
more than one geographical
point in the word but it is the
symbol of thought, and strategy of performing the tasks for
the world’s oppressed people.
Their ultimate goal is to maintain close ties with God and
end up in a humanly noble
life. They are real monotheists who only have piety and
fear of God in their hearts and
know no one more influential
except Him.
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
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The International Quds Day / Tehran July 2015
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Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
Islamic Revolution,
Imam Khomeini from
the Viewpoint of
International Relations
Theories
Dr. Muhammad Mahdi Mazaheri
Since victory of the Islamic
Revolution in 1978, numerous
books and articles have been
written about causes and consequences of this revolution.
However, a great deal of these
studies has looked the Islamic
Revolution from the viewpoint
of internal and external roots
and/or has compared it with
other revolutions in the globe.
In fact these studies mostly
focus on politics, comparatives
studies, historical sociology and
international relations. Finding
a literature about Islamic Revolution which has looked this
phenomenon from perspective
of international relations the-
48
ories is very rare. However,
it cannot be denied that there
are traces of international relations theories at the heart of
these analyses; particularly
those analyses about regional
and international reflections of
the Islamic Revolution included
some aspects of international
relations theories, especially
systematic theories. “Economic theories” and those that are
so called “deconstructive theories” and play an important role
in explaining the impact of the
Islamic Revolution on the international system structure have
not been considered properly.
Speaking about internation-
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
al system structure refers to
distribution of power and influence across the world, exactly
the concept that recalls bipolar, multi-polar, uni-polar, etc.
Critical theories refer to those
theories which undermine the
basis of the current system and
equalize it with law of the jungle. These theories try to criticize the status quo, to release
from it and to depict an ideal
future in which the structural violence is replaced with peace.
In fact the nature of the Islamic Revolution was a critical
nature against the status quo.
For reflecting that time, we
need to differentiate four as-
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
Another aspect
of this structural
violence is manifested in the
relation between
Iran and the
Western bloc; as
we know, the power
has been divided
between two aggressive camps, i.e.
west bloc, led by
the United States,
and the east bloc,
led by the Soviet
Union, during 19411978.
pects of a single phenomenon
and/or structural violence: The
first one points to the structural
violence inside the Iran society
which it had various sub-collections. Iran during Pahlavi
era, despite that fact that was
a developed country in terms
of economic considerations in
comparison to other third world
states, it was among countries
in which the sovereignty of King
(SHAH) has been imposed on
people during consecutive decades. Except a short time in
Pahlavi history, i.e. 1961-193,
everything was under the control of king.
Although prime ministers
were at the top of executive
power, all of them were controlled by king completely. The
cabinet played a very pale role
in decision making process.
Army with its non-political nature always played a key role
in decision making in order to
realize the authoritative goals
of the king. The parliament,
which according to the Constitution was very important in
making decisions, only succeeded to play important roles
within 1961-1963 period. 1953
Iranian coup d’état declined
the status of Parliament as a
marginal entity. In conclusion, it
can be said that before Islamic
Revolution era, most decisions
were made without contribution
of the legal entities and formal
and informal social groups. The
King’s own will was preferred
to all effective factors, even
the whole political system and
the Constitution. Shah was the
constitution and loyalty to the
Constitution was equal to loyalty to the royalty. This trend
is interpreted as the “domestic
structural violence”. It means
that substantially the nature of
relationship between the government and the society, without presence of civil society entities, was a tyrannical relation.
The second aspect of this
structural violence is manifested in the relation between Iran
and the Western bloc; as we
know, the power has been divided between two aggressive
camps, i.e. west bloc, led by
the United States, and the east
bloc, led by the Soviet Union,
during 1941-1978.
Because of it strategic position, Iran has found a special
position in calculations of both
blocs. However, Iran’s preference towards the western bloc
developed a submissive relation between it and the western bloc, especially the United
States. In other words, since
the Pahlavi regime had not social basis among ordinary people, it tried to buy legibility for
itself through accompanying
the United States, as one of
the major powers of the time.
In fact, the inflexible and elitebased structure of the governing board as well as the lack of
legal participation entities pro-
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
49
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
vided a big gap between people and Pahlavi Regime; thus
the regime had to resort the
international system to guarantee its survival and extend
its relations with the western
bloc in various dimensions, especially in political and military
dimensions. The result of this
trend was formation of a hegemonic relationship or structural
violence between Iran and the
international system.
In other words, the western
bloc used to impose its wills
and decisions on the Pahlavi
regime and the regime had no
choice but following because it
needed to guarantee its survival.
The third aspect of the violence circles around the international system, as a whole.
Form this point of view, the
50
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
In this system,
power fundamentally was usidedown and the final
decisions were
made by superpowers.
In fact, there was
a direct relationship
between making decisions and distance
from center of power. While the rules of
the game were determined by superpowers of west bloc and
east bloc, the peripheral states were the
main victims of contradicted interests of
Moscow and Washington.
whole international system has
been divided into two blocs,
each one has been consisted
of three components: Superpowers (or central powers),
semi-peripheral powers, which
mostly located in Europe and
peripheral states which mostly
included Third World states.
In this division system,
power fundamentally was
upside-down and the final
decisions were made by superpowers. In fact, there was
a direct relationship between
making decisions and distance
from center of power. While the
rules of the game were determined by superpowers of west
bloc and east bloc, the peripheral states were the main victims of contradicted interests of
Moscow and Washington.
The fourth aspect of this
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
structural violence deals with
the relationship between north
and south, this aspect of the
structural violence mostly is
based on economic considerations. In this regard, a small
group of states (north) exploit
and enfeeble a great number
of other countries. It still is one
of outstanding features of the
international system. The nature of north-south relationship
is so that makes the south underdeveloped and the north
developed. The unbalanced
commercial and economic relation is the key feature of this
relationship and always the
Third World or south states ask
for economic balance in the
framework of formation of the
new economic discipline.
Anyways, the Islamic Revolution of Iran was created regard-
ing this type of environmental
(domestic and foreign) condition. The main target of Imam
Khomeini was to clear these
environments from the structural violence. In other words,
the main objective of the Islamic Revolution was to change
and this change which must be
realized through changing people’s mindsets. Never Imam
Khomeini intended to materialize this change through the
coercive power and occupying
lands. He always sought for
changing ad developing mindsets and developing a mental
condition through enhancing
public awareness.
After victory of the Islamic
Revolution in Iran, the structural violence was finished in
Iran. The structural violence
experienced
fundamental
trembles, especially in its regional sub-systems, however
the bipolar system succeeded
to maintain its trembling structures for another decade, but
it was condemned to collapse.
After collapse of former Soviet
Union, the bipolar system was
undermined, but the structural
violence continued in another
way.
Imam Khomeini developed a
new model of governing whose
main features were freedom,
independence and self-reliance. The smallest influence
that Imam Khomeini made on
public thoughts and orientations was that they became
aware of the nature of structural violence inside countries
and in respect to superpowers.
In various countries this awareness was converted from potential to practical mode.
Today, the main effect of
Imam Khomeini is that it has
jeopardized interests of the superpowers through intellectual
developments. These powers have always, after victory
of Islamic Revolution, tried to
block the current of releasing
thoughts from Iran to outside.
Imposing various forms of political, economic pressures and
even war was amongst these
measures.
In fact, despite all interpretations, today the world is divided
into dominant and dominated
states. The dominated states
intend to use intellectual and
spiritual milestone the Islamic
Revolution has prepared for
them to fight against the dominant powers.
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Ayatollah Khamenei’s Message
to European and North American
Youth, An Introduction to
Globalization of the Divine Values
Hoj. Reza Qolami
The Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei’s, message to
European and North American
youth is an introduction to globalization of the divine values.
The fact is that the West tries
its best to stop the Revolutionary Islam whose center is now
in the Islamic Iran. The West
has mobilized its all forces
against the revolutionary Islam, and it indicates the great
effect of the Islamic revolution
in the world, with the Supreme
Leader has said “there is no
need to such a great army for
a feeble nation!”
The most important development during the 36 past years
52
is strengthening and extension
of the American Islam. It has
two wings, one of American liberal, secular and westernized
scholars’ Islam and its another
wing is the Tekfiri mercenaries
and thugs’ Islam.
In fact the main audiences
of The Leader’s message are
pure and divine natures of human beings, with Islam’s globalization rests on the divine
and healthy nature of human
beings based on culture rather economy. What is very important in this regard is paving the way for this message
to be heard and understood
very well. It is necessary to
consider that if we cannot
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
awake European and North
American youth from the ignorance sleep, they will never
figure out the main intent and
purpose Ayatollah Khamenei
has followed by writing this
letter to them. We need to introduce the truly Islam, rather
the American Islam, to the audiences of the letter. In other
words, the true Islam is based
on monotheism, justice, peace
and friendship, equality, supporting the needy people. The
true Islam fights against any
sort of slavery and colonialism.
There are many comprehensive and reliable references to
study and get familiar with the
truly Islam; however we face
lack of reliable references in
some area, which it must compensated through the great
resolution of Muslims. However, artistic works are preferred
even to writing books in this
area. The effect and influence
of a strong artistic work cannot
be comparable with the effect
of tens sessions of lecturing
or tens books. Hence it is necessary to invite all those committed and enthusiast artists
whose hearts are beating for
Islam to come and work in this
field.
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
A Brief Look at Ayatollah
Khamenei’s Political
Philosophy Book
Muhammad Reza Pakravan
Introduction
Ayatollah Khamenei’s Political
Philosophy written by Hoj. Dr.
Mohsen Mohajernia has been
published by Islamic Culture
and Thought Center’s publishing
house in 532 pages.
Undoubtedly, the author’s emphasis on intellectual innovations, new language, adhering
to philosophical nature through
linking theoretical foundation and
practical systems, observing the
subject’s
comprehensiveness
and various dimensions of the
political philosophy is among differentiating features of this book.
The researcher’s thinks that in
this work not only there are many
references to Ayatollah Khame-
nei’s thought, but also brevity
and avoiding margins have been
considered and followed.
In introduction part of the book,
Dr. Mohajernia in answer to the
question, “how can understand
the political philosophy of Ayatollah Khamenei?” says, “the political philosophy is a knowledge
which discusses about people’s
political life ideals through intellectual approach and method
and tries to explain “the best
form of the social life”, “the best
political regime”, “the best social
interaction” and “the best ends
of the political life” and unlike
other branches of the politics it
avoids the routines of politics,
objectivism of political sociology
and particularity of the political
jurisprudence (fiqh) and looks
at the political life as a general,
permanent and beyond time limitations. Ayatollah Khamenei’s
Political Philosophy is organized
based on the method of the political questioning and answering to twenty key questions on
several main pivots: principles of
the political philosophy, personal
and social life requirements, citizenship life truth, status of government and monarchy and ideal
orientation in the political philosophy.
The importance of this study
is not just restricted to compilation of the principles of Ayatollah
Khamenei’s political philosophy,
which has been ignored so far,
but also considers personality
and status of the thinker; because as the author says, “Ayatollah Khamenei is among the
modern religious thinks who has
been active in the religious thinking and political activities even
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
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Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
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before Islamic revolution in Iran.
A wide range of written works
from Ayatollah Khamenei has
made available a wide extent of
his political thought. This study
aims at providing a comprehensive description of political philosophy of Ayatollah Khamenei
and claims that he has a cohesive, reasonable, systematic philosophy in the field of the social
life, citizenship and monarchy
which are based on his intellectual and belief principles. Hence,
the most important issue of this
study is the quiddity of Ayatollah
Khamenei’s political philosophy.
Those who are familiar with
the political philosophy of Ayatollah Khamenei know very well
that the diversity of jurisprudential, philosophical, theological,
ethical, historical and political
approaches has developed an
intellectual system for him out
which the political approach is
one of its keywords and milestones. Politics in this system is
among the requirements of an
intellectual who could not be indifferent to both politics and momentary political life.
Therefore, the important points
of the book from viewpoint of
Ayatollah Khamenei are reviewed briefly here:
Thinking Doctrine
The author, in the first chapter,
tries to define and explain theoretical framework, fundamental
concepts and principles of the
political philosophy; he deals with
the manner of understanding the
political philosophy of Ayatollah
Khamenei in the section of the
theoretical framework. The second section of this chapter deals
with the political concepts and
tries to propose a proper definition on the concept and status
of politics, political philosophy,
political philosophy of Islam, the
relationship between political
philosophy and political theology and problems of the political
philosophy. The epistemological,
anthological, and eschatological
principles are answered in the
third chapter.
2. Social Doctrine:
DR. Mohajernia divides the
second chapter into five sections:
“individual and society”, “religions
and politics”, “law in the society”,
“justice” and “security in the society”. While speaking about viewpoints of Muslim philosophers
such as Farabi, Avicenna, Bu Ali
Moskuyeh, Khawaja Nasir and
Mulla Sadra, the author takes
advantage of a common term
in the political philosophy of all
Muslim philosophers. Pointing
to section of “individual and society”, he emphasizes that individual and society are two key
elements of the society doctrine
and are among the fundamental
54
Special Issue, No. 252, July 2015
Special Issue for Fundamental Principles of
Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei
factors of the Ayatollah Khamenei’s political philosophy, with for
him building a pious human and
society is one of the most important goals of Islam and divine
prophets. The theological society not only depends on religion
and politics, but also it needs law
too. According to what was said
law constitute the foundation
and basis of all human societies.
There is no society in the world
that can survive without law and
removing law from a society will
suffocate it with chaos and finally
death. Therefore, in the society
doctrine and Islamic society system, the law along with security
and justice constitute its important features.
3. Citizenship Doctrine
The third chapter is “citizenship
doctrine” which includes four sections: “nature of civil rights”, “citizenship dignity”, “freedom” and
“participation right”. This chapter emphasizes that after social
doctrine, the first phenomenon in
political philosophy of Ayatollah
Khamenei is citizen life area. In
intellectual system and religious
democratic system of Ayatollah
Khamenei the power hierarchy is
from bottom to up.
In “citizenship dignity” section, the author argues that for
Ayatollah Khamenei achieving
this issue depends on implementing justice and believes
that the most important debate
of the Islamic system is justice
and all efforts and struggles
are done in order to provide
justice in the society, if justice
is provided, human rights and
dignity are met as well. Ayatollah Khamenei’s political philos-
ophy is the result of a collection
of human traits and features
which are among human rights.
Freedom section emphasizes
that in Ayatollah Khamenei’s
political philosophy freedoms
means releasing from restrictions of idols and flying towards
humanity and divine spirituality.
The “participation right” section explains about two types of
participation in Ayatollah Khamenei’s political philosophy: a religious ideal participation, proper to religious democracy and
western participation proper to
non-religious systems.
4. Monarchy Doctrine
Regarding “fatalism in the political philosophy”,
it is necessary
to say that in the
fatalist political
philosophy of
Ayatollah Khameneni, the whole
human life has
simulated to a
caravan which has
a great origin and
destination and
the whole creation
heads towards
that destination.
Fourth chapter of the book
deals with the most important debates about the political management of the society, political power, legality, jurisprudential system
and religious democracy. In the
Ayatollah Khamenei’s intellectual system, monarchy is situated
after citizenship and monarchy is
a tool to serve citizens.
The “political power” section
of this chapter, it is said that for
Ayatollah Khamenei the power is
a neutral phenomenon.
5. Happiness Doctrine
The fifth section of this book
includes six sections: “fatalism in
the political philosophy”, “sacred
life”, “happiness in the political
philosophy”, “perfection in political philosophy”, “virtue in the political philosophy”, and “good in
the political philosophy”.
Regarding “fatalism in the political philosophy”, it is necessary
to say that in the fatalist political
philosophy of Ayatollah Khameneni, the whole human life has
simulated to a caravan which
has a great origin and destination
and the whole creation heads towards that destination.
It is necessary to note that the
mentioned valuable book is the
sole book in the current time,
contemporary with the leadership of the great Leader of Islamic Republic of Iran, so it can
be upgraded based on his new
viewpoints.
Muhammad Reza Pakravan
M.S. in International Relations
B.A. in Philosophy and Arts
June 2015
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