Word: ayatullah
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Khomeini's zeal for theocracy has led to the charge that he is seeking to drag Iran back to the Middle Ages. One scholar argues instead that the Ayatullah is something of an innovator in his application of the Shari'a to contemporary situations. Certainly his justification of the students' seizure of the hostages has no precedent in Muslim jurisprudence. Although he can be mysteriously vague about programmatic approaches to specific political and economic issues, Khomeini has a social philosophy that Hamid Enayat of Oxford sums up in this manner: "The country should be content with a simple...
...from discussions with former students, talks with Western scholars who have visited Khomeini, profiles prepared by Western intelligence analysts, and the speeches and interviews he has given during his year on the world stage, it is possible to gain some insight into the Ayatullah's thinking. First and foremost, all sources agree, he is an Islamic mystic who believes that God tells him directly how to apply the principles of the Koran and the Shari'a (Islamic law) to life and politics...
...what is it that Khomeini's God commands? An all-embracing code of behavior. Says Chicago's Zonis, who is preparing an English translation of one of the Ayatullah's major works: "It is a rigorous, minute, specific codification of the way to behave in every conceivable circumstance, from defecation to urination to sexual intercourse to eating to cleaning the teeth. Khomeini does give attention to human frailties; he says, in essence, 'If you don't do it this way, well, if you feel bad, that's okay.' But the scheme is appallingly oppressive to us Westerners, in that there...
...personal routines, so in politics: to Khomeini the only just state is one ruled by Islamic theologians, who alone can be trusted to interpret God's commands correctly. There is no separation of church and state, or division between sacred and secular, in Islamic teaching. The Ayatullah, however, carries his theocratic vision much farther than most other Muslim scholars by insisting on the clergy's duty, not just to pass moral judgment on the acts of government, but to rule the state directly?a concept enshrined in the constitution that Iran adopted last month. The ideal Islamic government, Khomeini...
...medical treatment as a heaven-sent opportunity to focus all popular discontent and criticism on two hated scapegoats, the deposed monarch and the Americans, and incited a wave of fury that culminated in the seizure of the U.S. embassy. (Some intelligence sources think that the Ayatullah genuinely feared the Shah might die of cancer before Khomeini could exact his revenge.) But Khomeini did not think through the consequences, and?implausible though it now seems?may actually be looking for a way out. According to this analysis, Khomeini recognizes that the wave of anarchy unloosed in Iran by the violent emotions...