Translator’s Introduction

In New York City on West Broadway there is a bookstore affiliated with a Turkish Sufi order. In the summer of 1993 I purchased a few books there, and one of the other customers, a black man wearing a small white cap began talking with me. After exchanging salāms, and after I told him that I was working in Iran, he asked me whether I had ever seen a book by Imām Khomeinī called Jihād al-Akbar. I told him that although I was not familiar with the work, I thought that it had been translated by Hamīd Algar, and included in his collection of translations of Imām’s speeches, Islam and Revolution (Mizan Press). He was not familiar with that work, but insisted that the Muslims in America had a real need for translations of Imām’s works, and he was particularly interested in Jihād al-Akbar. When I went home, I found that a couple pages of the speeches of Imām which were given in Najaf and later collected under the title Jihād al-Akbar had been translated by Prof. Algar.

The following autumn, when I returned to Iran, I found the Jihād al-Akbar had recently published as a small booklet. Remembering the American Muslim I met in the Sufi Bookstore, I decided to make a complete translation of it. Since I lacked the competence in Farsi for such an undertaking, I solicited the assistance of ‘Azīm Sarvdalīr, with whom I was studying Farsi and doing other translations at Bunyād Baqīr al-‘Ulūm in Qum. Mr. Sarvdalīr was happy to take up the project, which, with the encouragement of the Bunyād, was completed the following June; Al-hamdulillāh!

This is a work in morals, in Farsi and Arabic, akhlāq. It is not a philosophical work, but a moral exhortation directed toward the seminary students of Najaf, and toward the institution of the seminary, or hawzah ‘ilmiyyah, as well. The work reveals the moral sensitivity of Imām Khomeinī, his paternal anxiety regarding the seminarians and his dedication to the institution of the seminary. Upon reading this work one will discover that along the revolutionary fervor and condemnation of foreign imperialism there can be found a mystic’s taste for spiritual devotions. The waters of ‘irfān (gnosis) run deep in the thought of Imām Khomeinī and nourish his moral outlook. This work is a testimony to the truth of Shahīd Mutahharī’s[3] remark that ‘irfān and ethics are both concerned with the improvement of character, but from different perspectives. In ethical works one finds a description of virtues and vices and moral prescriptions and proscriptions, while in ‘irfānī works one finds a description of a process through which the soul moves toward Allah and acquires virtues corresponding to the divine attributes along the way. The way of moral reform advocated by Imām Khomeinī is a process of spiritual development in which the adept learns to conquer and then lose interest in his worldly desires and become totally devoted to God. This process is described as a journey toward Allah, a journey which holds a central place in ‘irfān, which may be considered the kernel of Islam. This journey is described in different ways and from a variety of viewpoints in the poetry of the Sufis, in the transcendent philosophy of Mullā Sadrā,[4] and in the poetry and teachings of Imām Khomeinī, as well.

Although the present work consists of speeches delivered to the students at Najaf, the moral advice given is particularly pertinent for all Muslims in the contemporary situation of discord and confusion. Imām Khomeinī advises the seminarians to abandon their quarrelling, which only serve as an opportunity for mischief on the part of the enemies of Islam. In the Islamic world today, we also observe that the opponents of the Islamic movement take advantage of disputes among Muslims. Imām reminds the students that they do not possess sufficient wealth and power to make these things worth fighting over even according to the standards of materialism. Parallel remarks are appropriate for the Muslim world as a whole, given the poverty and powerlessness which characterized the vast masses of the Islamic ummah. Imām sanctions the students that they should take heed of the fact that the major purpose of the prophets and the Imāms has been spiritual progress and moral improvement, and that the students must not content themselves with learning a few terms of Islamic jurisprudence. The same warning should be heeded by contemporary Muslims. We must not content ourselves with a handful of slogans and the performance of a few rituals, but must take steps for spiritual and moral growth. Not merely in the seminary of Najaf, but wherever and to whom ever Islam is taught, this teaching must not confine itself to a rehearsal of basic beliefs and necessary practices,  but must be accompanied by the moral and spiritual teachings which were the primary focus of the prophets and the Imāms,  peace be upon them all.

The present work may be read in order to gain insight into the thought of the founder of the Islamic Revolution of Iran. It may be read in order to become familiar with the sort of problems which existed in Najaf at the time the lectures were delivered. It can be read as an example of the type of moral preaching which could be expected from among the best of Shi‘ite moral teachers of this age. It is a work which can be read in order to learn something about history, sociology or anthropology, and in all of these areas valuable lessons are to be learned. But more important than any of these is the moral lessons to be drawn for the Islamic community in general. Let us not content ourselves with ritual duties while ignoring the need for moral reform. Let us appoint moral guides in all of our Islamic educational institutions, so that Islamic education may become more truly a training in submission to Allah, and let us draw upon the example as well as the teachings of the prophets and the Imāms so that we may learn to seek to commence the journey of the believer toward Allah, inshā Allāh!

The remainder of this introduction consists of a few biographical remarks with particular reference to the moral and spiritual training of Imām Khomeinī, may he rest in peace.

Rūhullāh Mūsawī Khomeinī, was born in 1902 in the town of Khomein, which is about half way between Tehran and the southwestern city of Ahwāz. Rūhullāh’s father and grandfather were religious scholars in Khomein. His father, Āyatullāh Mustafā, is said to have been murdered by bandits when Rūhullāh was less than six months old. His mother, Hajar, was the daughter of the religious scholar Āqā Mīrzā Ahmad Mujtahid Khānsārī. The boy was raised by his mother and an aunt, both of whom died of cholera when he was six. His education was then supervised by his older brother, Āyatullāh Pasandīdeh. At nineteen, Rūhullāh traveled northwest from Khomein to the city of Arāk, where he became a student of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karīm Hā’erī, a leading religious scholar of his day. The following year, Shaykh Hā’erī and his student Rūhullāh moved to Qum, where the Shaykh reorganized and revitalized the entire institution of religious education in that city, which was already famous as a center of learning. Rūhullāh studied in Qum until the death of Shaykh Hā’erī, in 1936 after which he began teaching theology, ethics, philosophy, and mysticism. It was during his first fourteen years in Qum that Āyatullāh Khomeinī became familiar with the intertwined traditions of philosophy and mysticism which flourished during Iran’s Safawid period (16^th and 17^th centuries) and which continue to exert an enormous influence on contemporary Shi‘ite thought.

When he arrived in Qum, Imām Khomeinī began to receive private instruction in ethics with Hāj Mīrzā Jawād Malekī Tabrīzī, the author of a book entitled, The Secrets of Prayer (Asrār as-Salāt), Imām Khomeinī also wrote a book on this topic, called The Secret of Prayer: Prayers of the Gnostics or Ascension of the Wayfarers (Sirr as-Salāt: Salāt al-‘Ārifīn yā Mi‘rāj as-Sālikīn). His instruction under Mīrzā Jawād continued until the death of the teacher, in 1925. Imām Khomeinī also studied the mystic traditions from Hāj Mīrzā Abū’l-Hasan Rafi’ī Qazvīnī, who was in Qum from 1923 to 1927. Qazvīnī is known for his commentary on a supplication which is recited daily in the pre-dawn hours during the month of Ramadān. Later, Imām Khomeinī would also write a commentary on this prayer. Finally, and perhaps most importantly among his spiritual guides, there was Āqā Mīrzā Muhammad ‘Alī Shāhābādī, the author of Spray from the Seas (Rashāhāt al-Bahār), who was in Qum from 1928 to 1935. In the mystic tradition of which Shāhābādī was a part, the phrase ‘spray from the sea’ may be taken as a symbol for inspiration from God. It was with Shāhābādī that Imām Khomeinī is reported to have studied the Fusūs al-Hikam [Bezels of Wisdom] of Ibn al-‘Arabī[5] (d. 1240) and the important commentary on that work by Qaysarī (d. 1350).

In 1929, Imām Khomeinī married, and a year later his first son, Mustafā, was born. Over the course of the years, two other sons and four daughters were born. Mustafā would grow up to be killed in Iraq by agents of the Shāh. The youngest son Sayyid Ahmad, would become a secretary to his father, and afterward, a political leader in his own right.

Recalling his years as a student in Qum, Imām Khomeinī himself has publicly commented on the hostility toward mysticism and philosophy which was to be found in certain quarters in Qum, feelings which are still harbored by some members of the clergy. The story is often repeated that when Imām had begun teaching philosophy in Qum and his first son was a small child, some seminarians felt it necessary to perform a ritual cleansing of a cup from which the child had drunk water because of his impurity as the son of a teacher of philosophy! Imām reports that his teacher, Shāhābādī, sought to oppose this hostility by making people familiar with the doctrines of the mystics so they could see for themselves that there was nothing inimical to Islam in the teachings of the gnostics:

Once a group of merchants came to see the late Shāhābādī (may God have mercy on him), and he began to speak to them on the same mystical topics that he taught to everyone. I asked him whether it was appropriate to speak to them of such matters and he replied: “Let them be exposed just once to these heretical teachings! I too now find it incorrect to divide people into categories and pronounce some incapable of understanding these matters.”

One of the most dramatic efforts of Imām Khomeinī to bring mysticism to the people occurred after the Islamic Revolution with his Lectures on Sūrah al-Fātihah from which the above report has been quoted. After the Revolution, there were televised lessons on the interpretation of the Qur’an by Āyatullāh Tāleqānī.[6] When Āyatullāh Taleqānī died on September 10, 1979, about a half year after the victory of the revolution, the televised commentary on the Qur’an was taken up by a younger scholar. Imām Khomeinī suggested that a more senior authority might be sought for the program. After consulting among themselves, those responsible for the broadcast decided to request that Imām himself provide the commentary. Imām responded that if the cameras could be brought to his residence he would comply with the request. The result was the Lectures on Sūrah al-Fātihah, a stunning mystical interpretation of the opening verses of the Qur’an, in which one of the dominant themes was the claim that the whole world is a name of God. In these lectures Imām also contends that the philosophers of Islam, the mystics and the poets have used different terminologies to express the same insights, and he urges his viewers not to reject what is taught by members of these groups until they understand what is being expressed, even if the language used raises suspicions of heterodoxy. Thus, Imām’s preaching in this area was very much a plea for tolerance.

Imām Khomeinī’s emphasis on tolerance was not limited to mysticism and poetry. Imām Khomeinī’s teacher in Islamic jurisprudence, Shaykh Hā’erī, was succeeded in Qum by Āyātullāh Burūjerdī, who came to be recognized as the supreme authority on the subject. After the death of Āyatullāh Burūjerdī, in 1961, Imām Khomeinī came to be recognized as one of several supreme experts in Islamic jurisprudence, a marjā‘-e taqlīd. In this role, Imām Khomeinī issued a number of decrees which were looked upon with suspicion by more conservative clerics. Many of the religious scholars in both Sunnī and Shi‘ite legal schools have ruled that music and chess are forbidden activities. Imām Khomeinī ruled that some forms of music are permissible and that playing chess is not contrary to Islamic law. As a result, interest in traditional Iranian music has thrived since the Revolution. Imām Khomeinī has also encouraged women to play an expanded role in society, to the chagrin of more conservative interpreters of Islamic law.

To Western observers it may seem paradoxical that the very same man who preached tolerance with respect to the perceived challenges to orthodoxy posed by philosophy, mysticism, poetry, and music, should also have been so intolerant toward the proponents of Westernization, toward the form of Marxism propagated in the name of Islam by the People’s Mojahiden Organization (PMOI), and toward those who, like Salman Rushdie, would insult the Prophet of Islam or his family. The apparent contradiction is removed once it is recognized that Imām Khomeinī did not value tolerance for its own sake, but for the sake of Islam. Central to Imām Khomeinī’s understanding of Islam is gnosis, ‘irfān. In Sunnī Islam, the exoteric and esoteric dimensions of religion have been kept largely distinct, with the esoteric mostly confined to the Sufi orders. In Shi‘ite Islam, there has been a long tradition in which many of the practices and teachings of the Sufis have been integrated into the religious life and thought of an important segment of the official clergy. Those form of mysticism, or gnosis, draws upon the Sufi theory of Ibn al-‘Arabī, the philosophical mysticism of Sadr ad-Dīn Shīrāzī[7] (d. 1640) and Hādī Sabzewārī[8] (d. 1878), both of whom were Shi‘ite clerics, and the poetic expression of mysticism by Mawlāwī Jalāl ad-Dīn ar-Rūmī[9] (d. 1273) and Hāfiz[10] (d. 1391). The poetry is often set to music. Because of political and religious repression, those involved in ‘irfān often had to keep their teachings underground. Imām Khomeinī, in line with sentiments his reports having been expressed by his teacher Shāhābādī, sought to initiate a process through which ‘irfān could become public. This process was not to be a sudden revolution. His own works on ‘irfān were not very widely distributed during his lifetime, but a persistent emphasis on the mystical elements of Shi‘te thought were interspersed among the more popular political declaration, and may be found in The Greatest Jihād, as well.

The revolutionary Islamic movement led by Imām Khomeinī may even be viewed as the exoteric dimension of the impetus to reveal Islamic mysticism to the public. The Islamic revolution was a means to bring Islam into public life, from which it was being marginalized during the reign of the Shāh. The process of making Islam central to public life was also resisted by conservative religious groups, who saw in this movement a departure from tradition. Imām Khomeinī argued that the guardian jurist of Islamic law had the authority to modify the traditional understanding of the law in order to protect the Islamic order. Conservatives would argue that any break from tradition could only bring deviation from Islamic order. The kind of judgment required by Imām Khomeinī’s vision of Islamic government is one which goes beyond what is provided for in traditional discussions of Islamic jurisprudence. It is a kind of wisdom, however, which can be expected of the ‘perfect man’, the insān kāmil, the goal of personal development in the mystic tradition.

An example of the way in which his political awareness demanded a tolerance not found among more conservative clerics may be found in his attitudes toward Sunnī Islam. In traditional Shi‘ite circles it would not be considered permissible for a Shi‘ite to stand behind a Sunnī prayer leader. Imām Khomeinī ruled that such prayer was valid, and even himself publicly participated in ritual prayer behind a Sunnī cleric.

Thus, the flexibility and tolerance which characterized Imām Khomeinī’s thought do not stem from the libertarian element in Islamic thought, but from a commitment to a movement from the esoteric to exoteric dimensions of Islamic life, a movement which demanded the implementation of Islamic law as well as the propagation of mystical ideas.

Imām Khomeinī’s attitudes toward mysticism and politics are especially well illustrated by his invitation to President Gorbachev to embrace Islam. On January 7, 1989, Imām Khomeinī sent a delegation to Moscow led by Āyatullāh Jawād Āmulī who presented Imām’s letter of invitation to President Gorbachev.[11] In the letter, Imām Khomeinī congratulated Gorbachev for his admission of the failures of communism, and he suggested that the Soviet leader consider the alternative to communist ideology posed by Islam. In order to acquaint the Russian leader with Islam, Imām Khomeinī recommended the works of the philosophers Fārābī and Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), and the mystic, Ibn al-‘Arabī. Conservative clerics were incensed that Imām should choose to represent Islamic thought through the works of philosophers and a Sufi, instead of works of jurisprudence and traditional devotional literature. President Gorbachev politely declined the invitation to convert, although he said that he would consider the importance of spiritual values in society. Imām Khomeinī appears to have been genuinely disappointed that the response was not affirmative, and when a Soviet delegate read Gorbachev’s reply to Imām Khomeinī in Tehran, Imām repeatedly interrupted with criticism of the views expressed in the letter. Such unconventional diplomacy demonstrates Imām’s propagation, despite criticism from the clergy which he championed. It also provides an indication of the unusual way in which mysticism and politics were combined in the thinking of Imām Khomeinī.

Imām wrote several works which treated mystical topics, or which treated topics in a way characteristic of the mystical tradition. Their titles are suggestive: Commentary on the Supplication before Dawn (Sharh ad-Du‘ā as-Sahar), The Lamp of Guidance to Vicegerency and Guardianship (Misbāh al-Hidāyat alā’l-Khilāfat wal-Wilāyah), The Countenance of Allah (Liqā’ Allāh), The Secret of Prayer: Prayers of the Gnostics or Ascension of the Wayfarers (Sirr as-Salāt: Salāt al-‘Ārifīn yā Mi‘rāj as-Sālikīn), Annotation to the Commentary on ‘Bezels of Wisdom’ (Ta’liqāt alā Sharh al-Fusus al-Hikam), Annotation to the Commentary on ‘The Lamp of Intimacy’ (Ta’liqāt alā Sharh al-Misbāh al-Uns), two books of commentaries and annotations to another commentary on a collection of reports regarding the Prophet and Imāms called Ras al-Jālūt, Lectures on Sūrah al-Fātihah, Marginalia to ‘The Journeys’ (Hāshiyeh alā’l-Asfār), Disciplines of the Prayer (Ādāb as-Salāt), Commentary on Forty Sayings of the Prophet and Imāms (Chehel Hadīth).

After he became a marjā‘-e taqlīd, political events dominated the life of Imām Khomeinī. In 1963, the Shāh’s forces massacred thousands who protested against the dictatorship. Imām Khomeinī was arrested for his inflammatory speeches and was taken to Tehran. Later he was released with the announcement that he had agreed to refrain from further political activity. He denied that he had made any such agreement and was picked up again. He was taken to an unknown destination by car. When the car turned off the main highway, it is reported that Imām imagined that he would be assassinated in a remote quarter of the desert. He felt his heart to see if it was racing, but found out that it was calm. He narrated that he was never afraid. He was taken to a small airstrip where a plane waited to take him to exile in Turkey. The following year his place of exile was changed to the shrine city of Najaf in southern Iraq. Imām Khomeinī remained in Najaf for fourteen years, and it was during these years that the lectures collected under the title, Jihād al-Akbar were delivered. In 1978, the Shāh put pressure on the Ba‘athist government in Iraq to expel Āyatullāh Khomeinī. After being refused asylum at the airport in Kuwait, Imām commented that he would spend his life traveling from one airport to another, but that he would not be keep silence. Finally, he was admitted to France, where he resided at Neauphle-le-Chāteaux, outside Paris. In February 1979, he returned triumphantly to Iran and the Islamic Republic was launched.

Imām Khomeini was revered for the simplicity of his life-style and for his rigorous attention to even supererogatory details of Islamic ritual. He is said to have always faced Mecca when he performed ablutions. He preferred to purchase the less expensive shoes. If he drank half a glass of water, he would put a piece of paper over it to keep the dust out and save the rest for later. Some claim that he had a special relation with the twelfth Imām, the Mahdī, peace be upon him, the awaited one who will defeat injustice prior to the final judgment. Such claims are also part of the mystical tradition of Shi‘ite Islam.