Ruhollah Khomeini remains one of the most consequential and polarizing figures of the twentieth century. Revered by millions as a revolutionary leader and religious guide, and condemned by others as an authoritarian ideologue, he reshaped Iran’s political system and altered the balance of power in the Middle East. To write about Khomeini is not simply to recount the life of one man, but to explore the collision of religion, politics, colonial legacies, and popular mobilization in the modern era. His life story reveals how ideas once confined to seminaries and theological debates could be transformed into a mass revolutionary force capable of overthrowing a monarchy and founding a new kind of state.
Early Life and Formation
Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was born on September 24, 1902, in the small town of Khomein in central Iran. His family lineage was deeply religious and traced back, according to tradition, to the Prophet Muhammad through the line of Imam Musa al-Kazim, the seventh Shiʿi Imam. This claim to sacred ancestry would later reinforce his authority among followers who viewed him not merely as a cleric, but as a figure embedded in Shiʿi history itself.
Khomeini’s early life was marked by violence and loss. His father, Seyyed Mostafa Musavi, was killed when Ruhollah was still an infant, reportedly during a dispute with local landlords. This early exposure to injustice and power abuse became a recurring theme in Khomeini’s later rhetoric, where tyrannical rulers and corrupt elites were cast as enemies of both religion and the people. Raised primarily by his mother and an aunt, both of whom died by the time he was a teenager, Khomeini grew up in a household where religious devotion was inseparable from personal hardship.
His formal religious education began in local schools before he moved to Arak and later Qom, which was emerging as Iran’s most important center of Shiʿi learning. In Qom, Khomeini studied under prominent scholars, immersing himself in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), philosophy, logic, and mysticism. Unlike some clerics who focused narrowly on law, Khomeini developed a broad intellectual profile that included a strong interest in Islamic philosophy and Sufism. This combination would later influence his political thought, blending strict legalism with a sense of divine mission.
A Cleric in a Changing Iran
The Iran of Khomeini’s early adulthood was undergoing profound transformation. Reza Shah Pahlavi, who came to power in 1925, pursued aggressive modernization and secularization policies inspired by Atatürk’s Turkey and European models. Traditional religious institutions were sidelined, clerical courts were weakened, and Western dress codes were imposed. While these reforms aimed to strengthen the state, they alienated many religious figures who saw them as assaults on Islam and Iranian identity.
During this period, Khomeini was not yet a prominent political actor. He focused on teaching and writing, producing works on ethics, mysticism, and jurisprudence. However, beneath this scholarly surface lay a growing hostility toward authoritarian rule and foreign influence, particularly British and later American involvement in Iranian affairs. The deposition of Reza Shah in 1941 by Allied forces and the subsequent political turbulence opened new space for political expression, including religious activism.
Khomeini’s political engagement intensified in the 1950s and early 1960s, especially in response to the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah, Reza Shah’s son. The younger Shah pursued land reforms, women’s suffrage, and closer ties with the United States under the banner of the “White Revolution.” While many Iranians welcomed aspects of modernization, Khomeini viewed these reforms as shallow, imposed from above, and designed to entrench royal power while eroding Islamic values.
Confrontation with the Shah
Khomeini emerged as a national figure in 1963 when he publicly denounced the Shah’s policies and condemned American influence in Iran. His speeches, delivered in mosques and religious gatherings, were unusually direct and confrontational. He accused the Shah of tyranny, subservience to foreigners, and betrayal of Islam. In a society where political dissent was tightly controlled, Khomeini’s status as a cleric offered a degree of protection and legitimacy that secular opponents lacked.
The regime responded by arresting him in June 1963, sparking widespread protests that were violently suppressed. Hundreds were killed, and Khomeini was eventually released but kept under surveillance. The confrontation reached a breaking point in 1964 when Khomeini condemned a law granting diplomatic immunity to American military personnel in Iran. He framed the law as a symbol of national humiliation, famously declaring that it reduced Iranians to the status of “American slaves.”
This speech led to his arrest and exile, first to Turkey and later to Najaf in Iraq. Exile, intended to silence him, instead transformed Khomeini into a symbol of resistance. From abroad, he continued to issue statements, religious rulings, and political guidance, which were smuggled into Iran and circulated among students, clerics, and activists.
The Theory of Guardianship of the Jurist
One of Khomeini’s most significant and controversial contributions was his articulation of velayat-e faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist). Traditional Shiʿi political thought generally held that legitimate political authority could not be fully realized in the absence of the Hidden Imam, who, according to Shiʿi belief, is in occultation. Clerics typically limited their role to legal and moral guidance rather than direct governance.
Khomeini challenged this view. In a series of lectures delivered in Najaf in the early 1970s, later published as Islamic Government, he argued that Islamic law could not be properly implemented without an Islamic state led by a qualified jurist. In his view, clerics had not only the right but the duty to assume political power in order to prevent injustice and ensure the application of divine law.
This idea was revolutionary within Shiʿi Islam. While some scholars supported elements of it, others strongly opposed it, fearing clerical authoritarianism and the politicization of religion. Nevertheless, velayat-e faqih provided a coherent ideological framework that distinguished Khomeini’s movement from both secular nationalism and traditional quietist clericalism.
The Road to Revolution
By the late 1970s, Iran was ripe for upheaval. Rapid modernization had produced economic inequality, urban dislocation, and cultural anxiety. The Shah’s regime, backed by a powerful security apparatus, tolerated little political opposition. Secular parties were suppressed, and liberal reforms were limited. In this environment, mosques and religious networks became the primary channels for dissent.
Khomeini, still in exile, became the unifying symbol of opposition. His messages, recorded on cassette tapes, spread rapidly across the country. They combined religious language with populist themes, denouncing corruption, foreign domination, and social injustice. Importantly, Khomeini avoided detailed policy prescriptions, allowing diverse groups—Islamists, leftists, nationalists, and ordinary citizens—to project their hopes onto him.
In January 1979, the Shah fled Iran amid massive protests. Two weeks later, Khomeini returned to Tehran after more than fourteen years in exile. His arrival was met by millions, an extraordinary display of popular support. Within months, the monarchy collapsed, and a referendum declared Iran an Islamic Republic.
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Khomeini’s role after the revolution was decisive. While various revolutionary factions initially competed for power, he quickly emerged as the supreme authority. The new constitution, approved by referendum in 1979, enshrined velayat-e faqih, granting the Supreme Leader ultimate authority over the state. Khomeini assumed this position, placing himself above elected institutions.
The early years of the Islamic Republic were marked by turmoil. Revolutionary courts executed former officials, political parties were purged, and opposition movements were crushed. Khomeini justified these measures as necessary to protect the revolution from internal and external enemies. Critics, however, saw them as the foundation of a repressive system that betrayed the revolution’s promise of justice and freedom.
The 1979–1981 hostage crisis, in which Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, further radicalized the regime. Khomeini endorsed the takeover, framing it as a blow against American imperialism. The crisis isolated Iran internationally but consolidated revolutionary power at home by marginalizing moderates and strengthening hardliners.
The Iran–Iraq War
Perhaps the most defining event of Khomeini’s leadership was the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988). When Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Iran, Khomeini portrayed the conflict as a sacred defense of Islam and the revolution. The war mobilized millions, including young volunteers who saw martyrdom as a religious duty.
Khomeini’s decision to continue the war even after Iranian forces regained lost territory remains deeply controversial. He insisted that Saddam must be removed and that justice demanded perseverance. The prolonged conflict devastated both countries, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and immense economic damage.
In 1988, facing exhaustion and internal pressure, Khomeini accepted a UN-brokered ceasefire, likening it to “drinking poison.” This phrase captured both his personal anguish and the limits of ideological resolve in the face of material reality.
The Salman Rushdie Fatwa
In 1989, Khomeini issued a religious decree calling for the death of British-Indian author Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses was deemed blasphemous by many Muslims. The fatwa shocked the world and intensified debates over freedom of expression, religious authority, and transnational violence.
Supporters viewed the decree as a defense of Islam’s sanctity, while critics saw it as an incitement to murder and a symbol of intolerance. The fatwa underscored Khomeini’s belief that Islamic authority transcended national borders and that religious offense warranted the severest punishment.
Death and Legacy
Ruhollah Khomeini died on June 3, 1989, just months after issuing the Rushdie fatwa. His funeral was one of the largest in history, with millions attending. The scale of public mourning testified to his enduring charisma and the deep emotional bond he had forged with many Iranians.
Assessing Khomeini’s legacy is complex. To supporters, he was a liberator who overthrew a corrupt, Western-backed monarchy and restored Islamic values and national independence. To critics, he was an architect of authoritarianism whose ideas curtailed political pluralism, suppressed dissent, and institutionalized clerical dominance.
Beyond Iran, Khomeini’s impact was global. He inspired Islamist movements across the Muslim world and challenged the prevailing assumption that religion would fade from politics. At the same time, his model of governance provoked fear and resistance, shaping decades of geopolitical tension between Iran and the West.
Conclusion
Ruhollah Khomeini was not merely a religious leader or a political revolutionary; he was a figure who redefined the relationship between faith and power in the modern age. His life illustrates how deeply held beliefs, when combined with historical opportunity and mass mobilization, can transform societies. Whether viewed as a hero, a villain, or a tragic figure, Khomeini’s influence continues to shape Iran and resonate far beyond its borders. Understanding him requires grappling with uncomfortable questions about authority, ideology, and the costs of revolutionary change—questions that remain as relevant today as they were during the tumultuous years of his rise to power.
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