Ruhollah Khomeini Quotes


We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry 'There is no God but God' resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle…. Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution.


Citations

Ruhollah Khomeini, 1900-1989, Iranian High Cleric (Ayatollah) & Revolutionary Leader, Quoted in Elmer Swenson, Ayatollah Khomeini's Gems of Islamism

Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations

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While the vast majority of Muslims had little or no thought of Islam ruling or even dominating the non-Muslim part of the world. But of the minority of the Islamic Religious Extremists, most saw a struggle with the Christians, Jews, and other religions of the world until Islam ruled the world—an outcome which most saw as inevitable.


The Caliph in the past was the religious and secular leader of all Muslims. Many of the fundamentalist terrorists have as their objective, the reestablishment of the Caliphate which will unite all Islamic countries under one leader who is both the secular and religious supreme authority—a religious and a civil dictatorship. Most Muslims, like most people of all religions, are not terrorists and believe that much of terrorist activity violates many basic tenets of Islam. However, in order to function, the terrorist must have the tacit support of sufficient numbers of people so that they can function without being exposed. That is an important objective for Al-Qaeda: to enlist sufficient numbers of ordinary people who although they will not commit the terrorist acts, will support the objectives of the terrorists and provide money, shelter, and other services.


Here Khomeini takes the classic Islamic view of the Koran that leaders should be obeyed unless they do not follow Islam. To the leaders of Islamic nations, this means that even if the state is not a theocracy, the Muslim clergy has the final say as to whether a ruler may justly remain in power since they are the ones who determine if a ruler is properly following Islam.


This quotation illustrated the extreme polarization between the current fundamentalist Muslims, and the Muslim modernists and the West. Kamal Ataturk, the great leader and stateman who is the father of modern Turkey, is castigated by the author for leading the new Turkish parliament to depose the Caliph – the civil and religious autocrat, one of whom reigned from after the death of Muhammad till his abolishment in 1924. Most of the rest of the world credits Ataturk with being one of the great leaders of all time—one who led a democratic revolution which transformed Turkey into the only Muslim secular democracy, requiring pubic secular European type education for all children, giving women the right to vote (before the U. S. even), adopting a European alphabet and dress, and outlook on life—creating most remarkably a total cultural revolution with virtually no loss of life. No revolutionary leader, before or since has led so extensive a political and cultural revolution, and it was a bloodless revolution. Turkey, into the 21st century, was by far the most powerful, industrialized, scientific and modern nation of Muslims in the world and others were far behind. Yet many Islamic theologian still castigate Atatork for his great achievements as being against the will of God.


Religious obligation of Islam requires all Muslims to try and convert all others. However that is not different from some of the Christian, fundamentalist religions where attempted conversion of non-believers is a duty. However, where many in the Islamic world see that obligation as a peaceful, nonviolent, effort to persuade others to accept Islam, there are many others who believe that Jihad should impose Islamic law—Sharia—upon the world and the use of force and violence is not only acceptable but is necessary and desirable to achieve their objection.


This sura is interpreted by some Islamic fundamentalists as absolution for the killing of a non-Muslim by a Muslim. It was Allah who did it. In a greater sense, critics of Islam observe that many Muslims and Islamic nations have a double standard of responsibility for crimes. If the victims are Muslims, the normal standards of morality hold; but if a non-believer there can be no crime. Terrorism, torture, beheading, mass murder can all be done with a clean conscience if a Muslim takes this interpretation of this sura. Many Muslims however take an opposite point of view. These people do not have the concept of fatalism and lack of free will that others believe. There is a parallel to this problem in Judeo Christian countries although it is less common statistically. But the murder of physicians who perform abortions, and the Jewish radical fundamentalist who killed innocent Arabs at worship are examples of people who viewed themselves as instruments of God in their heinous activities.


This is actually a very widespread belief amongst many Muslims. Even sophisticated national leaders do not appreciate that other religions have adherents who feel just as passionately about their own religion. See {588668} for another example where Muslim leaders believe that if Jewish Kings David and Solomon came back to life they would worship Islam.


Gordon himself was killed shortly thereafter by the Madhi’s followers at the siege of Khartoum. Ahmed died soon thereafter. Although Ahmed was an extreme religious fanatic, and a skillful leader, he was not a terrorist.


Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini
  • Born: May 17, 1900
  • Died: June 3, 1989
  • Nationality: Islam
  • Profession: Statesman

Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, also known in the Western world as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian political and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the end of the 2,500-year-old Persian monarchy. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's Supreme Leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. Most of his reign was taken up by the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei on 4 June 1989.