Early Life
Ruhollah Khomeini was born in Kohmeyn in central Iran in 1900. At a young age, Khomeini's father was killed at the orders of his landlord, shortly afterwards Khomeini's mother and his aunt died, leaving only his older brother Mortaza to raise him (BBC Khomeini-Ayatollah 2014 & Britannica Ruhollah-Khomeini 2019). In 1922 he began to rigorously study Islam and moved to Qom, Iran's intellectual center for Shīʿite Islam. He quickly became a prominent scholar about Islamic law, philosophy, and ethics, but what would ultimately attract the most attention to his was his outspoken opposition to Iran's leader, Mohammed Reza Shah, and his advocacy for Islamic purity that caused him to gain the most followers (Britannica Ruhollah-Khomeini 2019). In 1962 Khomeini was arrested by Reza Shah's security forces and in 1964 he fled the country, living for 13 years in Turkey, Iraq, and France where he encouraged his supporters to overthrow the Shah (Britannica Ruhollah-Khomeini 2019).
Political Career
In 1979, Khomeini returned to Iran in triumph as Mohammed Reza Shah was forced into exile. Four days later Khomeini announced the formation of a new government. A national referendum that took place in April overwhelmingly appointed Khomeini as Iran's Ayatollah, a religious leader with supreme power for life. In his early career as leader, Khomeini worked quickly to declare strict Islamic law and to enact revenge on members of Reza Shah's regime, he reportedly killed hundreds of people within a year (BBC Khomeini-Ayatollah 2014). Those who were not publicly executed by the new government were systematically imprisoned and oftentimes killed later. In the first years of his government he banned western music and alcohol, and required that women were always veiled in public. Punishments described by Islamic law were implemented nationwide. Khomeini's foreign policy stance was to take up a hostile stance with both superpowers at the time, the U.S. and the Soviet Union. He sanctioned military forces to siege a U.S. embassy in Iran, straining diplomatic relations between the two countries to a breaking point that would last up through the early 2000s (Britannica Ruhollah-Khomeini 2019). He also tried to encourage nearby countries to adopt Iran's new brand of Shīʿite Islamic principals. Later in his career, Khomeini provoked international controversy by ordering a "fatwa", which ordered muslims to kill the author of "The Satanic Verses," a book criticizing Khomeini and Islamic law (BBC Khomeini-Ayatollah 2014). Until his death in 1989 Khomeini maintained a cult-like following who worshipped him and his ideals as the supreme religious leader. He was laid to rest in a gold tomb in a cemetery that has since become a shrine for his supporters (Britannica Ruhollah-Khomeini 2019).
Historical Significance
Ruhollah Khomeini was the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and the countries first supreme leader. He was the man who wrote the countries constitution and organized a system of government in stark contrast to the system held in place by former dictator Mohammed Reza Shah. During his time as Iran's supreme leader he made decisions that would impact the country up until the modern day. Decisions that Khomeini made, such as his handling of the U.S. embassy hostage crisis, his execution of hundreds, and various other actions would put Iran in the international spotlight where it remains today and would impact the countries politics heavily on both a domestic and global level.
The inside of the mausoleum dedicated to Ruhollah Khomeini.