Encyclopedia of Islam

Khomeini, Ruhollah

 

(Ayatollah Khomeini, 

Khumayni, Khomeyni)

 

(1902–1989)  the most 

important Shii leader and jurist of the 20th century, 

founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979

Ruhollah Khomeini was born in the central Ira-

nian town of Khomein. He came from a family 

of Twelve-Imam Shii jurists that claimed to be 

sayyids, descendants of the prophet m

Uhammad

Khomeini, Ruhollah

  

433  J

---

(d. 632) through the seventh Imam, Musa al-

Kazim (d. 799). Khomeini’s father was murdered 

shortly after he was born. He was raised by his 

mother and paternal aunt until both died when 

he was about 17. His elder brother Murtaza, a 

religious scholar, also cared for him and tutored 

him in Arabic grammar.

Khomeini began his 

edUcation

 in a govern-

ment school, but he also attended a religious 

school (maktab) and memorized the q

Uran

 while 

still a child. In 1920, with the encouragement of 

his brother, he went to the Shii 

madrasa

 in Arak, 

a town near Isfahan, to study with Ayatollah Abd 

al-Karim Hairi Yazdi (d. 1936), one of the leading 

scholars in i

ran

 at the time. He and fellow stu-

dents followed Ayatollah Hairi Yazdi to the Shii 

shrine city of Qom the following year. There he 

studied Islamic jurisprudence (

fiqh

), in addition 

to Quran commentary and 

hadith

, at the feet of 

leading Iranian religious scholars. In addition to 

his formal studies in Islamic law, he also immersed 

himself in the study of Gnostic mysticism (irfan), 

philosophy, ethics, and Persian poetry. He was 

known for his ability to quote for hours by heart 

from the works of Persian mystical poets such as 

J

alal

 

al

-d

in

 r

Umi

 (d. 1273), Saadi (d. ca. 1291), 

and Hafiz (d. ca. 1380). Under the guidance of 

Mirza Muhammad Ali Shahabadi (d. 1950) he 

became fascinated by the writings of the Anda-

lusian Sufi M

Uhyi

 

al

-d

in

 

ibn

 

al

-a

rabi

 (d. 1240) 

and the Persian visionary Sadr al-Din Shirazi (also 

known as Mullah Sadra, d. 1641). The interest he 

showed for these subjects distinguished him from 

other students and teachers, who regarded such 

topics as secondary at best, after study of law and 

other traditional madrasa subjects. At the age of 

27 Khomeini married Batul, the daughter of an 

ayatollah from Tehran. They had five 

children

—

three daughters and two sons.

During the 1930s Khomeini completed his 

advanced studies and became a 

mujtahid

 in the 

Usuli tradition of Shii jurisprudence in Qom. 

This school of legal thought regarded the jurist as 

a living representative of the 12th Imam during 

his Occultation (

ghayba

), in contrast to the Akh-

bari School, which emphasized imitation (taqlid) 

of the Shii Imams and the traditions of the past. 

Mujtahids could exercise authority (wilaya) with 

respect to the needs of widows and orphans, the 

administration of pious endowments and religious 

institutions (mosques, shrines, madrasas), and 

the general welfare of the community. In general 

they were to uphold the Islamic ethical prin-

ciple of “commanding the right and forbidding 

the wrong.” Khomeini refrained from engaging 

overtly in politics at the time, deferring to senior 

leaders of the Shii religious establishment, some 

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on the eve of his return 

to Iran in 1979 

(AP Photos)

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