Ruhollah Khomeini (1902 – 1989)
Iranian Islamic cleric, the political and religious leader of the Islamic Revolution which overthrew the Shah of Iran.
The name of Khomeini will always remain in the new chapter of Iranian history.
You think that Mr Khomeini, [an] uneducated person ... could have planned all this? Masterminded all this, set up all the organization? I know that one man alone could not have done it ... I know that a tremendous amount of money was spent ... I know that top experts in propaganda were used to show us like tyrants and monsters, and the other side as democratic liberal revolutionaries who want to save the country.
One should express his viewpoint regarding what he performed in his country and in a vast part of the world with great respect and deep thought.
Since Khomeini's death, the popular appeal of an Islamic state — and of fundamentalism — has surely dimmed. Thinkers still debate and warriors kill, but no country seems prepared to emulate Iran. Perhaps revolutions happen only under majestic leaders, and no one like Khomeini has since appeared.
Khomeini has offered us the opportunity to regain our frail religion ... faith in the power of words.
After the Shah's departure from Iran, I will not become a president nor accept any other leadership role. Just like before, I limit my activities only to guiding and directing the people.
Personal desire, age, and my health do not allow me to personally have a role in running the country after the fall of the current system.
These people are trying to bring back the regime of the late Shah or another regime. I will strike with my fists at the mouths of this government. From now on it is I who will name the government.
We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world.
The people will not rest until the Pahlavi rule has been swept away and all traces of tyranny have disappeared. As long as the Shah's satanic power prevails, not a single true representative of the people can possibly be elected.
In the Islamic government all people have complete freedom to have any kind of opinion.
The freedom-lovers of the world mourn the sad demise of Imam Khomeini.
If the religious leaders have influence, they will not permit girls and boys to wrestle together, as recently happened in Shiraz.
Islam's jihad is a struggle against idolatry, sexual deviations, plunder, repression, and cruelty. The war waged by [non-Muslim] conquerors, however, aims at promoting lust and animal pleasures. They care not if whole countries are wiped out and many families left homeless. But those who study jihad will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world. All the countries conquered by Islam or to be conquered in the future will be marked for everlasting salvation. For they shall live under [God's law].
In the world there is no democracy better than our democracy. Such a thing has never before been seen.
The Islamic Revolution of Iran is honourable for it is the cry which has its origin in Ayatollah Khomeini's conscience.
If one permits an infidel to continue in his role as a corrupter of the earth, the infidel's moral suffering will be all the worse. If one kills the infidel, and this stops him from perpetrating his misdeeds, his death will be a blessing to him.
Before the revolution I thought there are appropriate individuals who would do the job according to Islam, therefore I repeatedly said that clerics would go after their own job. Then I saw that most of them were inappropriate individuals and I found out that what I said was not true, so I came and clearly announced that I was wrong.
…the author of The Satanic Verses book which is against Islam, the Prophet and the Qu'ran, and all involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them wherever they find them, so that no one will dare to insult the Islamic sanctions. Whoever is killed on this path will be regarded as a martyr, God willing.