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Since the spectacular victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, on Feb. 11, 1979,
the most fascinating question on my mind and probably yours too has been this: “Could
there come another Imam Khomeini?”
This question for me and probably for many others became even more profound,
immediately after the passing away of Imam Khomeini on June 3, 1989.
The logical answers to this question may be many yeses or no’s, as we shall see
after this brief study, yet to me, the most beautiful answer is given by that emotional
singer who said: “there may come many other summers, but there will never come
another you!”.
But seriously speaking, could there come another Imam Khomeini? The answer is
both yes and no.
Just to explain further, let me quote here a very well known saying or Hadith from
the Holy Prophet Mohammad (S.A.W.) who said: “Allah (S.W.T.) shall raise a Grand
Reformer, in every century, to straighten the affairs of the Muslim Ummah”. (Ref. all
major Books of Hadith).
Under the light of this futuristic Hadith, we can see many great leaders, who came
and lead the Muslims in the most crucial times of the life of the ummah.
Among those great personalities is Salahud Din Ayyubi. “Saladdin the
Magnificent” (1138-1193 A. D.), the Kurdish Persian leader who finally defeated the
western Crusaders and their local allies and saved the Muslims from the total annihilation
in the Holy Land, ending a 300 years of conflict in 1887 A.D.
then came another great man, this time an extra ordinary scholar and scientist by
the name of Khawja Naseer Ad-Din Tousi (13th century A.D.) who tamed the Monguls
Hords, before they could turn the Islamic civilization into another “Mongulistan”.
In recent history, there came another great Islamic reformer, by the name of
Sayyid Jamal Ad-Din Asad-Abadi, 1838-1897 A.D. (known as Afghani) an outstanding
intellectual, religious and political activist who sounded the alarm among the Muslim
Ummah, and who brought the message of “back-to Islam into the Arab world, starting
with Egypt in the 19th century”, which is still on going until today. (Ref. The International
Herald Tribune, Jan.12/ 2005).
The interesting thing about this man, who brought the Islamic awareness to the
Arab world and to the other Muslims, is that he was not even Arab, but a Persian from the
town of Asad-Abad, in Hamadan Province of Iran.
Then came Ayatullah Mirza Shirazi (1815-1890 A.D.) whose famous Fatwa
against the Tobacco Consumption broke the back of the British Colonial Enterprise
(British East Indies Company 1600-1858) not only in Persia but throughout the Middle
East as well. We may add to this list the names of Sheikh Mohammad Abdoh of Egypt
(an outstanding student of Jamal Ad-Din Asad-Abadi, who later on became the Mufti of
Egypt and the rector of the 1000 year old University of Al Azhar in Cairo. Also Hasan
Al-Banna, the revolutionary founder of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, who got his
ideas from Abdoh and Asad-Abadi.
After them came Dr. Mohammad Iqbal, the great Indian Muslim scholar,
Philosopher-poet, whose bright idea was the creation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,
from the British dominated India in 1947.
Some other great names like the late Ayatullah Kashani, Nawwab Safavi (of the
Faddyin Islam) as well as Dr. Ali Shariati, etc. could be added to this list.