You are on page 1of 6

Could There Come Another Imam Khomeini?

Ms. Tajar Ed.D.


Former Lecturer
University of the Philippines

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.

But Imam Khomeini was different.


While we have had many visionaries of the Islamic awareness, and the idea of the
establishment of an Islamic State, with its own laws and an independent government, yet
no other Muslim leader in recent memory has succeeded in the realization of this ideal as
did Imam Khomeini in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
It was very astonishing and so unbelievable that a religious man, with no previous
experiences in governing or the use of arms or the military power, could defeat the
strongest army in the Middle East, which boasted of the “Peacock Throne” and the 2500
years of the Persian Empire (the first empire in the world according to the American
Historian, Mr. Philip Groisser- see “World History” New York, 1970-p.17)
The revolution shocked the super powers of the East and the West (the U.S.A. and
the Soviet Union of the Yore).
It was a great inspiration to the suffering peoples of the Middle East, with their
helpless attitude towards their own foreign and local oppressors, so much so that when
the Islamic Revolution succeeded in Iran, they could not believe their own eyes!
That’s why Ahmad Ben Bella, the father of the Algerian Revolution (1963 A.D.)
called the Iran’s Islamic Revolution: “The miracle of our age!” (Ref. Time magazine,
Apr.16, 1979, also the International Herald Tribune, Sept.4, 2002).
But to me, the more meaningful statement came from the Sheikh of Saudi Arabia
(the Wahhabis, who are the mortal enemies of the Shiah Islam). He was heading the
Saudi Ulama Delegation to Iran, representing the King Khalid of Saudi Arabia, to visit
and to congratulate Imam Khomeini, in the Holy City of Qum, immediately after the
victory of the Islamic Revolution. The Saudi Sheikh said, and I quote: “Ya Imam! Kunna
azillaa, wa a-azzanal-lahu-bik!” (O, Imam! We were all humiliated, but Allah, through
you, gave us dignity and honor!”) (Ref. lecture of the Saudi Delegation to the Holy City
of Qum, to visit the late Imam Khomeini in (1979).

Defeating a Big Army without any Arms?


When a naughty journalist in France asked the late Imam: “Your holiness! Do you
have enough arms to defeat the strongest and biggest army in the Middle East, i.e. the
army of the Shah of Iran?” His answer was equally sharp, as he replied: “We don’t have
any arms now, and we don’t want to use arms as much as possible, but if need be, we
know how to get them!”
He defeated the army of the Shah with the help of the millions of the Iranian men
and women and the children, who were all demonstrating in the streets! (Now, where are
those who said that the “Philippine people power of 1986” against Marcos dictatorship
was the first people power in Asia, when in fact it took place some eight years after the
1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran?).
A Comparison between Iran and Philippine Revolutions
The unique similarity between the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979 and the
Philipines “people power revolution of 1986 could be that both of them were people
powers, and both of them overthrew the two dictatorships, which were subservient to the
American super power, and both of them had the religious leaders and the religious
masses to support them.
But then, the similarities stop there, and the glaring differences start to show up.
For instance, while the Islamic Revolution of Iran started from the masses and the
religious leadership until it brought down the military of the Shah, the “Philippine People
power” started by the military and especially the same general and ministers who were
themselves the architects of the dictatorship and the martial law, and its administrators
until the last minute, and they were the direct partners of the Marcos dictatorship- i.e.
Gen. Fidel Ramos and Minister Juan Ponce Enrile.
(That military revolt was most probably orchestrated by the CIA and the U.S.
administration under the Republican Roland Reagan, who even claimed the credit for it,
and his vice president George Bush Sr., a former CIA “Cappo Di Tutti Cappi”, who used
to tell the Marcoses; “ We love your democracy.”)
This, plus another undeniable fact that it was actually the U.S. helicopters from
the U.S. air bases in the Philippines, which snatched the Marcos family from the
Malacanang Palace and instead of taking them to Paoay, they hijacked them to Hawaii!
(And now they call others, terrorists and hijackers!).
And while the Islamic Revolution of Iran turned the old establishment upside
down, by removing the entire ruling classes and the royal families, the top generals and
the crony capitalists, the Philippine Revolution passed the power from one Ongpin to
another Ongpin, but it still stayed in the China town, it changed from one Ayala to
another Ayala, but it still stayed in the hands of the same Spanish mestiso class that have
been ruling this country for over 400 years, both politically and financially, it gave the
power from one political dynasty to another political dynasty, and from one corporate
interest to another corporate interest, and the real winner of the whole events was
America, while in the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the biggest loser was America (as well
as the Soviet Union and their camps.)

Role of Religion in the Philippine revolution


Another close similarity between the two people power revolutions could also be
the important roles that the religious authorities of the two nations played in the success
of the two mass movements.
While in Islamic Revolution of Iran, the late Imam Khomeini and the Muslim
clergy were leading the Iranian people, in the Philippines, the Archbishop of Manila, the
late Cardinal Sin, and the Catholic Church were also active, supporting the Military
revolt of the then Gen. Ramos and the Defense Minister Enrile. (Meanwhile, the U.S.
inspired Protestant Churches, like the 700 club, under Mr. Pat Robertson, The American
“Evangelist” who came from the U.S. Air force to preach the Bible according to the
Uncle Sam! kept quiet and the Filipino Protestant pastors also stayed loyal to their
American teachers by keeping quiet, and saying nothing against the dictatorship of the
Marcoses, and their U.S. backers in the White House. Both sides claimed to believe in the
separation of the church and the state, yet the state continued to make all the laws that
violated the religion but the religion could not even announce any ruling that might
violate the laws of the state! That’s how one sided this rule is in favor of Caesar vs. God!
And the Mammon vs. the Masses.
Therefore, when Cardinal Sin and some other conscientious priests and nuns
demonstrated against the Marcoses dictatorship and the U.S. approved martial law, the
violations of the Human Rights, and the U.S. military bases in the Philippines soil, the
cardinal was called “the Ayatullah Khomeini of the Philippines” and those priests and
nuns were called “liberals, communists etc. who are trying to bring the Liberation
Theology of Latin America into the country.”
There were many other religious leaders (both Muslims and non-Muslims) around
the world, who were labeled as the Ayatullah Khomeinis of their own countries (like
Seyyid Hassan Nasrallah of Lebanon, today) but I still continue asking myself the same
question: could there be another Imam Khomeini?
My own answer is: If you mean of the same mind and attitude, maybe; but of that
stature, probably never. The reasons are many, but the most important reason to me is
this: Imam Khomeini was the best product of a school of thought, which is the Shiah
Islam that believes in the Supremacy of God Almighty and the leadership of the spiritual
individuals with no separation of the church and the state. That’s exactly the teaching and
beliefs of all the heavenly religions (not materialism, humanism and other man-made
isms). from the time of the Prophet Moses (A.S.) the Law Giver, up to the Prophet
Solomon (A.S.) the Just Ruler, and many other righteous judges after him, down to the
Prophet Mohammad (S.A.W.) who combined all those virtues and excellent qualities in
himself.
Therefore, in those countries that don’t believe in the Union of the Spiritual and
the State, God and His people, heaven and the House of Representatives, there is no way
to have another Imam Khomeini, even if once in a while some priests carry a cross here
and there for a few tempestuous days to help some rebellious soldiers or disgruntled
generals of the army or ministers who got lesser shares of the looting of the nation, etc.
and after a few days those priests went back to their own churches to pray and again let a
new group of the old politicians plunder the population and play the politics as usual,
while what the nation needed very badly was a change!

How about in the Muslim World?


Well, if the Muslim countries also follow the traditions of the Godly Prophets like
Moses (A.S.) Solomon (A.S.) and our own beloved Prophet Mohammad (S.A.W.) and
they establish the rule of Imamate (the continuity of the Spiritual leadership after the
Holy Prophet, as the Shiah Muslims believe and do) then it is possible. But if they also
insist on the separation of the church and the state, or the Khilafat (like the Othoman of
Turkey did) then there will be nothing more than the politicians who also will be
practicing the separation of the Spiritual from the Practical as their peers in the western
world are doing.
So, I believe that in no other Sunni Muslim State like Pakistan, Malaysia or even
Indonesia up to Egypt and Saudi Arabia and beyond, there are any possibilities of another
Imam Khomeini or another Islamic Revolution. However, it maybe possible that in the
Shiah regions of the Muslim world like Lebanon, Ira, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Yemen, etc.
there may come another Imam, to lead the Muslims into the establishment of an Islamic
government as did the late Imam Khomeini in Iran, but still there will never be another
Imam Khomeini!
Let me again repeat my favorite line once again, that says:
“There may come many other summers, but there will never come another you!”
References:
Ameed Dictionary (Persian) Iran 1975
Al-maurid Dictionary (Arabic) Lebanon, 1980
Webster Dictionary (English) USA, 1957
Time Magazine, USA, 1980
International Herald Tribune USA< 2005/2008
Al-Kafi by Kolaini (the Shiah Book of Hadith)
Al-Bukhari, by Al-Bukhari (Sunni Book of Hadith)
World History, by Philip Groisser, USA, 1970

You might also like