Khomeini Quotes

Ironically, even as Khomeini empowered some women, he also found ways of oppressing their entire gender. The regime replaced the shah's secular law with an Islamic law, which allowed men to marry up to four wives, to divorce them whenever the husbands wished, and to retain custody of children. The law put the value of a woman's life at half of that of a man's life, and the value of her testimony at half that of a man's testimony.
Thus women in Iran became watchdogs and scapegoats, both the foot soldiers of the new regime and its victims. Newly empowered, they were also newly oppressed. Theirs was a paradoxical plight - and at the time, no one could have foreseen how it would one day make women a force of enormous change in Iran. ~ Nazila Fathi

It's almost impossible to deal with a crazy man, except that he does have religious beliefs, and the world of Islam will be damaged if a fanatic like him should commit murder in the name of religion against 60 innocent people. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

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. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

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. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all ... There are hundreds of other [Koranic] psalms and Hadiths [sayings of Mohammed] urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim! ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

A man can have sexual pleasure from a child as young as a baby. However, he should not penetrate; sodomising the child is OK. If the man penetrates and damages the child then he should be responsible for her subsistence all her life. This girl, however, does not count as one of his four permanent wives. The man will not be eligible to marry the girl's sister. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

When anyone studies a little or pays a little attention to the rules of Islamic government, Islamic politics, Islamic society and Islamic economy he will realize that Islam is a very political religion. Anyone who will say that religion is separate from politics is a fool; he does not know Islam or politics. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

The leaders of the Pahlavi regime, in an attempt to forestall the rising tide of the Islamic revolutionary movement, were hard at work to cast doubt on the question of the Imam Khomeini's position as a Marja'a (a top religious authority) and in this way, undermine public faith in his academic, political and religious competence. ~ Yousef Saanei

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. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

Prior to his takeover of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini was camping near Paris, giving daily news conferences to a fawning international press corps without a murmur of complaint to France from the United States about the disaster it was coddling in the incredibly naive liberal belief that this extremist cleric would be an improvement over the Shah. ~ Alexander Haig

Those who say that we want nationality, they are standing against Islam ... We have no use for the nationalists. Moslems are useful for us. Islam is against nationality ... ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

The freedom-lovers of the world mourn the sad demise of Imam Khomeini. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

You young people yourselves are capable of performing anything. Our inventors can invent in a high level, Our innovators can innovate in a high level, only if they keep self confidence and believe that we can. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

If one commits the act of sodomy with a cow, an ewe, or a camel, their urine and their excrements become impure, and even their milk may no longer be consumed. The animal must then be killed and as quickly as possible and burned. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

If you have divine motives, material benefits will follow suit but they are no longer material; they have become divine. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

All those against the revolution must disappear and quickly be executed. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

It is better for a girl to marry in such a time when she would begin menstruation at her husband's house rather than her father's home. Any father marrying his daughter so young will have a permanent place in heaven. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

What country is stabler than Iran? Where else in the world would an assassinated prime minister be so quickly replaced? ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

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. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

The war against jihadism has been chronically misunderstood because of our failure to acknowledge the religious motives of Muslim jihadists. This failure began in 1979 with the Iranian revolution. Trapped in our Western secularist paradigms, we interpreted the uprising against the Shah as an anti-colonial revolt against a "brutal" autocrat propped up by the West for its own exploitative economic and geostrategic purposes. The aim of the revolution, the argument went, was to create a government more sympathetic to national sovereignty and Western pluralistic government. However, it soon became clear with the political triumph of the Ayatollah Khomeini that the revolution was in the main a religious one, inspired in part by anger at the Shah's secularization, modernization, and liberalization policies. As Khomeini said in 1962, the Shah's regime was "fundamentally opposed to Islam itself and the existence of a religious class. ~ Anonymous

If the religious leaders have influence, they will not permit girls and boys to wrestle together, as recently happened in Shiraz. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

While I would champion any campaign to support Muslim women who do not wish to cover. I would now also protest vigorously for the right of a woman to wear that covering, if it is what she wants and believes in. Ayatollah Khomeini and Jacques Chirac have much more in common than either of them would care to acknowledge. Each tried to solve overarching social problems by imposing his will on the bodies of women. ~ Geraldine Brooks

Americans are the great Satan, the wounded snake. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

In the Islamic Republic the rights of the religious minorities are respectfully regarded. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

The Imam throughout his life called America 'the Great Satan'. He believed that all the Muslims' problems were caused by America. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

Happy are those who have departed through martyrdom. Unhappy am I that I still survive ... Taking this decision is more deadly than drinking from a poisoned chalice. I submitted myself to Allah's will and took this drink for His satisfaction. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

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. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

You were invigorated by mindfulness of God, migration from oneself to God - which is the greatest migration - migration from ego to the truth, and from this world to the unseen world. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

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. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious. Islam does not allow swimming in the sea and is opposed to radio and television serials. Islam, however, allows marksmanship, horseback riding and competition. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

Should one permit an infidel to continue in his role as a Corrupter of the Earth, the moral suffering of the infidel will be all the worse. Should one kill the infidel, and this stops him from perpetrating his misdeeds, his death will be a blessing to him. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

In Iran's future Islamic system everyone can express their opinion, and the Islamic government will respond to logic with logic. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

One thing I congratulate everyone on is the great explosion which has occurred in Washington's Black House and the very important scandal which has gripped leaders of America. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

Again Khomeini expresses this divide between the West and traditional Islam: "Don't listen to those who speak of democracy. They all are against Islam. They want to take the nation away from its mission. We will break all the poison pens of those who speak of nationalism, democracy, and such things." The jihadists rampaging in Syria and Iraq agree, which is why their goal is to restore the caliphate under which Islam dominated the region for centuries. ~ Anonymous

The Islamic Revolution of Iran is honourable for it is the cry which has its origin in Ayatollah Khomeini's conscience. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

The only thing worse than a bad review from the Ayatollah Khomeini would be a good review from the Ayatollah Khomeini. ~ Salman Rushdie

The prophetic mission created a scientific-gnostic change in the world that converted the insipid Greek philosophies, which were formulated with all their past and present worth by the Greeks themselves into an objective mysticism and a veritable intuitive perception for masters of divine insight. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

We are not afraid of economic sanctions or military intervention. What we are afraid of is Western universities. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

In the world there is no democracy better than our democracy. Such a thing has never before been seen. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

Either we shake one another's hands in joy at he victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life, and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are hours. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

Only God, the Exalted, is the light; everything else is darkness. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

If a fly gets into the throat of one who is fasting, it is not necessary to pull it out. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

Khomeini has offered us the opportunity to regain our frail religion ... faith in the power of words. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

Without Khomeini, we would not be where we are. What a pity that, when pregnant with him, his mother did not choose to have an abortion. ~ Oriana Fallaci

The name of Khomeini will always remain in the new chapter of Iranian history. ~ Erich Honecker

Personal desire, age, and my health do not allow me to personally have a role in running the country [i.e. Iran] after the fall of the current system [of the Shah]. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini

We're not afraid of sanctions. We're not afraid of military invasion. What frightens us is the invasion of western immorality. ~ Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini

When the Islamic revolution began in 1979 under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, it aroused considerable admiration in the Arab street. It presented a model of organised popular action that deposed one of the region's most tyrannical regimes. The people of the region discerned in this revolution new hope for freedom and change. ~ Wadah Khanfar