An Islamic scholar and influential Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was the spiritual and political architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which toppled Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the final Shah of Iran. In the revolution's wake, Khomeini became the Supreme Leader—the paramount authority in the newly established Islamic Republic—a position he held until his death in 1989. Recognized as a Marja by his followers, he was uniquely titled "Imam" within Iran, a designation favored by his supporters over the traditional rank of Grand Ayatollah.
روحالله
Spirit of God.
Imam Seyyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (1900–1989).
Ruhollah Musavi was born on May 17, 1900, in Khomein—a town three hundred kilometers south of Tehran—to Ayatollah Seyyed Mostafa Musavi and Hajieh Agha Khanum. As a Seyyed, he was recognized as a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) through the seventh Imam, Mousa Kazem. Following his father’s assassination by agents of the Qajar dynasty when he was only five months old, Ruhollah was raised by his mother and aunt. This lineage and upbringing informed his trajectory as a Marja and a seminal political theorist, ultimately leading to his development of Velâyat-e Faqih (the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist).
In 1964, following his exile by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Imam Khomeini first sought refuge in Ankara and Bursa, Turkey, before relocating to Najaf, Iraq, in 1965. He remained there until 1978, when he was expelled by Saddam Hussein; under continued pressure from the Shah, he then moved to Neauphle-le-Château, outside Paris, on October 6, 1978. On February 1, 1979, he returned to a Tehran already in the throes of revolutionary fervor. His return precipitated the final collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty—which had been established in 1925 with British and American support—and the founding of the sovereign Islamic Republic of Iran. As a world leader, Imam Khomeini was singular in his fundamental challenge to Anglo-American-French imperialism and Western modernity, critiquing and rejecting nominalism, materialism, liberalism, capitalism, socialism, and Zionism. A charismatic Seyyed, he was equally defined by his mystical interpretation of Islam, his poetry, and his prophetic perspective on world-historical events.
The West’s proxy war against the Islamic Republic began in September 1980, when Saddam Hussein invaded Iran with the tacit support of the United States, Britain, and France. The conflict devolved into a brutal eight-year stalemate, resulting in an estimated one million casualties. It concluded in August 1988 with a UN-brokered ceasefire that left both nations devastated and without a clear victor. In December 1988, shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Imam Khomeini composed his only formal message to a foreign head of state: a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader then overseeing the withdrawal of the Red Army from Afghanistan.
Delivered to the Kremlin on January 1, 1989, by Ayatollah Abdullah Javadi Amoli, the message was read aloud to Gorbachev over the course of two hours. In this historic correspondence, the Imam predicted the imminent collapse of communism and urged Gorbachev to explore Islam as a spiritual alternative to Marxist ideology, recommending the works of philosophers such as Ibn Arabi, Avicenna, and Al-Farabi. Regarding the fate of communism, Imam Khomeini wrote:
“It is clear to everybody that, from now on, communism will only have to be found in the museums of world political history, for Marxism cannot meet any of the real needs of mankind. Marxism is a materialistic ideology, and materialism cannot bring humanity out of the crisis caused by a lack of belief in spirituality—the prime affliction of human society in the East and the West alike.”
Imam Khomeini cautioned the Soviet leadership against turning toward Western capitalism, warning that seeking material aid from the United States would be a deceptive and ultimately hollow pursuit. Moving beyond mere geopolitics, he delved into profound philosophical and mystical inquiries, urging Gorbachev to pivot toward spiritual reality and the divine rather than the perceived solutions of the West. His message argued that the Soviet Union’s crisis was not merely economic, but stemmed from a fundamental abandonment of God and religion:
“If you hope, at this juncture, to cut the economic Gordian knots of socialism and communism by appealing to the center of Western capitalism, you will, far from remedying any ill of your society, commit a mistake which those to come will have to erase. For, if Marxism has reached a deadlock in its social and economic policies, capitalism has also bogged down in this regard, as well as in other respects, though in a different form.
Mr. Gorbachev, reality must be faced. The main problem confronting your country is not one of private ownership, freedom, and economy; rather, it is the absence of true faith in God — the very problem that has dragged, or will drag, the West to vulgarism and an impasse. Your main problem is the prolonged and futile war you have waged against God, the source of existence and creation.”
Upon receiving the message, Gorbachev remarked: "I am grateful for the Imam’s letter and shall provide a formal response at the appropriate time. We intend to convey its contents to the Soviet clergy and are currently moving to approve legislation on religious freedom. As I have maintained, despite our ideological differences, we can coexist through a peaceful relationship."
» If at that time we took Ayatollah Khomeini’s predictions seriously, we would not be in this situation today. «
The Reagans and the Gorbachevs wearing cowboy hats at Rancho del Cielo, California, in 1992.
Gorbachev, committed to atheism and communist orthodoxy, did not initially heed the Imam’s warning; as the letter had portended, this dismissal preceded a rapid political decline. By 1991, the communist governments of the Eastern Bloc had collapsed. Despite being lauded in the West, Gorbachev faced the destabilizing consequences of his Perestroika reforms, which plunged the Soviet Union into a period of profound uncertainty and heightened American influence. In 1999, marking the tenth anniversary of Imam Khomeini’s passing, Gorbachev admitted in an interview with the IRIB News Agency in Moscow that he had erred in ignoring the Imam’s counsel. Reflecting on the missed opportunity three years prior to the Soviet collapse, he stated:
“I think Imam Khomeini’s message addressed all the ages throughout history [...] When I received this message, I felt that the person who wrote it was thoughtful and cared about the situation of the world. By studying the letter, I realized that he was someone who was worried about the world and wanted me to understand more about the Islamic revolution. [...] If at that time we took Ayatollah Khomeini’s predictions seriously, we would not be in this situation today.”
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