Protests erupted on January 7, 1978, after a state-controlled newspaper questioned Khomeini’s sexuality and patriotism. Khomeini’s followers smuggled many of his sermons into Iran by audiocassette. It was during his Iraqi exile that, in 1970, Khomeini wrote Hukumat-i Islami ( Islamic Government) that outlined his theory of vilayat-i faqih (guardianship of the jurists) in which he countered the traditional Shi’ite opposition to direct clerical rule. After two more arrests, on November 4, 1964, the shah exiled Khomeini to Turkey from where he made his way to Najaf. After Khomeini denounced the Iranian government on June 5, 1963, the shah ordered his arrest, but he was soon released because of popular pressure. He was a master of rhetoric and coalesced an opposition including traditional clergy, nationalists, and the poor. Khomeini catapulted to the national stage in 1962 after he publicly opposed a government reform package that included land reform, women’s suffrage, and a provision which would allow the religious minority Baha’is to seek office. He published his first major book, Kashf al-Asrar ( Secrets Revealed), in 1944, to refute an influential antireligious pamphlet published several years before.

His reputation as a teacher of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) grew throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

Khomeini published his first tract on spiritual philosophy at age twenty-seven. Both sons died under mysterious circumstances: His eldest son Mustafa in Najaf in 1977 and his youngest son Ahmad died in Tehran in 1995. In 1932 he married the daughter of a prominent Tehran cleric and had seven children, five of whom survived infancy. Khomeini’s residence in Qom coincided with the rise of Reza Shah, who curtailed the influence of the clergy as he centralized authority. After Ha’iri’s death in 1937, he became an assistant to Ayatollah Husayn Boroujerdi, one of the leading Shi’ite authorities of the day. Upon completing his education, Khomeini taught Islamic philosophy and jurisprudence. Khomeini followed Ha’iri to the Fayzieh madrasa (religious college) in Qom the following year, where Khomeini distinguished himself in ethics and religious philosophy. His older brother Sayyid Murtaza (later known as Ayatollah Pasandida) assumed responsibility for Khomeini’s education after their mother died in 1918.Īt nineteen, Khomeini traveled to nearby Arak, where he studied religion under Ayatollah Abd al-Karim Ha’iri, a well-known Islamic scholar. His father Mustafa was murdered by bandits when Khomeini was five months old.

He was born on September 24, 1902, in the western Iranian town of Khomein to a clerical family.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was the leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

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