Talk:Ruhollah Khomeini

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quotes about Khomeini were grossly slanted

The quotes about Khomeini were grossly slanted. Either change the composition to reflect all viewpoints on the man and the revolution or do not bother with the section. I have removed the entire section until this reflects a Neutral Point of View

—This unsigned comment is by 68.70.147.251 (talk • contribs) . (29 May 2005)

I'd like to add that the current Wikiquotes attributed to Khomeini distort him as a thinker. I understand this is not a dictionary entry, and it seems from the edit history that some of the infamously outrageous quotes may have been removed, however, I still find it conspicuous the way most of these quotes are mainly shock material or other tidbits out of context. I can not see how they could serve as anything else but anti-Khomeini missiles or shallow sit com soundbites. It's like taking the widespread Nietzsche quote "Thou goest to woman? Do not forget thy whip." as a representative sample of Nietzsche's thought. I can understand it in a lowest common denominator context (f.ex. sit com), but it doesn't serve any purpose on a site like this. Of course the amusing/shocking quotes might well be included as a cherry on top after the individual's thought in general has been covered, but the existing Khomeini Wikiquotes show his general thought has not received any respect whatsoever. Therefore it would be quite an improvement if someone well versed in Khomeini's ideas could provide more relevant samples of his thought. By not selecting many representative quotes of his thought a shadow is cast even on the encyclopedic Wiki project by reasons of association. --85.76.231.249 07:26, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Unfairly...

The quotes are so unfairly . most of them are quoted when Iraq backed by western governots attacked Iran at 1981 ... and therefore those are speaking about war only . Some of quotes all lie compeletely .

It needs a full refresh to be fairly . Imam-Khomeini is a popular man till now and when it name comes most of people bless him for his blithe and kindness . If you want say a typical message from Imam khomeini evreyone know it in Iran you can replace " THE BALANCE (of decision)IS PEOPLE's VOTES " ... This is written everywhere in Iran .

It seems the article managed by ( Mujahedin Khalq ) Terrorism known group in all of the world. http://www.google.com/Top/Society/Issues/Terrorism/Terrorist_Organizations/MEK_-_Mujahedin-e_Khalq_Organization/

—This unsigned comment is by Sayed Ahmad Moosavi (talk • contribs) . a youth borned 1981 - from Iran [1 December 2005]

Valid material regularly being removed from this article

I have recently been restoring deleted material: if disputed or spurious quotations are being circulated, it is in the interests of accuracy to rebuke them for what they are, not pretend that they do not exist. Other material has been removed that has been provided with clear citations and dated sources, apparently because it does not have a POV people would like to publicize. ~ Rumour 19:32, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Contextual aproach to what Ruhollah_Khomeini has said

Would you please answer me how a reader can understand the meaning of the speeches correctly, when there isn't any explanation about Ruhollah_Khomeini's life? If you don't have any information, I'll help you with it.

His father -who was a clergiman- had been killed, a mounts days after he was born by a local ruler. When he was teen the first world war happened. Although Iran declared impartiality Russia and U.K. occupied Iran and he looked at the raid of Russian army to his city. When he was 40, the second world war happened. Although Iran declared impartiality Russia ,U.K. and U.S. occupied Iran again and exiled the king of Iran -Reza Shah. When he was 52, Dr.Mosaddeq -prime minister of Iran- nationalized petroleum industry and dispossessed Anglo-Iranian Oil Company of it. But as American confessed few years ago, they supported a coup and Dr. mosaddeq was deposed. Therefore Khomeini understood if Muslims and Iranians wanted to become independent, they should fight and acquire it. So because of his situation, he focused on the part of islam which is looked harsh to a nonMuslim. I should add his harshness was against enemies of Iranian and Muslims like Saddam and Isreal. He was very temperate and kind with people and ore than a million of iranians came to his funeral.you can see these image, if you doubt. [1]

For more information about Iran's contemporary I show you some text from weekipedia:

1-"During World War I the country was occupied by British and Russian forces but was essentially neutral. In 1919, Britain attempted to establish a protectorate in Iran, aided by the Soviet Union's withdrawal in 1921." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iran

2-"During World War I, Britain had ignored protests from the Qajar rulers and stationed troops in the province of Khuzestan. During World War II, Britain again wished to station troops in Khuzestan.Reza Shah protested against this challenge to central government authority. Britain interpreted this refusal as favoring Nazi Germany. Fearing that Reza Shah was about to align his petroleum-rich country with Nazi Germany during World War II, the United Kingdom and the USSR occupied Iran and forced Reza Shah to abdicate in favour of his son (see also Persian Corridor)." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reza_Shah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Corridor

3-"The government of Britain had grown increasingly distressed over Mossadegh's policies and were especially bitter over the loss of their control on the Iranian oil industry. Despite Mossadegh's repeated attempts to negotiate a reasonable settlement with them they refused outright the same terms, and later total control over Iranian oil..." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Mossadegh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax

Sa.vakilian , A postgraduate student in Communication and Mass Media Study

The Image description

The previous image description ..."WHY DO YOU mOLLAH'S ONLY SPEAK OF MERCY AND LOVE? wHY DO YOU NOT QUOTE THE PASSAGES ABOUT KILLING?."... is obviously irrelevant to the image. I replaced it with the simple description.."Iranian Flag".

A word of caution about western sources

The best sources about Khomeini are not written in English, since the man neither spoke nore wrote in English.

That should be abundantly obvious.

So the best sources are probably not available to most of the English speaking world.

(I'm surprised that this page even uses them, given that his recorded and written speeches are probably obtainable from Iranian government sources, if anyone was willing to make an effort to get them.)

Unfortunately, this has led to some opportunism on the part of people in the West who tout themselves as experts on the Middle East and Iran.

On the other hand, little genuine information comes out of Iran, since the Iranians who have been closest to Khomeini, have essentially no communication with the West.

Readers should be cautious about accepting, for example, Time magazine's quote alleging that Khomeini said "There is no fun in Islam".

This is not a correctly sourced quote.

It should include Time Magazine's source for that quote. In which speech? Where is a record of it, so that we can verify that this is genuine?

If there isn't any, then what is the quote even doing here? --Johan77 23:21, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Unsourced

Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to Ruhollah Khomeini. --Antiquary 18:35, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

• America is the great Satan, the wounded snake.
  • He later declared that he meant the U.S. government.

• As long as the Shah’s satanic power prevails, not a single true representative of the people can possibly be elected

• If one permits an infidel to continue in his role as a corrupter of the earth, his moral suffering will be all the worse. If one kills the infidel, and this stops him from perpetrating his misdeeds, his death will be a blessing to him.

• [Peter Jennings:] What do you feel?
  [Khomeini:] Nothing!
  • When asked by a reporter what he felt entering Iran after years of exile, and a returning as its new ruler.

• The author of the Satanic Verses book, which is against Islam, the Prophet and the Qu'ran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. I ask all Muslims to execute them wherever they find them.

• The crimes committed here foul the name and holiness of Jesus Christ in the eyes of the Iranian people.
  • This quote needs context as well as sourcing.

• If the Shah is not destroyed, you shall become slaves of pagans. Foreigners shall take your womenfolk; they shall plunder all your natural wealth and put the Muslim community to eternal shame.

• The Shah is saying that he is granting liberty to the people. Hear me, you pompous toad! Who are you to grant freedom? It is Allah who grants freedom...It is Islam which grants freedom.

• It was worse than taking poison.
  • On ending the war with Iraq after the Iran/Iraq war of 1980-88.

• Islam is not a dull religion limited to the relation between man and his God, Islam is a political religion. Its politics are mixed up with its other rules and worship, and as the governments have political dimensions, Islam also has other political dimensions.
  • From a recorded lecture in Najaf during his exile there.

• A man who has both knowledge and virtue is happy both here and in the Hereafter!

• A corrupt learned person corrupts the world.

• Familiarize the people with the truth of Islam so that the young generation may not think that the men of religion in the mosques of Qum and al-Najaf believe in the separation of church from state, that they study nothing other than menstruation and childbirth and that they have nothing to do with politics.

• Let the illiterate all rise to learn and all literate brothers and sisters rise to teach!

• Man needs knowledge as well as education to the end of his life. No man can do without them.
• Let's change machine guns with pens.
• We shall eradicate illiteracy in best possible manner.

• Defending the mustazafin [the meek, the oppressed, the deprived, etc] is the way of Islam! In pursuit of the grand Islam, we support all oppressed peoples.

• Enforce justice, do not justice only for others, seek it for yourselves as well. Justice is justice and cruelty and crime are cruelty and crime regardless of the source.

• In Islam, the legislative power and competence to establish laws belong exclusively to God Almighty.

• Islam does not favour unbridled, oppressive capitalism which deprives the masses. Rather, Islam condemns such practices severely in Quran and Tradition and regards it against social justice. Nor is Islam in accord with regimes like communism, Marxist-Leninism which oppose private ownership and favor common ownership.

• Serve the oppressed, the needy and the slum-dwellers for they are our benefactors!

• The Iranians want justice, liberty and independence and believe they can achieve them only by the light of Islam and its laws.

• We must try to purge this nation of the culture of palace residency.

• God knows that I ask no rights, privileges, immunities or prerogatives for mysell If I err, I am ready for the consequences. I hope Khomeini will never deviate from the straight path of Islam which is to fight the oppressive powers.

• I am a brother to the people of Iran and regard myself as a servant and soldier of them.

• I would rather be called servant than leader. Leadership is not the issue, service is topical. Islam has made it incumbent on us to serve.

• I need no financial aid. I fight the Shah with a pen and a sheet of paper and, if I needed help, my nation will help me.

• A child's first school is the mother's lap.

• From the viewpoint of human rights, there is no difference between men and women because both are human and women can decide about their own destinies just like men.

• In our age women have proved that in a fight they march by the side of men or ahead of them.

• Men ascend to high Heavens from the lap of the women.

• I observe a wonderous change in the community of women, far beyond that of men.

• Iranian women have a larger part than men in this Movement and Revolution.

• Not only Shiism does not exclude women from the arena of social life, rather, it places women in their lofty human station.

• You brave, dear sisters insured victory for Islam, shoulder-to-shoulder with men.

Sayings of Imam Khomeini

This section was originally added in the "sourced" section, but does not appear to be an actual published work.

• "by the bank of Kowthar (A stream in heaven), with lips parched by thirst, By the side of the Beloved (God) with heart afire by longing!"

• Mindfulness of God, migrating from oneself to God - (which is the greatest migration)-, migration from ego to truth, and from this world to the Invisible, have all fortified you..

• Evidently, adoration, worship and sanctification of God requires Knowledge and awareness of His Most Exalted Station, Attributes of His beauty and grandeur, Without due knowledge and awareness ,it cannot be fulfilled..

• Neglecting God tarnishes the heart more, gives the ego and devil domination over man and daily increases corruption. Recitation and remembrance of imparts serenity to the heart, burnishes it and makes it a mirror reflecting the Beloved. It purges and purifies the soul and saves the man from the boils of ego.

• the universe in God's presence, do not sin in His presence. Do not quarrel over false and mortal things in His presence. Work for God's sake and advance.

• Great God's praise and salaam to Hazrat Esau (Jesus) son of Mary, the Spirit of God and His Grand Messenger who revived the dead and awakened the slumbering ones. God's praise and salaam to his noble mother, Maryam (Mary) who, by divine breath, gave such a great child to those who thirst for God's mercy.

• The comprehensiveness and all-inclusiveness of Islam is such that anyone who understands it admits it is beyond the limits of the human mind and cannot be the product of the power of human science and intellect.

• Islam is dearer than what we imagine.

• The school of Islam is the school of purification and refinement.

• Man may conceal things from all mortal eyes but everyting about us is preserved with God and He reverts to us all our deeds.

• Invoke Almighty God for, God willing, it will solve all difficulties.

• All of our divine duties are blessings of God but we think they are obligations.

• Islam adjusts material matters in such a way that they merge with d:affairs.

• Islam has said everything, but the difficulty rests with the Muslims.

• The day danger to Islam is deemed imminent we must all make sacrifices.

• The woman is the tor of mankind.

• Men ascend to high havens from the lap of the women.

• God knows that I ask no rights, privileges, immunities or prerogatives for myself. If I err, I am ready for the consequences

• If ever I see it is expedient to Islam that I say something, I'll say it and it up without fear of anything. Thanks God, I've not felt fear so far. T they were taking me away, it was they who were afraid and i pacified it

• Any Muslim who has accepted the principles and decrees of Islam and in whose conduct and behavior an exact Shiite discipline is observable, is a member of the Hizbullah. The Quran and Islam have set forth the mandate and all the decrees concerning this Party or Hizb. This Party is something other than the ordinary parties.

• We should not worry defeat, we should worry failure to perform our duties.

• Ashura is the day of general mourning by the oppressed nation; it is - the epic day, - the rebirth of Islam and the Muslims

• Behave in such a way that when you depart for God's Threshold you may be able to hold your head up.

• Know that faith is one of the spiritual excellences that very few are aware of its light essence. Even the faithful are not aware of the radiance of their faith and the blessings it bears for them at the threshold of God as long as they are bound to this world and abide in the darkness of Nature.

• I cannot admit that a man without moral standards may act for the people.

• Try to enhance morality among this nation. It is by morality that you can preserve your independence and attain to stages of excellence.

• Patience and forebearance ease the burden of misfortunes on man, facilitate the difficulties and strengthen the will and resolution.

• The greater a purpose the greater the pains to attain to it, one must be tolerant.

• Whenever one says "I", be sure his "I" is evil.

• Know that the wicked quality of self-conceit emerges from self-love.

• One cannot be selfworshiping and God worshiping at the same time.

• No fault is greater than not understanding one's own fault and ignoring it and though one is a collection of faults, himself yet be concerned with the faults of others.

• Why should complexes of the heart mislead men and carnal passions put aside all things and observe only the faults?

• Do not ever become disappointed in your affairs for all things do not become rectified at once and major works are carried out little by little.

• Despair is of the army of Satan and hopefulness is that of God. Be always hopeful.

• Moral values are the permanent values.

• When objectives are superb, the toils to reach them must be ignored.

• Fear nothing, when God is with you, all things are with you.

• We trust in God and fear nothing.

• He who has God with him fears nothing save His Might.

• From the beginning of the creation to the present there have always been two parties, one divine, the other Satanic and each has had separate outcome

• Islam's predestined circumstances are also predestined for all Muslims.

• It is incumbent on all, regardless of where we work and serve, to preserve Islamic standards before all services.

• Islam is set against all paganism, at present, not you or I. you and I do not count.

• The major problem of the Muslims is their separation from Islam an Quran

• This man (meaning imam Ali) is the manifestation of all fairness and justice, he is the wonder of the universe and from the Beginning to Eternity, no man except His Holiness the Prophet (SAW) can match him in excellence.

• Morals, Celestial Manifestations, Divine manifestations, manifestation of celestial kingdom, of worldly elegance, all are compounded in this Being ( hazrat Fatima Zahra, daughter of the prophet).

• The revolution of Iranian people is the starting point for the grand revolution of Islamic world under the banner of His Holliness Hojjat ( proof, title of the 12th Imam now in occultation, expected to reappear)

• The Tragic event that befell Amirulmumenin ( a title of Imam Ali ) and Islam is greater than that which befell the Seyyed-al-Shohada ( a title of Imam Hosein).

• The prophets did not succeed in carrying out their missions and Almighty God will send someone (12Th. Infallible Imam) to implement them at the end of time.

• You must remember that all of us have another day, (the Last Day), do not doubt this! We have a day of reckoning before us. Everything will be considered and calculated on that day, man himself should give an account of his doings. On that day, pens, hands, eyes, all come and testify. We have such a day!

• In this world the intercession of the pre-emptors becomes manifest by their guidaflce in the Hereafter, the essence of guidance is intercession per se. If your portion of guidance is nil, you shall receive no intercession; to the extent you receive guidance, you'll receive intercession.

• Cultivate your egos, purge them. This world has a definite end for all of us, for me sooner, then for you.

____________________________________________________________

I AGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING

The quotes about Khomeini were grossly slanted. Either change the composition to reflect all viewpoints on the man and the revolution or do not bother with the section. I have removed the entire section until this reflects a Neutral Point of View

I'd like to add that the current Wikiquotes attributed to Khomeini distort him as a thinker. I understand this is not a dictionary entry, and it seems from the edit history that some of the infamously outrageous quotes may have been removed, however, I still find it conspicuous the way most of these quotes are mainly shock material or other tidbits out of context. I can not see how they could serve as anything else but anti-Khomeini missiles or shallow sit com soundbites. It's like taking the widespread Nietzsche quote "Thou goest to woman? Do not forget thy whip." as a representative sample of Nietzsche's thought. I can understand it in a lowest common denominator context (f.ex. sit com), but it doesn't serve any purpose on a site like this. Of course the amusing/shocking quotes might well be included as a cherry on top after the individual's thought in general has been covered, but the existing Khomeini Wikiquotes show his general thought has not received any respect whatsoever. Therefore it would be quite an improvement if someone well versed in Khomeini's ideas could provide more relevant samples of his thought. By not selecting many representative quotes of his thought a shadow is cast even on the encyclopedic Wiki project by reasons of association. --85.76.231.249 07:26, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

User Smitty.i.am's additions

A user by the name of Smitty.i.am has again added quotations from a book that doesn't exist. Please note that there is no book by Khomeini entitled "Islam is not a religion for pacifists".

As a way of getting around this fact, Smitty.i.am is sourcing Taheri and Rubin, which in turn source the non-existant book "Islam is not a religion for pacifists" by Khomeini.

Please stop attacking wikiquote in this way. Do not quote non-existent or incredible (meaning not-credible) sources.

207.188.69.26 21:21, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Non-Existant Sources

I am removing the quotes sourced to Taheri and Rubin for the following reason. First, both quotations source a book by Khomeini entitled "Islam is not a religion for pacifists". No such book seems to exists. Searching the internet for this book brings up nothing but Taheri or Rubin. This is despite the fact that everyone of Khomeini's books seem to be posted online. I attempted to search for a Farsi translation of the name in the hope of finding an untranslated version, only to find out that the word "pacifist" does not exist in Farsi. The closest thing to it is "sol joo" which literally means "one who searches for peace".

Then I looked up the author, Taheri. He is a former editor in chief of a very pro-Shah publication during the Shah's time, within Iran's highly controlled media. His Wikipedia page has a whole section entitled "alleged fabrications".

He has claimed that the Iranian government has introduced the Nazi practice of forcing Jews to wear yellow arm-bands. Turned out to be a lie spread by Taheri which made its way into the press. Newspapers were forced to redact the claim after it was proven untrue.

He has apparently claimed that Jesse Jackson had made comments in support of the Islamic government in Iran while speaking at a conference. Turns out Jesse Jackson was not even at the mentioned conference.

Apparently in the past Taheri had claimed that Khomeini had published a book on how to correctly have sex with animals. The title of the book he cites cannot be found.

It just goes on and on and on.

I think most reasonable people would agree that Khomeini was a pretty monstrous historical character but please, when using second hand accounts, lets only use credible sources.

People like Taheri and Rubin who in their books cite imaginary books are not considered "credible" using by definition of the word

207.188.69.26 19:38, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

There seems to be an essay of 1942, not a book, which has been translated as "Islam is not a religion for pacifists" and has been translated as quoted in other works. To quote it here is appropriate. People often choose to emphasize different things about different people and ideas, and part of our task as beings with limited perceptions is to take in as broad and diverse a body of evidence and testimony as we can, and to not be any more hasty than necessary in making assessments based upon very limited evidence or testimony, nor seeking to have the capacities of others to examine what seems to be valid testimony or evidence unjustly or unfairly impaired in any way, even if it does not favor such causes or assessments as we do . ~ Kalki (talk · contributions) 22:35, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

This does not seem to match the cited sources. Rubin, cites Taheri. Taheri (who is a very sketchy character - he was former head of Iranian broacasting during the Shah and has a section on wikipedia about apparent lies he has told) cited what he calls is a "book" entitled "Islam is not a religion for pacifists". Taheri's book also has other quotes from Khomeini where Taheri claims Khomeini recommended men to have sexual relations with animals. He cites a another non-existant Khomeini book where he claims Khomeini writes "A man can have sex with animals such as sheep, cows, camels and so on. However he should kill the animal after he has his orgasm. He should not sell the meat to the people in his own village, however selling the meat to the next door village should be fine."

By including the first quote but not including the quote about having sex with animals, editors seem to be trying to lend credibility to the controvercial Taheri. In any event, I won't remove the mentioned quotes. I will just move them to an "Attributed" section (which is where they belong in any event). Poyani 19:59, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

The second book is, according to Taheri, entitled "Sex with Children and Animals". It is picked up by a whole slew of racist and Islamophobic websites which are promoting the claim that such a book exists. Taheri also presents quotations where he claims Khomeini (in the same book) advocated men to have sexual relations with their daughters. It is all extremely sketchy. Poyani 20:02, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Taheri Quotes Unacceptable

I have noted this issue before. Quotes attributed to Khomeini by Taheri are widely discredited. Iran experts have noted that they are "out of character" for Khomeini and either "do not occur in the books sourced" or are "sourced to books that do not exist".

See http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2007/11/is_iran_suicidal_or_deterrable http://motherjones.com/mojo/2007/11/amir-taheri-story http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6df3e493-f350-4b53-bc16-53262b49a4f7

When Taheri was confronted with these criticisms he responded that "As much as being accurate is important, in the end it's important to side with what's right. What's wrong is siding with the terrorists." He is not a reliable source and should not be treated as such by Wikimedia. Poyani 20:57, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

I have moved the quotes you had removed to a "Disputed" section, if further evidence can be provided that these particular quotes are not translations of authentic statements, they could be placed within a "Misattributed" section, such as exists on many pages for attributed quotes shown to be almost certainly false. ~ Kalki (talk · contributions) 21:51, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Who are the so called "Iran-Experts" that you mention?

The wikicode for creating such sections is:

{{Misattributed begin}} == Misattributed == {{Misattributed end}}

Deleted quotes

Article History is full of deleted quotes not sure if this has been checked. Examples:

https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Ruhollah_Khomeini&diff=1216191&oldid=1215320 https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Ruhollah_Khomeini&diff=1763798&oldid=1747960 https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Ruhollah_Khomeini&diff=298539&oldid=286114 https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Ruhollah_Khomeini&diff=298542&oldid=298539