What Happens When Islamists Take Power?

The Case of Iran

Elmer Swenson

Last Updated: 6-27-2005

Promises Before and Results After Khomeini's Islamists Took Over

In the course of human history it's doubtful the politician has been born who didn't make promises he (she) couldn't keep, and that streak didn't end with the Ayatollah Khomeini. Still, anyone who witnessed the 1979 revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran and replaced him with the Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamist Republic, has to be struck by how little it has to show for itself. This was the first Islamist takeover, the most promising (in an old civilization and a resource-rich state), and the most successful (the only Islamist regime still in power). [0.5] Yet 25 years after the massive, joyous, hope-filled crowds filled the streets, not only have bedrock principles and sacred promises (e.g. strictly Islamic government, an end to dictatorship) fallen by the wayside, some conditions that led to the Shah's downfall (e.g. corruption, political repression) have actually gotten worse under the mullahs.

What makes the Islamic Revolution in Iran worth a second look is the possibility that its history will repeat itself elsewhere. The Middle East has more than a few regimes resembling the Shah's government (corrupt, undemocratic and repressive), and plenty of Islamic opposition groups similar to the Islamist network that overthrew the Shah (well-organized, determined, and prone to making big promises with vague specifics).

What did Khomeini say life would be like for Iranians under his Islamic government after the revolution? How did it compare with what he and his followers said and did after? Some highlights: (Click on the hyperlink titles below for more detailed explanations and references.)

The Islamic Clerics Will Lead the Revolution but Step Aside and Let Elected Civilian Representatives Rule

The first bunch of promises to fall - that the Islamic Republic would not be run by Muslim clerics, and Iranians would have political freedom - were aimed at his moderate and secular revolutionary allies. The moderates and secularist of the educated middle classes dominated the cities. Without their help overthrow of the Shah would have been difficult, probably impossible.

Khomeini himself had little use for government by presidents and legislators chosen by free elections. In a Muslim country the government needed only to follow Islamic law to represent the people and have their mandate, since Muslims believed in Islamic law.

The body of Islamic laws that exist in the Qur'an and the Sunna has been accepted by the Muslims and recognized by them as worthy of obedience. This consent and acceptance facilitates the task of government and makes it truly belong to the people. In contrast, in a republic or a constitutional monarchy, most of those claiming to be representatives of the majority of the people will approve anything they wish as law and then impose it on the entire population. [Islamic Government p.56]

• In the months leading up to the revolution it was clear the resistance to the Shah was coming to a head. Reporters streamed to Khomeini's exile headquarters (in Neauphle-le-Chateau, France) to try and get a take on what kind of Iran the head of the anti-Shah movement foresaw. (Khomeini gave over 120 interviews in Paris [19]).

  They heard promises to tolerate and listen to dissent -- `the Islamic government will answer criticism by reason and logic`(November 9, 1978) ...
  ... they heard repeated claims he, Khomeini, did not want power...

  • `Our intention is not that religious leaders should themselves administer the state,` (October 25, 1978).
  • `The 'ulema [clerics] themselves will not hold power in the government. They will exercise supervision over those who govern and give them guidance.` (26 October 1978).
  • `Neither my age nor my inclination and position would allow me` to occupy a post in the new government. (7 November 1978)
  • (And (as mentioned above) it's not as though Iranians heard differently from their reporters either. Khomeini told Iranian daily Ettelaat, `The religious dignitaries do not want to rule.` (October 25, 1978)) [20].

  ... and they heard nothing about his soon-to-be-enacted theory of the "Guardianship of the Jurist" (Velayat-e Faqih) -- whereby Islamic law would be the rule of the land and one of the leading Islamic jurists (namely Khomeini) the ruler. "In his interview, speeches, messages and fatvas during this period there is not a single reference to velayat-e faqih." There are many to the 'Islamic state,` "but he never specified precisely what he meant by that term." [21]

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• Even before the stakes were so high, Khomeini "rarely mentioned doctrinal issues, especially his highly controversial concept of velayat-e faqih," according to Ervand Abrahamian who went through the Ayatollah's public pronouncements in the 1970s. "Some of this lay allies later complained that this avoidance had been part of a devious clerical scheme to dupe the public," [40].
• Insiders too were taken by surprise.
  • "... some of Khomeini's lay advisers, such as Sadeq Qotbzadeh, were ignorant enough of the concept that they were completely bewildered when they heard it for the first time months after the revolution," according to Abrahamian [41].
  • One person who had heard of the concept of velayat-e faqih was Hamid Algar, the man who had translated Khomeini's lectures on the subject into English. When Algar, a British-born convert-to-Islam and Khomeini supporter, asked an unnamed "prominent member" of Iran's ruling Council of Islamic Revolution whether the principle of rule-by-jurist would be used in the new Iranian Islamic Republic he was told: "Imam Khomeini had not been heard to speak about velayat-i faqih for a long time; and it was highly unlikely that he himself still believed in the necessity or the legitimacy of this principle." [43]
• After Khomeini arrived in Iran as the undisputed popular leader of the revolution he still made little or no mention of velayat-i faqih for months. And it wasn't because the subject of what the new Islamic Republic would be like hadn't come up. Work on a preliminary draft constitution began while Khomeini was in Paris. This constitution was "Islamic" -- in addition to a normal democratically elected president and parliament, it had a "Guardian Council" to veto unIslamic legislation -- but Islamic jurists were in a minority even in this council. There was no Islamic jurist (faqih) "leader," and no mention of velayat-e faqih. [43]

  Work on the draft hummed along and a "preliminary outline was completed on 22 Jan 1979." After two revisions an "official preliminary draft of the constitution" was published (14 June 1979). Drafts were officially presented to Khomeini on at least two occasions, and left with minor changes made by him (provisions barring women from the presidency and judgeships). [44]

  Despite the lack of any mention of velayat-i faqih in the constitution, Khomeini "gave his approval publicly to that draft ... on more than one occasion," and as late as 18 June 1979 proclaimed `We must support and confirm the constitution so that the constitution will be as Islam requires. It must be approved quickly. It is a blueprint made by the government and this blueprint is correct.` [45]

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A year and a half after the constitution was approved, Khomeini had a falling out with president Bani Sadr, a Khomeini-supporter but not a cleric. Khomeini maintained he was forced to put clergy in charge because there were so few qualified civilians to run the country. He insisted the fact that

I have said something does not mean that I should be bound by my word. I am saying that for as long as we have not implemented all Islamic rules and have not competent people to do the job, the clergy should stay in their positions. It is below the dignity of a clergyman to be a president or to occupy other posts. He does it because it is a duty. We have to implement Islam and should not fear anyone [52].

Did Khomeini believe all along that only clergy would be "competent" to implement "all Islamic rules" in Iran's government, but keep quiet about his plans to include it into the Iranian constitution? Some Iranian authors (Moin, Schirazi, Hoveyda) suggest the evidence points to this. Others believe the problem was the willful credulity of Iranians who favored democracy but went along with Khomeini and are totally undeserving of sympathy (Arjomand, Taheri); or that Khomeini and his supporters introduced velayat-i faqih only after provocation by secular leftists and the realization it was politically feasible (Bakhash). Lending weight to the deception theory is the fact that even when he first introduced the idea of velayat-i faqih Khomeini complained of the powerful "imperialist" agents who opposed it and the need to deceive them ...

`If someone wishes to speak about Islamic government and the establishment of the Islamic government, he must observe the principles of taqiyeh [dissimulation of the truth in defense of Islam] and count upon the opposition of those who have sold themselves to imperialism` [53].

Abandoning the Rule by the Most Learned Jurist After Abandoning Rule by Elected Civilians

If Khomeini was dishonest with Iranians who wanted democracy, did he take power against the will of the majority in Iran? Not likely. The democracy-loving middle classes may have been crucial to the Shah's overthrow but that doesn't mean they were in a majority. Most Iranians poor, uneducated, and more pious. When it came time to stand up to Khomeini and organize a boycott of the referendum for his not-very-democratic Velayat-e Faqih-based constitution in December 1979, boycotters did succeed in lowering the vote total by almost 5 million compared to an earlier referendum in March. But this was still a fraction of the 15+ million votes cast in favor of the constitution (according to the official count). [54]

This was in large part because Khomeini was "the Imam", the undisputed leader and symbol of the revolution, with an "overwhelming ideological, political, and organizational hegemony" over it. [55] He developed his massive following from what he preached, and while Khomeini agitating for "freedom" and against "tyranny", mostly he dwelled on socioeconomic issues. The

widening the gap between rich and poor; favoring cronies, relatives, senior officials, and other kravatis (tie wearers); wasting oil resources on the ever-expanding army and bureaucracy; setting up assembly plants, not real manufacturing industries; ignoring the countryside in the distribution of essential services, including clinics, schools, electricity, and public baths ... creating huge shantytowns ... bankrupting the bazaars by refusing to protect them from foreign competition ... failing to combat rising crime, alcoholism, prostitution and drug addiction. [56]

Islamic Government was to be the means to correct all these wrongs. It was what the masses of Iranians wanted and expected. So what was this `guardianship of the jurist` that the Imam said was Islamic government?

In his 1970 lecture series/book Islamic Government (or Hokumat-e Islami in Farsi) Khomeini laid out the principle of the Guardianship of the Jurists (Velayat-e Faqih), describing who should rule:

Since Islamic government is a government of law, knowledge of the law is necessary for the ruler, as has been laid down in tradition. Indeed such knowledge is necessary not only for the ruler, but also for anyone holding a post or exercising some government function. The ruler, however, must surpass all others in knowledge, (afzaliyat-e `elmi). In laying claim to the Imamate, our Imams also argued that the ruler must be more learned than everyone else. [57]

Accordingly the constitution of the Islamic Republic called for the vali-ye faqih (the actual ruling guardian jurist) to be one of the highest ranked, most learned faqih in Shi'i Islam, known as marja-e taqlid (source of emulation).

NOTE: What is this hierarchy?
To Westerners, the Shi'a hierarchy may resemble the catholic religious hierarchy of priest, monsignor, bishop, pope - but unlike the Roman Catholic hierarchy there's no college of cardinals, no votes, no formal procedure to designate rank. "Every believer or `imitator` was to make his or her own choice of marja'-e taqlid." [58] At the top is the ...
marja-e taqlid ("source of emulation"), of which there is in theory only one but usually several, (about 12 in 1980 [58a] ) below which is
ayatollah ("miraculous sign of God"), a jurist distingished enough to run an independent seminary of his own (about 50 in the mid-1970s [58b] ), then
hojjat ol-Eslam (literally "proof of Islam"), the basic mojtahed, defined as one who have been declared qualified (by their teacher, a high level cleric), to practice ejtehad (interpretation) and derive their own rulings on Islamic law or fatwa. These numbered about 5000 in the 1970s. [58c]

This worked well while Khomeini reigned, as he was both the leader of the revolution and a marj-e taqlid. But as Khomeini aged a problem arose. Of the handful of grand ayatollah's in Iran, only one agreed with Khomeini's policies, including the whole concept of rule by jurists. [58d] This was a relatively young, undistinguished and charisma-challenged former student of Khomeini's, by the name of Ayatollah Hussein 'Ali Montazeri, who was none-the-less in line to fill Khomeini's shoes. But then Montazeri to fell out of that line, calling for liberalization, freedom for political parties, and telling Khomeini, `your prisons are far worse than those of the Shah and his SAVAK,` when thousands of political prisoners were executed by the Islamic government [59].
After a letter of his complaints was leaked to Europe and broadcast on the BBC a furious Khomeini ousted him. [60]

Reversal - Lowering the Bar For Who Can Be the Ruling Jurist

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Was this change just a simple accommodation with flexibility? Surely it was better to have an experienced public official like `Ali Khamene`i in the country's top post, than some more learned but elderly, and unworldly divine?

One problem was the constitution already had a lead executive for dealing with the temporal world -- the president (the last three of whom have also been mojtahid clerics!) And the president was directly elected -- whereas the ruling jurist guardian-for-life was chosen by the Assembly of Experts, candidates for which were vetted by the Council of Guardians, members of which were appointed by the ruling jurist guardian-for-life. The lack of democracy in this self-choosing, self-perpetuating mechanism of the Islamic government was bound to become less popular without the beloved "Imam" Khomeini as ruler.

Then there was the issue of how to pick this jurist. Shi'a Islam has a long established criteria for determining learnedness of Islam, not so for knowledge of the contemporary world. With all that power at stake and subjectiveness of definition, would he (no woman allowed) just turn out to be the man backed by whatever group of clerics had the most muscle in the Assembly of Experts?

Another question was why limit your pool of candidates to Islamic Jurists if knowledge of "the economic, social, and political matters," not religion, is the most important criteria to run a country. Jurists form a relatively small pool, as only a small number of students survive the 15-20 years of post-secondary schooling necessary to become a mojtahed [65], and their knowledge of anything besides Islamic studies was constrained by the fact that they aren't taught any economics, psychology, sociology, history, political science (or anything outside of the realm of Islam) in the theological centers where they spend their 15-20 years of schooling. (As of 1994 there were still no "non-Islamic sciences" taught at the centers. [66])

But mainly the problem is that, (to quote Khomeini), "since Islamic government is a government of law, knowledge of the law is necessary for the ruler." If you were making up your own laws and policies, knowledge of the contemporary world would be vital. But if God has already done the work for you, making up perfect laws, infinitely superior to anything even the most brilliant and knowledgeable humans could create -- than what you really need is the person with the best knowledge and grasp of this body of law. Unless, of course, humans have no choice but to make up legislation, which leads us to our next policy U-turn ...

In his lectures on Islamic Government Khomeini emphasized the perfection and completeness of the Shari'ah. [66b] For Khomeini Islamic government was/is Shari’ah government.

The fundamental difference between Islamic government, on the one hand and constitutional monarchies and republics on the other, is this: whereas the representative of the people or the monarch in such regimes engage in legislation, in Islam the legislative power and competence to establish laws belongs exclusively to God Almighty. The Sacred Legislator of Islam is the sole legislative power. No one has the right to legislate and no law may be executed except the law of the Divine Legislator. (Italics added)[Islamic Government p.55] [67]

Islamic government is a government of law. In this form of government, sovereignty belongs to God alone and law is His decree and command. The law of Islam, divine command, has absolute authority over all individuals and the Islamic government. Everyone, including the Most Noble Messenger [Prophet Muhammad] (peace be upon him) and his successors, is subject to law and will remain so for all eternity - the law that has been revealed by God, Almighty and Exalted ... (Italics added) [p.56] [68]

After all, who needs any new legislation ...

God, Exalted and Almighty, by means of the Most Noble Messenger (peace and blessing be upon him), sent laws that astound us with their magnitude. He instituted laws and practices for all human affairs ... There is not a single topic in human life for which Islam has not provided instruction and established a norm ... [p.29-30]

If the administration of the country calls for taxes, Islam has made the necessary provision; and if laws are needed, Islam has established them all. There is no need for you, after establishing a government, to sit down and draw up laws, or, like rulers who worship foreigners and are infatuated with the west, run after others to borrow their laws. Everything is ready and waiting. [p.137-8] [69]

Which is why there is no need for a legislative body in Islamic government. This is in contrast to the flaky nature of representative democracy where

most of those claiming to be representatives of the majority of the people will approve anything they wish as law and then impose it on the entire population. [p.56] [70].

In fact, one of the reasons it's so important for jurists to be "guardians" (Velayat-i faqih) is to prevent innovation in Islam and legislating of laws that go against the Shari’ah. If God were

not to appoint an Imam [i.e. faqih] over men to maintain law and order, to serve the people faithfully as a vigilant trustee, religion would fall victim to obsolescence and decay. Its rites and institutions would vanish; the customs and ordinances of Islam would be transformed or even deformed. (italics added) [p.54] [71]

All this is why, unlike some other leading Islamists, Khomeini never talked about developing new regulations in Shari'ah law to meet the conditions of modern life (using ijtihad, or innovative legal reasoning). While other contemporary Islamist thinkers like Muhammad Rashid Rida and Sayyeed Abdul A'la

Maududi were willing to make room for some secular legislation by permitting ijtihad and other accommodating devices, Khomeini unyieldingly holds that the shari'ah must be the only law, and that human regulation is allowed only as a practical contrivance for the enforcement of the divine law. [Hamid Enayat] [72].

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In the rubble of this failure Islamic reformers have emerged arguing that while God's law is perfect, human understanding of it is not. [77a]

We must establish a government that will enjoy the trust of the people ... God know that your capacity and courage are not less than those of others -- unless, of course, the meaning of courage is oppressing and slaughtering the people; that kind of courage we certainly don’t have. [78]

An Islamic government does not resemble states where the people are deprived of all security and everyone sits at home trembling for fear of a sudden raid or attack by the agents of the state. It was that way under Mu'awiya and similar rulers: the people had no security, and they were killed or banished, or imprisoned for lengthy periods on the strength of an accusation or a mere suspicion, because the government was not Islamic. [79]

Annihilation of the opposition was accomplished by the Islamic government working in tandem with Islamic thugs usually dubbed hezbollah, or party of God. While the government banned dozens of periodicals, arrested political leaders, and shut down the country's universities (strongholds of the left) for two years; the hezbollah worked the streets, beating and occasionally killing protestors, smashing news kiosks, looting bookstores, ransacking student offices. [89]

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How were violent attacks on non-violent people, groups (and their publications) justified? Khomeini explained this comparing the clubs Islamist thugs used to beat protesters, and the "clubs" of the opposition press and speach:
`The club of the pen and the club of the tongue is the worst of clubs, whose corruption is a 100 times greater than other clubs.` (February 1981) [89a]

In other words, whether opponents used violence or not was irrelevent. It was lawful to use force against all "corrupt people," ... and unfortunately for dissidents, a true, uncorrupt Muslim, was by (Khomeini's) definition one who obeyed Khomeini's Islamic Government, i.e. "God's government."

... God has laid upon us the duty of obeying the Messenger [the Prophet Muhammad]. It is also our duty to follow and obey the holders of authority, who, according to our beliefs, are the Imams (upon whom be peace). Of course, obedience to their governmental decrees is also a form of obedience to God. Since God Almighty has commanded us to follow the Messenger and the holders of authority, our obeying them is actually an expression of obedience to God. [Islamic Government, p.90-1, italics added]

... The ruler supervises the executive power and has the duty of implementing God’s laws; it makes no difference if he is the Most Noble Messenger [the Prophet Muhammad], the Commander of the Faithful [Caliph `Ali], or the representative or judge he appoints to Basra or Kufa, or a faqih [Jurist] in the present age. [Islamic Government, p.63]

Like Khomeini's promises the clergy would not take power, there were indications of what Khomeini's true attitude was toward dealing with opponents for those who looked carefully. In the same 1970 lecture series/book Islamic Government where Khomeini explains how Islamic Government will not oppress or slaughter or kick down doors, Khomeini makes more than one reference to the need to wack troublemakers. At one point he expressed indignation at hypocrites who object when

Islam commands its followers to engage in warfare or defense in order to make men submit to laws that are beneficial for them and kills a few corrupt people or instigators of corruption. [Islamic Government, p.34] [90]

Another time he explains how the elimination of (human) sources of "corruption" was just one of the sacrifices good Muslims had to be prepared to make

Anyone who rules over the Muslims, or over human society in general must always take into consideration the public welfare and interest and ignore personal feelings and interests. For this reason, Islam is prepared to ... root out numerous groups that were a source of corruption and harm to human society. [Islamic Government p.89] [91]

As an example of a group to be eliminated Khomeini gives the Jews of Bani Qurayza, 700-800 of whom were executed (following their surrender) and greater number of women and children sold into slavery by early Muslims. (Needless to say, most tyrants -- including the Shah -- believe the opponents they do away with are a "harm to human society".)

The agents of imperialism sometimes write in their books and their newspapers that the legal provisions of Islam are too harsh. ... I am amazed at the way these people think. They kill people for possessing ten grams of heroin and say, `That is the Law` ... Inhuman laws like this are concocted in the name of a campaign against corruption, and they are not to be regarded as too harsh. (I am not saying it is permissible to sell heroin, but his is not the appropriate punishment. The sale of heroin must indeed be prohibited, but the punishment must be in proportion to the crime.) [Islamic Government p.33] [92]

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In Khalkhali and Khomeini's defense it has to be admitted heroin use is a serious problem in Iran. Under the Islamic Republic, Iran has the world's highest rate of opium or heroin use -- 2.8% of the population! [94]

Khomeini fulminating against corruption while out of power

Most forms of corruption originate with the ruling class, the tyrannical ruling family and the libertines that associate with them. ... If it were not for [the] profligate royal ceremonies, this reckless spending, this constant embezzlement, there would never be any deficit in the national budget forcing us to bow in submission before America and Britain and request aid or a loan from them.

Huge amounts of capital are being swallowed up; our public funds are being embezzled; our oil is being plundered; and our country is being turned into a market for expensive, unnecessary goods by the representatives of foreign companies, which makes it possible for foreign capitalists and their local agents to pocket the people’s money. A number of foreign states carry off our oil after drawing it out of the ground, and the negligible sum they pay to the regime they have installed returns to their pockets by other routes. [Islamic Government, p.58, 115] [95]

And promised

a leader ... who will treat all members of the community as equals before the law; who will refuse to countenance privilege or discrimination in any form; who will place his own family on an equal footing with the rest of the people; who will cut off the hand of his own son if he commits a theft ... [Islamic Government, p.129-30]

Iran rates 2.9 out of 10.0 in perceived honesty of government, based on surveys of foreign business people, locals, expatriates, etc. done by Transparency International
http://www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/2004/2004.10.20.cpi.en.html ,
Ranked 87th of 145 countries worldwide, it's ahead of India or Pakistan, but behind Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Mexico or Thailand. [102]

Khomeini was furious with the debt the Shah had accumulated which he reckoned made Iran subservient to its Western lenders.

Most forms of corruption originate with the ruling class, the tyrannical ruling family ... If it were not for [the] profligate royal ceremonies, this reckless spending, this constant embezzlement, there would never be any deficit in the national budget forcing us to bow in submission before America and Britain and request aid or a loan from them. [Islamic Government, p.58 [103]]

If the administration of the country calls for taxes, Islam has made the necessary provision .. . [Islamic Government, p.137 [104]]

[S]uperfluous bureaucracies and the system of file-keeping and paper-shuffling ... has nothing to do with Islam. These superfluous formalities, which cause our people nothing but expense, trouble and delay, have no place in Islam. For example, the method established by Islam for enforcing people’s rights, adjudicating disputes, and executing judgments is at once simple, practical and swift.

In the good old days,

when the juridical methods of Islam were applied, the shari’ah judge in each town, assisted only by two bailiffs and with only a pen and an inkpot at his disposal, would swiftly resolve disputes among people and send them about their business. But now the bureaucratic organization of the Ministry of Justice has attained unimaginable proportions, and is, in addition, quite incapable of producing results. [107]

One of the more extreme examples of bureaucratic control of the revolution was an attempt to solve the severe housing shortage in the big cities by redistributing housing. Starting mid-1980, anyone buying or selling a home was required to do it through "the Office for the Purchase and Transfer of Empty Dwellings." The office fixed rent and property prices, paid home sellers "partly in non-interest-bearing bonds" (at a time of high inflation), could "take over and rent residences whose owners were unwilling to lease them at reasonable rates, and ... confiscate homes whose owners were absent or could not be identified." Those the office deigned worthy of selling property to were to be chosen according to a "point system" based on "age, marital, and residence qualifications."
Not surprisingly the system became "virtually unenforceable" as "owners connived with land registry officials to backdate deeds, subdivide large holdings, and sell off their properties, thus necessitating additional legislation ... " A year later the controls were eased but not abandoned. [110]

Abandoning the Pro-Social Justice but Bureaucratic Line, After Abandoning the Anti-Bureaucratic Line

Helping the poor was a repeated refrain of Khomeini's

The imperialists have also imposed on us an unjust economic order, and thereby divided our people into two groups: oppressors and oppressed. Hundreds of millions of Muslims are hungry and deprived of all form of health care and education, while minorities comprised of the wealthy and powerful live a life of indulgence, licentiousness, and corruption. [Islamic Government p.115 [115]]

Economically, the Islamic Republic may have it both ways. According to some, even before the inegalitarian, neoliberal austerity measures, the gap between the rich and the poor was wider, not narrower than it had been in the Shah's day. The poor were poorer thanks to a sharp drop in the standard of living for the masses of Iranians, and the well-connected and corrupt newly rich were very rich thanks to the enormous profits available on the black market. [120a]. At the same time, painful as the privatization and cuts in subsidies and spending may have been, they haven't been nearly deep enough to put a dent in the huge nationalized sector (still about 80% of the economy). The 2.3 million full-time public servants soaking up scarce revenue needed to make jobs for baby boom entering the job market. 2/3 of the population under 30, and unemployment is "rising relentlessly." [120b]

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Of course the Islamic Republic is not the only regime and not the only revolutionary regime to make 180 degree turns. But its flip-flopping can be traced directly to its political origins -- the all-things-to-all-people program of its leader Khomeini. In his speeches, letters and books, Khomeini talked constantly about the plight of the poor under the Shah's non-Islamic government, but the only measures he mentioned in his lecture series/book Islamic Government that could be called solutions to poverty -- higher oil prices, ending corruption, extravagance in the imperial court, foreign exploitation, bureaucratic sloth -- called for no extra use of resources to help the poor or sacrifice by anyone other than foreign oil importers and the elite of the Shah's court.

This was politically shrewd, as both radicals hearing plenty about ending "injustice," "oppression" and "hunger;" and bazaari businessmen hearing nothing about expropriation, controls and massive social spending -- would both see Khomeini as on their side. But when time came to run a country and Khomeini's prescriptions turned out to be not nearly enough to lift up the "dispossessed" and the satisfy rank and file revolutionaries, both wings of his revolution were left struggling with each over what "Islamic" economic policy was, all but pleading with Khomeini to find them a way out:

In January 1983, when Hashemi-Rafsanjani took members of Parliament to meet with Khomeini, he again appealed to the Imam for guidance on this vexing matter. Khomeini, he said should assist Parliament to turn Iran's Islamic Republic into a `model for the world` and to disprove the claim that `the heavenly religions cannot serve as a basis for the social life of the people.` However, aside from urging closer cooperation between the Majlis and the Council of Guardians, Khomeini was unable to suggest an effective means of resolving this doctrinal impasse. [121]

The entire system of government and administration, together with necessary laws, lies ready for you. If the administration of the country calls for taxes, Islam has made the necessary provision; and if laws are needed, Islam has established them all. ... Everything is ready and waiting. [122] [Islamic Government p.137-8]

Economic Policy More Shah-Like than the Shah!

Khomeini describes Islamic government’s foe as evil foreigners, who along with their "agents" (treacherous Iranians like the Shah) planned

to keep us backward, to keep us in our present miserable state so they can exploit our riches, our underground wealth, our lands and our human resources. They want us to remain afflicted and wretched, and our poor to be trapped in their misery -- they and their agents wish to go on living in huge palaces and enjoying lives of abominable luxury. [from Islamic Government, p.34]

Huge amounts of capital are being swallowed up; our public funds are being embezzled; our oil is being plundered; and our country is being turned into a market for expensive, unnecessary goods by the representatives of foreign companies, which makes it possible for foreign capitalists and their local agents to pocket the people’s money. [123] [from Islamic Government, p.115]

In the early days of the revolution Khomeinists talked of `national self-sufficiency,` land reform, nationalization of trade, `war profiteers,` and `capitalist bloodsuckers.` The original constitution of the Islamic Republic had `absolutely forbidden` all forms of foreign concession and loans.

That the vanquishing of the agents of Imperialism did not free Iranians from their "miserable state" was reflected by this joke popular in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war: A shahid about to sacrifice himself clearing a minefield for the war effort asks Khomeini ....

`Oh imam, tell me about paradise,' the martyr asked.
`Well`, said the ayatollah, `There is no war, and the electricity always works.`
`Oh tell me more,` begged the shahid.
`All the foods are available, the finest meat and abundant fruits,` replied the imam. ....
`And more!` said the shahid on his knees.
`Well, to summarize,' the imam said, `it is like the good old days of the shah.` [125]

Combating gharbzadegi ("weststruckness" or "westoxification"), i.e. fascination with Western civilization, was a central theme of the revolution.

The poisonous culture of imperialism [is] penetrating to the depths of towns and villages throughout the Muslim world, displacing the culture of the Qur'an, recruiting our youth en masse to the service of foreigners and imperialists ... [Khomeini, February 6, 1971] [111]

To purge this poison Iran not only had to cut all `economic and cultural links with foreign countries,` [111a] (13 December 1979), but to humiliate the government of the most powerful and culturally influential foreign country. The American government needed to be `slapped in the face,` and `punched in the mouth`. [112]

But while the Islamic Republic did successfully humiliate the American government with the 1979-80 hostage crisis, it couldn't cut economic links with other countries for the very good reason it needed foreign imports to eat. Agriculture has not flourished under the Islamic Republic.[112a] Land north of Tehran to Caspian Sea,

what was once Iran's most fertile land, the fields were largely deserted and only sparsely planted. I did not see a single tractor. Iran was then importing 65% of its food. Despite ferocious quest for independence, the Islamic Republic could no longer feed itself.

Iran imported almost everything, from lightbulbs to matches. And it no longer exported much except pistachios, carpets, and oil -- and less oil each year as local consumption grew. Iran's trade deficit stood at about $10 billion. [1995] [112b]

And every night perhaps millions of Iranians imbibed poison from the 250,000 odd satellite dishes on the roofs of Teheran. Often semi-commercial operations that sold "tickets to neighbors and friends to watch American serials," to help pay the bribe fee "of up to $900" to "protect against nighttime raids by police". [114a]

Of course a good deal, if not most, of the aforementioned problems of shortages, inflation, unemployment can be directly attributed to Iran's eight year long war with Iraq. Saddam Hussein, not Iran, started the war hoping to take advantage of revolutionary chaos and division. Iranians united against him though, and within less than two years Iraqi invaders were pushed back virtually to the border. [127] By mid-1982 Iraq was offering a cease-fire and return to the status quo ante bellum -- a retreat that very likely would have meant the fall of the man who started the war, Saddam. [127a]

But Khomeini turned them down. When it comes to talk of a truce he said

There are no conditions. The only condition is that the regime in Baghdad must fall and must be replaced by an Islamic Republic. [128]

His plan was for the Islamic Republic to grow beyond just Iran:

If the war continues and if in the war Iran defeats Iraq, Iraq will be annexed to Iran; that is, the nation of Iraq, the oppressed people of Iraq, will free themselves from the talons of the tyrannical clique and will link themselves with the Iranian nation. They will set up their own government according to their wishes -- an Islamic one. If Iran and Iraq can merge and be amalgamated, all the diminutive nations of the region will be joined. [129]

The Islamic Iranian government set up and bankrolled a "Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq." Headquartered in Iran it oversaw a small Islamic army and had a ruling-jurist-in-waiting for Iraqis, Abdel Bakr al-Hakim. [130] When the Iranian general who had turned the tide of the war and retaken Iranian territory from the invaders had the temerity to suggest that `normal military objectives of the war` had been achieved, Khomeini dismissed him. [130a]

Needless to say all this raised the stakes enormously for the Ba'athist military and civilian elite in Iraq, the leaders of the "diminutive nations of the region," and anyone else in the Persian Gulf not interested in living under an Islamic Republic -- not to mention a certain oil-importing superpower Khomeini designated the "Great Satan." Why did Khomeini take this risk of arousing his enemies to unite and fight him? In part to rally Iranians around the flag (or to "awaken the people and to fight the problems that threaten the revolution"). [130b] But Khomeini's lectures on Islamic Government explain a less conventional motive:

If the form of government willed by Islam were to come into being, none of the governments now existing in the world would be able to resist it; they would all capitulate. But unfortunately, we have failed to establish such a government. Even in the earliest age of Islam, its opponents hindered its establishment and prevented government from being entrusted to the person chosen by God and His Messenger ... [from Islamic Government p.122] [131]

With the Islamic Republic Khomeini thought he HAD established a "government willed by Islam," and Iraq Ba'ath regime (its military aid and support from Western kuffar not withstanding), would be the first government to "capitulate."

It was not to be. The hoped for mass desertions or switching of sides by the Shi'a who made up 60+% of Iraq's population (and had little influence in Saddam's government), never occurred. The Iraqi army fought well on its own turf. The rest of the world sold Iraq conventional weapons and even supplies to make chemical weapons to fight off the Iranians. "The Great Satan's" navy entered the gulf in force destroying most of Iran's navy. Eight years after the war started Iranian morale was collapsing. Troops were deserting from the front. Civilians resisting the military draft. Khomeini finally agreed to terms:

Had it not been in the interests of Islam and Muslims, I would never have accepted this, and would have preferred death and martyrdom instead. But we have no choice and we should give in to what God wants us to do ... I reiterate that the acceptance of this issue is more bitter than poison for me, but I drink this chalice of poison for the Almighty and for His satisfaction. [133]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Not given to admitting mistakes, Khomeini and his supporters explained the benefits to Islam of the war:

The war gave us an opportunity to tell the world about the power of the revolution, the power of the Imam and our cultural and ideological values in relation to Western values. For eight years our news was headline news throughout the world. Every missile we sent to Iraq carried with it the Imam's thoughts to the world. It was the Imam's line of communication to every single Muslim. It led to the creation of resistance cells among the Muslims. [136]

And why there was no need to apologize for the war,

... we do not repent, nor are we sorry for even a single moment for our performance during the war. Have we forgotten that we fought to fulfill our religious duty and that the result is a marginal issue? [137]

How "the world" was going to be impressed with the sight of Muslims fighting and killing other Muslims for years and years for an end result of 100,000s dead and neither country gaining or losing a square inch of land ... was not immediately apparent. In fact the war is generally credited with extinguishing the once euphoric enthusiasm found in the Islamic world for Khomeini and the Islamic Republic.

But if it didn't kill the dream of the Islamic Revolution as vanguard of world Islam, the Iraq-U.S. Persian Gulf War three years later did. Then the world saw in succession:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Among Iranians, it's common for even staunch foes of Khomeini to see Western conspiracy, rather than Saddam or the Ayatollah, as the war's prime cause. As one Iranian put it:

This entire war was just a big setup to destroy both the Iranian and the Iraq armies. The former was the most powerful, in the Middle East in 1980, and the latter represented a real danger to Israel. The West sold weapons to both camps and we, we were stupid enough to enter into this cynical game ... [137a]

But can't the selling weapons or otherwise aiding one camp to prevent the other from winning (something the Soviet "East" did as well as the West), be explained in terms of reason rather than evil? A victorious Iraq would have been rewarded for invading a sovereign state and seizing a chunk of its land with a doubling of its share of the world's proven oil reserves (to approximately 20%). A victorious Iran would have been rewarded for continuing the war with a counterinvasion and installation of puppet regime in Iraq with the same increase in oil wealth. And either victor would have been poised to continue it's war south to oil-rich, defense-poor Gulf states (UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia). The potential prize would totaled over one half of the world's proven reserves of oil! [137b]

And aside from Khomeini's delusional belief in the military invincibility of "Islamic" rule, there is also good reason to believe that Khomeini was not just trying to save face, but truly meant it when he claimed the hundreds of thousands of Iranians killed were a `hidden gift` from God. That martyrdom was not a heroic tragedy but a heroic success because there was no real tragedy in death, was a concept Khomeini expounded on before the war, not just after the casualties mounted.

If you have any tie or link binding you to this world in love, try to sever it. This world, despite all its apparent splendor and charm, is too worthless to be loved ... What do you possess in this world that makes you so attached to it? [1972]

Dying does not mean nothingness: it is life. [1979] [137c]

Perhaps after all the other promises had been stripped away -- just rule, prosperity, dignity -- this was the one thing Khomeini was actually able to provide masses of Iranians -- freedom from the "worthlessness" of life.

Some examples of unkept promises most Iranians (and foreigners) aren't too upset over:

Banning Music

Early in his career (when he was in his 40s and 50s) Khomeini indicated he thought music another vice, like pork or liquor.

We affirm that music engenders immorality, lust, and licentiousness, and stifles courage, valor, and the chivalrous spirit; it is forbidden by Qur’anic laws and must not be taught in the schools. [138a]

In fact he was rather strict about it.

Performing and listening to singing (ghena') ... are forbidden. Ghena' means not only making one's voice attractive, but also includes the drawing out and varying of the voice in a way that induces merriment and which is suited to gatherings for the purpose of amusement and having fun. And it also includes musical instruments. It makes no difference whether it is used to accompany the holy word such as the Koran or prayer or as a dirge or to accompany prose or poetry...

Although an exception was made for weddings where female singers were allowed, it was more advisable `if singing is avoided altogether.` [139]

Unsurprisingly music was banned when he came to power, declaring it `no different from opium.` Music

stupefies persons listening to it and makes their brain inactive and frivolous .... If you want independence for your country, you must suppress music and not fear to be called old-fashioned. Music is a betrayal of the nation and of youth [140].

A 1967 law by the Shah's government was one of the causes celebres of the anti-Shah fundamentalists. The law allowed women the right to petition a court for divorce on a number of grounds outside of traditional Islamic law including abandonment, felony conviction of husband, etc. [143]

Khomeini himself considered it not just an intolerable violation of the Shari'ah, but part of a plot to destroy Islam

The law which was passed in recent years by illegitimate parliaments that violated the shari'ah as a family protection law by order of agents of foreign powers for the purpose of annihilating Islam and destroying the family hearth of the Muslims is contradictory to the Islamic ordinances ... Whoever has approved it is, from the point of view of the shari'ah and the law, a criminal. Women who are divorced at the order of the courts have not obtained a valid divorce and shall be considered as married women. If they marry [once again], they are adulteresses. Whoever knowingly marries them is an adulterer and deserves the hadd punishments of the shari’ah. Their children are illegitimate from the point of view of the shari’ah. [144]

This anti-Muslim plot in the form of a law was duly rescinded "within weeks of Khomeini's return" to Iran. [145] But Muslim women had been a big part of Khomeini's revolution and many of them had other ideas on what the shari’ah had to say about the divorce. They commenced applying pressure on the supreme leader and on Oct. 29 1979 Khomeini ended up promising a group of women who came to Qom to petition him that

If women when concluding marriage set it as a condition that in matters of divorce they are the authorised representative [of their husband] in absolute terms, i.e. that they may divorce him whenever they wish, or in relative terms, i.e. if he mistreats them or, for instances, takes another wife, then there are no other obstacles for them; they may obtain a divorce. [146]

Yet even after it was the law of the land, the land being run by an Islamic Government, some clerics couldn't really bring themselves to accept deviation from traditional Islamic law. They "did not understand how ... they were to define the relationship between the established shari`ah and the new laws that continually had to be passed." In parliament a cleric (Hojjat al Eslam `Abbas `Abbasi) asked rhetorically whether when a husband proclaims `I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee,` "in accordance with his rights as stipulated in the shari`ah," but hadn't gotten a court's approval for divorce, "`Is such a divorce legal or not? Is the wife divorce or isn't she?` He answered: `Yes, of course she is divorced.`" [150]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A women's right to divorce, once part of the "war against Islam," was now a basic right of the Islamic Republic ... but then again, so was a woman's right to vote! Fighting against the right of women to vote for (and non-Muslims to serve on) local and city councils was exactly what first provoked Khomeini to enter politics and start on his life long fight against the Shah of Iran.

The son of Reza Khan [the Shah] has embarked on the destruction of Islam in Iran. I will oppose this as long as the blood circulates in my veins. [Khomeini in October 1962] [151]

Traditionally Muslims have opposed birth control on the grounds it interfered with the destiny of the child who might otherwise be conceived. A hadith of the prophet Muhammad narrated by Ibn Muhairiz portrayed the prophet forbidding a group of Muslim warriors to use coitus interruptus to keep their slave women captives-of-war from getting pregnant.

It is better for you not to do so [practice birth control] for if any soul till the day of Resurrection is predestined to exist it will exist [152]

At the beginning of the revolution, "the regime had dismantled the shah's birth control clinics on the grounds that Islam and Iran needed a large population" [153].

But

by 1986, the population growth rate was 3.2% per year. Realizing by then that such a large birth rate was disastrous for the economy, Iran's Health Ministry launched a nationwide campaign and introduced contraceptives -- pills condoms, IUDs, implants, tubal ligations, and vasectomies. In 1993, Parliament passed legislation withdrawing food coupons, paid maternity leave, and social welfare subsidies after the third child. Birth control classes were required before a couple could get married. Dozens of mobile teams were sent to remote parts of the country to offer free vasectomies and tubal ligations. These days, an Iranian condom factory churns out more than 70 million a year, packaged in French or English to suggest that they are imported, available in textures and flavors like mint and banana. `Islam, said Deputy Health Minister Hussein Malek-Afzali during a birth control workshop in 1995, `is a flexible religion.` [154]

In his lectures on Islamic Government Khomeini claimed that

from the very beginning, the historical movement of Islam has had to contend with the Jews, for it was they who first established anti-Islamic propaganda and engaged in various stratagems, and as you can see, this activity continues down to the present. (p.27) [155]

The contension that Jews were intent on destroying Islam and that the Shah was a "Jewish agent" was a theme Khomeini hammered away at for years leading up to the revolution. This obsessive judaeophobia could go to pretty absurd lengths -- even the first Persian Emperor, Cyrus the Great, was involved. Cyrus allegedly `prevent[ed] the natural disappearance of elements [i.e. the Jewish people] who would never be satisfied with anything less than world domination,` when he freed the ancient Israelites from Babylonian captivity. Khomeini denounced the Shah's celebration of the 2500th aniversary of the Persian Empire as part of Israel's `plot against Islam.` It seems the Jews were now repaying their historical debt to Cyrus by working behind the scenes in Iran (Khomeini claimed) to make the celebrations a success. [155a]

This strong anti-Jewish line is in keeping with other Islamists and Islamic fundamentalists. (For example islamonline lists as "but some of the most famous traits of the Jews as described in the Qur’an":
"fabricat[ing] things and falsely ascrib[ing] them to Allah ... loving to listen to lies, ... disobeying Almighty Allah and never observing His commands, ... disputing and quarreling, ... hiding the truth and standing for misleading, ... hypocrisy, ... wishing evil for people and trying to mislead them, ... feel[ing] pain to [sic] see others in happiness," and 11 other similar "personal qualities and characteristics".
http://www.islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/fatwah_story.asp?service_id=449 )

Yet after the revolution these consiracy theories were replaced by a new, much milder line adopting the conventional denunciation of Zionism but not Judaism.

He thanked the minorities, including the Jews, for producing `martyrs` in the struggle against the Shah. He distinguished Judaism, an `honorable religion that had arisen among the common folk,` from Zionism, a `political "ism" that opposed religion and supported the exploiters.` (11 May 1979) [156]

Epilogue

The government has created an

atmosphere of terror, fear, revenge and national disintegration. ... What has the ruling elite done in nearly four years, besides bringing death and destruction, packing the prisons and the cemeteries in every city, creating long queues, shortages, high prices, unemployment, poverty, homeless people, repetitious slogans and a dark future? (November 1982) [158]

So complained Khomeini's first Prime Minister, Mehdi Bazargan, in an open letter to the powerful speaker of parliament Hasemi Rafsanjani. Four years later another disenchanted insider, closer to Khomeini (this one the brother of the Islamic Republic's President and future ruling jurist), quit his sub-committee chairmanship job, lamenting

The old society and its Western roots is proving to be far stronger than any of us imagined ... People prefer ordinary comforts to lofty ideals ... Our mosques are emptier than ever. Islamic rule has proved incapable of removing injustice or eliminating poverty. I am deeply pessimistic. Government as Allah intended it is not for tomorrow. (July 1986) [159]

Most recently and most astonishingly, Khomeini's own grandson, Sayyid Hussein Khomeini, saw fit to set up shop in American-ocupied Iraq and hold forth on how

Iranians need freedom now, and if they can only achieve it with American interference I think they would welcome it. As an Iranian, I would welcome it. (August 2003) [159a]

This disillusionment is manifest farther down the chain of power in the street-level behavior.

In the early 1980s, clerics were generally treated with elaborate courtesy. Nowadays, clerics are sometimes insulted by schoolchildren and taxi drivers and they quite often put on normal clothes when venturing outside [159b]

Through the defections by regime-supporters, the landslide election of a reformist president, major sustained protests by fed-up pro-Democracy students, the Mullahcracy has soldiered on -- defiant and ruthless in politics, corrupt and hapless in economics. It has outmaneuvered the reformers, crushed their protests, shut down their newspapers, banned their candidates, imprisoned 2000-4000 dissidents (no one knows the exact number because the government doesn't give out the names of all the prisoners). Inflation and unemployment are both over 15% despite the boost to Iran's economy from the high market price for its lifeblood -- oil. [160]

Is there anything to be learned from all this? Maybe that there doesn't have to be any connection between being utterly dedicated and being right -- and that goes even for extremely strong and shrewd sorts like Khomeini and his lieutenants. Almost everything Khomeini preached turned out to be wrong. A country of 60 million in the modern world is much too complicated for "respected religious scholars" to run. His Islamic Government did not have divine backing to overthrow "non-Islamic" governments of other countries. And if the Shah was "destroying the country," or America and Britain "devouring" Iran, what meaning do those terms have if Iranians are poorer now that their country is no longer being "destroyed" and "devoured"?

Maybe the most important lesson is there is no connection between an Islamist Revolution's failure to do what it said it would, and a weakening of its will and ability to stay in power. As an Iranian university professor related to a New York Times reporter,

`I told my 9-year-old daughter that other day that in a couple of years she would have to wear a veil, and she informed me that by then, at least according to her classmates, the Islamic Government wouldn't exist.`

References

[0.5] For examples of the euphoria with which the Musilm world, Shi'a and Sunni, greeted the Islamic Revolution of Iran see Rudi Matthee, "The Egyptian Opposition on the Iranian Revolution," in Juan R. I. Cole and Nikki R. Keddie, eds., Shi'ism and Social Protest (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1986), p. 263. See also Emmanuel Sivan, "Sunni Radicalism in the Middle East and the Iranian Revolution," International Journal of Middle East Studies, 21 (1989), pp. 1-30.

Even the venerable and "sober" Egyptian Muslim Brethren approached the Iranian revolution with "`unqualified enthusiasm and unconditional euphoria,` coupled with an `uncritical acceptance of both its means and goals.`" (from "Fundamentalist Islam at Large: The Drive for Power", by Martin Kramer, Middle East Quarterly, June 1996) http://www.meforum.org/article/304

[1] Civilians will rule.
`The religious dignitaries do not want to rule.` (Declaration from the Iranian daily Ettelaat, October 25, 1978)

Clericals will rule.
`Those who pretend that religious dignitaries should not rule, poison the atmosphere and combat against Iran's interests.` (Ettelaat, August 18, 1979)

[2] Criticism of the Islamic government will be tolerated.
`the Islamic government will answer criticism by reason and logic.` (Khomeini in exile in Neauphle-le-Chateau France from Ettellaat November 9, 1978).

Criticism of the Islamic government will be punished severely.
'I repeat for the last time: abstain from holding meetings, from blathering, from publishing protests. Otherwise I will break your teeth.` (in Qom, Iran, October 22, 1979, quoted from p.88, The Shah and the Ayatollah : Iranian Mythology and Islamic Revolution by Fereydoun Hoveyda, 2003)

[3] An Islamic cleric will rule Iran, but he'll be the most learned cleric.
`Since Islamic government is a government of law, knowledge of the law is necessary for the ruler, as has been laid down in tradition. Indeed such knowledge is necessary not only for the ruler, but also for anyone holding a post or exercising some government function. The ruler, however, must surpass all others in knowledge (afzaliyat-e `elmi). In laying claim to the Imamate, our Imams also argued that the ruler must be more learned than everyone else.` (Islamic Government by Ayatollah Khomenei. p.59 of Islam and Revolution translated and annotated by Hamid Algar, 1981)

I never said the ruling Islamic cleric had to be the most learned one.
`We cannot let our Islamic regime go on without a supervisor. You must elect an individual who can defend our Islamic honour in the world of politics and deceit. Since from the very beginning I was of the opinion and I insisted that the condition of marja'iyat [being a marja'-e taqlid] was not necessary, a righteous or just mojtahed who is confirmed by the honourable experts of the whole country will be sufficient. If the people vote for the experts to appoint a just mojtahed as the leader of their government and they appoint an individual to take over the leadership, he is of necessity acceptable to the people. In such a case he becomes the elected vali of the people and his edict is enforceable.` (p.308 Moin, A letter to the president of the Assembly for Revising the Constitution (Ayatollah Meshkini), setting out his instructions for the future of the leadership" source: Tehran Radio, 4 June 1989, SWB, 6 June 1989)

[4] Laws in Iran will strictly adhere to Islamic law, or Shari'ah.
`The fundamental difference between Islamic government, on the one hand and constitutional monarchies and republics on the other, is this: whereas the representative of the people or the monarch in such regimes engage in legislation, in Islam the legislative power and competence to establish laws belongs exclusively to God Almighty. The Sacred Legislator of Islam is the sole legislative power. No one has the right to legislate and no law may be executed except the law of the Divine Legislator.` (Italics added)[Islamic Government by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970 p.55 of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini]

The Islamic government of Iran has precedence over other ordinances of Islam.
`The government which is a branch of the absolute governance of the Prophet of God is among the primary ordinances of Islam, and has precedence over all secondary ordinances such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage.` [source: Hamid Algar, `Development of the Concept of velayat-i faqih since the Islamic Revolution in Iran,` paper presented at London Conference on wilayat al-faqih, in June, 1988][p.135-6]

[5] Political oppression and killing are unIslamic.
`We must establish a government that will enjoy the trust of the people ... God know that your capacity and courage are not less than those of others -- unless, of course, the meaning of courage is oppressing and slaughtering the people; that kind of courage we certainly don’t have.` [Islamic Government by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970) p.138-9, of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini]

Estimates of the number of executions during the Islamic Revolution.

EXECUTION TALLY	Time Period
582	February 1979-January 1980
906	January 1980-June 20, 1981
2,946	June 20, 1981-June 20, 1982
4400+ (total)	February 1979-June 20, 1982

"At least 582 persons had been executed between February 1979 and January 1980 ..." (p.291 Mackey)

"The number who lost their lives will probably never be known with certainty. Amnesty International documented 2,946 executions in the 12 months following Bani-Sadr's impeachment [on June 20, 1981]. A list compiled the following year by the Mojahedin-e Khalq cited 7,746 persons who had lost their lives through executions, in street battles, or under torture in the short period from June 1981 to Sept. 1983." (The Reign of the Ayatollahs by Shaul Bakhash p.221-222)

"... in late summer and early autumn of 1989 ... thousand of political prisoners were dispatched. ... Amnesty International documented 3000 killed. Other sources estimated between 6000-10,000 executed. Most of the dead were Mojahedin but many were nonviolent demonstrators." (p.278, Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah by Baqer Moin Thomas Dunne Books, c2000)

The banning of periodicals arresting of opposition leaders beating of protestors, smashing and looting of their news stands, bookstores, and offices. (Bakhash, p.123)

[6] Unjustly harsh punishment, for (for example) the possession of heroin, are unislamic.
`The agents of imperialism ... kill people for possessing ten grams of heroin and say, "That is the Law" ... Inhuman laws like this are concocted in the name of a campaign against corruption, and they are not to be regarded as too harsh.` (Islamic Government by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970) p.33, of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini)

Executions for possession of heroin.
Revolutionary Judge Khalkhali ordered the execution of 20 persons found guilty of trafficking in drugs. Over the next several weeks, he sent scores of alleged drug smugglers, peddlers, users and others to their death, often on the flimsiest evidence. By the end of August, some 200 persons had been executed on Khalkhali's orders. This figure rose considerably before" Khalkhali was ousted on unrelated charges. (Bakhash p.111)

[7] Corruption is unIslamic. Most forms of corruption originate with the ruling class, the tyrannical ruling family and the libertines that associate with them. ... If it were not for [the] profligate royal ceremonies, this reckless spending, this constant embezzlement, there would never be any deficit in the national budget forcing us to bow in submission before America and Britain and request aid or a loan from them. (Islamic Government, Guardianship of the Jurists by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970 .... on p.58 of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini)

Corruption problem in the Islamic Republic.
`Graft has always existed,` he said in a sermon. `There are always people who are corrupt....` (Persian Mirrors : the Elusive Face of Iran by Elaine Sciolino of the New York Times c2000, p.327)

`I am really sorry to see such a huge rate of corruption in the country.` New speaker of the parliament Gholamali Haddadadel talking to reporters during the annual exhibition of the Government Inspection Organisation (GIO) July 2004 quoted in "Iran: Bribery and Kickbacks Persiste Despite Anti-Corruption Drive." Global Information Network, July 15, 2004 p.1

[8] Humiliating debt to Western powers.
And indeed the Islamic Republic paid off the $7.4 billion foreign debt accumulated by the Pahlavi Dynasty, during in the 1980s, despite economic sanctions by the Great Satan and diplomatic isolation. But while Khomeini himself never reversed himself on this principle, in the next decade his sucessors not only went back into debt, but built it up to almost four times the putatively shameful debt the monarchy left behind in 1979. It was spending ruling Islamist theocrats might think acceptable but Iranian economists could call "reckless." (The Last Revolution by Robin Wright c2000, p.279)

It is valid to say that the growth between 1989 and 1994 was mainly financed through the accumulation of some $30 billion in foreign debt. In 1993, the ratio of Iran's foreign debt to the country's GDP reached 38%, which was alarming. [from Iran at the Crossroads, edited by John Esposito and R.K. Ramazan, "Iran’s Economy: 20 years after the Islamic Revolution" by Bijan Khajehpour p.98]

News of unemployment from import shortages, massive devaluation, inflation, and lowered standards of living. "Iran's Currency Tumbles as Economy Falters." New York Times Dec. 19, 1993

[9] Bureaucratic waste is unIslamic.
[S]uperfluous bureaucracies and the system of file-keeping and paper-shuffling . . . has nothing to do with Islam. These superfluous formalities, which cause our people nothing but expense, trouble and delay, have no place in Islam. [p.33 of Islamic Government, Guardianship of the Jurists by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970] [p. 58 of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini]

Problem of bureaucratic waste in the Islamic Republic.
`The political realities of revolutionary Iran pressed Khomeini to pay greater attention to the state. To run the country's vast array of social services, the Islamic Republic had no choice but to extend the large ministries and their regional departments. To consolidate power, it found it necessary to put in place a system of local committees (komitehs) and Revolutionary Guards (Sepah-e Pasdaran). To fight the war with Iraq, it retained the existing armed forces, drastically expanded the Revolutionary Guards, and also created the Reconstruction Crusade (Jahad-e Sazandegi) and the volunteer force known as the Mobilization Army (Sepah-e Basij). To curb the arbitrary behavior of local judges, it kept the conventional and cumbersome appeals system, which Khomeini had denounced for 40 years as un-Islamic and against the sacred law. ["A case that a shari'a judge in earlier times settled in one or two days cannot be settled now in 20 years."] To alleviate public discontent, it introduced food rationing and price controls and periodically launched campaigns against speculators, hoarders, and price-gougers. To administer the recently nationalized enterprises, mostly confiscated from multinational corporations, the royal family and their close associates, the new regime had to dramatically expand the bureaucratic machinery. Prophet Mohammad and Imam Ali may have been able to run the community from a mosque corner; Khomeini had to preside over a state bureaucracy three times larger than that of Mohammad Reza Shah.` (italics added) (p.55, Khomeinism : Essays on the Islamic Republic by Ervand Abrahamian]

[10] Class division and poverty are unIslamic
Huge amounts of capital are being swallowed up; our public funds are being embezzled; our oil is being plundered; and our country is being turned into a market for expensive, unnecessary goods by the representatives of foreign companies, which makes it possible for foreign capitalists and their local agents to pocket the people’s money. [[from Islamic Government, Guardianship of the Jurists by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970] p.115 of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini]

Class division and poverty in the Islamic Republic.
`I cannot believe that the purpose of all these sacrifices was to have less expensive melons.` (Khomeini July 1979) [quoted in The Government of God p.111. "see the FBIS for typical broadcasts, especially GBIS-MEA-79-L30, July 5, 1979 v.5 n.130, reporting broadacasts of the National Voice of Iran. This point is also made in Hannah Arendt's Origin of Totalitarianism.]
The Iranian government's "own Planning and Budget Organization reported that from 1979 through 1985, absolute poverty rose by nearly 45%!" (source: Jahangir Amuzegar, `The Iranian Economy before and after the Revolution,` Middle East Journal 46, n.3 (summer 1992): 421), quoted in Reinventing Khomeini : The Struggle for Reform in Iran by Daniel Brumberg, University of Chicago Press, 2001 p.130)

Living standards only a quarter of what they'd been before the revolution. In the summer of 1995 Iranian Foreign debt was $40 billion and average per capita income 25% of what it had been in 1979 (Mackey p.366)

Rolling back the original populist agenda for a typical neoliberal "economic order.
`The regime now openly declares its support for open-door and laissez-faire policies. It has relaxed price controls and import restrictions, lifted rationing from many goods, decreased subsidies for a number of commodities, reduced inflation by cutting back on expenditures, increased wage and salary differences, set up a stock exchange, narrowed the gap between the official and black-market exchange rate for the dollar, encouraged the importation of consumer goods, re-established free-trade zones in the Persian Gulf, and privatized over 500 companies factories and agribusinesses that had been nationalized in 1979-80. What is more, the new Five-Year Plan calls for foreign investments totaling $27 billion.` [p.138-40, Khomeinism : Essays on the Islamic Republic by Ervand Abrahamian]

Protests by the poor in Iran.

[11]exploitation by foreign imperialists is unIslamic.
`.... to keep us backward, to keep us in our present miserable state so they can exploit our riches, our underground wealth, our lands and our human resources. They want us to remain afflicted and wretched, and our poor to be trapped in their misery -- they and their agents wish to go on living in huge palaces and enjoying lives of abominable luxury.
... our country is being turned into a market for expensive, unnecessary goods by the representatives of foreign companies, which makes it possible for foreign capitalists and their local agents to pocket the people’s money. A number of foreign states carry off our oil after drawing it out of the ground, and the negligible sum they pay to the regime they have installed returns to their pockets by other routes. [from Islamic Government, Guardianship of the Jurists by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970] p.34, 115 of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini

100% ownership and export of 100% of all profits by (qualifying) foreign owners. By 1992 not only was the Islamic government signing agreements with the foreign non-Islamic institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, it outdid the Shah and "drastically liberalized the law on foreign investments." Where the Shah’s government had "stipulated that non-Iranians could own no more than 49% of any venture" a

1992 law -- amending the constitution and the older law -- lift[ed] the 49% ceiling and permits foreigners to have total ownership of ventures and to export all their profits. In the words of Rafsanjani, `our most pressing goal is to convince the world that the country is ripe for foreign investments and loans.`" (p.139-40, Khomeinism : Essays on the Islamic Republic by Ervand Abrahamian)

[12] Cultural pollution of foreign imperialists is UnIslamic.
`The poisonous culture of imperialism [is] penetrating to the the depths of towns and villages throughout the Muslim world, displacing the culture of the Qur'an, recruiting our youth en masse to the service of foreigners and imperialists... ] "Message to the Pilgrims" (from Iran on Hajj in Saudi Arabia from Khomeini in exile in Najaf) February 6, 1971 Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini p.195

A decade and a half into the revolution there were a quarter million satellite dishes in the capital of Iran. Since almost everyone used them to bring in "poisonous" foreign (usually American) culture, the antennas were officially forbidden by the protectors of Islam ... but they would look the other way for a price of the equivalent of "up to $900." (see p.450, God Has Ninety Nine Names by Judith Miller c1996))

[13] Khomeini on the invincibility of the Islamic state. `If the form of government willed by Islam were to come into being, none of the governments now existing in the world would be able to resist it; they would all capitulate. But unfortunately, we have failed to establish such a government. Even in the earliest age of Islam, its opponents hindered its establishment and prevented government from being entrusted to the person chosen by God and His Messenger.` [from Islamic Government, Guardianship of the Jurists by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970] p.122 of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini]

Khomeini on conditions for a truce with Iraq: `There are no conditions, the only condition is that the regime in Baghdad must fall and must be replaced by an Islamic Republic`. (p.126, In the Name of God : The Khomeini Decade by Robin Wright c1989)

The regime in Baghdad did not fall. The hoped for mass desertions or switching of sides by the Shi'a who made up 60+% of Iraq's population (unrepresented in the upper escelons of Saddam's government), never occured. The Iraqi army fought well on its own turf. The rest of the world sold Iraq conventional weapons and even supplies to make chemical weapons to fight off the Iranians. "The Great Satan's" navy entered the gulf in force destroying most of Iran's navy. Eight years after the war started Iranian morale was collapsing. Troops were deserting from the front. Civilians resisting the military draft. Khomeini finally agreed to terms:

Khomeini backing down from his no truce position:

Had it not been in the interests of Islam and Muslims, I would never have accepted this, and would have preferred death and martyrdom instead. But we have no choice and we should give in to what God wants us to do ... I reiterate that the acceptance of this issue is more bitter than poison for me, but I drink this chalice of poison for the Almighty and for His satisfaction. [Tehran Radio, 20 July 1988 from Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah by Baqer Moin, p.267]

[14] Music.
Music `stupefies persons listening to it and makes their brain inactive and frivolous .... If you want independence for your country, you must suppress music and not fear to be called old-fashioned. Music is a betrayal of the nation and of youth.` ("Khomeini Bans Broadcast Music, Saying It Corrupts Iranian Youth" by John Kifner, New York Times July 24, 1979 p.A1)

A 1988 fatva or fatwa by him declared "it permissible to listen to music produced by instruments that can be used for licit as well as illicit music (alat-e moshtarakeh). The same fatva gave permission to play chess if it is only done for the fun of the game." (p.68, The Constitution of Iran by Asghar Schirazi, Tauris, 1997 .... Source: See Khomeini's refutation of the objections Hojjat el-Esalam Mohammad Hasan Qadiri raised against this fatva in Howzeh, no.28 (1988), p. 2 f.)

[15] A women's right to divorce.

The law which was passed in recent years by illegitimate parliaments that violated the shari'ah as a family protection law by order of agents of foreign powers for the purpose of annihilating Islam and destroying the family hearth of the Muslims is contradictory to the Islamic ordinances ... Whoever has approved it is, from the point of view of the shari'a and the law, a criminal. Women who are divorced at the order of the courts have not obtained a valid divorce and shall be considered as married women. If they marry [once again], they are adulteresses. Whoever knowingly marries them is an adulterer and deserves the hadd punishments of the shari’ah. Their children are illegitimate from the point of view of the shari’ah. They cannot inherit as wives, and the other relevant regulations of the shari'a pertaining to adultery shall be applied to them. And all this is the case, whether the courts declare their divorce directly or oblige their husband to undertake the divorce. Khomeini, Towzih al-Masa'el, solution #2836

"Naturally the annulment of this law was one of the first undertaking carried out within the framework of Islamicisation ... 26.2.79, the minister of the interior, Ahmad Sadr Hajj Seyyed Javadi, informed the press that the application of the Family Protection Law had been stopped by order of the leader.." (The Constitution of Iran by Asghar Schirazi, Tauris, 1997, p.219)

"Many women regime supporters and journalists who wanted less discrimination of women were still disappointed with the divorce law, but "all those men and women who had divorced after 1967 and therefore stood accused of adultery by Khomeini, were now pronounced innocent." (The Constitution of Iran by Asghar Schirazi, Tauris, 1997. p.219)

[16] Family planning.
"The new social policies are most apparent in the [Islamic] regime's attitude to the population explosion. The regime had dismantled the shah's birth control clinics on the grounds that Islam and Iran needed a large population." Khomeinism : Essays on the Islamic Republic by Ervand Abrahamian, p.140.

"Ayatollah Khomeini had encouraged his people to breed, particularly during the war with Iraq. And breed they did. By 1986, the population growth rate was 3.2% per year. Realizing by then that such a large birth rate was disastrous for the economy, Iran's Health Ministry launched a nationwide campaign and introduced contraceptives -- pills condoms, IUDs, implants, tubal ligations, and vasectomies. In 1993, Parliament passed legislation withdrawing food coupons, paid maternity leave, and social welfare subsidies after the third child. Birth control classes were required before a couple could get married. Dozens of mobile teams were sent to remote parts of the country to offer free vasectomies and tubal ligations. These day, an Iranian condom factory churns out more than 70 million a year, packaged in French or English to suggest that they are imported, available in textures and flavors like mint and banana. `Islam, said Deputy Health Minister Husein Malek-Afzali during a birth control workshop in 1995, `is a flexible religion.` (p.282, Persian Mirrors : the Elusive Face of Iran by Elaine Sciolino of the New York Times c2000)

[17] The Jewish menace.
`From the very beginning, the historical movement of Islam has had to contend with the Jews, for it was they who first established anti-Islamic propaganda and engaged in various stratagems, and as you can see, this activity continues down to the present.` [Khomeini from Islamic Government, Guardianship of the Jurists by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970] p.27 of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini

"He thanked the minorities, including the Jews, for producing `martyrs` in the struggle against the Shah. He distinguished Judaism, an `honorable religion that had arisen among the common folk,` from Zionism, a `political "ism" that opposed religion and supported the exploiters.` [R. Khomeini `The Report Card on Jews Differs from That on the Zionists,` Ettelaat, 11 May 1979]

"He argued that Imam Ali had treated all as equal and had not distinguished between Muslim and Jew." [R. Khomeini, `We need a Spiritual Revolution in Iran.` Ettelaat, 19 July 1979](quoted on p.51, Khomeinism : Essays on the Islamic Republic by Ervand Abrahamian)

[18] "Islamic Fundamentalist" in this case refers to Muslims who rejected both the conservative quietism of "traditionalists" like Ayatollah Shariatmadarai, and the "Islamic modernism" of popular Iranian writer `Ali Shari'ati.

[19] Bakhash, Shaul The Reign of the Ayatollahs : Iran and the Islamic Revolution, 1984 p.49.

[20]
`the Islamic government will answer criticism by reason and logic.` (Khomeini in exile in Neauphle-le-Chateau France quoted in Ettellaat November 9, 1978. Quoted in The Shah and the Ayatollah : Iranian Mythology and Islamic Revolution, 2003 by Fereydoun Hoveyda p.88.

[120a] "Some of the old rich have left the country or have fallen a few rungs down the economic ladder. But the gap between the rich and the poor has widened. [source: Report by Budget and Planning Ministry, Tehran, October 1984] Unprecedented profits are being made on the black market and from the miseries of a nation hit by war and revolutionary dislocation. In the summer of 1984 Premier Mussavi exposed a swindle that had robbed the state of some $315 million in an agri-business project in East Azerbaijan ...." The Spirit of Allah : Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution by Amir Taheri, Adler and Adler c1985, p.300

see also: In the Name of God : The Khomeini Decade by Robin Wright c1989. p.133

[120b] Private sector makes up only 1/5 of the Iranian economy. [Economist 12-9-2004]
Iran has 2.3 million full-time public servants. Global Information Network, July 15, 2004.
2/3 of Iranians are under 30 and unemployment is "rising relentlessly." ("Don't be too nice: Iran" Economist Feb. 14, 2004 v.370, n.8362, p.12).

[120c] Economist Feb. 14, 2004 v.370, n.8362, p.12).

[121] p.215 The Reign of the Ayatollahs by Shaul Bakhash

[122] Islamic Government by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970 p.137-8 in Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini.

[123] Islamic Government, Guardianship of the Jurists by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970] p.34, 115 of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini

[124] quoted in The Government of God p.111. "see the FBIS for typical broadcasts, especially GBIS-MEA-79-L30, July 5, 1979 v.5 n.130, reporting broadcasts of the National Voice of Iran. This point is also made in Hannah Arendt's Origin of Totalitarianism.

[125] In the Name of God : The Khomeini Decade by Robin Wright c1989] p.177,

[126] Khomeinism : Essays on the Islamic Republic by Ervand Abrahamian p.139-40.
See also: "Iran Allows Foreigners to Buy Its Companies", June 29, 1992, New York Times. [126a]Asian Chemical News, 4/26/2004, Vol. 10 Issue 443, special Section p4, 5p, 2c

Iranian foreign investment law is complicated and doesn't give carte blanc for foreign ownership and export of profits. Different kinds of foreign investment are treated differently, but many of its latest changes make it even more liberal. For example:
IranMania.com "New Foreign Investment Law" 7 September 2002
` .... The change in the FIPPA [the foreign investment law passed in 2002 (Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Act)] is that there are more options for repatriation of dividends. Under the LAPFI [the old foreign investment law], a foreign investor could only repatriate dividends if it had exports, i.e., if it earning hard currency and then used what the project itself earned to pay for the dividends. Obviously the shortcoming with that approach is that it did not provide for legal means of repatriation of profits or principal for those investments focusing only on the domestic market. FIPPA allows for repatriation by purchasing hard currency from the banking system and not only from export proceeds....`
http://www.iranmania.com/news/economy/features/fippa/default.asp

[127] The Gulf War by John Bullock and Harvey Morris, 1989 p.114

[127a], History of Iraq by Charles Tripp: p.236
After the Iran counter offensive of 1982

an extraordinary joint meeting was held in June 1982 of the RCC [Revolutionary Command Council], the Iraqi Military Command and the Regional and National Commands of the Ba'th, in the absence of Saddam Husain. A cease-fire proposal was worked out that offered a return to the status quo ante, abandoning all the claims made by Saddam Husain in 1980. Had this offer been accepted by Iran, Saddam Husain could hardly have survived with his authority intact and might not have survived at all since it was endorsed by the entire leadership, including some of Saddam Husain's most intimate followers. In the event, the offer was rejected out of hand by Khomaini and the Iranian government, now confident that Iran could carry the war into Iraq and achieve its goal of sweeping away the entire Iraqi leadership.

[128] In the Name of God : The Khomeini Decade by Robin Wright c1989, p.126

[129] Khomeini, 21 June 1982, in FBIS VIII, I 1-3, 22 June 1982. Quoted in Shahram Chubin and Charles Tripp, Iran and Iraq at War, Westview Press, 1988 p.164.

see also: Kayhan, 22 June 1982: Iran Times, 25 June 1982. Quoted in The Reign of the Ayatollahs by Shaul Bakhash, p.232
`if Iran and Iraq unite and link up with one another, the other, smaller nations of the region will join them as well.` (22 June 1982)

[130] The Gulf War : It's Origins, History and Consequences by John Bullock and Harvey Morris, Methuen London, 1989. p.148
See also: The Reign of the Ayatollahs by Shaul Bakhash, p.233

The Iranian government arranged for the formation in Tehran of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, under the leadership of Mohammad-Baqer Hakim. Hakim, living in exile in Iran, was the son of Ayatollah Mohsen-Hakim and a member of one of the leading Shi'a clerical families in Iraq. He declared the primary aim of the council to be the overthrow of the Ba'ath and the establishment of an Islamic government in Iraq Iranian officials referred to Hakim as the leader of Iraq's future Islamic state ...

[130a]

"The Spirit of Allah : Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution by Amir Taheri, Adler and Adler c1985, p.280) In 1984 Khomeini relieved Zahir-Nehad, "the popular army Chief of Staff, of his position, because of a remark by the general that the `normal military objectives of the war` had been achieved." [source: remark made in an interview with the magazine Saf, Tehran, August 1984.] (The Spirit of Allah : Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution by Amir Taheri, Adler and Adler c1985, p.289)

[130b] The Longest War : Iran-Iraq Military Conflict by Dilip Hiro, 1991 p.257 ]

[131] from Islamic Government, Guardianship of the Jurists by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970 p.122 of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini

In another passage he looks back wistfully on the military religious fervor of the golden age of Islam, i.e. the first couple of decade where ...

The Friday sermon was more than a sura from the Qur'an and a prayer followed by a few brief words. Entire armies used to be mobilized by the Friday sermon and proceed directly from the mosque to the battlefield - and a man who sets out from the mosque to go into battle will fear only God, not poverty or hardship, and his army will be victorious and triumphant. [from Islamic Government, Guardianship of the Jurists by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970] p.131 of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini]

...all non-Islamic systems of government are the systems of kufr (unbelief),... it is our duty to remove from the life fo Muslim society all traces fo kufr and destroy them .... We have in reality ... no choice but to destroy those systems of government that are corrupt in themselves ... to overthrow all treacherous, corrupt, oppressive and criminal regimes. [from Islamic Government, Guardianship of the Jurists by Ayatollah Khomenei, 1970] p.48 of Islam and Revolution : Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini]

[133] Tehran Radio, 20 July 1988 quoted in Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah by Baqer Moin, p.267]

It should be noted that Iranian war goals were not uniform throughout the war.

"Starting with the basic defensive objective of expelling the invading Iraqis, it went on to demand the removal of President Saddam Hussein's regime. The exact nature of this requirement varied from wholesale replacement of the Baathist state with an Islamic one to the mere resignation of Saddam Hussein from the presidency." (The Longest War : Iran-Iraq Military Conflict by Dilip Hiro, 1991, p.254)

And that the Islamic Republic had other motives besides conquest in its pursuit of the war into Iraq, namely punishment of the person responsable for the invasion of their country (Saddam), the initial momentum of victory in late 1981 and early 1982 and the consolidation of the revolution: `We have been able to use the war to awaken the people and to fight the problems that threaten the revolution,` - Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Feb. 1985 (The Longest War : Iran-Iraq Military Conflict by Dilip Hiro, 1991, p.257)
But could these reasons sustain another 6 years of war?

[134] Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah by Baqer Moin, p.249, 251

[135] Iran - a Country Study, 1989 quoted in Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah by Baqer Moin, p.252

[136] (Khomeini's son Ahmed speaking.) Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah by Baqer Moin, Thomas Dunne Books, c2000, p.251

[137] (`Letter to Clergy,` 1989 February 22. Quoted in of Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah by Baqer Moin, Thomas Dunne Books, c2000. p.285

[137a] from: Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return, by Marjane Satrapi, p.99 (Note: Author Marjane Satrapi's father Ebi describing the war to her after her return to Iran. The Satrapi family were educated, securlar leftists with deep distain for theocratic oppression. Marjane's beloved uncle had died at the hands of the regime.)

The principle conspiracy theory of Western (i.e. American) "setup" of the war comes from the deposed Leftist president of Iran Bani-Sadr. (The Longest War : Iran-Iraq Military Conflict by Dilip Hiro, 1991, p.71)

According to the Iranian president, Bani-Sadr, in early August 1980 his government had purchased secret documents containing a detailed account of the conversations in France between several deposed Iranian generals and politicians, Iraqi representatives and American and Israeli military experts. ... By supplying secret information, which exaggerated Iran's military weakness, to Saudi Arabia for onward transmission to Baghdad, Washington encouraged Iraq to attack Iran- seeing in the move the making of a solution to the hostage crisis on the eve of the presidential poll. .

But even if this theory is correct (and no one on the American side has come through to confrim any of it in the last 25 years), that still leaves seven years of the war when Iran, not Iraq, had the military momentum and most of the casualties took place.

[137b]

The following table lists the top ten nations by proven oil reserves
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/reserves.html in 2005:

[137c] "If you have any tie or link binding you to this world in love, try to sever it ... " (from: Lectures on the Supreme Jihad by Khomeini, in Islam and Revolution translated by Hamid Algar, p.357)

`Dying does not mean nothingness: it is life.` (from: speech broadcast on Teheran Domestic Service 4 May 1979. Source: `Khomeini Delivers Oration,` FBIS-MEA-79-089, 7 May 1979
quoted in Reinventing Khomeini : The Struggle for Reform in Iran, by Daniel Brumberg, University of Chicago Press, 2001, p.125)

[137b] http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat5.htm#Iraq
see also "Rafsanjani Sketches Vision of a Moderate, Modern Iran" by Elaine Sciolino, New York Times April 19, 1992

[138] Verse from the Quran:

"And of mankind he who purchases idle talks to mislead (people) from the Path of Allaah without knowledge, and takes it (the Path of Allaah) by way of mockery, For such there will be a humiliating torment." [Quran 31:6].

Tradition or hadith quoting the prophet:

The Prophet said (which means), "From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments, as lawful. And there will be some people who will stay near the side of a mountain and in the evening their shepherd will come to them with their sheep and ask them for something, but they will say to him, 'Return to us tomorrow.' Allaah will destroy them during the night and will let the mountain fall on them, and He will transform the rest of them into monkeys and pigs and they will remain so till the Day of Resurrection." [Al-Bukhari Volume 7, Book 69, Number 494v].
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/1716/music.html

[138a] Kashf al-Asrar (Secrets Unveiled) by Khomeini, published in 1943), Quoted in Les Principles Politiques, Philosphiques, Sociaux et Religieux de L'Ayatollah Khomeiny, 1979 p.12,)

[139] Tahrir al-Vasila by Khomeini, vol.II p.351. Quoted in Constitution of Iran by Scharazi (p.240)
Tahrir al-Wasilah was written in 1965 and was "a commentary on a traditional theological text which also covered socio-political issues abandoned by his contemporaries, such as holy war and `ordering the good and forbidding the evil.` (Khomeini by Moin p.137-8)

Although Khomeini does not qualify the word "music" in his prohibition, it seems pretty clear he is not talking about Islamic religious music, such as described in this 2002 news group post on "Islamic religious music in Iran":
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/browse_frm/thread/640f7f8f4158b191/ef2001e7b000a985?lnk=st&q=%3A%22islamic+religious+music+in+iran%22&rnum=1&hl=en#ef2001e7b000a985

And presumable the ban did not apply to songs by Khomeini supporters "written about the people's will to die for their leader." "The Government of God" - Iran's Islamic Republic by Cheryl Benard and Zalmay Khalilzad, Columbia University Press, 1984, p.121

A long-time observer of Iranian also contradicts the idea that there was a total music ban:

In the first years of the revolution many cinemas were burned or closed, Iranian and Western pop music was forbidden (though not Iranian or Western classical music or Iranian folk music), the sexes were rigidly separated in all public places ..." [Keddie, Nikki, Modern Iran : Roots and Results of Revolution, Yale University Press, 2003 p.290]

[140] ("Khomeini Bans Broadcast Music, Saying It Corrupts Iranian Youth" by John Kifner, New York Times July 24, 1979 p.A1)

[141] Khomeini's refutation of the objections Hojjat el-Esalam Mohammad Hasan Qadiri raised against this fatva in Howzeh, no.28 (1988), p. 2 f.) quoted in The Constitution of Iran by Asghar Schirazi, Tauris, 1997 .... p.68,

[142] Hardliner journal Pasdar-e Islam January February 1989 issue. Quoted in Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah by Baqer Moin, Thomas Dunne Books, c2000 p.?

[142a] The book The Constitution of Iran, by Asghar Schirazi, gives two examples of the rational given by the Islamic Revolutionaries for the un-banning of music:

[143] The Shah's 1967 Divorce law called for