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A Critical Introduction to Khomeini Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. 306 pages.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-89) is undoubtedly one of the twentieth century's key international revolutionary figures whose role is definitive to modern Iranian history. A massive amount of scholarship has been produced in Iran about him; this is not the case, however, in the English-speaking world. This publication by a collection of eminent scholars of Iranian studies, therefore, examines the critical impact of his political thought and religious philosophy within and beyond Iran.
In "Introduction," editor Arshin Adib-Moghaddam provides a brief summary of Khomeini's political life before, during, and after the revolution. In his view, the Islamic Republic's revolutionary discourse not only triggered unprecedented sociopolitical changes, but also influenced the subjectivity of Iranian citizens. Moreover, he maintains that the two pillars of the ayatollah's political thought were a "strong state" and "independence from foreign influences," which are still adamantly pursued today (p. 15).
Fakhreddin Azimi, in "Khomeini and the 'White Revolution,'" looks at the social context of his rise to prominence in the pre-revolutionary decades. With the dissolution of Reza Shah's autocratic rule in 1941, secular and leftist discourses gained enough momentum to threaten the religious establishment. Despite these changes, the leading Shi'i ulema maintained a quietist stance until the middle of twentieth century (p. 19). During the 1960s, Khomeini initiated his rigorous anti-Shah political activity by combining "a stern moralism on gender issues and sociopersonal freedoms" with "forceful professions of opposition to tyranny and adherence to constitutional principles and the rights and liberties they entailed" (p. 27). Azimi asserts that the Islamic Revolution's success was due not only to Khomeini's political activities, but also to the absence of any viable oppositional alternatives and the regime's undermining of constitutionalism by its autocratic reform agenda (p. 42).
In "The Rise of Khomeinism: Problematizing the Politics of Resistance in Pre-Revolutionary Iran," Mojtaba Mahdavi focuses on the revolutionary phase of Khomeini's life (1971-79) and, drawing upon Karl Marx's thoughts regarding the interaction between social structures and actors, points out the social, political, economic, and religious forces that shaped the Islamic Revolution. Mahdavi warns against conceptualizing Islamic revolutionary discourse as "essentialist, monolithic, wholesaled, and unified" and maintains that "the revolutionary movement was made of...