Khomeinism

Khomeinism has produced two losers : Iran as a nation and Shiism as a faith.

It showed that Islamist extremism in its various forms, from Khomeinism in Iran to Boko Haram in Nigeria and Daesh in Iraq and Syria will never able to submit to a genuine electoral test in any shape or form.

In reality, Khomeini and Khomeinism were political and theological outliers even among conservative Shi'a scholars and clergy in the 1970s.

This particular event, coupled with the rise of Khomeinism in Iran, brought to a halt any notion that the country was ready to step up and be in stride with the rest of the world.

Echoing again on the Iranian street were the nationalist slogans "No to Gaza, No to Lebanon, Our Lives Only for Iran," and "Leave Syria, Find a Solution for Us." Under the cover of declared objectives such as the destruction of Israel, the overthrow of pro-US Arab governments and the fight against Daesh, the radical project of Khomeinism has made unprecedented strides in recent years.

The author's historical contextualization of the texts is particular useful, as they illustrate how Iran's Supreme Leader has evolved and refined his political ideology from that of revolutionary Khomeinism to Khameneism.

(2.) Ervand Abrahamian, Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic (Berkley, Calif: University of California Press, 1993), p.

ySTANBUL (CyHAN)- On June 29, 2014, I wrote in this column, "'Rouhanism' is likely to be the second most important ideology to shape Iran, after Khomeinism."

See, for instance, Abrahamian, Khomeinism and Tortured Confessions', Aghaie; Chelkowski; Chelkowsi and Dabashi; Dabashi; Gieling; Khosrokhavar; Khosrokhavar and Macey; and Vara.

To understand its slow progress towards democracy, it considers periods of constitutionalism, nationalism, modernization, communism, revolutionarism, ideological Islam, and Khomeinism in Iran's history during the 20th century and the political-religious debate in the country.

Saudi Arabia has another big anxiety, which is Khomeinism or Shiite Political Islam, the ideology of the Iranian state.

SINCE THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION in 1979, Iran has promoted "Khomeinism" (1) as one of its foreign policy tools in the Muslim world.