کبری لشکری

Confrontation and contrast between tradition and modernity brings the intellectuals of Muslim communities into different intellectual, social, and political conflicts. Some of those believe that the only way to rescue from the status quo is sinking in the Western culture and its slavish imitation. Some others insist on the traditions of the past, which are mingled with a lot of superstition, and impurities in the path of events and historical developments and need for refinement and revision. Among these attitudes, Imam Khomeini as a prominent scholar and Islamic thinker has a remarkable view that can support both traditional and modern views. He, on the one hand, insists on the original, valuable, and divine teachings like Qur’anic decrees and the Holy Prophet (PBUH) methods through the theory of Velayat-e Faqih and, on the other hand, in encounter with the Western civilization, chooses some parts being in accord with the divine Shari’ah, people’s interests and development of the society and rejected some immoral parts leading to corruption. In this research, my attempt is to answer the questions, what strategy did Imam Khomeini propose to solve the problem? How Imam Khomeini could combine between the tradition and modernity? Which one will be in order of priority in his list, tradition, or modernity? A qualitative research is perfomed to achieve the aim of this research and answer the research questions.

Imam Khomeini is the first jurist who put forth the necessity of establishment Islamic government in the Occultation era and significantly attempts to prove the need for administrative power to implement Islamic decrees. He invoked to the Holy Prophet method in establishing an Islamic state and the fact that the nature of Islamic laws that are universal and eternal by the aim of managing the society to achieve welfare, happiness, and perfection. He claimed that these divine laws are not restricted to the Holy Prophet’s era and they are not executable without an Islamic government with appropriate Islamic institutions and organizations to implement the divine laws in the Muslim society, which will be examined in the first part of this research. Finally, the questions, what are the features of Islamic government in comparison with other forms of government such as secular, liberal democracy, tyrannical, monarchy, and communist according to Imam Khomeini’s point of view will be investigated in the second section. One of the important features that distinguishes Islamic government from other forms of governments is the leadership that Imam Khomeini strongly attempts to prove its divine legitimacy and popular acceptance. He believes that the person, who wishes to be as the successor of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and infallible Imams (AS), should appointed by Allah Almighty through the Holy Prophet and Imams (AS) and has to possess at least two qualifications, the knowledge of Islamic sciences, and the justice. Besides, he must have the general competencies of intelligence and administrative capability to govern the Islamic community. In Imam Khomeini’s opinion, if a person is the most knowledgeable in Religion Science, but fails to recognize the expedient of society or generally lacks in insight the social and political context and in decision-making power, this person is not Mujtahid in social and governance issues and cannot take the reigns of the community.

The universality of Islamic teaching in fulfilling the needs of human life and managing human society have always been an interest of religious scholars and researchers. In this regard, preservation and expansion of Islam has preoccupied Ulama’s mind throughout the history. For this reason, the revival of Islamic values and thoughts has been recognized as a crucial issue for and a heavy burden on Muslim’s scholars. Imam Khomeini has achieved successes in continuance of the movement of religious revivalism, that other Islamic reformists have achieved less. Imam Khomeini is one of significant revivalists who led the Islamic revolution in Iran and consequently brought about changes in Muslim society and civilization. He proved that dignity and civilization of Muslims can be restored in the light of Islamic doctrine and its transcendental values. In this article, the researcher first attempts to discuss the concept of revivalism and its application in Islamic culture and the activities of some of contemporary Muslim revivalists comparatively. Finally, distinctive features of Imam Khomeini’s revivalism will be examined.