Imam Khomeini source of purity, clean politics: Scholar

Press TV has interviewed Mohammad Saeid Bahmanpoor, professor of Islamic Studies in London, Mohmmad Obeid, a political analyst in Beirut, Mostafa Khosh Cheshm, political analyst in Tehran, and Seyyed Abdullah Hosseini, lecturer with Johannesburg Al Mustafa University in Tehran, to discuss various characteristics of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late founder of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

What follows is a rough transcription.

Today marks the 26th anniversary of the passing away of a man who not only revolutionized his own country but also became a source of inspiration for many world nations to stand up against oppression and dictatorship. That man was none other than the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Press TV: First of all, I would like to start with you Mr. Sayyed Abdullah Hosseini; I hear you have had personal encounter with the late Imam. What memories can you tell us about the character of Imam Khomeini?

Hosseini: In that short time that I was spending quality time with a great man of our history, I can write books about it but in very short, the reason I went there was [because] I won the 1st award in a competition contending poetry for the Mecca massacre; I didn’t know at the time that he was a poet himself, probably he has [had] already recited my poetry and he was very happy and he was appreciating the piece of poem [that] already someone had presented to him before. So during the whole time I was crying, I was very much overwhelmed by the greatness and the spirituality of the man. I was completely over the moon. Those times that I spent there… are not a part of my life… [those were] the golden moments of my life, those moments that I spent with my leader. In one occasion where I asked him to give me his personal shirt, by the way I am the only poet who has got this token from Imam Khomeini, his personal shirt is with me… when I asked him to go, he raised from his seat and went inside the room to bring the shirt for me. But after a few steps that he took inside, he returned back and I saw him turning off the radio which was working with a battery, to go back. Because he didn’t want that during that probably 2-3 minutes that he was going inside to bring that shirt for me, the radio [to consume power]. To that extent he was very careful about [such] small issues. At the same time when he went inside something took my attention; there was a glass of water, it was half-empty. On the top of it was a piece of paper and on the paper there was three sugar cubes. So I asked Ayatollah Tavassoli, one of his helpers, what is the story of this glass of water? He said [that] this morning he used half of the water, and he has kept the other half for the lunchtime because he is going to drink it [when taking] his tablets. But because he didn’t want the dust to settle on the water, he used the paper and [because] he didn’t want the wind to remove the paper, he put the sugar cubes on it. To that extent the man was careful about everything, small issues.  [And these are] the memories I have [from being] in his presence.

Press TV: Mr. Mustafa Khosh Cheshm, what kind of a legacy did Imam Khomeini leave behind?

Khosh Cheshm: Well, as a matter of fact Imam Khomeini presented a set of principles that were recounted today by the Supreme Leader. Of course Imam, during his lifetime especially after the victory of the Islamic revolution, he spoke of these principles in detail during his lifetime and on various occasions; and he emphasized on these principles and always recommended the people and officials and Muslims throughout the world to stick to these sets of values and principles. Because he didn’t invent them, he didn’t discover them; they were readily presented in the Holy Qur’an, and they were displayed and told to the public by the Prophet and the Shia Imams in their lifetime. As a matter of fact, when we consider the fact that Qur’an is God’s words, sent to the Man in order to guide him throughout his earthly life, then we come to understand that these sets of principles are stated there very clearly for the public, for all people of all age. To put it in a nutshell, these seven principles that the supreme leader explained today and emphasized on and laid emphasis on them, could be summarized in three points; number one is that stay strong, stay to the rules and principles and to your cause and never ever deviate from this path and from the words of God. Number two, never rely on your enemy, never believe your enemy, never allow your enemy to fool you, to intimidate you or to [???? 06:30] you or bribe you. And never show compromise when you are confronting your enemy. Because your enemy is not your enemy for one of these rules, he is your enemy because you are following these sets of rules that have been presented by genuine Islam that Imam Khomeini presented after the Islamic revolution and revived Iran  and Islam through these principles and that is why his principles and his leadership and his actions didn’t have any geographical boundaries and they were not confined within Iranian borders. They presented rules for those who are not Muslims and they are in Latin America for example or in Africa or other places throughout the planet. And the last one is rely on your domestic and internal potentials. Because your enemy will not accept to sit at the negotiating table with you unless he sees you as powerful as itself.  So try to grow, try to develop, and of course on this path, rely on your rich resources. Be hopeful under any kind of condition, keep your hopes alive and then have motivation and incentives. This speech today had many implications for the nuclear talks, explicit and of course implicit. And in some parts the leader very directly mentioned the nuclear talks and bilateral talks with the United States. And similar to other speeches of the Iranian Supreme Leader, this was very important because it depicted the path of Iranian domestic and of course foreign policy and nuclear policy for the future of the negotiations to make those people in the West, especially in the Capitol Hill, who have misunderstood, apparently, Iran’s heroic flexibility, in the terms of the supreme leader, and they have done some miscalculations to make them understand what the reality of Iran’s policy and foreign policy and nuclear policy is.

Press TV: Mohammed Obeid, political analyst in Beirut, I would like to have your view. We see that Imam Khomeini was very inspirational for world nations and of course, a country like Lebanon his inspiration was quite evidently seen there. Tell us more about this influence is Lebanon.

Obeid: well, of course as late Imam Khomeini has said that all that we have is from Muharram and from Karbala and Ashura, we can also say that all that we have in Lebanon as an Islamic resistance, as any resistance against the tyrant, against the Israeli occupation, also is inspired by the experience and the challenge and the defiance that was achieved and triumphed by the late Imam Khomeini and his Islamic revolution and the Islamic Republic of Iran. You know, no matter how much will you have, no matter how much determination you have, you need to have a role model. You need to have someone to follow their lead. It is only the very rare people such as the late Imam who can draw the line and be the pioneers and the pathfinders in the first place. But with other people, they see this model and they say “OK! It is possible for me to defeat the tyrant forces. It is possible for me to defeat an occupation; I mean the Israeli occupation which was then labeled as the invincible army, the army that all the Arab armies could not defeat. So to have a group of people armed with not that modern of arms, but just armed with the will and the belief in Allah, praised be his name… to have people like this achieving the Israeli occupation forces. This was something that nobody, if we are to be logical, if we are to be fair, can defer the influence in the creation of the Islamic resistance in the first place can deny the impact [of] Imam Khomeini. Plus, we can also talk about the thought of Imam Khomeini was and still is being taught in many circles in Lebanon. Of course, by those who believe in this line of fighting the tyrants and standing up against them. So it is this rich thought that has created and is still creating all those problems, allow me to say, to the tyrants. And is creating all this annoying things to those who want to take the resources of the people all over the world, whether we talk about Lebanon, and we cannot only restrict the impact on Lebanon. Many resistance movements in the region are also influenced by this great thought of this great man and here I am not saying that this is what I believe, or some of the Lebanese believe. If you go back even to the people who study the experience of the Islamic resistance, and the resistance movements in Lebanon… of course we almost need to mention first and foremost, Allah ‘s grace and assistance who provided us with a figure such as the late Imam Khomeini. But when we come to discuss the means of achieving this we go back to late Imam Khomeini.

Press TV: I would like to bring in Professor Mohammad Saeid Bahmanpoor in London. How inspirational was and is Imam Khomeini in the West?

Bahmanpoor: Well, you know Imam Khomeini has certainly passed to be an individual. He has become a concept. He has surpassed his bounds of individuality. And I think that concept is now inspiring many people around the world including the West. Any person who has a great charisma, and big things to offer to the world has his enemies and his friends. It is mentioned in the Qur’an about every prophet…. [citing verses of Qur’an in Arabic]…. “for every prophet we made to be certain enemies from among the guilty and the criminals.” And Imam Khomeini has this quality of making enemies for himself among criminals and making followers and friends from among the pure-hearts around the world. And we see that impact going on. People are inspired by this source of purity and clean politics. Imam Khomeini changed the idea of politics. The politics which is nowadays of course prevalent around the world, is dirty politics. Politics of dirty compromises, dirty collusions of crime, of aggression, of arrogance. As Imam Khomeini called this type of politics around the world to be the “global arrogance.” What he offered was a different type of politics. A sort of prophetic policy; of course, he was not a prophet but what he offered was prophetic politics. A politics which would not enter into collusions, dirty compromises and that has made Iran to be singled out as the main enemy of the dirty politics in the world. Whether among the Muslim world or outside the Muslim world. We see that since the beginning of the revolution, since the coming to power of Imam Khomeini in Iran, Iran has been under severest sanctions which has culminated to this very unprecedented sanctions that we have today. And this is nothing but because they want to stop Imam Khomeini to become a source of inspiration everywhere around the world. Well, of course you asked me what is the impact of Imam Khomeini in the West and how he inspires people. People are divided into two types; those who are after the global dirty politics I call it or after the arrogance as Imam Khomeini called it and people who are really after the truth. The people who are of the altruistic values. And I think all those people who are after altruistic values would respect Imam Khomeini; as I said not as an individual, but as a concept. He has become a paragon of  purity, of working for people, of serving people and that is something which gives him and of course Islamic Republic of Iran, which has not swerved and not digressed from the path that he defined for Iran and Islamic republic of Iran; to be the main enemy for those criminals as the Qur’an calls them, and I think this is a very good indicator of the difference that was between Imam Khomeini and others. There is this famous anecdote that when he was imprisoned as an enemy of the Shah, one of the authorities went to visit him in prison and he told him that Ayatollah you are of course a holy person, you should not enter into politics; politics is a dirty thing. And he replied that yes, of course! Your politics is dirty politics, but the politics that I am after is not like your politics.

Press TV: Mr. Seyyed Abdullah Hosseini, one of the causes of Imam Khomeini,was to stand against oppression worldwide. How much is the fight against oppression and dictatorship evident today and is gaining momentum?

Hosseini: Well, one of the great legacies of Imam Khomeini is the concept of Velayat-e Faqih, and the Guardianship of Jurisprudence, and that is still alive. We are inspired by Imam Khomeini to fight against oppression internationally, wherever there is oppressed nations we are pro those oppressed nations. Imam Khomeini, from the beginning [and] before he started his struggle against Shah, he started his struggle against Israel. So during the lifetime that he had, he never forgot to keep Israel on the top of the agenda, before revolution and after. Right before the victory, he announced in Neauphle-le-Château in France, that when the revolution is victorious we will cut our relations with the South African apartheid government. And as soon as the revolution [became] victorious, that happened and only was re-established when Nelson Mandela took power and the people in South Africa became victorious. The same is seen all over the world; wherever there is oppressed people, they were inspired by Imam Khomeini. Personally I [have] had interviews with all icons of struggle in South Africa, and [have] asked them this question that how much Imam Khomeini was inspiring them? They said that when the Iranian revolution was victorious, we have actually been very much moved and we have been convinced that we also can be victorious in South Africa. Let me just emphasize on another aspect of Imam Khomeini and that is the emphasis that he had on unity. I myself heard from Dr. Velayati, who was Foreign Minister at the time for 12 years, he was telling me that once the ambassador of Russia asked for an urgent meeting with Imam Khomeini… we informed the Imam Khomeini about the request and he accepted [and] the Russian ambassador and I went to meet with Imam Khomeini in Jamaran. That was the time of Iran-Iraq war, Tehran was [being targeted] by missiles from Baghdad and a lot of Tehran’s population had left the city and it was chaos. So as we were sitting and meeting with Imam Khomeini, one of this missiles hit Tehran. At the same time the ambassador of Russia asked Imam Khomeini that do you know who produces these missiles that are hitting Tehran? Imam Khomeini said that yes, we know that this is made by your country and you should stop giving these missiles to our enemy. And the ambassador of Russia said to Imam Khomeini that if you want us to stop giving missiles to Saddam, you should stop training and giving guns to Afghanistan Mujahedeen. And Dr. Velayati said that Imam Khomeini didn’t speak one word with him again and he said chase away this man from my office as we are not here to negotiate about the destiny of our Muslim brothers. He didn’t say that they are Sunnis, or this is a great deal let me save my country… for him the unity of Muslims and the global Islam and Muslims and oppressed people of the world had priority [over] the national interests of his own country.

Press TV: Mr. Khosh Cheshm, how much did Imam Khomeini change the way politics is managed today?

Khosh Cheshm: Well, a lot. Because he was a leader at global scale. Just today the Iranian Supreme Leader repeated what he had already said when he allowed the start of the nuclear talks, bilateral talks with the United States. He said I allow it to go on, I mean at the beginning of this administration of president Rouhani, but he said that he is pessimistic. Why? Because Iran is now a regional power under the harshest sanctions ever recorded in the history, in United States’ terms of course, they say it and acknowledge it… and now it is on the verge of becoming a global power. And who did that? Imam Khomeini. What he did? He revived hope, he awakened the Iranian nation and the Muslims throughout the world and gave them hope in the form of an ideological revolutionary Islam that is not compliant and obedient to the United States and to the bullying powers no matter who and what state is trying to dictate its policies on the region. So everybody in the world, no matter Sunni, Shia, Christian, and even some Communists… they have picked up this path because they have seen it to be much fruitful and they have realized that they can resist against the United States and they can wield power and they can be the one that will win in the end. And we can all see what is going on in the region right now [that] Iran is under sanctions but it has the major say and the main word in the region. In Iraq, in Syria… Iran and its advice and its policies and strategies are pushing back ISIL, what 25 member-states of the so-called anti-ISIL coalition have failed to do. So Imam Khomeini presented a set of ideas, principles, policies based on genuine Islam and not the US-favored Islam… not secular Islam. The Islam that is understanding, that has answers for thinkers and modern day intellectuals and has scientific answers and of course, is revolutionary and doesn’t like to compromise over anything that it has a row over it with the bullying or the super powers. So it stands strong against them.

Press TV: I like to have one final comment from Mohammad Obeid in Beirut. How would you describe the Imam’s cause for fighting against repression? How much is it gaining momentum today?

Obeid: Well, if it weren’t for that goal, if it weren’t for that impact you were just talking about, among the other attendant and colleagues, we wouldn’t see the region the way it is now; we would have seen a region that was either controlled, at that time, between the USSR and the United States and later only by the United States that would be orchestrating the activities of all its allies. But if we take a deep look into the region, now we see this turmoil… and it is not because of the emergence of this powers, it is because of the resistance of the arrogant powers and their agents to fight this new trend; the trend of the people that are willing to achieve their wills, that are willing to engage in sacrifices and offer whatever is needed in order to have free lives in order to live liberated and not under the hegemony.

Press TV: And one final comment from Saeid Bahmanpoor in London; how would you describe the late Imam for the younger generation who would want to know him?

Bahmanpoor: [inaudible]… a pure individuality who was not thinking about anything but his responsibility towards God and towards humanity.

MTM/KA

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