Imam Khomeini’s Last Will and Testament

Today, it is a responsibility of all Muslims generally and the Iranian nation specifically to safeguard as best as they can the divine entrustment which has been officially pronounced in Iran and which has produced great results over a short period of time, and to create the conditions necessary for its perpetuation as well as remove obstacles and surmount hindrances on its way, so that hopefully its brilliant rays may eventually illuminate all Muslim countries, prompting governments and peoples to reach mutual understanding in relation to this vital issue and helping them to eliminate, once and for all, the influence of world-devouring superpowers and the criminals of history from the tyrannized and downtrodden people of the world.
I, who am now taking the last breaths of life, beg to present hereunder in response to my obligation to the present and future generations, some of the elements which are instrumental in the protection and perpetuation of this divine gift, as well as some of the obstacles and hazards which threaten it, and I ask the Almighty for the success and prosperity of all.
A. Indisputably the secret of the permanence of the Islamic Revolution in Iran is the same secret that caused its triumph. The nation already knows the secret of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, and the future generation will read in their history books that two principal constituents of the Revolution were its divinely-based ideology and the solidarity of the people throughout the country with a unity of motto, with same spirit and for the same goal.
I advise all generations, present and future, who want to witness the continued life of the divine rule and witness also the eliminating the influences of colonialists and exploiters, in, or outside of, the country, from their land, cannot do better than to continue to preserve the same theocentric feelings which the Supreme Lord has emphasized in the Holy Qur’an; a feeling which helps us to forget individual differences. The complex international propaganda machinery, which is the mouthpiece of our enemies as well as their local offshoots here and there, is exploiting all its resources for airing rumors and divisive lies and expending billions of dollars on that for an obvious purpose.
So, too, are the regular trips to the cities of the region by the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, among them, unfortunately, being certain turban¬ wearing pharisees, overlords and chiefs from certain Muslim nations who think but only of their own personal good, who are unprotesting servants to the United States. To thwart the divisive and destructive propaganda should he the concern of the Iranian nation and the world Muslims today and tomorrow.
I advise Muslims, and especially the Iranians of the contemporary period, to react to all hostile propaganda, to solidify their ranks and their unity by whatever means and thereby dishearten the unbelievers and the hypocritically self-righteous enemies [of Islam and the Islamic Revolution].
B. Among the noticeable conspiracies during the present century and especially during the last few decades and since the victory of the Islamic Revolution is the vast worldwide propaganda for dismaying nations and especially the self-sacrificing people of Iran with a view to making them lose their confidence in Islam and eventually renounce it.
Sometimes they do it directly, albeit crudely, suggesting, for example, that the edicts of Islam which were established one thousand and four hundred years ago cannot possibly be relied on as laws on the basis of which to administer countries in the present century; that Islam is a reactionary religion opposed to every innovation and to the manifestation of modem civilization, or that in the present era the world’s countries cannot discard the world’s civilization and its manifestations.
And similar foolish and occasionally malicious and vicious propaganda nicely wrapped and offered in the form of pro-Islamic propaganda and under the pretext of support for the sanctity of Islamic says, among other things, that Islam and other divine religions are concerned about the spiritualities, about the moral rectification of mankind, that they invite them to resign earthly pursuits, that they invite man to renounce the material World and engage himself in acts of worship, saying prayers and devotions which, they argue, bring man nearer to God and distance him from the material world; that involvement in the administration of state and government and politics is against that lofty and spiritual goal because the latter activities are solely for this material world, which is against the teachings of the great prophets.
And it is unfortunate that the propaganda of the latter category has affected certain Muslim clerics and religious persons who are uninformed about Islam, even leading them to conclude that interference in politics and government tasks is a cardinal sin; and perhaps some know the magnitude of this very disaster which has befallen Islam.
Advocates of the first notion, are either virtually uninformed about government, laws and politics or feign ignorance for their private purposes; for the execution of laws based on justice, equality and fairness; the checking of oppressors and oppressive rules, the promotion of justice for individuals and the society, the checking of corruption and prostitution and of other deviated indulgences; and alternatively recognition of civil liberties on the basis of reason and justice for attaining independence and self-sufficiency, and for preventing colonialism, exploitation, slavery and servitude; for executing corporal punishments on the basis of justice and for preventing the corruption and destruction of society; as well as engagement in politics and the administrative affairs of society on the basis of reason, justice and equity and other (factors) are not things which might become old-fashioned or out-dated in the passage of time and for man’s communal life.
The argument to the contrary would only be as sound as suggesting that in our present century the common sense laws as well as the laws of mathematics should be replaced by new laws, or that although as early as the beginning of man’s creation the Almighty ordained that social equality be administered, and tyranny, plundering and homicide be prevented, today at the nuclear age those divine laws are old¬ fashioned and outdated.
The pretension that Islam is opposed to technological innovations-such as the perception of the ousted Muhammad Reza Pahlavi that they [the ulama and advocates of the Islamic Revolution] advocate travel by quadrupeds-is but a stupid allegation.
If by “the manifestations of civilization and innovations” they mean inventions and new products and advanced technology which contribute to the progress of man and his civilization, the idea has never been, nor will it ever be opposed by Islam or any other divine religion. On the contrary, Islam and the Holy Qur’an stress the value of science and learning and technology.
But if “civilization and modernity” is to be interpreted according to the terminology of some professional intellectuals who define it as liberty to engage in religiously prohibited acts, including prostitution and even homosexual relations and the like, then I can only say that the idea is invariably opposed by all divine religions and people, however, the West and East may advocate the idea and propagate these same practices in their blindfold adherence to conventionalism.
But as for the second category of opponents of Islam who have malicious designs, and who separate Islam from government and politics, they need only be reminded that the Holy Qur’an and the traditions of the Messenger of God (S.A.W.) have more edicts in relation to government and statecraft than in any other area. More importantly, many of the apparently devotional precepts in Islam are truly politico-devotional precepts, the overlooking of which has been responsible for the present afflictions of the Muslim world.
The Prophet of Islam (S.A.W .) instituted a government like other governments of the world except that his was one for the purpose of promoting social justice and, likewise, the early Muslim caliphs had full-fledged governments and so was Imam Ali’s (A.S.) government which was broader and more inclusive and which is an obvious record in history. Subsequent governments, too, were established in the name of Islam, and even today the governments which pretend to be Islamic and to have been founded on the edicts of Islam and Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) are varied and many.