Ruholla
Khomeini, “Islamic Government” (1970)
(MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ISLAMIC LAW)
From the very beginning, the historical movement of Islam has had to contend
with the Jews, for it was they who first established anti-Islamic propaganda. .
. . Later they were joined by other groups, who were in certain respects more
satanic than they. These new groups began their imperialist penetration of the
Muslim countries about three hundred years ago, and they regarded it as necessary
to work for the extirpation of Islam in order to attain their ultimate goals.
For example, the servants of imperialism declared that Islam is not a
comprehensive religion providing for every aspect of human life and has no laws
or ordinances pertaining to society. It has no particular form of government. .
. . It may have a few ethical principles, but it certainly has nothing to say
about human life in general and the ordering of society.
At a time when the West was a realm of darkness and obscurity — with its
inhabitants living in a state of barbarism and America still peopled by
half-savage redskins — and the two vast empires of Iran and Byzantium’ were
under the rule of tyranny, class privilege, and discrimination, and the
powerful dominated all without any trace of law or popular government, God,
Exalted and Almighty, by means of the Most Noble Messenger [Muhammad] (peace
and blessings be upon him), sent laws that astound us with their magnitude. He
instituted laws and practices for all human affairs and laid down injunctions
for man extending from even before the embryo is formed until after he is
placed in the tomb.
Islamic law is a progressive, evolving, and comprehensive system of law. All
the voluminous books that have been compiled from the earliest times on
different areas of law, such as judicial procedure, social transactions, penal
law, retribution, international relations, regulations pertaining to peace and
war, private and public law — taken together, these contain a mere sample of
the laws and injunctions of Islam. There is not a single topic in human life
for which Islam has not provided instruction and established a norm....
The agents of imperialism sometimes write in their books and their
newspapers that the legal provisions of Islam are too harsh.
I am amazed at the way these people think. They kill people for possessing ten grams of heroin and say, ‘That is the law.’ ... Inhuman laws like this are concocted in the name of a campaign against corruption, and they are not to be regarded as harsh. (I am not saying it is permissible to sell heroin, but this is not the appropriate punishment. The sale of heroin must indeed be prohibited, but the punishment must be in proportion to the crime.) When Islam, however, stipulates’ that the drinker of alcohol should receive eighty lashes, they consider it “too harsh.” They can execute someone for possessing ten grams of heroin and the question of harshness does not even arise!
Many forms of corruption that have appeared in society derive from alcohol The collisions chat take place on our roads, and the murders and suicides, are very often caused by the consumption of alcohol….
But when Islam wishes to prevent the consumption of alcohol
. . . stipulating that the drinker should receive eighty lashes, or sexual
vice, decreeing that the fornicator be given one hundred lashes (and the
married man or woman be stoned), then they start wailing and lamenting: “What a
harsh law that is, reflecting the harshness of the Arabs!” They are not aware
that these penal provisions of Islam are intended to keep great nations from
being destroyed by corruption. Sexual vice has now reached such proportions
that it is destroying entire generations, corrupting our youth, and causing
them to neglect all forms of work. They are all rushing to enjoy the various
forms of vice that have become so freely available and so enthusiastically
promoted. Why should it be regarded as harsh if Islam stipulates that an offender
should be publicly flogged in order to protect the younger generation from
corruption?
(SCIENCE, MATERIALISM AND ISLAM)
So far, we have sketched the subversive and corrupting plan
of imperialism. We must now take into consideration as well certain internal
factors, notably the dazzling effect that the material progress of the
imperialist countries has had on some members of our society. As the
imperialist countries attained a high degree of wealth and affluence — the
result both of scientific and technical progress and of their plunder of the
nations of Asia and
[THE TIMELESSNESS OF ISLAMIC LAW]
It is self-evident that the necessity for enactment of the law, which necessitated the formation of a government by the Prophet (upon whom be peace), was not confined or restricted to his time, but continues after his departure from this world. According to one of the noble verses of the Quran, the ordinances of Islam are not limited with respect to time or place; they are permanent and must be enacted until the end of time. They were not revealed merely for the time of the Prophet [Muhammad), only to be abandoned thereafter, with retribution and the penal code of Islam no longer to be enacted, or the taxes prescribed by Islam no longer collected, and the defense of the lands and people of Islam suspended. The claim that the laws of Islam may remain in abeyance or are restricted to a particular time or place is contrary to the essential credal bases of Islam. Since the enactment of laws, then, is necessary after the departure of the Prophet from this world, and indeed, will remain so until the end of time, the formation of a government and the establishment of executive and administrative organs are also necessary. Without the formation of a government and the establishment of such organs to ensure that through enactment the law, all activities of the individual take place in the framework of a just system, chaos and anarchy will prevail and social, intellectual, and moral corruption will arise.
In this system of laws, all the needs of man have been met: his dealings with his neighbors, fellow citizens, and clan, as well as children and relatives; the concerns of private and marital life; regulations concerning war and peace and intercourse with other nations; penal and commercial law; and regulations pertaining to trade and agriculture. Islamic law contains provisions relating to the preliminaries of marriage and the form in which it should be contracted, and others relating to the development of the embryo in the womb and what food the parents should eat at the time of conception. It further stipulates the duties that are incumbent upon them while the infant is being suckled, and specifies how the child should be reared, and how the husband and the wife should relate to each other and to their children. Islam provides laws and instructions for all of these matters, aiming, as it does, to produce integrated and virtuous human beings.
[THE FAULTS OF EXISTING GOVERNMENTS]
In order to attain the unity and freedom of the Muslim peoples, we must overthrow the oppressive governments installed by the imperialists and bring into existence an Islamic government of justice that will be in the service of the people….
Through the political agents they have placed in power over the people, the imperialists have also imposed on us an unjust economic order, and thereby divided our people into two groups: oppressors and oppressed. Hundreds of millions of Muslims are hungry and deprived of all form of health care and education, while minorities comprised of the wealthy and powerful live a life of indulgence, licentiousness, and corruption, The hungry and deprived have constantly struggled to free themselves from the oppression of their plundering overlords, and their struggle continues to this day. But their way is blocked by the ruling minorities and the oppressive governmental structures they head. It is our duty to be a helper to the oppressed and an enemy of the oppressor.. . . The scholars of Islam have a duty to struggle against all attempts by the oppressors to establish a monopoly over the sources of wealth.
. . . They must not allow the masses to remain hungry and
deprived while plundering oppressors usurp the sources of wealth. - -.
We must end all this plundering and usurpation of wealth. The people as a whole have a responsibility in this respect, but the responsibility of the religious scholars is graver and more critical. We must take the lead over other Muslims in embarking on this sacred jihad,[1] this heavy undertaking; because of our rank and position, we must be in the forefront. If we do not have the power today to prevent these misdeeds from happening and to punish these embezzlers and traitors, these powerful thieves that rule over us, then we must work to gain that power. At the same time, to fulfill our minimum obligation, we must not fail to expound the truth and expose the thievery and mendacity of our rulers. When we come to power, we will not only put the country’s political life, economy, and administration in order, we will also whip and chastise the thieves and the liars.
Do you imagine all that bombastic propaganda being broadcast on the radio is true? Go see for yourself at first hand what state our people are living in. Not even one out of every two hundred villages has a clinic. No one is concerned about the poor and the hungry, and they do not allow the measures Islam has devised for the sake of the poor to be implemented. Islam has solved the problem of poverty and inscribed it at the very top of its program: “Sadaqat[2] is for the poor. Islam is aware that first, the conditions of the poor must be remedied, the conditions of the deprived must be remedied. But they do not allow the plans of Islam to be implemented.
Our wretched people subsist in conditions of poverty and
hunger, while the taxes that the ruling class extorts from them are squandered.
They buy Phantom jets[3] so
that pilots from
[A FINAL CHARGE TO HIS LISTENERS]
If you present Islam accurately and acquaint people with its world-view, doctrines, principles, ordinances, and social system, they will welcome it ardently (God knows, many people want it). I have witnessed that myself. A single word was enough once to cause a wave of enthusiasm among the people, because then, like now, they were all dissatisfied and unhappy with the state of affairs. They are living now in the shadow of the bayonet, and repression will let them say nothing. They want someone to stand up fearlessly and speak out. So, courageous sons of Islam, stand up! Address the people bravely; tell the truth about our situation to the masses in simple language; arouse them to enthusiastic activity, and turn the people in the street and the bazaar, our simplehearted workers and peasants, and our alert students into dedicated mujahids. The entire population will become mujahids. All segments of society are ready to struggle for the sake of freedom, independence, and the happiness of the nation, and their struggle needs religion. Give the people Islam, then, for Islam is the school of jihad, the religion of struggle; let them amend their characters and belief in accordance with Islam and transform themselves into a powerful force, so that they may overthrow the tyrannical regime imperialism has imposed on us and set up an Islamic government