Home

Editorial

Discuss

HARDtalk

Women

Books

Photo Page

Sports

Mission Statement

The Message

Features

International News

THE PEACE BROKER

Worship and Guidance

Lies Of The Century

Home News

Pointer International

Back Issues

Other Links

Spiritual Heritage Of Imam Khomeini (QS)

As The Peace Broker joins the Muslims of the world in remembering the great revivalist, Imam Ayatullah Ruhullah Khumaini (QS) in this and possibly the next two editions, it is going to be discussing about the spiritual heritage of Imam Khumaini (QS) as presented by a guest writer from the Cultural Consulate of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Lagos. Imam Khumaini (QS) who has indeed pasted an indelible mark in History that can never be erased was born in this holy Islamic month and also shares the same birthday with the daughter of the holy Prophet (SAWA) Fatima (AS). The presentation goes as follows

Introduction

The most important difference and distinction between divine religions with material doctrines is in their spiritualism. The followers of material doctrines consider the world in the realm of nature and have no faith and pay no attention to the world beyond this physical world. For this reason, they consider their human-scientific duty to provide an ostensibly happy and peaceful world for human beings from the time of their birth until their death and to confine and bind him in the framework of nature because they neither have any faith nor believe in the spiritual make-up of human beings. However, divine religions generally and the sacred canon of Islam in particular consider their essence to be freedom, liberation and release from the world of nature and in not limiting the life and personality of human beings solely to the physical world.

Islam has granted human beings with such scope, personality and identity such that it has spread their existence as far as the infinite boundaries of creation as well as qualities and names of the Truth. With an extremely beautiful and fascinating phrase of "We are from God and unto Him is our return", defines the boundaries of existence in the infinite boundaries and boundlessness. Ibne Arabi, the esteemed Islamic scholar of mysticism, mentions human being as "the most universal being" and considers him to be a mirror image of all the beauties and perfections of the Truth to the extent that it seems that a human being is a collection of all the books of the order of existence.

It is evident that in explaining human beings, the view point of Imam Khomeini has been adapted to the "ontological" and "epistemological" outlook of Islam. This is because in this sacred religion, when the discussion is about supreme origin and ontology, we reckon the world of existence to have been created by a Creator who is "The First One, the Last One, the Apparent One and the Concealed One and is the Aware of all things." This absolute truth created the apparent world and the visible universe with His Apparent

Name while with His Concealed Name he created the concealed and invisible world. Thus the universe and the order of existence by leaning on the two apparent and concealed names of the Exalted Truth is divided into the invisible and visible world, apparent and spiritual, earthy and celestial, the physical world and the metaphysical afterlife. Apart from this general division, each one of these worlds also have an apparent and a concealed quality meaning that the visible world itself also possesses two apparent and concealed aspects of context and meaning.

In the first verses of the second "Surah" of the Quran in describing the condition of the virtuous after explaining the book as guidance, considers their foremost characteristic to be faith in the unseen and spiritualism. "This Book is undoubtedly a book of guidance for the virtuous believers." Thereafter it states, "Those who believe in the unseen..." it means that this book about whose revelation there is no doubt is a guidance for the virtuous human beings and those that abstain from committing sins and who believe in the unseen world and have made inclination towards spirituality as the basis of their faith. This is a principle whose acceptance and conviction is always essential and necessary for its followers. However, it goes without saying that the consequence of acceptance of faith in the unseen and focus on spirituality does not imply at all disregard for the material world and indifference towards the apparent world and the world of nature. Although in spiritualist doctrines also unfortunately, we come across this idea once in a while so that this inclination is radicalized to such an extent that a human being is deviated and declines to perform his unquestionable duties and responsibilities in this world. There are ideologies and doctrines that deem attainment of spirituality to be in disinclination towards all worldly attachments and desires and that by undergoing punishing self-discipline and monastic behavior cause deprivation of human beings from the worldly pleasures and blessings. These kinds of doctrines are to the same extent improper and unacceptable from the point of view of Islam as are the doctrines which preach materialism and hedonism that think of nothing other than lustful desires, seeking pleasures and worldly gratification. In our religious texts (narratives and traditions) the world and the hereafter are likened to a pair. of eyes of a human being with which one must look at the beauties of God as well as His creations; or are like a pair of ears that although they are two, yet one must use both of them to hear the heartening voice of the Truth.

The prominent scholars of cognition consider the unique attribute of Islam to lie in its preservation of the balance between the world and the hereafter or the physical and the celestial. They believe that the sole, ultimate, comprehensive, moderate and all encompassing canon that gives equal importance to the affairs of the world of the people and the affairs of the afterlife of human beings and grants the same status to the worldly, social and political living of human beings that it grants to their spirituality, ethics, virtue, affection, compassion and love is the religion of Islam. This religion has not neglected any single dimension of the existence of human beings while it has decreed a specific set of instruction. For the perfection of each of the stages of the realm of his existence focus on the material aspect of human beings too is necessary for reaching the beautiful, delightful, perfect and excellent horizons of the other side of the universe and spirituality of human being. The reason for this comprehensiveness, general perspective and stress on spirituality can be traced to the same Qur'anic verse that discusses the creation of human being and his being the object of prostration of angels. The miracle of the revelation lies in the fact that it commands to the angels that why they did not prostrate in front of the man that He had created with His own two Hands? (Metaphysical creation) He is the same creature that possesses the beauty and glory, body as well as spirit and also the aspects of material and spiritual. He is the same mirror, which has two faces; one face towards God and a face towards the creature of God because he is the mirror image of all the matter present in the universe. In fact, from the point of view of Islam, man is like the prophet Joseph who must be seated at the pinnacle of esteem and spirituality; he is like the bird that nestles on the Supreme Throne and must rise to the level of proximity to God and the area' closer than two bows..." and must never be confined and restricted to the sphere of the world of nature, the earth and time. Thus spirituality is the original principle and central message of Islam such that the call and message of the Honorable prophet of Islam (AS) and all leaders of religion are based and pursued according to this principle and is applicable to all aspects of religion including beliefs, ethics and commandments such that without taking it into account, none of the fundamental and tertiary principles of religiousness will be attained. The difference between the Prophet of Islam and the Immaculate Household with the other political leaders and administrators of society lies in their spiritual and divine aspects. The Prophet of Islam is the Messenger of God who relays the message of the Exalted Source and is imbued with the Divine qualities for attainment of perfection while the distinguishing feature of the Imam also lies in this attribute that he is the "Trustee of God" and the chosen one of God on earth. Thus their spiritual attributes in guiding society and inviting the masses to worship God can never be forgotten and even not consider them to be more prominent than their human and popular aspect. This feature is also among the most outstanding features in the representatives and deputies of the Savior Imam that must always be taken into consideration. Imam Khomeini too is in the ranks of these spiritual leaders and contemporary men of philosophy and wisdom as well as administrators of the religious society. With his outstanding agitation of the Islamic Revolution, he changed the course of history and set a formidable, amazing and miraculous wave into motion such that after years since the prominent leaders began to explain and analyze the Revolution, the abundant dimensions and horizons of this agitation has yet to be identified and must be reflected upon and pondered. Despite all these, the thing that can be mentioned explicitly and reckoned to be the important and pivotal aspect of the Islamic Revolution is its spiritual dimension. Recognition of the Revolution of the Imam is not possible except from this perspective. In the same way that the personality of Imam Khomeini is a multifaceted and complete one, and he cannot be remembered simply as a leader of a political and social revolution, rather the focus should also be on his spiritual dimension, spiritual nature, expertise and religious leadership as well, the Imam's revolution cannot be viewed except from this perspective. Thus the foremost feature of the Imam and the Islamic Revolution of Iran must be deemed to be spiritualism. Today after years have passed since the movement of the Imam began, we must see what was his spiritual heritage alongside all those political, social, historical and cultural impacts that the Imam left behind of himself in this era? It is evident that description and explanation of all these spiritual heritages not only cannot be undertaken in a single session; rather it is also beyond the capability of a single individual and requires large amount of time. Before I begin to mention some of those heritages, I shall state a brief list of the spiritual aspect or aspects of the personality of the Imam and am pleased to say that as a person who lived at his side I have experienced and observed many of these mystical and divine aspects personally: .

1. According to the Imam's thinking, the universe and the order of existence is the domain of God; and the creatures are all in His presence. Every individual is connected to his Creator without an intermediary. Thus he must adopt a method in life by which he can feel the presence of the Sacred Truth.

2. The Imam's view of God, man and the universe is one of affection; and can be justified based on the affection of the Ruler over the order of existence. In the book "Misbah al-Hedaya" the Imam writes that the heavens and the earth are founded and are in place because of affection. From his point of view, the cause of creation, divine attachment and affection of the Sacred Truth and the effect of the upward swing and journey towards the Sacred Truth is also the love and affection of the worshipper.

From the point of view of the Imam, the restless institution of existence cannot be justified except with intrinsic love of the particles of universe for connecting with the Lover.

3. The stance and method of the Imam in life was absolute adoration and sole submission to the exalted source. His heart was drawn towards devotion to Him and he had surrendered his heart to Him.

However, this characteristic was derived from his original philosophical - spiritual thought that considered the aim and aspiration of creation to be worship, absolute adoration and sheer servitude I for the philosophy of creation and existence of man is to attain absolute adoration.

4. In the Imam's view, the harsh face of politics and administration is combined with the fascinating and. peaceful face of spirituality, mysticism and piety so that politics becomes the same as piety and spirituality.

5. Having command of the self before exercising power and ruling over others was an experience that the Imam had practiced since his youth. It was at the ripe age of 63 years that he took over the leadership of the Islamic society of Iran.

6. Leaning on spiritual objectives at all stages of management and administration and in all ups and downs, defeats and victories, wars and peace was among the unique attributes of the Imam.

7. Resistance and steadfastness that had originated from his faith and self-esteem not only kept him unflinching and firm at all times; rather it was the cause of the composure, firmness and resistance of other authorities and administrators of the system as well.

8. Yet another characteristic feature of the Imam was his populism with reliance on theism and Theo centrism. In the ascetic philosophy of the Imam, man is the vicegerent of God on earth considering that God has manifested all his beauties, glories and grandeur in the form of the perfect human being the perfect human being is an example of the boundless and absolute truth that God views Himself in that visage and that He reveals to others. This becomes the subject of the same truth which the Imam in the rank of Divine vicegerency propounds in his lesson, discussion, mysticism and politics.

9. If we accept that in the reality of today's world, politics is distinct from ethics and virtue, however, the doctrine of the Imam never implies that politics is opposed and is in conflict with virtue and ethics. Even if in practical Islamic wisdom, they have separated the section of ethics from civilized politics and planning, the Imam would invite to such a politics that would find meaning only in the framework of ethics and virtue. He would always counsel that in occupying and holding the reins of politics and sovereignty, one must not consider or reflect about anything except ethics and virtue as exemplified by his personal living that testifies in truth to this compatibility and harmony. If one day supposing a policy was in conflict with ethics and religion, than certainly it was the policy that would be set aside and ethics and virtue would be selected instead. Thus the regime that the Imam envisioned was firmly blended with spirituality and the sphere of its influence would be tied from the realm of the area of legalism of man to the world of communality and global aspect of mankind. Thus it causes to become hereditary so that after the end of the superficial life it makes the spiritual personality to become more extensive and more profound. In explaining some have considered these three phrases to be congruent with canons, observance and truth these spiritual bequeathals, we point to some of the important and basic principles and would like to remind beforehand that the scope of these bequeathals is far more extensive than to be discussed in a single session: