INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
This is in part because Imam Khomeini made history by transforming Islam into a religion of the state for the first time in modern history
And faced an unusual enemy in leading his game-changing Islamic movement to victory: Mohammad Reza Shah, who led an armed-to-the-teeth
The Shah had everything to survive from a windfall of oil revenues to a modernized set of security apparatuses that were backed and trained
other hand, the Imam had nothing but popularity among increasingly alienated people and a firm belief in God
And that equipped the Imam with the necessary ammunition to take down a ruthless regime that had no qualms about suppressing its own people
But the Imam did the impossible and the Shah buckled under the strain of demonstrations across the country.In the months and years after the
overthrow of the Shah regime, Imam Khomeini oversaw the process of establishing an Islamic system that continues to this day
The Imam passed away 33 years ago but his legacy lives on under Ayatollah Khamenei who continues to equally bewilder the West with his
statecraft.Ayatollah Khamenei, as is his wont, will deliver a speech on Saturday, June 4, to mark the 33rd anniversary of the demise of Imam
The speech is expected to be delivered at the Mausoleum of Imam Khomeini
1900, and made a career in religious studies which ended up in him becoming a Marja, the highest position in the Shiite clergy
years in exile, mostly in the holy city of Najaf in Iraq
Initially, he was sent to Turkey on 4 November 1964, where he stayed in the city of Bursa for less than a year
He was hosted by a Turkish Colonel named Ali Cetiner in his own residence, who couldn't find another accommodation alternative for his stay
Later in October 1965, he was allowed to move to Najaf, Iraq, where he stayed until being forced to leave in 1978, after then-Vice President
guardianship of the jurisconsult - and then put it into action
The theory in question, developed and implemented by Imam Khomeini, is best outlined in his book Hokumate Islami (Islamic Governance)
Iran on January 16, 1979, Imam Khomeini returned to Iran triumphantly, on Thursday, February 1, 1979, invited by the anti-Shah revolution
which was already in progress.
