Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Imam Khomeini's school of thought is a promising roadmap drawn for the nation.
He made the remarks in an address to a large gathering of people at a ceremony to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the passing of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, on Thursday.
The "intellectual, political and social" thoughts of Imam Khomeini set a "roadmap" for the nation to achieve such lofty objectives as justice, progress and authority, the Leader said in his speech at the mausoleum of Imam Khomeini in the south of the Tehran metro area, emphasizing that "without an accurate and non-distorted knowledge of the Imam, persistence of this roadmap would not be possible."
Referring to the necessity of dealing with attempts to portray a wrong image of Imam Khomeini, Ayatollah Khamenei said, "Reviewing the documented principles of the Imam's school of thought is the only way to tackle attempts (aimed at) distorting the personality of that great (leader)," according to a transcript of his remarks posted on his official website.
"(These) principles (include) proving the pure Islam and negation of the American Islam, trust in the authenticity of the divine promise and distrust of the arrogant (powers), trust in people's will and power and opposition to governmental centralizations, serious support for the poor and opposition to aristocracy, seriously supporting the world's oppressed and explicit opposition to international bullying (powers), independence and rejection of submission to hegemony, and emphasis on national unity."
Before elucidating these seven items, the Leader pointed out that the principles have been repeatedly mentioned in Imam Khomeini's remarks and are among his keywords and they should not be handpicked and expressed selectively.
He also stressed that the Imam’s principles are not limited to these seven points and experts can extract other principles from his school of thought within the defined framework. On the principle of “proving the pure Islam and negation of the American Islam,” the Leader said the Imam always put genuine Islam against American-style Islam.
Distrust of Powers
Touching on the late Imam’s absolute distrust of arrogant powers and his full dismissal of their promises, he said, “Of course, it did not mean severing ties with the world because relations existed at a normal and respectful level, but there was no trust in arrogant powers and their followers.”
“Today, we are totally feeling this issue and we have realized why the pledges of arrogant powers could not be relied upon because they say something in private meetings, which they contradict in public meetings and in practice.”
Emphasizing that the venerable Imam really believed in people’s power and vote in different economic, military, reconstruction, publicity and above all electoral issues, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “During the 10-year of the Imam’s life after the revolution, eight years of which coincided with the Iraqi-imposed war (1980-1988), around ten elections were held without being postponed even for a single day and they were all held on time because the Imam respected the vote, thoughts and views of people in the proper sense of the word.”
The Leader highlighted another principle of the late Imam’s school of thought, saying, “As far as domestic issues were concerned, the Imam was a serious supporter of the poor and the oppressed and he forcefully and bitterly rejected economic inequality and aristocracy… (and repeatedly) warned officials against getting used to aristocracy and luxury life.”
“Regarding foreign relations, the Imam was openly in the camp opposed to international bullying and arrogant (powers) and he did not hesitate in supporting the oppressed,” he said, stressing that the late Imam showed no sign of wanting to reconcile with world powers.
Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the late Imam’s firm belief in independence and his rejection of hegemony, saying that most activities of enemies like threats and sanctions are designed to damage this principle.
“The enemy is targeting the independence of the country and everyone should know the enemy’s objectives and be vigilant.”
He said religious and ethnic division is among the major policies of enemies, adding, “From the very beginning of the victory of the revolution (in 1979), our venerable Imam showed a unique reliance on national unity and unity among all people in the face of this conspiracy.”
