In Imam Khomeini’s View, Government Is a Means Not an End
In an interview with IQNA, Emad Afroogh elaborated on Imam Khomeini’s views on power and government.
Asked about Imam Khomeini’s (RA) view on the relation between ethics and politics, which that has always been an interesting issue for thinkers and scholars throughout history, he said:
"The relation between ethics and politics has not been a contentious issue in theory at all. Many theoreticians have mentioned the relation and philosophized politically and ethically about their desirable relation. In practice, too, we have seen examples where they have adhered to their theory and belief, the best examples of which can be seen in the rule of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Imam Ali (AS).”
For instance, he added, a theory suggests that an ethical action is absolute under any circumstances while a political action is conditional under any circumstances and that in order for our politics to be ethical, one should always look at politics as a conditional and instrumental action. Of course, since it moves toward a sublime objective, it should somehow be a manifestation of that objective.
Afroogh underlined that what happens in reality is different form theory as many may chant good slogans and present good theories about politics and ethics but when they reach power, they may have a different conduct.
He said that Imam Khomeini (RA), however, was not one of them as he did what preached about ethical politics when he became the Leader of the Islamic Republic and never breached the principles he had defined in politics.
Afroogh noted that Imam Khomeini (RA) never accepted the Machiavellian view of politics based on which power is considered the goal and that the end justifies the means.
In Imam Khomeini’s view, all the establishments formed since the advent of Islam have been founded for a sublime purpose and those establishments have not been the end, he said.
He went on to say that for implementing many of Islam’s political and social orders, there should be an Islamic government, but the government is not the objective in itself and what matters is realization of Islam’s sublime objectives.
Afroogh is a politician and sociologist. He studied sociology at the University of Shiraz and Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran. He served as a member of Iran’s parliament from 2004 to 2008.
