Imam Khomeini (AS) Revived Islam in the World: Senior Cleric
Addressing Friday prayer worshippers in Tehran, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani, the city’s interim Friday prayer leader, said the late Imam presented the true Islam and raised the flag of the religion.
He made the comments two days before the anniversary of the demise of Imam Khomeini.
On Sunday, Iranians from all walks of life will take part in ceremonies across the country to mourn the anniversary of the passing away of Imam Khomeini.
Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Rouhollah Mousavi Khomeini, better known as Imam Khomeini, was born to a family of religious scholars in 1902 in the central Iranian city of Khomein.
Imam Khomeini contributed many years of his life to resistance against the US-backed Pahlavi dynasty, and eventually paved the way for its downfall in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In the pre-Revolution era, Imam Khomeini spent more than 15 years in exile for his stiff opposition to the last monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, mostly for his association with Western imperialists.
While in exile, the politico-religious leader, who enjoyed immense public support in the country, continued to guide the uprising against the Pahlavi regime.
He was not allowed to return to homeland during Pahlavi’s reign, and only came back home on February 1, 1979 after the monarch finally gave into angry popular demonstrations and fled the country, never to return.
The Pahlavi dynasty fully collapsed 10 days later on February 11. Iranians then voted in a national referendum in April that year for the country to become Islamic Republic, an establishment architected by Imam Khomeini.
Imam Khomeini passed away on June 3, 1989 at the age of 87.
