| Islam and Spiritualism | |
| 09 Feb 2009, NewAgeIslam.Com | |
| Spiritual heritage of Imam Khomeini | |
 10 February 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution
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. -- The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imām Khomeinī's Works (International Affairs Department) URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1183 -----------------------------------------
Spiritual heritage of Imam Khomeini
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, considers 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', 'the Last.; 'the Apparent' and 'the Concealed' 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 behaviour 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 Quranic 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 Honourable prophet of Islam ('a) 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 ('a) 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 Saviour Imam ('a) 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 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 vice-regency 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 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:
A. Revival of religious thought and social reform
For those who have either experienced the times before the occurrence of the Revolution themselves or have studied and investigated its analytical history, it is definite and undeniable that the attempts and efforts of the regime in power in that period and all the administrators of the former regime was directed solely towards reducing the impact and consigning to memory religious and divine thinking and behaviour while the process of promotion and spreading was used for creating indifference to religious concerns and instructions.
It is evident that the God-seeking essence of human beings and the deep-rooted record of religiosity and spirituality in our Iranian society made the attainment of such an objective difficult and cumbersome for them. However, by propagating and promoting hollow and materialist cultures, they believed that it was possible to weaken and reduce the intensity of these yearnings and emotions in the people. The late Imam Khomeini with his revolutionary Islamic agitation gifted the greatest work and present to the Islamic society of Iran which was the revival of religious thought at all levels and among all strata and classes of people so that people reverted to their spiritual and religious life. The number of volumes of religious books and articles and the scientific and religious associations as well as seminaries by themselves attest to the fact that the fragrant atmosphere of faith and spirituality had indeed overwhelmed society.
The gem of cultural reformation and building a spiritual culture is acknowledgement of the status of critical mind and experimental science in cultural relations and exchanges while cultural reformation implies recognition of modern rationality in the sphere of culture, education and training. In fact, political and economic development and growth is possible on the foundations of such a culture. In the position of conforming to such a gem, the dominant paradigm is the humanist culture that embraces various dialogues in the West and the Far East. Humanism is a term that oversees the fundamental reality of human beings and generally has arisen opposite the fundamental reality of vision and the medieval culture of Christianity.
Although the humanist culture has shown some potential for economic and political development but in the west it has encountered problems that has gripped western societies as a result of development causing side effects such as spiritual vacuum, weakness of family foundations etc…which is among the greatest of challenges of humanist culture in the west. Humanist culture has presented challenges such as separation of religion from politics, opposition of science with religion, of religion with freedom and of theocracy with democracy in its wake. Now the question that has arisen is that how on the basis of modern rationality and experiences gained from cultural renovation, reform, education and training can be undertaken while preserving religious and national identity as well as civilization of countries. How religion and spirituality can coexist with materialism in the individual and social sphere?
Finally, how can the culture of reform be designed in such a way that it can avoid the pitfalls and side effects that the modern humanist mind incorporates and which is opposed to the traditional thinking that dominates over society? This is because our religious identity does not easily allow the mind to enter the territory of culture and our religious culture also does not want to leave the field open for the installation of humanist culture. Thus we have two apparently opposed rational needs. One is the need for rationality while the other is the need to preserve religious and national identity. The duty of holding such discussions is to find practical processes, to find solutions for creating suitable conditions for cultural reforms and establishing reforms and changes in the mental and visual make-up of nations and societies.
On the one hand, it is necessary to recognize the mental barriers and to remove the structural barriers that our global society is faced with today – including absolute traditionalism or westernization and radical reformation. The solution that can be proposed meanwhile, is religious rethinking that has a ideological and philosophical approach that is on one hand based on principle of compatibility of mind and knowledge and on the other hand, religion, freedom and democracy. The Imam organized this approach in the framework of Islamic republic system and by reviving religious thought and preserving religious identity, established compatibility between social issues, freedom and democracy of religion and spirituality in the theory of the Islamic republic system. In the practical conduct of the Imam, freedom of thought and expression, logic in reasoning and observance of the law was evident in the sphere of practice. Although in the sphere of politics the objectives of the regime are ascertained by religion, however, its method is ascertained by knowledge. For this reason, we determine the methods in society with the instruments of knowledge, mind and human nobility and declare that methods such as violence, terrorism, disobedience of the law are incompatible with the aims of religion.
B. Spiritual Culture-making
Does a more potent factor than material and economic motives exist in the soul of the human being so that it can be the source of the greatest transformations in human society?
Imam Khomeini answers this question in a practical manner. In western societies, especially after the Renaissance, they came to believe in the separation of religion from politics and assumed economic and political transformations as the yardstick of unity and origin of transformations. The main aim of the divine leaders was revival of religious thought and taking steps towards spiritual dimensions of society for reviving the lofty human and divine values. Imam Khomeini proved that in religious orders especially the religion of Islam, education was not restricted to spiritual and metaphysical dimensions of man; rather, it takes into view all aspects of individual living, laws and decrees befitting it. This is because establishment of a Divine order requires that all spiritual and material be met at all stages of social living and improvement of all social establishments.
Imam Khomeini not only invalidated the theory that social actions cannot come into being based on purely spiritual motives alone, rather with the Islamic Revolution; he proved that such an idea can be confirmed. Thus he considered the spreading of lofty human values in our society and the reversion of the people in unaltered Islam as well as their faith and conviction in religious and Islamic values had become so widespread that the people of Iran deemed self-sacrifice and risking their lives in its path to be their human and divine obligation and emerged victories from the fields of struggle and sacred defence. The radiant face of thousands of martyrs and virtuous men of religion is a clear testimony of the ingenuity and perpetuation of the wave of the Imam's social reform and revival of religious thought. This too can be considered as yet another of the services rendered by the Imam to human society and the field of knowledge especially to the Shiite world.
As a religious authority, pioneer and political ideologue in the era of obsolescence and elimination of religion in culture and civilization of the period, by implementing the methods used by the Honourable Prophet of Islam (SA) and the Fourteen Infallibles of the household of the Prophet (AS), was able to bring back to the scene of social living a nation whose cheer and independence had been taken away by colonialism and to offer to the world a regime based on wishes and will of the people in the form of the constitution of the Islamic Republic which heralds justice, freedom and independence. The new model of a regime of religious democracy laid the foundations of renewal and reform while systematizing its framework in such a manner in the constitution that the process of construction, renovation and reform in Iran was accelerated leaving behind the most significant practical yardstick of administration in the era of Disappearance of the Savior Imam as his legacy and that of the Revolution. Yet another noteworthy point in revival of religious thought by the late Imam was the issue of culture-making. This spiritual culture-making had arisen and was the consequence of a permanence and continuity that the Imam gave with utmost resolve to the religious wishes and sentiments of the people.
At the same time as being flexible and magnanimous, he never showed leniency when it concerned implementing the decrees of religion and attaining religious objectives. He was convinced that toleration of all political and social problems was not only worth the realization of a religious commandment and order; rather, it was superior to it. This firm and unflinching thought of the Imam was clear and known to one and all. Even the enemies who had arisen in opposition and conflict with the Imam's Revolution despite all the problems and incidents that they created for this divine and spiritual agitation, uniformly agreed with the view that the Imam cannot be made to change his mind about this idea. Gradually the spirit of orthodoxy and spiritualism that had taken their primary asset and capital from the Imam and his condition, took the form of a common and all-encompassing culture in our society and among the followers and adherents of the Imam to the extent that those who in this path did not possess the necessary capital and experience attempted to move behind this cultural current and to ornate themselves with religious apparels and religious ornamentations. The condition of the government offices, organizations, ministries, universities etc…changed dramatically. Thousands of government bodies, institutions, organizations, libraries, cultural centres and centres of theological research and development were created.
C. Spiritual expansion of the younger generation
Once of the problems of yesterday and today of all advanced societies and even backward societies in the present world is that of the younger generation. Indeed this is a problem that is not easy to resolve and despite all the sociological and psychological studies undertaken and are being performed, this big abstruse has not only remained unsolved, rather, it is also becoming more and more complicated with each passing day.
However, the Imam with his spiritual power as well as his amazing and astonishing speech resolved one of the most intricate questions of Iranian society in such an urgent, proper and unprecedented fashion that all of its riddle and enigma have still not been solved by the men of research. In fact, what was the enormous spiritual force that created such an astounding and profound transformation all at once such that the younger generation that was about to forget all the religious values and was thinking of no other thing except lusts, sex etc…was suddenly transformed such that instead of all that unrestricted freedoms and self-defeats, filled the mosques and pulpits and then departed for the bunkers of the war with the invading enemy in order to defend their religion, honour, dignity and esteem.
They would pass the nights staying awake, praying, supplicating, beseeching, shedding tears in anticipation of seeing the reappearance from Major Occultation of their Saviour Imam Mahdi while they would pass the days in confrontation and combat with the enemy and would give all of their existence for the cause of Islam and their religion. In fact this incredible and reflective transformation and upheaval about which there is still a lot of scientific research and analyses that must be performed, was faced with astonishment and amazement not only in our country, rather throughout the world such that the world believed that a spiritual leader despite all the restrictions, hostilities and libel directed at him, was able to penetrate the depth of the hearts and souls and create such a profound and incredible transformation within them to the extent that in relation to the enormity of the transformation of this generation and as an expression of gratitude and encouragement, their spiritual leader state thus about the youth who in the battle with the enemy risks his life and steps on to a minefield thereby buying martyrdom: "This young man was our leader."
There are plenty of such excellent examples in the history of our Revolution of this sort of epic-creation and amazing transformation such that even a concise list of them cannot be presented in this discussion. What can be concluded from this glorious and rare heritage is that we must be optimistic and confident of the spiritual power and capability – of course if it is correctly planned and promoted – and use this spiritual heritage not only for today and the younger generation, rather, we must make it a reserve for the subsequent generations and to solve the problems of the youth of the third and fourth generation of the Revolution - especially taking into consideration the abundant attractions that threaten the youth of today - so that if we are negligent and are not able to use this spirituality, we shall lose this great asset. A look at the proliferation of information and internet and various kinds of cultural invasions and the huge amount of printing, spoken and visual media that have all together entered the arena with the aim of taking control of the thought and sentiment of the younger generation – is an important warning that if we do not think of a solution today, it will be too late tomorrow and we shall witness the moral corruption and death of the youth that must be the builders of the radiant and confident future.
D. Revival of spirituality and self-conviction
Imam Khomeini was the caller to awareness, self-conviction and self-reinvention. A precise and sociological view of the level of thinking, culture, expectations and aspirations of society of today in Islamic Iran confirms the fact that one of the greatest spiritual legacies of the Imam and Revolution was awareness and sagacity of the people, their self-conviction and reinvention of the self. Previously, the colonial policies and the rule of their stooges in this country had put the people in such a state of slumber and loss of individuality that not only were they unconcerned about their destiny, rather, in general, they were also indifferent about their political and social destiny and were even loathsome. The Imam made the people to become aware and alert as well as making them sensitive about their undeniable rights in such a way that if today there is discussion of reforms, democracy as well as legal and social discussions in society, they are all indebted and grateful to the agitation of the Imam and his call to have faith in the self and release from loss of individuality.
E. Guidance and management
if in democratic societies the duty of managers is administration of society and achieving what "the people want", in the society of the Imam's consideration the element of guidance is added to administration of society; and in fact, the managers of the system are both the administrators of the society as well as leaders of society who lead towards excellence and proximity to Divinity.
Perhaps the meaning of religious democracy or the system of guardianship of the jurisprudent is a statement of theory and opinion of this piece of evidence. In the rational system of the Imam, the order of existence is either "descending curve" that has occurred based on love and affection and journeying of human beings towards perfection, or it can be completed in a "ascending curve" also consisting of love. This is a lesson that the Imam has taught the travellers of the path of spiritual discipline and he himself has explained in theoretical discussions.
Thus, from the point of view of the Imam, that person is positioned at the top of the pyramid of Islamic society who has learnt the lesson of love and worship of the Creator, who has travelled the four spiritual journeys, who has travelled from the self to his Creator, who has recognized the qualified truth and the absolute truth, has learnt the names and qualities of the Sacred Truth and who has incorporated the supreme qualities of the Object of Love, who has attained the status of "proximity to canonical obligations" and 'proximity to tertiary canonical obligations", who has become acquainted with the stages of the world of creation and the pieces of evidence of the creatures and potentials, capabilities and the various methods of communication; has gained knowledge of Divine religion which is the laws and instructions of guidance of human beings and who thereafter, rises up for guidance and assistance of the people and creates a society which is a suitable source of action for those that travel the spiritual journey to God.
However, such a person while being the object of love of the people will also love them. The Imam deemed the secret of success of a religious leader to lie in this emotional-faithful relationship and a two-way relationship between the people and the leader. In explaining this matter, we must say that experience of man in the recent centuries has considered the three administrative powers (legislature, judiciary and executive) to be separate from one another so that in this way the possibility of conspiracy against the people and their interests is reduced to the minimum.
In this manner the leaders of all three powers and their executives are elected directly or indirectly by the people with known responsibilities and tenure of office. Once again this experience of mankind has shown that a party has been elected to the three powers and by this means, by alteration and exercising absolute authority, has tied the interests of the people to party wishes. The theoretical basis of the Imam's regime also compensates for this latter shortcoming in the sense that the people who choose the leaders of the three separated powers, resort to another lection and choose an individual or a council that reveals their righteous faith and in the ways of the Truth and veracity and attainment of excellence, is honest and trustworthy as far as they are concerned. The responsibility that is placed on the shoulders of the elected individual or council by this method is supervision of the three above mentioned powers and securing their soundness towards their worldly and after worldly interests. It is evident that such an individual who possesses the above mentioned divine characteristics and self-improvements neither is interested in dictatorship and totalitarianism nor has the capability to transform it from theory into practice.
The Imam categorically stated that God and the prophet of Islam do not permit us to impose our views on the people; and neither does logic nor rationality accept from us that we give priority to opinion of a group over our own individual opinion. It is natural that such a leader becomes popular and the basis of guidance which is wisdom, kindness and obedience becomes a reality. This is because in the mystical culture of the Imam wisdom without kindness has no meaning while kindness is incomplete without obedience. Thus the requisite of living in a society that the Imam has sketched is kindness, wisdom and obedience so that these three alongside each other guarantee the development and excellence of man and the resident of Utopia. F. Legal eclecticism of religion and knowledge The Imam wanted a development and progress based on legal eclecticism of religion and knowledge or rationality and religiousness. Historical realities reveal that Islam has not only been a promoter and defender of all knowledge and opinions; rather it has created in the course of its long history a civilization that nowadays too, most human societies have been inherited from this great civilization.
Now that this Divine agitation has begun in Islamic society and has perpetuated, it is necessary for the Islamic nation especially Muslims all over the world to resort to revival of the original civilization and their traditional values.
The efforts and attempts of the Imam in this affair as one of his spiritual legacies are worthy of reflection and research. It is sufficient that only a comparison is made between the researches and investigations before the Revolution and after it; the statistics of publications, cultural institutions and academic discussions; dialogues on religion, seminars, conferences and the many debates taking place inside and outside the country on the subject of legal eclecticism of religion and knowledge. Likewise, a comparison is made between the number of universities and academic institutions as well as of the number of students in the past and the present in order to clarify the academic legacy of the Imam. Within this framework one can point to the qualitative and quantitative expansion as also the establishment of branches of sciences and technologies that have been produced as a result of the eclecticism of the two elements of materialism and spiritualism, soul and spiritual reality, religion and knowledge. In the end, it is my pleasure to mention among all these enormous scientific and intellectual works and tasks inside and outside Iran, the name of the Institution for the Publication of the Works of the Imam as one of the blessings and creative effects of his memory which by printing approximately 600 books of the Imam and about the Imam and the Revolution in 21 different languages of a circulation of more than 6,000,000 editions, has succeeded in establishing a research centre by the name of "Imam Khomeini and Islamic Revolution Research Centre" in which I have the honour of being a member of the academic board.
Here, I deem it necessary to express my thanks to all those who were involved of the source of this virtuous deed including the respected professors, researchers and beloved students.
The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works (International Affairs Department) URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1183
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