A
yatollah Ruhollah Khomeini likely will be remembered as one
of the most puzzling national leaders in history. Facts of his
childhood are sketchy. When he became a teacher, his followers
studied his lectures and writings and held him in awe, but he
remained a private, aloof individual. To the Western world, he
was hardly known at all until the final dramatic decade of his
long life. During those fleeting years in power, he held private
audiences with many Iranians but rarely was seen in public.
Foreign journalists frequently questioned whether he was in
failing health. What, exactly, was his role in Iranian affairs after
the revolution? What were his plans?
Even his birthday is uncertain. It has been stated alternately as
May 17 or September 24, 1902. Certain records indicate the birth
year was 1900 or 1901. At the time, Iran still was called Persia.In
any case, he was born in Khomein, a remote village at the edge
of the Iranian Desert some two hundred miles south of Tehran.
The name Khomeinmeans “two jars” in Arabic. His given name
was Ruhollah Musawi.Ruhollahmeans “soul of God.”
The family lived in a house of mud brick. They were not
wealthy, but they were considered special in the village because
they claimed as one of their ancestors none other than the
prophet Muhammad. You will undoubtedly notice in pictures of
Ayatollah Khomeini that the turban atop his head was black, not
white. Men who are descended from Muhammad are entitled to
wear this black turban.
Ruhollah’s grandfather Sayid Ahmed was a native of Kashmir
in India who went to Persia for his education in the mid-1800s.
Sayid Ahmed settled down in Khomein. He came to be con-
sidered a mullahin the village, a title of respect that signified
a community leader. Sayid’s son Sayid Mustafa also grew to
become a mullah.
Ruhollah was the second son born to Sayid Mustafa and his
wife, Sadiqeh. Sadiqeh, as was customary in Persian society, was
probably only in her early teens at the time of their marriage.
Several children were born to the couple before Ruhollah; all but
one died in childhood.
The Scholar From Khomein 19