There’s
this photograph, of an old man, with a creased forehead, and a smile, rather a
slight upward curve of the lips, looking down at something out of the frame. He
looks stern, and yet friendly, with that black turban increasing the span of
his forehead and the white beard making his face revered. The photograph is one
of the many I have seen everywhere and has been an integral part of my
existence and of my earliest memories. Ayatollah Khomeini, I’d later come to
know was that man smiling out of one photograph and looking far away, eyebrows
crinkled in another. At first I knew this man for the reverence, and love he
commanded from everyone I knew, for the overwhelming presence he had wherever
we and our relatives lived. We called him ‘Khomeini sahab’ and one of the first
things taught to infants some months old in our families, was to say or gesture
a salaam to Khomeini sahib; a tradition that continues till date.
I’d get
to know Ayatollah Khomeini later in my life, growing up, as a man who
spearheaded one of the biggest and most successful revolutions of all times. It
is important for a revolution to be successful to have a leader who can guide
and channelise the energies and the emotions of the people wanting a
revolution. In conditions where the monarchy was now resented by the Iranian
population, the Ayatollah proved to be the person who could steer the dissent
home, both when in Iran and in exile. 36 years later the revolution still
stands out as one of the most remembered revolution of recent times, especially
in the modern Islamic history. The revolution was guided by a leader, who was
both spiritual and political. A muqqalid to many shia Muslims, and a leader to Iranians,
mostly young Iranians, the Ayatollah drove home a point: the youth were going
to lead the change in the country and that is exactly what happened.
I
was not even born at the time of the revolution and this is mostly a personal
narrative, hence the only scenes of the revolution in my mind are black and
white mobs of young men and women on the streets, demanding the ouster of the
Shah, some for political reasons, some for religious reasons and others for
socio-cultural reasons. Notwithstanding the diversity of reasons, people were
united, with old following young to overturn one system and establish another. Whether
or not the new system was what the people had hoped for or envisioned, is
debated till date and is better left to the people who live there. Years, 26 to
be precise after his death, the Ayatollah is still remembered, by everyone; by
the West as the man who wrenched a strategic point out of their hands for the
Middle East wars, and by others for his
ability to make an impact that the world would remember. The Ayatollah had his
inspiration for the revolution from Karbala, a revolution of sorts that took
place some 1400 years ago, the mother of all revolutions that would inspire
many. The revolution in Iran was along similar lines, to oust the effects and elements
of the western culture that was overtaking the world, a culture that had no
personal history to boast of but yet had managed to enslave many a cultures.
Post revolution, given the strong anti west sentiment in Iran, the country
faced another struggle, one that continues even today, an international form of
school level bullying. Economic sanctions were imposed on Iran to punish it for
daring to oppose the western ‘powers’ as such. Yet, the dream of the Iran that
he Ayatollah Khomeini had dreamt of still came true, notwithstanding sanctions,
bullying and the boycott by the west and its court jesters.
As a
young woman from another part of the world under occupation, looking at the
photograph of the man in the black turban, now accompanied by another kind
looking man, Ayatollah Khamenei, I draw strength and courage from the
revolution in Iran. The man who epitomised will, determination, courage and steadfastness,
also was an equally devoted husband, a respectful partner and a loving father. The
revolution and the Ayatollah are open for interpretation, for different
individuals draw meanings and inspiration differently. So many years later,
there are differences within Iran and outside it, but the fact remains that
like it or dislike it, the Iranian revolution led by Ayatollah and the people
of Iran is one example of the power of faith and freedom.
