Islamic Solidarity in Infra-National Thoughts of Imam Khomeini

Islam, Communities and Nations

 

Islam a pivotal point for all

Islam came, drew a red line across racism, and allowed no differentiation between black and white, between Turk and Iranian, between Arab and non-Arab. The only distinction it made between men stemmed from piety, fearing God, true devoutness, political piety, material piety and spiritual piety. This is the difference that was established: “Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is he who is the most pious.”‌1 There are no Turks and Iranians, Arabs and non-Arabs. Islam is the pivotal point for all Muslims.

(September 9, 1964 [Shahrivar 18, 1343 AHS / Jamadi al-Awwal 2, 1384 AH]

Sahife-ye Imam, vol. 1, p. 378

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Nationalism leads to division

The propaganda saying this is an Arab that is a Turk or Iranian or a Kurd is launched by the aliens to divide the Muslims and plunder the resources of these countries. The Muslims must be wakeful and should not be deceived by such propaganda.

Islam belongs to all

The writers and orators must explain these problems for the people and introduce Islam to them. They must make it clear that Islam does not belong to any particular nationality; it does not belong to the Turks, Iranians, Arabs or non-Arabs. Islam belongs to all, and race, color, tribe and language do not have any weight in this system. The Qur’an is the book of all.

December 7, 1978 [Azar 16, 1357 AHS / Muharram 6, 1399 AH] Sahife-ye Imam, vol.5, p. 187

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Islam a key factor to unity and victory

The slogan “this is not a nationalist uprising  (Islamic Revolution of Iran); it is a Qur’anic uprising, an Islamic uprising,”‌ should be preserved, because it is not a “national”‌ uprising. It is an Islamic uprising.

This could not have been engendered by the power of nationalism; this is the power of faith; it is the power of Islam. It should not be misconstrued. It is Islam, which defeated the superpowers. It is Islam, which brings up followers who are predisposed to martyrdom. It is this power of faith, which mobilized the people throughout Iran.

March 9, 1979 [Esfand 18, 1357 AHS /Rabi’ ath-Thani 10, 1399 AH] Sahife-ye Imam, vol. 6, p. 360

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Equality of ethnic groups in the Islamic government

Since the beginning of the victory of the Revolution up to this very time, we have declared that no such thing is an issue in Islam as Kurds, Turks, Persians, Baluchs, Lors, Turkmen, etc. Islam is for all and the Islamic Republic will do Islamic justice to all the sub-groups.

September 3, 1979 [Shahrivar 12, 1358 AHS / Shawwal 11, 1399 AH]Sahife-ye Imam, vol. 9, p. 388

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Nationality in the light of Islam

We want “nationality”‌ in the light of Islamic teachings. We will do anything for the Iranian nation only in the name of Islam not nationality or Magism. The bounds of nationality are those of Islam, which support the idea to protect Islamic nations. Defending Islamic nations is an obligation. But it does not mean that we put Islam aside and cry for nationality and “pan-Iranism”‌.

September 26, 1979 [Mehr 4, 1358 AHS / Dhu’l-Qa’dah 4, 1399 AH]Sahife-ye Imam, vol. 10, p. 123

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Preference of Arabism over the Islam as a false fancy

He in his fancy prefers Arabs to Islam. He has turned his back upon Islam. He presumes by doing so he could attract the Arabs. He is ignorant that the Arab nations preserve Islam as dearly as their own life and they fight and wrangle with the enemies of Islam as their ancestors did.

April 9, 1980 [Farvardin 20, 1359 AHS / Jamadi al-Awwal 23, 1400 AH] Sahife-ye Imam, vol. 12, p. 263

Nationalism beyond of Islam and a fundamental reason for misery of the Muslims

By  means  of  these  corrupt  governments  and  their propaganda, they have spread racism and nationalism among Muslims. They have made ‘Arabs oppose non-’Arabs and Turks, and have made the non-’Arabs confront the ‘Arabs, and the Turks confront the others. They have pitted all the ethnic groups against one another.

The reason why I repeatedly emphasize that nationalism is the basic cause of misery is because of the fact that it causes conflict between Iran and the other Muslim nations. It pits Iran against all the other nations, and the other nations against one another. It is the imperialist design to keep Muslims apart. The previous  Iraqi  regime””of  course,  the  present  regime [Ba’athist] is much worse than the previous one””claimed that their goal was to revive the glory of the Umayyad dynasty, vis-à-vis Islam. The Islamic religion downplays all glory as being inferior to that of God. This was not something that they themselves were smart enough to do. The world powers had inculcated it into them in order to keep the Muslims disunited and dispersed, and to make them enemies. The same trend also developed in Iran a long time ago. Thus, some individuals who were ignorant of the basic issues, even though they were supposedly   not   spiteful,   stated   the   same   concept   of nationalism so as to uproot Islam in Iran.

August 9, 1980 [Mordad 18, 1359 AHS / Ramadan 27, 1400 AH] Sahife-ye Imam, vol. 13, p. 87

Source: "Islamic Solidarity in Infra-National-Thoughts of Imam Khomeini" Book 

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