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A MAN OF CHARACTER
When Ayatollah Boroujerdi was the highest ranking clergy in Qom, the Imam was the second top lecturer on divinity in the holy city. His students were welLknown for their mastery of the knowledge and almost all of them reached high clerical ranks later. After Ayatollah Boroujerdi's demise the Imam was one of only a dozen clergies that were nominated for the high clerical order. But he was unwilling to be known as such as that time, recalls Hojatoleslam Emam Jamarani one of the Imam's pupils. On that time Imam as the only top cleric who did not conceal his opposition against the Shah's regime. Emam Jamarani went to see the Imam with his father, when the Imam was released from a prison term he had to serve following his protest against the idea of provincial societies. He speaks on How Imam decided to stay in Jamaran neighborhood.
Following his heart problem a few months after the victory of Islamic revolution the Imam was hospitalized in Tehran for a couple of months. After he was discharged from the hospital he stayed at a house in Darband area in northern Tehran for four months. But he did not like that house because its appearance was too luxurious. Then he threatened that he would go to Qom if a suitable place was not found for him. The doctors had aid that the Imam should not live in Qom in order to avoid being exposed to the city's bad weather. Then his son Ahmad and I began to look for a house in Jamaran area. Then I suggested that if the Imam liked our house we could make it a little bigger by attaching those of my brother and sister. They said they would accept the idea if Mrs. Khomeini liked the house. She did not like the house very much but knew that the Imam will like it. So she gave her approval and we began to do minor repairs and finally the Imam moved to that house .on the 19th of May 1980
The Imam liked the place very much and expressed his satisfaction in various occasions adding that the previous place was not suitable. Although the house did not match the Imam's status, yet he was happy with that. In a speech to his neighbors the Imam said: "We have become your neighbor and that will cause trouble for you." Although the house was chosen in a matter of one day with no prior planning, a couple of days later the Voice of America said that the Imam has moved to a place where air raids were absolutely impossible. But no one had ever thought of this as a factor in choosing the house for the great leader.
After sometime, thee army began to build a helicopter pad for the emergency landing of helicopters and taking the Imam to a safe place if something serious happened. As soon as the Imam found out about this he expressed his dissatisfaction and the work was immediately stopped.
When the war broke out the army engineering unit built a bomb shelter so that the Imam could go there at the time of air raids. Again the Imam said: "Do not build it because I shall not go in this place!" This time they built it but the Imam never went there even for once. A year later when the Nojeh Coup was launched the officials urged the Imam to leave the house for one night as his life was in danger. places near the Imam's house. but he never showed any sign of fear or worry. When he was asked to go to the bomb shelter, he said that he wanted to stay in the open like the soldier who was on guard outside the house. He insisted that there was no difference between his life and that of the soldier.
The Imam even faced death with the same certainty. In one of his last days, a close relative of his told him: "It's nothing. You will get better." And the Imam said that birth and death were not so important.
The Imam stayed in that house for several years and never went out of it. He was very modest. Most of the time he remained silent. He spoke only when it was really necessary. And when he spoke, it was brief and calculated. Most of the time he was thinking. He observed a certain order and discipline in his daily life. He was always on time for everything particularly for his classes. He always listened attentively to what others said and this gave a certain sense of confidence to anyone who spoke. He was a very intelligent man and knew what others thought.
And when it came to the issue of burial, based on his father's views, his son determined that the burial place should be close to the graves of the martyrs, and at the same time, it must be a place that could accommodate all those who came for the funeral. And so was the site of his tomb chosen.
A FAMILY MAN
In an interview with a special issue of The Jomhouri Eslami that was published in June 1992, late Imani's daughter, Mrs. Farideh Mostafavi explained Imam's family life and his treatment of the members of his family, particularly his wife. She said when Imam decided to marry, he was 28 years old. First he talked with Mr. Lavassani, a friend of his; and the latter suggested that Mr. Saghafi's daughter would make a suitable wife for the ayatollah as a young man. Mr. Lavassani sought Mr. Saghafi's consent. At the time of the marriage, the ayatollah was 28 and Mrs. Khomeini was 15 years old. According to Mrs. Farideh Mostafavi the Imam who lived rather comfortably thanks to the inheritance left by his father, managed to rent a house and begin an independent life with his wife. Most of the household appliances came from the young bride's house. The Imam had a few things that he brought from the seminary after two or three months. All they had was a Gelim, a traditional tapestry woven by rural Iranians or tribes-women, a small kerosene cooker and a few kitchenware. After a couple of years, Imam's brother sent him some old carpets and some more kitchenware that he had inherited from his father.
As to the Imam's behavior within the family, Mrs. Mostafavi says that Imam's behavior towards his wife was very intimate, respectful and kind. It was her views that were carried out regarding every matter of family life. He never started to eat before she did. Everybody, even the children had to wait for the lady of the house before beginning to eat. She recollects that once as a child she had shattered a window glass while playing with a ball with her siblings. The Imam arrived to punish the children. But as soon as he found out that the children had their mother's permission to play, he just left the room without saying a word.
He never asked his wife to do or bring anything for him. He would rather tell the children. He always did respect his wife and always showed his love and respect for his wife particularly when their children were present. However, the respect was mutual. Mrs. Khomeini was very patient. She was the daughter of an affluent family and had lived in Tehran. Now she was living in Qom that in comparison to Tehran was an underprivileged city particularly in some 60 to 70 years ago. She tolerated the hard life in the small town because of her love and respect for the Imam. She never said a word that was indicative of despair or dissatisfaction.
She was always encouraging. Throughout all those hardships, struggles and exiles she supported her husband. When the Imam was exiled to Turkey, he gave his seal to his wife and she kept it safe for more than a year before joining him in another exile in Najaf, Iraq. She never questioned what her husband did. And she never tried to dissuade him. Not only she never showed any sign of weakness or fear, but she was always encouraging and supportive.
As to his behavior with his children, the Imam was kind but firm. The children had practically understood that they must not do anything that their father did not like or approve of. However, the children had their own freedom in other matters. He loved his children equally. However, he showed greater love for his daughters. His behavior was so that every child thought she or he was his favorite.
"When I lived in Qom and the Imam lived in Tehran. I used to go to see him. And when I left he insisted that I
should call him from Qom and let him know that I was safely in my destination," -Mrs. Mostafavi recalls.
His way of rearing the children was to be firm. However, he neglected our wrongdoings. But we could not face him for a while when we did something that he did not like. From an educational point of view he was an example to be followed by his children. When they saw that he never did something, they learned not to do that too. However, he was never too strict on things that did not really matter. He never woke his children up for the early morning prayers. But they knew that they had to make up for the missed prayers before noontime.
He advised his children to look for their spouse in a family with a matching socio-cultural status. But the financial status did not really matter to him. His sonsin. .law did not have to be wealthy. It was enough if they could make ends meet for their family and his daughters in_law brought :with them only the minimum requirements for a modest family. However, all of them came from the families of clergymen. His behavior towards his in ..laws was very respectful and at the same time very friendly. He was even more friendly ai5d intimate towards his grand children. While he never asked his children to do anything for him, he usually did ask his grand children because he was more comfortable with them.
With all the works he had to do as the leader of a great revolution and a great country, the spiritual teacher of an entire generation and a politician who had to face with the challenges of a turbulent world he was still dedicated to his family and fulfilled his responsibilities as a father and a man of family.
IN A GREAT MAN'S HOUSE
The Imam's wife, Mrs. Ghods Iran Saghafi (Mostafavi) with Neda magazine(4) in Tebran talked about the late Imam's characteristics. Many years after his demise, she still had wet eyes when speaking about her husband. Her father was Haj Mirza Mohammad Saghafi a well known cleric in Tehran who was the son of Mirza Abolfazi Tebrani who wrote poems in Arabic and had a major library that he donated to the Sepahsalar Theological School. The father of Mirza Abolfazi, was Mirza Aboighassem Kalantar who was the police chief of Tehran at the time of Nassereddin Shah Qajar the 19th century monarch of Persia. Her mother was the daughter of Haj Mirza Gholamhossein the treasurer and the court minister. When she was about seven years old and her father was about thirty years old, he decided to go to the holy city of Qom to study divinity. However, she stayed in Tehran with her grandmother and did not go to Qom with her parents. In fact she had lived with her grandmother since she was only six months old.
During those five years they went to see her parents once in every two years. They traveled by carriage and the journey between Tehran and Qom (less than 150 kilometers) took about three days. She went to school with her other two sisters. Few could manage to send their children, particularly their daughters to school. She studied until the 8th grade before her marriage to the Imam. Her father was against her going to school after the 6 th grade.
The Imam was a friend of her father's. He was 12 years older than Ghods Iran. 'Once Mr. Lavassani, a friend of the Imam's asked him why he had not married. He answered that he still has not met the suitable bride. And he did not want to marry with any girl from his own hometown, Khomein. He was 26 or 27 years old on that time. Mr. Lavassani told him that Mr. Saghafi had two daughters. Later the Imam told me that when he heard this his heart stopped on that very spot. He liked my father very much although he regretted that he was not so deeply involved in divinity," -she says.
When the Imam finally proposed, it was still ten months before the bride gave her positive response. She did not want to go to Qom. "Every time I went there, I wanted to return after a couple of weeks. Almost the whole town was graveyards. The alleys of the city were narrow and I did ~not like it at all even before that. But my father used to say that the groom would provide my comfort in Qom. Finally I gave my consent when I dreamed a couple of times that the Imams and the holy prophet were in the very house that later we rented for living there."
It was exactly the same house and the same rooms they rented after their marriage. Even the curtains they bought were the same that had appeared in her dreams. When she told her grandmother about the dreams, she encouraged her to marry the Imam because she believed he was a true descendant of the holy prophet. In the meantime, the Imam kept sending an emissary almost everyday. I was fifteen years old when I finally consented to the marriage. One week after declaring my consent I saw the groom through the window glass along with my sisters and mother.
Asked if she liked the groom, she said, "My father liked him and he was happy that I did not object. He was a plain man. He always wanted to have a clergy as his son ..in law." Asked if he had married before, she aid, "1 was the first woman he had ever met."
They married in the holy month of Ramadan when classes were closed. "It was the night of the 15th or 16th of Ramadan. I had a black and white embroidered cloth on. My dowry was 1000 tooman. The groom's family were ready to give a house as dowry. I never asked for the dowry, but in his will, the Imam left one sixth of his house in Qom for me. Maybe he thought I might need that house to live in."
"The Imam paid great respect to me. He never uttered an unkind word. He always gave the best place in the house
to me. He never started to eat before I came into the room. He always told the children to wait for me before beginning to eat. However, he was a clergy and my life could not be very comfortable. Nevertheless he did not want me to work. If I wanted to work in the house I had to do it after he left. Once I was washing the dishes and the woman who helped me was away. The Imam asked our daughter to come and do not let me to wash the dishes."
Speaking on her studies she said, "After the sixth grade, I went to Badrieh High School for the seventh grade. In the 8th grade, after two months I started my French lessons. I had a tutor and I paid two toomans per month. When I got married, the Imam continued the lessons my father used to give me. I studied divinity until I gave birth to my fourth child and then I gave up my studies. Later, when we went to Iraq I started to learn Arabic. Later I read novels in Arabic as well as newspapers. In the last year we were in Iraq I read a book in Arabic on the Islamic civilization."
On Imam's expectation from her, she says, "He just asked me to do what was regarded as must in Islam and not to do anything that was forbidden in Shariah. I lived the way I liked. I felt free."
Recalling the Imam's political life, she recollects, "My father was a friend of Ayatollah Kashani. And this was how Ayatollah Kashani met the Imam at my father's house. The Ayatollah believed that the Imam was very intelligent. Later in 1963 The Imam's house became the focal point of the struggle against the government. My older son's house was full of people. The Imam's speech on the Ashura was tremendously welcomed. Three secret police attacked the house in the middle of the night and he was arrested. First he was imprisoned in a house in Tebran for a few days ad then he was taken to the Qasr prison. He was there for about two weeks and later he was imprisoned in Eshrat Abad for two months. There, he asked for some books and we sent them for him. They also let us to send food for him. After two months they freed him and took him to the house of Mr. Nelati in l)avoudieh. On the first day of his release I went to see him with my daughters. When everybody left the room I asked him if he had hard days. He did not say anything but touched the back of her neck and his thin skin just peeled away. I did not say anything but it was a sad scene. Then we rented a house in front of Mr. Roghani's. There, about 30 secret police imposed limitations on our life so that only our very close relatives could come and go. After e stayed at Mr. Roghani's for seven months, Ansari, a SAVAK official told the Imam that when the Imam wished to go back to Qom, he could arrange a car for us.
Then we went to Qom. The house was full of people. An adjacent house was also rented and we lived there. We stayed there for 8 months and the Imam gave his famous speech against capitulation. And one night secret police broke into the house. Imam left with them but he gave me his seal and the key to his drawer and asked me to keep them. My son Ahmad was 17 or 18 years old on that time. He wanted to follow the Imam but a secret police man brandished a gun and stopped him. I kept the seal and the key until the Imam was sent to exile in Najaf, Iraq. Then he asked me to send him the seal and I did so. During his exile in Turkey the Imam had written his welL known book, Tahrir Al Vassileh. Our greater son, Mostafa attracted many people around him after the Imam was : exiled. The regime first sent him to Ghezel Ghaleh prison in Tehran for two months and then sent him too to Turkey to Exile.
After the end of the exile in Turkey first they asked Imam whether he wanted to go to Iran or Iraq, but later they forced him to go to Iraq. When he arrived in Iraq, first he went for a pilgrimage to Karbala. Then he went to Kazemein and Samerra and finally to Najaf where he lived for 14 years. It was a small house with a very smaller kitchen. It had two rooms downstairs and two others upstairs. So we had to rent an adjacent house."
On the rearing of their children, the Imam's wife believes that the Imam has left a great impact on his family as far as devotion to Islamic rules is concerned. However, she says that the Imam seldom imposed his advises. However he insisted that the children should say their prayers as soon as they became seven years old. And when somebody said that he or she had said his or her prayers he accepted his or her word. The outcome of this way of child rearing seems to have been satisfactory. She says, "The children owe their faith and ethical values to their father, what they owe to me is the compatibility our daughters have with their husband."
