Islamic Revolution in the eyes of intellectuals (2)

The Islamic Revolution that triumphed in Iran these days in 1979 under the leadership of Imam Khomeini (God bless him) to rid the country from domestic despotism and foreign hegemony, was one of the greatest events of the twentieth century – if not the past few centuries.

One of the factors for its victory was the mass participation of people from all classes and walks of life in the fight against the British-installed and American-backed Pahlavi regime. The second feature which distinguishes the Islamic Revolution from other revolutions is its religious nature. As part of our programmes to mark the 38^th anniversary of the victory of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, in a series of short episodes we will attempt to introduce this great Revolution to our listeners from the standpoint of intellectuals.

The book "Iran Revolution" and its international repercussion in which a group of the most prominent and knowledgeable scholars, professors and researchers from the universities and research centers of different countries has investigated the various dimensions of the repercussions of the Islamic Revolution, are considered as a precious, intellectual and deliberating work due to comprehensiveness, profound scientific look, and precise assessment and analysis based on various resources and field researches. These researches have been compiled as independent articles and at the same time an integrated set by the famous researcher andan American professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C, John Louis Esposito.

John Louis Espositowrites about the significance of the Islamic Revolution of Iran: Friends and enemies believe that the revolution of Iran has had an immense impact on the Islamic world and the West. The revolution has been a source of inspiration and incentives. Contemporary Iran has begun the first decade of its life with two linked goals, "institutionalization of the revolution" and "promoting it". Constitution was procured for the new emerging Islamic Revolution. This constitution had anticipated an optional parliamentary government under the leadership of the religion of Islam. Ayatollah Khomeini became the founder of the Islamic Revolution. As a result, a remarkable change came to emerge in the society of Iran. The government could manage to pay its foreign debts after seizing the banking, insurance, foreign trade and major industries. The government could also create an independent economy that was less dependent on investment and foreign asset. In addition to its theoretical aspect, the revolution has caused deep changes in Iran's social outlook in its real meaning.

Espisoto continues: From the very beginning and in order to fight against the regional and international impacts caused by the Islamic Revolution, its enemies were making all their efforts to represent the Islamic Revolution as a Shiite and sectarian revolution, while John Louis Esposito was of a different opinion. He believes: The Islamic Revolution of Iran, from the very first days, has announced its second goal (ie. the spread of the revolution) as a pillar in its foreign policy. Other aspects of the Islamic revolution have never attract the media attention to such an extent and have never provoked the fear in the Islamic and western governments like this…. We do not exaggerate if we express that the misunderstandings have prevented the Western countries, especially that of the United States of America to publicly understand Iran's strategies and the international repercussion of Iran Revolution in particular. One of these misunderstandings is to consider Iran as a Shiite and sectarian revolution. But the Islamic Revolution, from the very first days, has deliberately represented a universal conception and it had universal wishes in mind. For instance, Ayatollah Khomeini insisted that the revolution had deep roots in Islamic principles and belonged to the entire depressed, whether Shi’ites or non- Shi’ites, across the world. This American intellectual continues: The day after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, many Muslim students emulated Iran, without considering their own sectarian affiliation. Therefore, the Sunni students of "al-Mamaat al-Islamiyah" declared in the University of Cairo: "Iranian people's revolution deserves to be examined deeply so that we can learn things from that, get motivated, and benefit from such an example. Indeed, both the elites and the public would scarcely consider such a revolution as a Shiite revolution. Many Muslims would consider that Islam prevail against the forces of evil and the victory of the third world over the US imperialism.”

MA/AS/ME