Skip to content

Israeli Apartheid

Imam khomeini in contemporary islamic history

  • by

Imam Khomeini in contemporary Islamic history

This month, to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Imam Khomeini, Crescent International and Islamic Book Trust, Kuala Lumpur, have published a book of essays on the Imam’s life and thought.  Here we present an abridged version of the introduction to that volume, written by former Crescent editor IQBAL SIDDIQUI.

Imam Ruhullah Musawi al-Khomeini (September 24, 1902 to June 3, 1989) is among those iconic figures of history about whom everybody thinks they know much more than they actually do. His name and image, and a few basic facts about his life and work, are so familiar, so instantly recognisable, that any deeper consideration of his life and work seems superfluous. And yet he is in fact one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented figures of recent history. This is because the40and impressions people have of him are largely those generated and promoted by the West-dominated international media, for which he became a hate-figure after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1978–79. In the Muslim world, moreover, enemies of the Islamic Revolution, and of political Islam generally, have not only adopted the West’s negative image of him, but have further added the sectarian label of “Shi‘i” to try to neutralise his influence on Islamic movements and activists there.

 

Read More »Imam khomeini in contemporary islamic history

Main entry into gori controlled by russia

  • by

 Picture: (AFP/Marco Longari)
Georgian residents from the flashpoint city of Gori pass in front of a Russian armored personnel carrier. The world awaited the promised start of a Russian pullout of combat troops from Georgia today.

Russian troops today controlled the main entry into the Georgian city of Gori, amid expectations that Moscow was to start pulling out its forces.

Two Russian soldiers at a checkpoint did not allow journalists to enter the town, just 60 kilometres west of Tbilisi.
A military truck and an armored personnel carrier could also be seen at the site. A convoy of four vehicles from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was however allowed through the checkpoint.

An AFP correspondent saw a light Russian military presence on the road into Gori from the crossroads at Igoeti, 40 kilometres west of Tbilisi, including a half dozen Russian APCs and trucks.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev assured his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday that Russian regular forces "will begin withdrawing" from today.

MRN-AFP

Read More »Main entry into gori controlled by russia