Ruhollah Khomeini

Ruhollah Mostafavi Khomeini (Persian: روح‌الله مصطفوی خمینی; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the leader of the Iranian Revolution, which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ended the Pahlavi era, and transformed the country into an Islamic republic. As supreme leader, he implemented policies that came to be known as Khomeinism.

Born in the city of Khomeyn, in what is now Iran's Markazi province, Khomeini's father was murdered when he was two years old. He began studying the Quran and Arabic from a young age assisted by his relatives. Khomeini became a high-ranking cleric in Twelver Shi'ism, an ayatollah, a marja' ("source of emulation"), a mujtahid, a faqīha (expert in fiqh), a hafiz, and authored more than 40 books. His opposition to the White Revolution resulted in his state-sponsored expulsion to Bursa in 1964. Nearly a year later, he moved to Najaf, where speeches he gave outlining his religiopolitical theory of Guardianship of the Jurist were compiled into the book Islamic Government.