Charter on Clergy

Image of the book Manshūr-i Rūḥāniyyat published by the Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works

Charter on Clergy (Persian: منشور روحانیت, Manshūr-i Rūḥāniyyat) is a message by Imam Khomeini addressed to Marja's, clerics (Ruhaniyun), seminarians (Tullab), instructors of Islamic seminaries and Friday and congregational prayer Imams. This message was issued on 22 February 1989 in response to doubts regarding the Islamic system and its performance. According to some, in this message, Imam Khomeini determined the strategy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the mission of Islamic seminaries and spoke of his concerns and worries regarding this institution. Charter on Clergy is considered one of the most important documents left by Imam Khomeini.

According to 'Abd Allah Jawadi Amuli, Charter on Clergy is Imam Khomeini's special will and testament to the clergy community; however, Sayyid Ali Khamenei has recommended that all people read this letter and act upon it.

The status of the clergy and its role in advancing the Islamic Revolution, criticism of the rigid-mindedness of the seminaries, rejection of the theory of separation of religion and politics, the issue of Salman Rushdie and the verdict of his apostasy, Resolution 598 and admonition regarding the spread of secular Islam are among the important and fundamental contents of this document. It is said that parts of this letter were a response to the doubts of Husayn Ali Montazeri regarding the issue of the War and martyrdom. Charter on Clergy was issued following letters from Imam Khomeini such as the Brotherhood Charter in (October-November 1988), the Imam's letter to the Basij of seminarians and students in (Rabi us Thani-Jamdi al Ula 1408/November-December 1988), and the Imam's letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union.

Charter on Clergy appears in Sahifa-yi Imam (the collection of speeches and messages of Imam Khomeini); this letter has also been reprinted many times in 54 pages by the Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works.

Charter on Clergy

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In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful

To the presence of the distinguished clerics throughout the country, the grand Marja's of Islam, the esteemed instructors, the dear students of the Islamic seminaries, and the honorable Friday and congregational prayer Imams, may their blessings continue.

Peace and salutations of God and His Messenger upon the pure souls of the martyrs, especially the dear martyrs of the seminaries and the clergy. Salutations to the bearers of the trust of revelation and mission, the martyred guardians who have carried the pillars of the greatness and glory of the Islamic Revolution on their red and bloody commitment.

Peace upon the ever-immortal epic-makers of the clergy who have written their practical and scholarly treatises with the ink of martyrdom and the blood of their veins, and who have made a shining gem from the candle of their lives on the pulpit of guidance and preaching to the people. Glory and praise be upon the martyrs of the seminary and the clergy who, in the heat of battle, severed the ties of lesson, discussion, and school, removed the shackles of worldly desires from the leg of the truth of knowledge, went light-winged to the banquet of the celestial ones, and recited the poem of presence in the assembly of the angels.

Peace upon those who charged forward to discover the truth of tafaqquh (deep understanding of religion) and became truthful warners (mundhirān) for their people and nation, whose every clause of their hadith of honesty has been testified to by drops of their blood and pieces of their torn bodies. Truly, nothing else is expected from the true clergy of Islam and Shi'ism but to be the first to offer sacrifices in the invitation to the Truth and the bloody path of the people's struggle, and for the seal of their book to be martyrdom...

Of course, not all eager ones and seekers achieved the desire of martyrdom. One like me has remained in the darkness of barriers and veils for a lifetime and finds nothing in the house of action and life but the paper and book of "self", while another, at the very first night of the Yaldā of life, tore open the black chest of desires and signed the contract of union and martyrdom with the dawn of love. And how can I, the heedless one who has not yet emerged from the concealment of non-existence, describe the caravan leaders of existence? I and my likes only hear the sound of the bell from this caravan; let me leave it and pass.

There is no doubt that the Islamic seminaries and the committed scholars throughout the history of Islam and Shi'ism have been the most important stronghold of Islam against attacks, deviations, and perverse ways. The great scholars of Islam have strived all their lives to promote the issues of the Divine Halal and Haram without alteration.

If it were not for the dear Fuqaha (jurists), it would not be known what sciences would have been fed to the masses today as the sciences of the Quran, Islam, and the Ahl al-Bayt (a)...

There is much to say regarding the dimension of scholarly services of the Islamic seminaries... Praise be to Allah, the seminaries are rich and innovative in terms of sources and methods of discussion and Ijtihad. I do not imagine a method more suitable than the method of the predecessors (salaf) for a deep, comprehensive examination of Islamic sciences...

For hundreds of years, the clergy of Islam has been the refuge of the deprived; the oppressed have always been quenched from the pure Kawthar of the knowledge of the great Fuqaha... The martyrs of the clergy are not limited to the martyrs of the struggle and the war in Iran; certainly, the number of unknown martyrs of the seminaries and the clergy who have lost their lives as strangers in the path of spreading divine knowledge and rulings at the hands of mercenaries and ignoble people is large.

In every divine and popular movement and revolution, the scholars of Islam have been the first whose foreheads were marked with blood and martyrdom... In the 15th of Khordad and the events before and after the victory, from which stratum were the first martyrs?... More than 2,500 students of religious sciences from all over Iran have been martyred in the imposed war...

Today, too, as in the past, the hunters of colonialism throughout the world... are lying in wait for the lion-hearted clergy who oppose the East and the West and rely on the principles of Pure Muhammadan Islam (saw)... The genuine scholars of Islam have never submitted to capitalists, money-worshippers, and feudal lords, and have always preserved this honor for themselves...

The opposition of the clerics to some manifestations of civilization in the past was solely due to the fear of the infiltration of foreigners...

The issue of the book The Satanic Verses is a calculated act to strike at the root of religion and religiosity, and at the head of it, Islam and the clergy...

Of course, this does not mean that we defend all clerics, for there were and are not a few dependent, sanctimonious (muqaddas-namā), and rigid-minded (taḥajjur-garā) clerics. In the Islamic seminaries, there are individuals who are active against the Revolution and Pure Muhammadan Islam. Today, a group with a pose of sanctity strikes at the root of religion, the revolution, and the system as if they have no other duty... The danger of the rigid-minded and the foolish sanctimonious ones in the Islamic seminaries is not small.

The dear students should not be negligent for a moment regarding the thoughts of these colorful snakes; they are the promoters of American Islam and the enemies of the Messenger of Allah. Should not the unity of the dear students be preserved in the face of these vipers?

When Arrogance despaired of the absolute destruction of the clergy and the seminaries, it chose two ways to strike: one was the way of intimidation and force, and the other was the way of deception and infiltration... The first and most important move is the induction of the slogan of the Separation of religion and politics, which unfortunately has been effective to some extent in the seminary and the clergy...

At the beginning of the Islamic struggles, if you wanted to say the Shah is a traitor, you would immediately hear the answer that the Shah is a Shi'a! A group of backward sanctimonious ones considered everything Haram, and no one had the power to stand up to them. The blood that your old father's heart has suffered from this rigid-minded group, he has never suffered from the pressures and hardships of others. When the slogan of separation of religion and politics became established, and jurisprudence (fiqāhat) in the logic of the unaware meant drowning in individual and ritual rulings... the stupidity of a cleric became a virtue in social interactions.

... In the Fayḍiyya School, my young son, the late Muṣṭafā, drank water from a jug; they rinsed the jug because I taught philosophy...

Yesterday, the foolish sanctimonious ones said religion is separate from politics and fighting against the Shah is Haram; today they say the officials of the system have become communists! Until yesterday, they considered liquor selling, corruption, immorality, debauchery, and the rule of oppressors as useful and preparatory for the reappearance of the Imam of the Time (a); today, because a violation of Shari'a occurs in a corner which is never the desire of the officials, they cry out "Wā Islāmā" (Oh Islam)! Yesterday, the Hojjatieh Society (Ḥujjatiyyah) had forbidden the struggle and made every effort to break the strike of the Mid-Sha'ban celebrations in favor of the Shah; today they have become more revolutionary than the revolutionaries! The "Wilāyatīs" of yesterday who destroyed the honor of Islam and Muslims in their silence and rigidity... today declare themselves the founders and heirs of Wilaya and regret the Wilaya of the Shah's era! Truly, from whom do the accusations of being American, Russian, and eclectic, the accusation of making Haram Halal and Halal Haram, the accusation of killing pregnant women, and the lawfulness of Gambling and music originate? From irreligious people or from the rigid-minded and foolish sanctimonious ones?!...

... Today, there is no Shar'i or rational reason for differences in tastes and understandings... to cause the disruption of the affection and unity of the students and committed scholars...

I am of the opinion today that even the most powerful individuals... it was not clear that they would have achieved more success than the current individuals. In a fair analysis of the events of the Revolution, especially the events of the ten years after the victory, I must say that the Islamic Revolution of Iran has been successful in most objectives and fields... even in the war, victory belonged to our nation...

Of course, if we had all the causes and means at our disposal, we would have looked to and reached higher goals in the war, but this does not mean that we have been defeated by the enemy in our fundamental goal, which was repelling aggression and proving the solidity of Islam... We exported our revolution to the world in the war... we broke the awe of the two superpowers of East and West in the war... Our war was the war of right and wrong, and it is unending; our war was the war of poverty and riches; our war was the war of faith and villainy...

I officially apologize here to the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, spouses, and children of the martyrs and the disabled veterans for the wrong analyses of these days... We are not regretful or remorseful for our performance in the war for even a moment. Have we forgotten that we fought to fulfill our duty, and the result was secondary?... And happy are those who did not doubt until the last moment...

I warn the dear students that... they should learn from the bitter experience of the coming to power of the pseudo-revolutionaries and the seemingly wise ones of the nation who never reconciled with the principles and goals of the clergy... I strictly believe that they will settle for nothing less than the deviation of the Revolution from all its principles and any movement towards the world-devouring America...

... To those who ignorantly accuse our noble and dear people of turning away from the principles and the Revolution and the clergy, I advise and counsel them to act with care and study in their speech, words, and writings...

God willing, there is no difference between the Society of Seminary Teachers (Jāmiʿa-yi Mudarrisīn) and the revolutionary students; if there is, what is it over? Over principles or over tastes? Did not the respected teachers... declare the monarchy illegal?... Therefore, if the clerics supporting Pure Islam and the Revolution act late, the superpowers and their servants will end the issues in their own favor. The Society of Teachers should consider the dear revolutionary students... as their own...

... Regarding the lessons of study and research in the seminaries, I believe in Traditional Fiqh and the Jawāhirī Ijtihad, and I do not consider deviation from it permissible. Ijtihad in the same correct style; but this does not mean that the Fiqh of Islam is not dynamic; Time and Place are two determining elements in Ijtihad. A decided issue in the old days might find a new ruling in the relations governing the politics, society, and economy of a system... The Mujtahid must be encompassed by the issues of his time... Familiarity with the method of dealing with the deceits and trickeries of the dominant culture of the world... recognition of politics and even politicians... are among the characteristics of a comprehensive Mujtahid...

... It is necessary to mention... that clerics, scholars, and students should consider judicial and executive works as a sacred matter and a divine value for themselves... If a student sees the position of Friday Prayer Imamate... or judgeship... empty and has the power to administer it, but does not accept the responsibility solely on the excuse of lesson and discussion... he will certainly be questioned before God Almighty...

Rūḥ Allāh al-Mūsawī al-Khumaynī. Isfand 3, 1367 Sh.

(Khumaynī, Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām, 1389 Sh, vol. 21, pp. 273-293.)

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