The Status of the Lower Classes of Society from the Perspective of Imam Khomeini

The main question of this article is: what is the position of the lower classes from Imam Khomeini’s perspective? Also, by considering the main question and using the proposed theories and other exploratory studies we may find other important questions that can be addressed. Answering these questions would reveal important aspects of the position of the lower classes in Imam Khomeini’s thought.

These questions are:

1. Who comprises the lower classes of society in Imam Khomeini’s perspective?
2. Did Imam Khomeini focus on the attributed status of the lower classes or their achieved status?
3. Did Imam Khomeini have an instrumental perspective of these classes? Did he consider them as instruments for the upper classes?
4. Did Imam Khomeini have a fatalistic perspective of the status of the lower classes?
5. Given the acceptance of the theory of Adam’s tark al-awla (abandoning the better) and his fall in Islamic thought, did Imam Khomeini believe that the abnormal situation of the lower classes of human society is because of their sins?
6. Did Imam Khomeini define the lower classes of society from an economic perspective?
7. What are the criteria for being considered as lower class? Do they include education and dignity or race, religion, ethnicity, and manual work, etc.?
8. In determining the status of the disadvantaged classes of society, to what extent did Imam Khomeini pay attention to the concept of life chances or enjoying the cultural and economic benefits which are addressed in Weberian sociological theory?
9. How much did Imam Khomeini address the middle-class lifestyle of these people?
10. Has Imam Khomeini sought to create class consciousness and identify among the lower classes of society?
11. What is the basis of struggle in the class struggle between the lower classes (the disadvantaged, the deprived, etc.) and the upper classes (the arrogant) from Imam Khomeini’s perspective?
12. What was Imam Khomeini’s perspective on the social structure of society? Did his perspective revolve around the “power” or the “prestige and dignity”?

The lower classes in Imam Khomeini’s thought: What we have named in this article as the “lower classes of society” based on the sociology in Imam Khomeini’s words is referred to as the “deprived” and he believes that describing them as being the “lower” is rooted in the rationale of the arrogant people. In this regard, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran states: “Islam supports the deprived. God says in the Quran: “And We desired to show favour to those who were deprived in the land, and to make them imams, and to make them the heirs” [The Holy Quran 28:5] These are the classes who were downgraded by the upper classes of the society who call them the lower class. This was the rationale of the arrogant people who treated our nation with arrogance and considered it as a lower class.

Therefore, in order to understand the definition of the lower classes in the perspective of Imam Khomeini, one has to pay attention to his definition of the word “mustadhaf” which means “the deprived.” Imam Khomeini in his definition of this word, which has a Quranic origin, with the help of its applications and based on the concept of “objects are identified by their opposites” says: “I want to talk about the deprived and arrogant people in this meeting. The arrogant people are not limited to the rulers, the presidents, the oppressive governments. This word has a general meaning. It includes people who downgrade, prosecute and oppress all nations, as well as the oppressive governments and tyrants who prosecute and oppress their nations... Anyone could be arrogant or deprived. If I prosecute, downgrade and violate the rights of my employees or staff I would humiliate and downgrade a servant of God. Hence, I would be arrogant and he would be deprived.”

It is important to note that in the perspective of Imam Khomeini, the deprived or the lower classes are not the “weak” people, but rather it is the rationale of the arrogant people. Imam Khomeini, first considers these classes to be the “upper class” and secondly, he counts them among those who possess power and have faith: “These classes whom you call the lower classes, are in my perspective the upper classes. They are so determined and organized.”

“This is the case with the concept of oppression. God does not say, weak people, rather he uses the word deprived, that is, those who have the power of faith but some do not understand this and call them weak.”

In the perspective of Imam Khomeini, all classes of the Iranian nation, because of the activities of superpowers and the Pahlavi regime, were among the deprived, that is to say, they were the lower classes of society. Imam Khomeini not only includes the Iranian nation in this class but also addresses the objective references of such a concept: “Of course, all strata of the nation were among those who have been deprived because the strong governments had deprived us and all the nations of the world. Under the former regime, all classes of the society were considered weak and should obey the orders, from the clergies to the marketers and farmers and in a word all people of the country.”

Given the perspectives and statements of Imam Khomeini, one could argue that he divides the structure of society during the Pahlavi regime into two sections of the arrogant and deprived people, so that the first and its affiliates had the political power and governed the country whereas all strata of the nation belonged to the latter. Of course, with the victory of the Islamic Revolution, this pyramid has been inverted.

Those who have material and political power= the arrogant = government

The lower class = the deprived = the nation

The real social structure of Iran in the Pahlavi regime from the perspective of Imam Khomeini was:

The deprived = the upper class

The arrogant = the lower class

The normative social structure of Iran after the victory of the Islamic Revolution from the perspective of Imam Khomeini

It should be noted that Imam Khomeini extends the meaning of the term lower classes such that even in some cases it includes the middle class which is defined in sociology. When in some cases he uses the term (the third class) for those classes, it indicates that he focuses on the three-part structure of the society: “The Prophet Muhammad gathered these three classes of people, the deprived ones, and engaged in wars with their help, not the capitalists, the bullies, the possessors of camels, the caravan owners, and so on.”

Imam Khomeini also says: “Islam has been brought for the mass of people and Prophet also has risen up from among them, from among the poor and the third class. He began his mission for the sake of the mass of people...”

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