Introduction
From Imam Khomeini’s perspective, the effectiveness of the political system is an important issue. This is related to the recognition of rights and civil liberties. The present article investigates Imam Khomeini’s theory of tolerance as a fundamental concept by which a solution is provided to achieve mutual acceptance among people as well as the objectives of the political system. Imam Khomeini is one of the pioneers among Muslim thinkers who have commented on the notion of tolerance, i.e., “rifq” in the Arabic language and its educational, ethical, social and political impacts in a chapter of his book entitled “Ḥadīth Junūd al-‘Aql wal-Jahl” (The Explanation of the Hadith regarding the Soldiers of Wisdom and Ignorance). In this chapter, he explains the necessity of tolerance in every community and its impacts on social and religious life and thought. He believes that not only character-centred violence has no impact on social and individual reform, but also it is the source of bigger and complex corruption.
Moreover, further investigation of the notion of tolerance from his perspectives shows that tolerance is a para-dynamic concept. It is driven by religion and from the perspective of political ethics and political philosophy, which are an integral part of the religious rule and a principle of moral virtue and political rights.
Therefore, tolerance, as social capital, takes the educational, administrative, political, social and economic burden off the communities and strengthens positive moral and social rights. Along with distinctions, it makes peace possible and replaces the culture of peace with the culture of conflict.
Basic Principles
According to Imam Khomeini tolerance, in contrast to the two rival currents, is constructive and a facilitator which is consistent with religious values. He believes that also observing tolerance even with the Pharaoh is constructive. However, he states that government is the representative of the people and is founded upon the will and satisfaction of them and that the main reason for the fall of the Pahlavi regime was its separation of people. Unlike John Locke, Imam Khomeini does not believe that to exercise leniency we should exclude religion from society. He quoted a Hadith from Imam al-Baqir in this regard: “Enter into that religion with tolerance, and do not make people feel a sense of outrage regarding the acts of worship so that you may become like a rider whose journey is being disrupted and the body of his horse also is harmed.”
Tolerance not only affects social and political affairs but also necessitates practicing harshness to some extent when it comes to spiritual training and growth. Then this level of harshness is the same as tolerance. Cutting the defective hand with harshness and roughness is the same as observing tolerance. In normal circumstances, the enormity of violence is due to its incompatibility with the nature of the people, and it is rationally and legally derived from the enormity of injustice and violation of the rights of citizens. The basics of this article are the areas on which the theory of tolerance in Imam Khomeini’s political thought can be analyzed and interpreted. It should be noted that the theory of tolerance in Imam Khomeini’s thought is a priori, not posteriori; in other words, the theory takes priority over the political action.
The reason for this is the foundations we are addressing, all of which are taken from his pre-revolutionary works, as well as the book “Ḥadīth Junūd al-‘Aql wal-Jahl” which is written in the 1940s. The most important principles of tolerance in Imam Khomeini’s view have been studied in this article, including the ontological, epistemological, anthropological, ethical, mystical, and political issues.
Ontological
Ontology is a general description of what exists and how it acts. It refers to a set of theories, concepts, and assumptions that a thinker has regarding nature, human beings and society. Having a comprehensive worldview has a significant impact on the political, social, and moral attitudes of a thinker and how society is governed. From the point of view of Imam Khomeini, the atmosphere of mercy, compassion, kindness and other names of beauty has covered the life of animals and humans. The survival of the system of creation depends entirely on these divine attributes. Without mercy and compassion, the relation between individual and social life will fall apart and the man and the just ruler protecting the family and the country respectively as well as the humans acting with kindness towards others all in all are a reflection of the worldview of mercy and compassion. “It is only through spreading mercy and friendship that the hearts of the people will be a win and they will be prevented from rebellion and revolt.”
Imam Khomeini, while confirming the opinion of his teacher Haj Mirza Javad Maleki, concerning the impact of the merciful worldview on social life and the type of human interactions, states that creation reflects mercifulness hence the whole universe in terms of its creation and existence is a reflection of divine mercy which means His Mercy prevails over all creatures.
This mercy provides the means of prosperity and servitude of the people. Muhammad was a prophet of mercy, and he treated people with compassion, guided them and grieved for them even for the misguided ones. Of course, under certain circumstances, God’s Mercy does not prevent His Wrath, but His mercy supersedes His Wrath.
The theoretical and practical consequence of having a merciful attitude towards society and human beings is reducing violence and spreading tolerance. Tolerance is the practical and social manifestation of mercy.
Epistemological
Two important epistemological questions are whether a human being can percept the facts of the existence and the phenomena around himself, and what is the origin of the cognition? The major difference between tolerance in Western culture and tolerance in Islamic culture lies in epistemological principles. According to the relativistic view of Western culture, no one has access to the truth, and everyone may acquire the cognition of a portion of the truth.
The result of this kind of relativistic epistemology is the inability to evaluate and judge the validity and incorrectness of others’ intellectual beliefs and behaviours. In this sense, leniency is sharing the Truth believing that the other individuals, groups or currents have also the right to acquire cognition. John Locke states that, since our perception does not necessarily reflect the way that things really are, we should not impose our beliefs on others.
From the Islamic perspective, tolerance does not come from the fragmentation of the truth; rather it is rooted in the knowledge of the origin and the destination and that no one has the right to rule over any other person except within the framework of shari’ah and law as well as the social reality that society is a mixture of various views and ideas assimilation of which is impossible and would result in their removal from the society.
Having the cognition of the truths makes man humble before the truth and consequently, the people, bring open-mindedness, self-esteem and would lead to the removal of the spirit of flattery which is rooted in selfishness. Many acts of violence are derived from selfishness. Selfishness, narrow-mindedness would lead to arrogance. Arrogance drives man toward weakness of self, humiliation and flattery. What reflects the sense of self-abasement before the rich and powerful people and selfishness before the weak ones, is the act of faltering and behaving them with selfishness respectively.
“The knowledge of God would lead to loving Him and when such a love is completed, it would result in man’s severance from the self. And when this state occurs, man would experience the state of being severance from the world leaving the worldly desires behind and cleaning himself from wickedness and iniquity... his words and actions, as well as faculties, would become lightened and divine. Hence, though he is modest, he neither commits flattery nor puts his hope in people. Conversely, pursuing animalistic desires and selfishness disconnect man from God and make him a prisoner of the ego. Such a person would merely follow the egos and worldly pleasures and submits to humiliation for gaining wealth putting all his hopes in the rich and wealthy people. On the other hand, he would degenerate into committing the snobbish acts over his subordinates and those in whom he has no hope.”
Through the knowledge of the natural, human and cosmic environment, man realizes his status and takes a step towards modifying and changing his relations with the elements of being as well as other humans. Therefore, tolerance with people goes back to human epistemology. In the epistemology which revolves around the truth, even someone like Pharaoh who claimed to be a god is treated with gentleness, tolerance and leniency. Because the invitation and guidance are the priorities both of which are impossible without tolerance. The relationship between ontology, epistemology and anthropology is clear and its proper understanding is related to human actions.
Anthropological
Human beings have two types of primal and secondary instincts. The traits such as friendliness, kindness, compassion, justice-seeking, and the like are among the essentials of the primal instinct. Vices such as hatred, grudge, malice, cutting off ties with the kinsmen, hypocrisy, etc., the ideological errors such as the creating false religion in the world, social corruptions such as murder, looting, cruelty, fornication and theft... the objections to moral virtues such as courage, chastity, generosity, justice, the objections to divine monotheistic teachings such as righteousness and truth-seeking and fairness, the objections to tranquillity, self-assurance and peace of mind, lack of character, self-abasement and greed, all in all, are incidental to the secondary instinct or worldliness. On the other hand, richness of heart, nobility, self-esteem, broadmindedness and freedom are incidental to leaving worldliness and inclining the heart to God.
Whether it is seen as an epistemological or anthropological error, worldliness has dangerous consequences and implications. Naturally, humans enjoin a divine instinct that may be influenced by divinely and evil forces within this world and then one’s orientation in life will be determined. Leniency as one of the rational and divine forces is the implication of the primal instinct of humans and the manifestations of divine mercy whereas violence and harshness are the forces of ignorance and incidental to the secondary instinct. One whose heart is a reflection of mercy treats others including his relatives, friends and subordinates and even the animals with kindness, friendship and tolerance. Tolerance is the result of free thinking. One who is attached to the world always assumes himself to be right, a feeling which is against tolerance. Thus, in observing tolerance first of all one has to avoid hatred and love. Moreover, roughness and violence are subordinate to the identity of selfish people. Violence arises from a kind of unfair judgement influenced by hatred or love which ultimately ends in prioritizing one’s own tribe or nation and rejecting others.
This attitude puts down the difference of people’s views and ideas to the anomaly and unlawful practices. There is a close relationship between the idea of observing tolerance and mysticism. Accordingly, Imam Khomeini’s theory of tolerance can be analyzed by considering his mystical theory. In the following, we will explain his theory regarding mysticism.
Mystical
Mysticism is a science that deals with the divine oneness and unity as well as its mystical manifestations while addressing the universe and the system of creation, the beauty of the most beautiful and His sacred essence. The mystic view of the universe and the creatures are based on their beauty as well as being the divine manifestation. The role of Imam Khomeini’s mystical thought and practice is reflected clearly in his political thought. Mysticism is at odds with hatred and hostility among human beings and is associated with love for God and the creation and the manifestation of attitudes such as affection, mercy and intimacy in the social system.
Leniency is one of the attributes of the mystics, and in the mystical view, there is no reason for the superiority of one person or group over others. The origin of tolerance in the school of mysticism is four theories of the unity of being and existence, the theory of manifestation and emergence, the theory of likeness of all humans, and the theory of human dignity. The mystic sees and observes the inherent dignity in all people. For mystics, peace and tolerance are the pillars of true mysticism, and peace and altruism lay the foundations of this world and nothing would come into existence unless the opposite things compromise with each other. Allamah Ja’fari proposes twelve types of equality between all human beings, which are the basis of universal human rights. From the mystical point of view, the heart of mankind in true nature is intertwined with mercy, and the world is the plan of God’s Mercy. For this reason, those who possess cognition may consider “Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim” (In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate) which is the opening chapter of the Quran. Therefore, hearts contaminated with hatred and violent behaviour, are subject to worldliness, selfishness, arrogance, and being out of the primal instinct. Mysticism necessitates affection and affection requires observing tolerance and leniency. The mystics quote some verses of the Holy Quran (5:48) to prove the idea of observing tolerance with respect to different beliefs and religions as well as attaching importance to the spirit and meaning of the shari’ah in the Holy Quran. Such verses have influenced the mystical and intellectual thoughts of many Muslims.
Moral
The capital of the eternal life of the Hereafter and the life in this world is commendable character traits and possessing moral characteristics. The principles of ethics in humans are the faculties of lust, anger, knowledge and justice. Some scholars with expertise in ethics believe that ethics have three principles while considering the faculty of justice as the power of the soul and the point of moderation of other faculties of ethics. Each of these faculties has its own requirements regardless of what might occur subsequently. Each of the principles of ethics is like a circle whose focal point is the faculty of moderation. Its two sides are excess and neglect both of which generate vices and the centre of moral characteristics, as well as the root of human and moral virtues, is the point of moderation of these principles.
Violence is the excessiveness of the faculty of anger which normally is nourished by the feelings and emotions which go beyond reason and moderation. Tolerance is wise and polite behaviour. Experience has shown that leniency has a faster and deeper effect than violence.
Imam Khomeini addresses this issue: “In the stifling time atmosphere of Reza Khan reign, when I delivered a speech in Feyzieh Seminary and talked about the hell and divine retribution, I would see the audience stunned. On the other hand, when I projected God’s mercy, I would see hearts growing tenders and tears trickling down from their cheeks. This is the effect of compassion. Problems are settled better through compassion and harshness.”
Political
The legitimacy and continuity of political systems are functionally dependent on securing the rights and freedoms of the people. This is an important principle in Islamic rule. Tolerance plays a key role in achieving those principles. In addition, tolerance is one of the most important factors in the convergence of and capturing the people’s hearts which facilitates the interaction between government and people and reduces the costs of community management. Probably the hadith “tolerance would bring good results and roughness and violence are inauspicious” refers to these matters.
Political obedience which is based on force and violence and lacks willingness would generate hypocrisy and betrayal. Tolerance conquers all the external and esoteric forces of society as well as the heart, the last of which leads to the conquest of the territories. According to Imam Khomeini, Islam does not seek domination over the lands, rather it seeks to conquer the hearts of the people which would not be achieved through tyranny or using force and violence.
The distinctions between democratic systems and totalitarianism, are political tolerance and intolerance, violence, violating the rights and freedoms of the people and the organized violence whereas the main feature of a government founded upon the votes of people is respecting the freedom and rights of the people.
Within the Islamic state, unlike the taghut (illegitimate rule), an atmosphere of love and tolerance prevails, its citizens would not feel frightened, and they enjoy justice, security and comfort. In other words, the political system of Islam is centred around virtues through which all human beings should be respected. In the early days of Islam, no citizen was afraid of the Prophet and Imam Ali who were the heads of a vast country.
The Implications of Tolerance
The conflicting actions are the result of imposing one’s beliefs on others and showing intolerance regarding their thoughts and beliefs. This would lead to the waywardness of man leaving adverse effects not only in the political and social spheres but also in personal realms as well as the spiritual journey of man. Furthermore, imposing the beliefs and showing intolerance towards others drive the self away from taking the spiritual journey let alone social and political pressures that lead to criminality and social upheaval and increasing of the costs of controlling the situation. The discourse of tolerance is the main pillar of invitation and education. In his criticism of the educational methods of Haqqani Seminary, Ayatollah Beheshti says: “You (seminarians) should not follow such a method, otherwise I can’t be a part of such a school. What is the value of a school that seeks to nurture a stubborn, aggressive and fanatical human being who cannot speak with others?”
In fact, intolerance wastes the social and spiritual capital of society. Social capital improves the economic and political conditions and reduces management costs by creating peace and friendship in society. During the period of the decrease or lacking social capital, recession, political violence and the narrowing of the spheres of culture, ethics and society would occur.
The main consequence of leniency and tolerance is the generation of social capital which is “more effective than any means in advancing the aims and objectives of the society. Without tolerance, all the aims whether worldly or religious, such as guiding people, may not be achieved.”
The terms “any means” and “most effective” have a profound meaning, reveal exactly the social capital of tolerance and explain the facilitation of individual actions within the social structure. Leniency and tolerance encourage people to embrace religion and the goals of the political system whereas imposing and roughness would incite hatred. Social capital makes it possible to achieve the goals which otherwise would not have been achieved.
Social capital is a set of laws, norms, and values that are embedded in the hearts and minds and act as the facilitator of the whole system of society and reflect the existence of behavioural norms which are based on collaboration. From a social point of view, tolerance is a way of behaving and brings collaboration. Because of its instrumental nature, violence is reasonable as long as it would be effective in reaching an end. Certainly, it can only be effective in the short term and not in the medium or long term. Violence does not help the big events - whether history, revolution, progress or reaction – but it can make the worries being pervaded.
Tolerance of the government and the people would make them support the government. “Affection is a mutual concept. When you treat people with kindness they will do the same.”
The goal of all political systems is to align citizens with their policies and decisions to achieve their objectives. History shows that violence and rigorous behaviour of the rulers towards people has backfired and not only did not take the path of development and security, but also it derives the whole system towards failure. “Overall, one whose heart is devoid of compassion for the servants of God must be removed from the community and be deprived of the right to be among the humankind... it is only through spreading mercy and friendship that the hearts of the people will be a win and they will be prevented from rebellion and revolt.” Roughness and anger are against compassion and mercy which have many social, political, and economic consequences.
Also, they are at variance with submitting to humiliation and the enemy’s will. Tolerance in all areas of works and interactions of the state and the people aims at synergizing the social and political convergence and enhancing the social support of the state, not releasing criminals, creating chaos and social divergence or submitting to the will of the foreigners. Islam treats all classes with the utmost kindness and it is the mercy of Islam that leads people towards gaining felicity. However, Islam confronts the conspirators.
Tolerance is seen as a part of the functioning of a strong government. The rebellious regimes do not practice tolerance, and this makes the two governments stand against each other. Spreading fear among people indicates that the government is in disarray.
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