Revolutionary Iran by Axworthy Michael

Author:Axworthy, Michael
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2013-12-28T16:00:00+00:00

Montazeri

Hosein-Ali Montazeri was born in Najafabad near Isfahan in 1922. He studied initially in Isfahan and later in Qom, where he met Khomeini and became one of his followers in the 1950s. In the turbulent events of the early 1960s he was one of Khomeini’s most prominent supporters and he continued his political activities after Khomeini’s exile, leading to his arrest in 1966. After his release, he travelled to see Khomeini in Iraq and was rearrested on his return. When not in prison (where he was tortured), he was regarded informally as Khomeini’s representative in Qom in the later 1960s and the 1970s, and wrote a series of books and other theological works aligned with Khomeini’s teachings. He was arrested again in 1975 and stayed in jail until he was released with other political prisoners in 1978. In Evin prison, he took precedence over other clerics (Rafsanjani for example) and led prayer, despite his hesitant manner. Unlike some other religious prisoners, he would talk to anyone, including leftists, and was respected for his openness and honesty – but others mocked him for his awkwardness and unimpressive appearance. He kept his rural accent all his life. After the revolution he was Friday prayer leader in Tehran for a time, and then returned to Qom. Aside from Khomeini he was one of the few senior marjas to agree with the principle of velayat-e faqih and he wrote an important book on the underpinning theory of it. But in later years he tended to emphasize the need for the vali-ye faqih to be elected and supervised by the people.125

Montazeri generally favoured more radical and leftist positions than other clerics, in both domestic and foreign policy. This meant he favoured economic policies to improve the lot of the poor; and in turn that traditionalist clerics aligned with the bazaaris tended to disapprove of him. Like other radicals at the time, he strongly supported Khomeini’s desire to export the revolution to other countries, a position somewhat at odds with the image he acquired in the West in later years. For example, after suicide bomb attacks in Kuwait in December 1983, Montazeri spoke up for them as acts ‘in performance of Islamic duty’.126

From 1983 onwards, Montazeri’s picture was displayed in public places with Khomeini’s.127 But Montazeri’s identification with statist and leftist economic policies meant that opinion was divided over whether he was suitable as a future leader. Although he was the most distinguished cleric after Khomeini among the IRP leadership circle, some conservative clerics did not think his religious credentials were elevated enough; others thought him too scholarly and too lacking either in political sense or in charisma.

The Assembly of Experts met again in November 1985, and this time formally selected Montazeri as Khomeini’s successor. But the decision was not announced officially, and only emerged when it was leaked at Friday prayers in Qazvin on 22 November.128 Montazeri’s position as successor was now more or less in the open, but his identification with the radical faction

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