By Lubna Siddiqui
[Courtesy: Crescent International, March 1-15, 2000]

Islamic movement leaders and activists from around the world gathered in Pretoria, South Africa, earlier this month at an international conference on ‘Imam Khomeini and the Just World Order’. The conference, from February 11-13, was convened by the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) and Crescent International to mark the 100th anniversary of the Imam’s birth, and came just a week after a similar conference – also convened by the ICIT and Crescent International – in Toronto, Canada.

The conference was inaugurated on the evening of February 11, with major keynote speeches by Zafar Bangash, Director of the ICIT, and Imam Mohammed al-Asi, elected Imam of the Islamic Centre in Washington DC and fellow of the ICIT. The inaugural session was also attended and addressed by Ayatullah Gulpayegani from Iran, head of the office of Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei, and by the Iranian ambassador to South Africa, Javid Ghorbanoghlu. Iqbal Jasbai, of the Islamic Studies Department at UNISA, also read a message from the office of former South African president Nelson Mandela.

In his keynote speech, Zafar Bangash highlighted the parallels between the life of Imam Khomeini and that of the Prophet, peace be upon him. He then went on to examine the Imam’s intellectual work, particular his ijtihad on Islamic government.

The Imam’s political ijtihad, Zafar Bangash pointed out, was as great a Revolution in Shi’i and Islamic political thought as the Islamic Revolution itself was in Iranian and Islamic history. Imam Khomeini, he said, overcame three major obstacles in his revolutionary thought: history, theology and the regime of the shah. In doing so, he demonstrated that, unlike most people, he was no prisoner of history, but a shaper of history.

Examining the Imam’s political ijtihad in greater detail, Zafar Bangash traced the divergence of Shi’i and Sunni political thought to the time of death of Imam Ali (r.a.), when the Ummayads converted the khilafah to mulukiyyah (monarchy). After this event, Zafar Bangash pointed out, the Shi’i pursued a rejectionist political path, while the Sunnis pursued a accomodationist one. These two positions had defined the two groups’ political understandings ever since.

Imam Khomeini’s great achievement, Zafar Bangash said, was that his conception of vali-e faqih had brought the Shi’i political understanding back to a position extremely close to that from which both Shi’is and Sunnis had deviated nearly 1400 years ago.

Ayatullah Gulpayegani began his short presentation by dismissing the mere defeat of the shah of Iran as an empty feat, which would have had no significance had it not been for the Islamic qualities that the Imam brought to the new state. Prime among these, Ayatullah Gulpayegani said, was his steadfastness against the enemies of Islam and his refusal to be cowed or diverted from his path, whatever the odds apparently facing him. He taught the Iranian people to be Muslim first, reviving a reverence for Islamic teachings and spirituality that the shah had tried desperately to eradicate. Ayatullah Gulpayegani also highlighted the Imam’s restoration of jum'a prayers, and his training of a generation of Islamic leaders to follow him, including the present Imam, Sayyid Ali Khamenei, who shares many of the Imam’s qualities, particularly in his political understanding, his scholarship, his simplicity and his humility.

Imam Mohammed al-Asi was the third speaker at the inauguration, and also spoke – by popular demand – on both the subsequent days of the conference. Among other themes, he particularly highlighted the connection between the Imam’s modesty and humility and his sense of political and social justice, globally as well as inside Iran. He also spoke at length on the Imam’s understanding of the Hajj, and his restoration of the pilgrimage to its proper role in the collective life of the Ummah, in place of the empty ritualism promoted by the Saudis.

The international world order was a major theme of the conference, and the impact of Imam Khomeini’s work in this area was addressed by three speakers on the second day: Ma’alam Ibrahim Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic movement in Nigeria, Mansour Ansari of the USA, and Iqbal Siddiqui, editor of Crescent International. Ma’alam Zak-zaky particularly emphasised the Imam’s realization that conflict with the west was inevitable as it is bound to defend its global hegemony.

Also on the second day were major contributions from Imam Achmed Cassiem, chairman of the Islamic Unity Convention in South Africa, who spoke on the Imam’s philosophy of revolution, and Imam Abdul Alim Musa of the Masjid al-Islam in Washington DC, who spoke on the Imam as a mujaddid and his revival of jihad.

A short article cannot do such a conference justice, but other major contributions were also made by Professor Javed Sahlani from Iran; Shaikh Amadou Wade of Senegal; Momadou Kieta of Mali; Qorbanali Varjovi from Kenya; B Y Muhammad, Sabo Baku, Professor S O Balogun and Adamu Adamu from Nigeria; Sister Mariam Mukanda Okama from the Democratic Republic of Congo; Ali Medhosoma from the Comores; and Professor Juma Mikidadi from Tanzania.

Other local speakers, from South Africa, included Dr G M Karrim, Moulana Sayyed Aftab and Waheeda Carvello, of Crescent International and the Al-Ghazali College.

On the final day, at the Sayyidna Abu Bakr Islamic Centre in Erasmia, the conference was also addressed by Sayyid Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the Imam.

As usual at such events, much of the most significant interaction took place outside the formal sessions, as delegates met among themselves and with local people. Several delegates visited other parts of South Africa to speak at local meetings, universities, mosques or the media. The South African Muslim community’s famous hospitality was much appreciated by all.

The main business, however, was the conference, and the announcement by Zafar Bangash that the ICIT is to compile and publish the papers presented at this conference (and at the ICIT’s earlier conference in Ottawa) was particularly welcomed by all at the conference.