A Timeline of Hassan Khomeini’s Early Political Exit

(Hassan Khomeini registering for the elections. Photo: Etelaat.net)

By: Maryam Mohammadpour

Before enrollments for the fifth term of the Assembly of Experts even commenced, a call to invite Seyyed Hassan Khomeini to run as a candidate was put forward. Before he made his decision for entry, polls suggested that Hassan Khomeini would receive the largest number of ballots. Individuals such as Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ebrahim Amini as well as parties like [the pro-Rouhani] Moderation and Development entreated him to run. It was the first political participation on the part of Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, who in Iran’s political sphere is known as “Imam Khomeini’s memento”. Some were on the belief that Imam Khomeini opposed his children’s engagement in power, but the attribution of such a quote to Imam seems to be baseless. In an editorial piece, Tolou’e Sobh weekly reminded the public of [the late] Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini’s membership in the second Assembly of Experts while an Instagram page dedicated to him also endorsed this as a fact. Individuals like Morteza Haji, Education Minister in the reform administration, stated that Imam’s words were intended for his own lifetime and does not apply anymore. These came while Hassan Khomeini had not denied a possible decision to run. Hujjat al-Islam Mohsen Gharavian had reported of a positive attitude toward Hassan Khomeini among a number of the [influential clerical institute, the] Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom.

Among others, there were individual who were afraid of Hassan Khomeini’s nomination, calling it a plot by Hashemi Rafsanjani to encourage a new sedition. Kayhan was not happy. “Playing with Hassan Khomeini’s name on the threshold of the Assembly of Experts election enrollments is a measure in line with camouflaging the revisionist sect’s main game, a new faction affiliated with outsiders overtly and covertly, heavily defeated in the 2009 proxy ruckus, [i.e. the post-election protests]” wrote Kayhan.

Finally, Seyyed Ali Khomeini disclosed the nomination of “Imam’s memento” in the Assembly of Experts election. Hassan Khomeini enrolled on the second day of the window. “Imam [Khomeini] taught me to sacrifice all I have to protect and consolidate the revolution and I will sacrifice my own reputation for the sake of the Revolution,” he told reporters after his enrollment, stressing that he was running independently.

Reformist or Principlist Khomeini

Ayatollah Mohammad Mousavi Bojnourdi, a member of the [Reformist] Assembly of Combatant Clerics, had predicted reformists’ support for Hassan Khomeini in the election. However, Assadollah Badamchian, a member of the [conservative] Islamic Coalition Party’s central council, stressed that the young Khomeini is not a reformist. “The reason the reformists have approached such a figure is that they have no character of themselves. They are actually borrowing character and this shows their impotence,” he said. [The government mouthpiece] Iran Daily, in an editorial, calledHassan Khomeini a trusted figure in the establishment who is neither a reformist nor a Principlist. All such remarks came while the young Khomeini had stressed his independence.

Hassan Khomeini and a test of ijtihad

The Guardian Council announced participation in a written exam as its method in endorsing the ijtihad [theological qualification] of the candidates. On the day of the exam, reports came out that Hassan Khomeini had received no invitation messasge. It was after the exam that the Guardian Council said official announcement equated invitation. “A prominent member of the Assembly of Experts’ board of directors had contacted the respectable son of Imam’s memento to invite him to the exam,” wrote the managing editor of Kayhan, a claim dismissed by five members of Assembly of Experts’ board of directors.

The young Khomeini was teaching the exam’s subject matter at the time it was being held. The Guardian Council’s spokesman said a failure to participate in the exam meant automatic disqualification, but a couple of days later and during a presser he stated that no-show nominees have made it more difficult for the council to determine their ijtihad. There were other ways to do so. The most conventional one was through endorsement by other Mujtahids [figures known to have high qualifications in Islamic theology, particularly jurisprudence]. Afterwards, Ayatollahs Rasti Kashani, Mousavi Bojnourdi, Vahid Khorasani, Javadi Amoli, Abbas Mahfouzi and Moqtadaei acknowledged Hassan Khomeini’s ijtihad.

Initial disqualification

On January 26, the Guardian Council announced its assessment of the qualifications, but Hassan Khomeini’s qualification was not established. Media and political figures reacted to the news of disqualification. A report published by Azad [University] News Agency (ANA) challenged Hassan Khomeini’s absence in the exam as the reason behind his disqualification by bringing up counterexamples such as Hujjat al-Islam Alireza A’rafi, Ayatollah Nasrollah Shahabadi, Hujjat al-Islam Seyyed MohammdSaeedi, Hujjat al-Islam Seyyed Mohammad-Mahdi Mirbaqeri who had been approved to run for the elections, but neither served as member of the Assembly before nor taken part in the exam or have been appointed by the Supreme Leader to a position which needed the qualification of ijtihad as a prerequisite.

[Well-known sermonizer] Ayatollah Mahmoud Amjad had one of the harshest reactions. He called the young Khomeini to congratulate him on the occasion and urged him not to appeal as a tribute to the “oppressed people”. Jamaran website, affiliated with Hassan Khomeini ran a poll on its Instagram page, the results of which persuaded Khomeini to appeal. He said he does so in response to request by the public and the leaders.

Former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned that the Guardian Council’s decision could widen a decade-long rift between top officials and went even so far as to question the qualification of the Council’s members. “Where did you get your own qualification from?” he said, in an unprecedented open criticism of the Guardian Council, which soon came under heavy fire from his opponents. “At a time when we should all be congratulating each other [the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution], they gave a bad gift to the Imam’s household,” he said in reference to the expectations for a more open domestic atmosphere following the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

On February 10, the Guardian Council announced the results of the appeals. It had only confirmed the qualifications of three previously disqualified nominees but disqualified some eight previously qualified. Hassan Khomeini’s was not among those qualified. Ijtihad “to the extent one is able to understand certain issues of Fiqh and choose a Jurist Custodian as an eligible leader” was not established, read the Guardian Council’s message.

* This piece was originally published in Khabar Online, a moderate, pro-Rouhani website.