THE NARRATIVE OF AWAKENING
IMAM KHOMEINI: FROM BIRTH TO MIGRATION TO QOM
Under these circumstances, on 20 Jamadi al-thani 1320 AH/30 Shahrivar 1281 AHS/24 September 1902, a child was born in Khomein—a town in the central province of Iran—to a devout family educated in theology and devoted to migration and jihad and the progeny of Her Holiness Fatimah al-Zahra ('a). The child was named Ruhollah al-Musawi al-Khomeini.
He was heir to a heritage of sound ancestral characteristics that included guidance of the people and acquisition of divine knowledge. The father of Imam Khomeini was the late Ayatollah Sayyid Mostafa Musawi, a contemporary of the late Grand Ayatollah Mirza-ye Shirazi. After acquiring considerable Islamic knowledge during several years of his stay in Najaf, and obtaining the license to practice religious figh (jurisprudence), Imam Khomeini’s father returned to Iran and became a religious guide and a support for the people of Khomein. When Ruhollah was barely five months old, his father who had stood against the tyranny of the government agents in response to his call in search of truth, was martyred while traveling from Khomein to Arak city.
Thus, from his childhood, Imam Khomeini had become familiar with the meaning and the pain of orphanage and the concept of martyrdom.
His childhood and youthful years were spent under the supervision of his devout mother (Banoo Hajar)—herself coming from a family of knowledge and chastity, a grand-daughter of Ayatollah Khonsari (author of Zobdatol-Tasanif)—also with his noble aunt (Sahebeh Khanom), a brave, truthseeking lady. By the age of 15, the young Khomeini was deprived of the supervision of these two beloved personalities.
From his childhood and early in his youth, Imam Khomeini (pbuh) learned, by the grace of his superlative intelligence, a great deal of the conventional sciences and acquired a considerable amount of preliminary knowledge on the level of the theological assemblies. These included Arabic literature, logic, jurisprudence and principles. For learning these, he had instructors such as Aqa Mirza Mahmood Eftekharol-Ulama, Mirza Reza Najafi Khomeini, Aqa Shaikh Ali Mohammad Boroojerdi, Shaikh Mohammad Golpayegani, Aqa Abbas Araki, but his own elder brother Ayatollah Sayyid Morteza Pasandideh. In 1298 AHS, the Imam set off for the Theological Assembly of Arak.
Source:
"The Narrative of Awakening" Book by Hamid Ansari
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