Khomeini's Views on Sunni-Shiite Unity

During the days of the revolution,

Khomeini's statements of unification were as follows Muslims should be awake,

Muslims should be alert,

that if a dispute takes place among Sunni and Shiite brothers,

it is harmful to us all. It is harmful to all Muslims.

Those who want to sow discord are neither Sunni nor Shia.

They are agents of the superpowers and work for them.

Shia and Sunni brothers should avoid every kind of dispute.

Today, discord among us will only benefit those who follow neither Shia nor Hanafi.

They neither want this nor that to exist,

and know the way to sow dispute between you and us.

We must pay attention that we are all Muslims, and we all believe in the Qur an.

We all believe in Tawheed,

and must work to serve the Qur an and Tawheed.

If the Muslims were a united single fist, none can rise up against them.

Muslims are brothers, and will not be segregated by the sado propaganda

sponsored by corrupt elements. The source of this matter,

that Shiites should be on one side, and Sunni on the other,

is on the one hand ignorance, and on the other hand, propaganda of the foreigners.

Ayatollah Khomeini attempts to call for Sunni Shi a unity,

stating that Sunnis and Shi as are brothers, and emphasizes the notion of unity

by stating those who seek to sow discord belong to neither of the two sects,

and goes on to invoke the Qur an and Tawheed as two primary unifying

factors between Sunnis and Shi as. On the contrary, however,

we have found statements which demonstrate a contradictory viewpoint about Sunnis,

held by Ayatollah Khomeini.

He states in Al Makasib Al Muharramah, volume 1, page 251,

when commenting on the narration of their imam, which states,

Backbiting, or aghibah,

is when you say about your brother something that Allah has concealed.

Khomeini's commentary states,

When it comes to explaining it, we took brotherhood into consideration,

but the rest of the Muslims are not our brothers, even if they are called Muslims.

And on the same page,

he says, And one should not doubt that all of the narrations about

backbiting are only talking about the believer who is loyal to the truthful imam,

peace be upon him. And on page 250, he also says,

And those narrations mentioning a brother do not include them, the Sunnis,

as there is no brotherhood between us and them,

after it was made obligatory to disown them, and their sect, and their leaders,

as the narrations and usul stated.

Although Khomeini's slogans and quotes appeal to the emotions of Muslims,

both Sunnis and Shi as, across the region during the days of the 1979 revolution,

ultimately, they rendered hollow and were meaningless.

When one looks to his books,

we find many other statements that contradict the aforementioned calls for unity.

Rather, we discover his ill sentiments towards the Sahaba and Sunni Islam

in the following excerpts.

The following excerpt is taken from Kitab al Tahara of Ayatollah Khomeini,

volume 3, page 457.

As for the other groups of the Nawasib, in all actuality the Khawarij,

they are to receive more punishment than the Kuffar,

yet this does not prove them to be najis.

Hence, if a Sultan makes khuruj of Amir al Mu'minin, peace be upon him,

not for religious reasons, rather for worldly reasons seeking power,

or other motives, like Aisha, Zubayr, Talha, Mu awiyah, and their likes,

or if someone holds enmity or nasb towards him or one of the twelve Imams,

peace be upon them, not due to religious reasons,

rather because of his enmity towards the Quraysh, or Bani Hashem,

or the Arabs, or because Ali killed one of his children, or his father, apparently,

none of those are necessarily considered najis from the apparent point of view.

Although in fact, they are more impure than dogs and pigs.

As seen in the aforementioned excerpt,

Khomeini attempts to conflict the Sahaba, may Allah be pleased with them all,

with dogs and pigs, and thus renders them impure.

In an additional excerpt from Ayatollah Khomeini's book,

Al Wasiyah Al Ilahiyah Al Siyasiyah, on page 27, he states,

I claim with full confidence that the Iranian people and this crowd of millions in

this era are better

than the people of the Hijaz in the era of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.