Khomeini family

The Khomeini family is an Iranian religious family headed by Ruhollah Khomeini, who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from the Iranian Revolution of 1979 until his death in 1989. Other than Khomeini himself, the family were largely politically inactive during his lifetime. Khomeini advised his family members not to enter politics during his lifetime, and, following his death, the family held minimal political influence, despite the efforts of some descendants to enter politics. They were succeeded by the Khamenei family following the election of Ali Khamenei as supreme leader.

The Khomeini family migrated from Nishapur (Persia), to Kintoor in the 18th century, and then resettled back in Iran in Khomeyn in the early 19th century. They claim descent from the seventh Shiite Imam, Musa al-Kadhim, and hence are a Musawi family.

History and lineage

The family did not hold a specific surname prior to the introduction of the Iranian identity booklet (Shenasnameh) in 1921, they would normally go by Hindi, which meant "from India", since their grandfather returned to Iran following their stay in the Kingdom of Awadh in the Indian subcontinent, under the patronage of its ruler whose ancestors were Twelver Shi'a Muslims who traced their lineage back to Persia. However, after the 1921 Persian coup d'état, when Reza Shah passed a law ordering all Iranians to take a surname, Ruhollah chose for himself the surname Khomeini (from Khomeyn), whilst his brother Morteza chose Pasandideh (), and Nur al-Din chose Hindi.

The lineage of the Khomeini family is as follows, where bin means son of:<blockquote>Ruhullah bin Mustafa bin Ahmad bin Dīn Ali Shah bin Safdar bin Amīr al-Dīn bin Ḥasan bin Yaḥya bin ʿAbd al-Hadī bin Nowrooz bin Ḥasan bin ʿAbd al-Ghanī bin Muḥammad bin Ḥaydar bin Ḥamza bin Musa al-Kāzim bin Jaʿfar as-Sādiq bin Muḥammad al-Bāqir bin ʿAli al-Sajjad bin Ḥusayn al-Shahid' bin ʿAli Ibn Abi Talib.</blockquote>

Notable members

First generation

• Ahmad Hindi (1800–1869) was the son of Din Ali Shah and great-great grandson of Zayn al-'Abidin al-Musavi, he was an alim. He left India, escaping colonial rule in 1830, migrating to Najaf, and then finally settling in Khomeyn in 1834.

• Related to Hindi: Zayn al-'Abidin al-Musavi, who was progenitor of Syeds of Kintoor, was the great-great-grandfather of Syed Ahmad.

Second generation

• Mustafa Musawi (1862–1903) was the son of Ahmad Hindi, and a prominent cleric, just months after the birth of his son Ruhollah, he was fatally ambushed and shot while traveling on the road to Arak, by brothers Ja'far-quli Khan and Reza Qoli Khan, who were cousins of powerful landowner Bahram Khan. The murder was reportedly motivated by his activism against the local wealthy landowners. Following the attack, his family sought justice from the central government, leading to the public execution of Ja'far-quli Khan in Tehran in 1904/1905.

Third generation

• Morteza Pasandideh(1893–1996) was the son of Mustafa Musawi, he was a scholar and poet.
• Nur al-Din Hindi (1898–1986) was the son of Mustafa Musawi, he was an alim and lead the prayers in the Abbas shrine. He is buried in the Husayn shrine.
• Ruhollah Khomeini (1900–1989) was the son of Mustafa Musawi, he was an Iranian politician, revolutionary, and cleric. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's Supreme Leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death.

Fourth generation

• Mostafa Khomeini (1930–1977) was the son of Ruhollah Khomeini, he died before the Iranian revolution.
• Ahmad Khomeini (1946–1995) was the son of Ruhollah Khomeini, he was the main assistant of his father before, during and after the Iranian Revolution. He acted as the link between his father and the officials and people. He had several decision-making positions.

Fifth generation

• Hussein Khomeini (born 1959) is the son of Mostafa Khomeini, he is a cleric, and is considered a liberal secularist and an outspoken critic of the theocratic government in Iran.
• Hassan Khomeini (born 1972) is the son of Ahmad Khomeini, he is a cleric and was appointed caretaker of the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini in 1995 where his grandfather and father are buried. He pursued a political career in 2015, and ran for the Assembly of Experts in the 2016 election. His nomination, however was rejected by the Guardian Council.
• Yasser Khomeini is the son of Ahmad Khomeini, he is a cleric and orator.
• Ali Khomeini is the son of Ahmad Khomeini.

Sixth generation

• Ahmad Khomeini (born 1997) is the son of Hassan Khomeini. He is a cleric. It is said that he is often targeted for being the son of Hassan Khomeini, someone Iran's conservative institutions are suspicious of due to his perceived sympathy for reformers.

Family tree

Notes

References