Imam Khomeini, Ethics and Politics

Translator’s Foreword

 
The present volume is an English rendition of the 294-page Persian book, Imām, Akhlāq, Siyāsat by Sayyid Hasan Islāmī (Tehran: The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imām Khomeinī’s Works, Spring 2002/1381 AHS).
 
Unless otherwise stated, the translation of Qur’anic passages is based on Marmaduke Pickthall’s The Meaning of the Glorious Qur’an: Text and Explanatory Translation (Karachi: Taj Company, Ltd., 1984) while the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible (Colorado: International Bible Society, 1984) is chosen for the biblical passages. The translation of quotations from the Nahj al-Balāghah is based on that of Syed ‘Ali Raza (Qum: Foundation of Islamic Cultural Propagation in the World, 1995). For the quotations from Imām Khomeinī’s Sharh-e Chehel Hadīth, Mahliqā Qarā’ī and ‘Alī Qūlī Qarā’ī’s translation [Forty Hadīths: An Exposition of Ethical and Mystical Traditions (Tehran: The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imām Khomeinī’s Works, 2003)] is hereby adapted.
 
Footnotes with the signs, “[Trans.]” and “[Pub.]” are not that of the author, and thus, not in the original Persian text, but provided by the translator and publisher, respectively, to facilitate better understanding for the English readers. For the preparation of the latter’s notes, gratitude is due to Sayyed Sadeq Hosseyni of the Research Unit, International Affairs Department of the Institute.
 
Personal thanks are due to friends and voluntary consultants on the proper understanding of some dubious and equivocal lines: Majid Karimi, Sayyed Solaiman Sadat and Mehdi Sarhaddi of the Institute’s Translation Unit.

It needs mentioning that this project could not have been realized had it not been for the patience and consideration of Wali Teymouri, the translation supervisor and chief of the Translation Unit for giving an ample grace period for me to render the last stroke of my pen.
 
The efforts of my better half, Leilali, in assisting me typesetting this book and preparing its index, which is not extant in the original Persian copy, deserve acknowledgment.
 
I am also indebted to the editor, ‘Abdul-Husayn Shirazi, who went through the manuscript most meticulously, particularly with respect to its integrity vis-à-vis the original Persian text, as well as to the proper choice of equivalent words and expressions. Yet, any error that may be detected in the text is mine.
 
 
Mansoor L. Limba
mlimba@diplomats.com
February 3, 2003
Dhū’l-Hijjah 1, 1424 AH
Bahman 12, 1381 AHS