Ruhollah Khomeini's letter to Mikhail Gorbachev

On 7 January 1989, Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the Iranian Revolution, sent a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, the General Secretary of the Soviet Union. This letter was Khomeini's only written message to a foreign leader. Khomeini's letter was delivered by the Iranian politicians Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, and Marzieh Hadidchi. In the letter, Khomeini declared that Communism was dissolving within the Soviet bloc, and invited Gorbachev to consider Islam as an alternative to communist ideology.

Ruhollah Khomeini wrote to Mikhail Gorbachev on 3 January 1989. On 7 January, Khomeini's representatives, Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, and Marzieh Hadidchi, went to Moscow to officially deliver the letter. Soviet officials met the Iranian delegation in the airport. Gorbachev then met with the Iranian representatives for approximately two hours, where an interpreter translated the letter for Mikhail Gorbachev and his colleagues. When some part of the letter was unclear, the interpreter asked the Iranian delegation to clarify. Gorbachev listened politely and took notes on its contents. The letter's contents were kept secret, and so Russian officials did not know it was an invitation to consider monotheism and Islam.

In his letter, Khomeini congratulated Gorbachev for his bravery in dealing with the modern world, and his reconstruction of Soviet principles. He suggested Islam as an alternative to Communist ideology and recommended Muslim philosophers such as Ibn Arabi, Avicenna, and Farabi.

The letter included a prediction about the end of Marxism and the collapse of communism. Khomeini stated: "Mr. Gorbachev! It is clear to everybody that from now on communism will only have to be found in the museums of world political history, for Marxism cannot meet any of the real needs of mankind. Marxism is a materialistic ideology and materialism cannot bring humanity out of the crisis caused by a lack of belief in spirituality the prime affliction of the human society in the East and the west alike." Khomeini warned Gorbachev "against falling into the arms of Western capitalism."

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Wikipedia