Ayatollah Khomeini Trivia Questions

Ayatollah Khomeini was the Supreme Leader (Rahbar) of Iran, not President. The first President of the Islamic Republic was Abolhassan Banisadr, elected in 1980.

Ayatollah Khomeini fiercely opposed the United States, labeling it the "Great Satan." The 1979 hostage crisis and his anti-American rhetoric defined the adversarial relationship.

Ayatollah Khomeini was born in the town of Khomein, in central Iran, not in Qom. He later studied and taught in Qom, but his birthplace is Khomein.

Ayatollah Khomeini received a traditional Islamic education in Qom, studying under scholars like Ayatollah Borujerdi. He never attended a secular university or studied law at the University of Tehran.

Ayatollah Khomeini's work "Velayat-e Faqih" (Islamic Government) published in 1970 argues for a state governed by Islamic jurists. It became the ideological basis of the Islamic Republic.

From October 1978 to February 1979, Khomeini lived in Neauphle-le-Château, France, where he coordinated the Iranian Revolution and gave interviews.

Ayatollah Khomeini was exiled in 1964 and lived in Turkey, Iraq, and France until his return to Iran in February 1979, a period of about 15 years.

Time magazine chose Ayatollah Khomeini as Man of the Year for 1979, reflecting his central role in the Iranian Revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis.