Our Sleepy Fortune Will Wake Again: A Letter Against the Islamic Republic

"Our sleepy fortune will wake again," began his letter to Ayatollah Khomeini with this poem, which is also inscribed on his tombstone. A lawyer and writer, he wrote in a letter to Mashallah Ajudani, the author of the book on Iranian constitutionalism, "Woe to us that we do not know our ruler, or at best, know him little." However, according to his writings, he knew the ruler and the future government well, or at least much better than others. In December 1978, when a group of intellectuals were intoxicated with the imminent victory over the regime, Mostafa Rahimi warned Ayatollah Khomeini in a letter published a day before the Shah's departure from Iran about the consequences of the Islamic Republic, which he referred to as the rule of the clergy, and urged him to create the conditions for a celebration of the people's joy in the "blessed union of socialism and democracy" and "in the light of ethics and spirituality" before "shedding many tears." Rahimi was also a writer, poet, and translator, and Alireza Gholami wrote in the weekly Seda that he left behind "love, justice, freedom" in his writings. The most significant political moment of his life can be considered his letter to Ayatollah Khomeini, in which he predicted that the Islamic Republic would be a "class-based" government where "sovereignty belongs to the clergy," even if they claim to only supervise affairs. This socialist, who was critical of communism, warned Ayatollah Khomeini that the Islamic Republic would breathe life into the famous materialistic thesis (in its philosophical sense), which states that "recorded history is the history of class struggles." Mostafa Rahimi had completed his doctoral studies in law at the Sorbonne in France and was described as a lawyer familiar with constitutional and modern law. Therefore, he reminded the revolutionary leader that the then-constitution of Iran "ended the discussion of the 'rule of the king' and 'the rule of the jurist' by accepting the progressive principle of national sovereignty." In his detailed letter, he emphasized with various documents that "the Islamic Republic is incompatible with the standards of democracy" and is like "the concepts of benevolent dictatorship - bourgeois democracy - freedom within the framework of the party... a contradictory concept." This lawyer wrote that "if the country is Islamic, it is no longer a republic, because the rules of governance are predetermined and no one has the right to question those rules and regulations." He initially wrote that he agreed with Ayatollah Khomeini's statements about opposing the Shah's regime, "opposing American imperialism," "opposing the policies of the Soviet Union and China and any other communist government," as well as opposing Israel and agreeing with "the legitimacy of the Palestinian people's struggle." Rahimi was a socialist critical of communism and, according to published writings about him, including those by Mohsen Kadivar and Saeed Mohammadi, he was a serious critic of Jalal Al-Ahmad's Westernization, Ali Shariati's political Islam, and even Dariush Shayegan's Asia in the face of the West. Therefore, this lawyer declared his desired government to be social democracy and wrote that "today, what has drained democracy of its vigor is capitalism, and what has led socialism to corruption is the power intertwined with communism. Thus, the combination of socialism and democracy is not an easy task, and its mission lies with all thinkers and all nations." However, in another part of his writing, he raised an issue that high-ranking clerics in Iran now say. Rahimi was a socialist critical of communism and a serious critic of Al-Ahmad, Shariati, and even Shayegan. He wrote: "There is no doubt that... there should not be gambling houses, but... the real gambling occurs in banks and economic institutions and stock exchanges. What guarantee is there that the Islamic Republic will eliminate these real gambles and open the way for a humane socialism?" Rahimi suggested to Ayatollah Khomeini to follow Gandhi's path and concluded by writing that one day "the oppressed and insulted people of Iran will celebrate the blessed union of socialism and democracy in the light of ethics and spirituality because it will be and it will happen." He emphasized that abandoning the Islamic Republic and holding a referendum would greatly advance this celebration and prevent the shedding of many tears and the wasting of many energies. Ayatollah Khomeini and his close associates did not react to this letter, and a few days later, criticisms by Abdolreza Hajazi, Mehdi Moghimi, and Mostafa Hosseini Tabatabai were published. However, Abdolreza Hajazi was viewed by revolutionary forces as someone connected to the SAVAK, and according to Mohsen Kadivar's writings, his criticism of Mostafa Rahimi's letter was interpreted as an opportunistic attempt to cover up his past. Hossein Nouri Hamadani also dedicated part of his book "Islamic Republic" to critiquing Rahimi's letter that same year, and Mortaza Motahhari's critique of this letter was published 28 years later in 2006 by the compilers of his works. After the revolution, Mostafa Rahimi published the book "Principles of the Republic's Governance." In 1981, he was arrested at the home of Alinaghi Monzavi and was released 100 days later. According to his letter, the reason for his arrest was merely his presence at Monzavi's house, and he was told, "We are aware of the nature of your articles, but that issue is not on the table." Alinaghi Monzavi was also arrested for writing the book "23 Years" along with Ali Dashti, a book that was considered an "insult" to the Prophet of Islam by revolutionaries. In the years following the revolution, Rahimi engaged in translation and writing and lived in isolation. Even after the second Khordad 1997, when some political figures and writers found space, he did not gain much prominence in the media and public sphere and passed away in isolation in 2002.