Imam Khomeini and Construction of Islamic Revolution of Iran: Testing a Hypothesis

The Islamic Revolution of Iran intended to reconstruct a full-fledged new world order to overthrow the ancient social system and its dominant values from the top to the bottom. Therefore, this revolution needed a sort of leadership to wipe the dust of ancient world off Iran and make an initiative to fully reconstruct the values and structures of the Iranian society. Imam Khomeini was that kind of erudite leader needed for Iranian revolutionary movement whose exceptional charisma bestowed the leadership on him. This paper is an attempt to find an answer to the question of whether Imam Khomeini was really the engineer of Islamic revolution of Iran. In other words, was the culmination of Islamic Revolution and the downfall of the Shah’s regime in early 1979 a result of Imam Khomeini's engineering? To put it in better wording, the question is: Was the Islamic Revolution of Iran a project led by Imam Khomeini? Can we assume the Islamic Revolution was a fruit of Imam Khomeini's pre-determined will and plan?
In a research endeavor to investigate and test the abovementioned hypothesis, two types of evidences have been used: First, Imam Khomeini's statements, who has been a person beyond a leader or embodiment of the Islamic Revolution to many influential agents and players of the Islamic Revolution and to the general public in Iran; and second, historical evidences and documents. The findings of this paper, in general, challenges the hypothesis that "Imam Khomeini was the engineer of Islamic Revolution."