Clergy and its Actions during the Struggle for Victory of Islamic Revolution: Content Analysis of Imam Khomeini's Correspondence (1960-1970)

Different classes and groups played a role in the victory of the Islamic Revolution. The question is that what was the reaction of the clergy to the most important political developments of the 1960s and what relationship existed between Imam Khomeini and the clergy during this decade? The hypothesis of the article is that in the first half of the 1960s, the clergy had the most actions in the country's political arena, and in the second half, its reaction to political events decreased. To answer the main question, a quantitative-qualitative method has been used. In the quantitative method, all the correspondences of Imam Khomeini between the years 1961 and 1970 were statistically arranged according to the audience, date, and content, and in the next step, these correspondences were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis method. The research findings showed that in the second half of the 1960s, Imam Khomeini became concerned about the inactivity of the clergy and their attention to educational issues or less important issues. The statements of Imam Khomeini confirm that the clergy did not support the revolution uniformly and the actions of some of them were harmful to the movement in this decade.