Historical Backgrounds of Evolution of Imam Khomeini's Political Thought

Imam Khomeini, as the charismatic leader of Islamic Revolution, had a multifarious personality. He was the religious authority, a jurisprudent, Gnostic, philosopher, theosophist and politician who led the Islamic Revolution to victory. During the lifetime of Imam Khomeini, which covers about one century of Iran's contemporary history, there were a number of other religious authorities and scholars who had a different political approach.The main question of the present paper is: How a Gnostic or a religious authority engages in such large-scale political activities? Has his approach any root in the past interactions and developments? The present paper is an attempt to study the biography of Imam Khomeini from his childhood to the 1941 coup. Also the impact of major political developments on the formation of Imam's political thought will be studied.