ABSTRACT
Perhaps the secret of our poetic failure and the reason for the volcanic rise of a sacred violence hidden in the heart of our darkness are to be found in the figure and phenomenon of Khomeini himself. There was something of the absolutist metaphysics of certitude of Shi'i philosopher Mulla Sadra Shirazi (1571–1640) in Khomeini's thought and action—inherited from a philosopher he most admired and frequently taught. Mulla Sadra's most famous book is called Asfar Arba'a (The Four Journeys). It would be easy (and easily misleading) to conclude that Khomeini's efforts to attract the notice of worldwide media were the signs of a megalomaniac revolutionary demanding global attention. That would be too easy a reading. Khomeini was no megalomaniac. As a Muslim, as a Shi'i, as a mystic, and as a permanent revolutionary, Khomeini knew the drama of his faith and religion from the inside out.
