The Islamic Revolution's Internal Other: The Case of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Baha'is of Iran 1

This article supports the thesis that the Islamist movement in Iran that climaxed with the Islamic Revolution of 1979 defined itself primarily as a movement against Baha'is as the country's internal “Other.” Through examining the works of Ayatollah Khomeini, this study shows that similar to Friedlaender's notion of “redemptive anti‐Semitism” in Nazi Germany, for Khomeini, the Muslim nation of Iran could only be saved by purging Baha'is. Khomeini's “Othering” of Baha'is is an example of Bauman's “anti‐grammar” of Selfing/Othering in which the Other must be annihilated for a system of “pure” sameness to be created. “Subverting” the distinctions among Baha'is, agents of imperialism, Jews, Zionists, and Israel, Khomeini constructed a chain of equivalent identities among different elements seen as expressing a certain sameness — enmity to Islam and Iran. With the construction of this chain of equivalent identities, the struggle to eradicate Baha'is was transformed into a struggle to overthrow the Pahlavi regime.