Islamophilia

When a theocracy is in place the clerics remove the ‘democratic’ politicians who thought they could do business with the believers. For example, during the revolution in Iran, Imam Khomeni was very chummy with them until he gained power & they had outlived their usefulness.

Many of Khomeini’s political and religious ideas were considered to be progressive and reformist by leftist intellectuals and activists prior to the Revolution.

However, once in power his ideas often clashed with those of modernist or secular Iranian intellectuals.

This conflict came to a head during the writing of the Islamic constitution when many newspapers were closed by the government. Khomeini angrily told the intellectuals:

“Yes, we are reactionaries, and you are enlightened intellectuals: You intellectuals do not want us to go back 1400 years. You, who want freedom, freedom for everything, the freedom of parties, you who want all the freedoms, you intellectuals: freedom that will corrupt our youth, freedom that will pave the way for the oppressor, freedom that will drag our nation to the bottom.”

Imam Khomeni