Grand Inquisitor Analysis

Khomeini & Dostoyevsky’s Grand Inquisitor

Marx believed that religion is analogous to an opiate or an illusion of happiness that common people feel they must have to endure a world in which they do not have or are prevented from having true happiness. Plato’s view of social class dynamics was that those in power had to invent noble lies and pious frauds to keep the common people in the state of somnolence and ignorance for which they were suited. Khomeini, however, believed that religion is necessary to provide a political society with moral order and stability, something that a liberal secular society could not do. In fact, Khomeini viewed religion as a panacea for all social ills. Critics of this view argue that using religion
Megalomania and the lust for power have never been more brilliantly portrayed than by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the famous Russian novelist, who represented this type in the character of the Grand Inquisitor. In his short story of the same title, a fictional Jesus returns to earth in the sixteenth century to face a corrupt Church. As head of the church, the Grand Inquisitor had a long and intriguing conversation with Jesus right before condemning him to death. Jesus faithfully believes what man needs more than anything else in his life is freedom from the oppressive yoke of the divinely Mosaic Law. By having this freedom, people can decide freely on what is good and bad for themselves without consciously thinking of what God told him to do. But the Grand Inquisitor explained to Jesus that truth and freedom are sources human anxiety and because of that in deep down people really don’t want to be free due to the fact that they are fragile, violent, worthless, and seditious. The Grand Inquisitor stated that human race can only be happy when give up their freedom and bow before miracle, mystery, and authority. Is only then that people live and die peacefully. The Grand Inquisitor noted that beyond the grave, people will find nothing but death. He continued but we will keep this as a secret, and for their happiness we will promise them with the reward of heaven and eternity.
Like the Grand Inquisitor, Khomeini and Shia Ayatollahs thought that the superior few (Mujtahid) should shoulder the burden of truth and in so doing, protect humanity from the “terror and hopelessness of life.” The Shia Mujtahid presents his Fatwas (edicts) while suffering under the burden of truth for the sake of humanity. Khomeini believed that the best way for ordinary human beings to raise themselves above the beast is to be utterly devoted to their religion and willing to sacrifice their lives for it. He believed that this was the best hope for a nation to be secure against her outside enemies as well as the internal threat of decadence, sloth, and forbidden pleasures. A policy of perpetual war against a threatening enemy is the best way to ward off political decay. Khomeini believed that wealth, freedom, and prosperity make people soft, pampered, and depraved. He thought of war as an antidote to moral decadence and depravity. Khomeini asserted that humanity is too wicked to be free; too much enjoyment is sinful; and suffering is good because it makes man cry out to God for