Islamic government may be defined therefore as the rule of divine law over men."(Khomeini, 29) God is the true authority in the state, and the sole legislative power: "In Islam the legislative power and the competence to establish laws belongs exclusively to God Almighty."(Khomeini, 30) it is obvious therefore that Khomeini believes in the realization of a Platonic, almost utopian republic in which everything should be ruled only on the principle of divine absolute justice. In this idealist view, the state is a reflection of the divine order. The Islamic republic endeavors to make absolute knowledge and absolute truth a form of government. Thus, the definition of the Islamic republic resembles that of the Platonic republic much more than the Western correspondent. As Khomeini himself notes, the main difference between the Western republic and the Islamic one is that the Western government is based on human social rights, while the Islamic republic is founded on the absolute laws and therefore on absolute truth. Khomeini's concept of the republic is thus, like that proposed by Socrates,...
In the Islamic republic therefore the death penalty was instituted for homosexuality and adultery, since these are instances of transgression against the laws of the Koran. The republic is not based on the freedom of choice for the individual, but on the principles maintained by the divine laws. Consequently, the Islamic government is many times regarded as the contrary of what it intends to be, that is, as a tyrannical state in which the legislation is uncommonly harsh and the individual is restricted by many laws. In conclusion, the Islamic republic may very well be called a Platonic city, in what regards its philosophical construction. Further than that however, it is in many respects utopian and very hard to adapt to the modern conditions of life.
Salman Rushdie: Contemporary Socrates of the 'Global Village' When the Anglo-Indian writer Salman Rushdie's controversial novel The Satanic Verses was first published in 1989, the book ignited an international firestorm, replete with book burnings, massive public protests, and even the issuance of a fatwa, or a religious death sentence against Rushdie by Iran's hard-line religious leader, then-Ayatollah Khomeini. Since then, sixteen years have past, Rushdie is still alive, and writing. Since
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