- Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini (Persian: سید روحالله موسوی خمینی ; 21 September 1902 – 3 June 1989) often referred as Imam Khomeini was an Iranian Islamic cleric and the political and religious leader of the Islamic Revolution which overthrew the Shah of Iran and brought an end to the Imperial State of Iran.