The Spirit of Allah

a musical about Ruhollah Khomeini and the Iranian Revolution

Posted by Jew from Jersey
15 July 2003

Scene4. “Sit down, Ruhollah.”

Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini and Mohammed-Kazem Shariatmadari, lower ranking mullahs.

[Background is dark. Foreground is lit to reveal a Persian garden. A grilled lamb is spinning on a rotisserie over an open fire. A teapot bubbles away on a large samovar. Bowls of fresh fruit abound. The clergymen sit in comfort, relaxedly eating and drinking, and smoking from a large waterpipe in the center of their circle. Only ARK appears visibly preoccupied.]

• ARK: I don’t like this Shah and his programs to get and to spend
• I’m sure that, like his father, he plots our end
• And every day the people’s faith wanes and fewer gifts they send
• This is indeed a most worrying and hateful trend

• AMKS:Yes, the Shah is a fool and the sinners are evil
• But it is the will of God, not the will of people
• It’s not for us to hasten the twelfth imam’s call
• And faith by force is no faith at all

[Everyone laughs.]

• Chorus: Sit down, Ruhollah, take the weight off your toes
• Chill out, Ruhollah, and smoke a few bowls
• It’s not for us to plan what only God knows
• We are the light of the faithful, not the masters of their souls

• The lamb is tender and the fruit is ripe
• There’s some good liquid fire and a waterpipe
• The summer air is pungent and the heavens are bright
• And some temporary wives await us tonight

• ARK: Don’t you see where this all might lead?
• One day we may wake up with no followers to lead
• That blasphemous monarch with his treacherous deeds
• Their conspicuous consumption is ruining our creed

• AMKS:We’ve always had the shahs and the foreign powers
• Their fashions and whims are no concern of ours
• They come and they go and are washed away like the sand
• While Islam and the clergy are timeless and forever stand

[Other ayatollahs now look on with some concern.]

• Chorus: Sit down, Ruhollah, etc.

• ARK: Our religion grows weaker, while kings and foreigners grow stronger each day
• This is a humiliation to the prophet and to the imams, how long will it stay?
• We can’t just wait for the people to see the light of our way
• We need a government where we can make them do what we say

• AMKS:It is the road of violence of which you speak
• The shah and his ilk are still Muslims, even if their faith is weak
• We can’t instruct our followers to hurt or trash them
• Our religion is supposed to be one of love and compassion

• ARK: Love and compassion are all very well
• Once our enemies are safely dispatched to hell
• And since when is Islam the faith of cowards, pray tell?
• Don’t forget the blood of our martyrs who fell
• Throughout centuries of war against the infidel!

• Chorus: Sit down, Ruhollah, for heaven’s sake
• Calm down, Ruhollah, it’s getting late
• Must we resolve the entire world’s fate?
• You haven’t even finished the food on your plate

• So sit down, Ruhollah, etc.