Said’s comment relates solely to the alleged purpose of the Little Green Book, not its accuracy, and so I don’t think that’s pertinent. In my view, there are plenty of reasons to regard Ayatollah Khomeini as an exceedingly illiberal (not to say evil) man quite apart from this book.

Zonis actually challenges the authenticity of the book, saying that he can’t find the quotation in the “Farsi version of the Ayatollah’s work that was supposedly the basis for the Little Green Book”. The Little Green Book, as indicated on the title page, purports to be a translation of not one but three of the ayatollah’s published works. It’s not clear if Zonis is looking at all three.

I find this very mysterious and intriguing, so I have ordered a used copy of the Westview Press book that Harper’s quoted and that I mentioned here. A British book shop had one on sale for $80, which may sound like a lot, but I also saw a Colorado bookstore asking over $1000 for the same volume.

It’s supposed to be here by Christmas. I would be happy to share it with you if you wish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hendra

and

http://books.google.com/books?client=safari&um=1&q=%22Tony+Hendra%22+%22Khomeini%22&btnG=Search+Books

I will have to read Zonis’ book on the fall of the Shah. Interesting guy from his website.

http://www.marvinzonis.com/

I can see why you didn’t spend $3.95 American to join the New York Times to actually read the article you and Bob01 refer to as disputing the publication of Ayatollah Khomeini’s sayings, The Little Green Book. Allow me to tell you about it.

It quotes two well-known scholars, Edward Said of Columbia University and Marvin Zonis, former director of the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. The article was written in 1980, shortly after the book was published by Bantam.

The article quotes Said as saying it was wrong to publish it, that it was “designed to show how primitive and maniacal” Khomeini was.

Zonis goes further. At the time, he was doing his own translation of the Farsi version of the Ayatollah’s work that was supposedly the basis for the Little Green Book.

Some passages in the Green book could not be found in the Farsi, he said, and he mentioned the very quote that is in question here: “The meat of horses, mules and donkeys is not recommended. It is strictly forbidden if the animal was sodomized by a man.”

Just thought that should be pointed out.