Khadijeh Saqafi (a. k. a. Ghods Iran Saqafi) (1913 – March 21, 2009) was the Iranian wife of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Iran Revolution. Saqafi was known as the "mother of the Islamic Revolution" within Iran.[1][2]
Saqafi married Ruhollah Khomeini in 1929.[1] She gave birth to seven children with Khomeini during her life, though only five survived childhood.[3] Her son, Mostafa, was killed in Iraq in 1977, while a second son, Ahmed, died of cardiac arrest in 1995 at the age of 50.[1]
Saqafi, who largely stayed out of the Iranian public's eye, has been described as a strong supporter of her husband's opposition to the Shah of Iran.[1] Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, referred to Saqafi as the "closest and most patient" supporter for her husband.[1] Ruhollah Khomeini died in 1989.
Khadijeh Saqafi died on March 21, 2009, in Tehran after a long illness at the age of 96.[1] Thousands of people attended her funeral, including the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.[1] Saqafi was buried with her husband at his Mausoleum in Behesht-e Zahra.[2] She was survived by her three daughters.[1]