Word: ayatullah
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Khomeini swiftly learned the value of dire pronouncements that are never actually carried out. The Ayatullah used the 1979-81 U.S. hostage crisis to inflame his own people and cement his revolution. But when Khomeini no longer needed the hostages, he let them go and agreed to drop demands for a U.S. apology and the return of assets of the former Shah. Since the hostage crisis, Khomeini has repeatedly found that a combination of bullying and pragmatic concessions has kept his enemies off-balance. Observes Richard Bulliet, a professor of Middle East history at Columbia University: "Khomeini...
...power broker may be Khomeini's son Ahmed, 43. While members of the Ayatullah's family have traditionally been left on the sidelines, Khomeini brought Ahmed into government affairs late last year to oversee Tehran's two major newspapers and supervise state TV and radio stations and the national IRNA news agency. Iranian experts now consider Ahmed a full-fledged member of Khomeini's inner circle, along with Rafsanjani and Montazeri...
...speculation about Khomeini's successor, the Ayatullah remains very much the spiritual force behind the Iranian revolution. Reportedly afflicted with a weakening heart and prostate cancer, Khomeini nonetheless grants public audiences, meets weekly with the families of martyrs and even performs Islamic marriage ceremonies. On most days, though, he remains secluded in his house in north Tehran, emerging from time to time to issue the whispery proclamations that echo around the world. Intimates say the Ayatullah yearns to ensure that the revolution will survive long after he is gone. That may not be possible, given the nation's fractious politics...
...Twelve to be mediators between God and man. Though the Twelfth and last Imam went into hiding in A.D. 940, Shi'ites believe that he will re-emerge to rule the world as the messianic Mahdi. Until that time, the Shi'ite clergy are responsible for interpreting Islam. The Ayatullah Khomeini, however, has gone one step further by establishing his government as a regency for the Mahdi. Khomeini, who claims descent from Muhammad through the Seventh Imam, has never claimed to be the Twelfth Imam, but he has done nothing to discourage his followers from hailing him as such. Some...
COVER: With the Ayatullah Khomeini in command, Iran takes on the world...