Word: imam
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...home in the holy city of Qum. The hooded eyes that glare out so balefully from beneath his black turban are often turned upward, as if seeking inspiration from on high?which, as a religious mystic, he indeed is. To Iran's Shi'ite Muslim laity, he is the Imam, an ascetic spiritual leader whose teachings are unquestioned. To hundreds of millions of others, he is a fanatic whose judgments are harsh, reasoning bizarre and conclusions surreal. He is learned in the ways of Shari'a (Islamic law) and Platonic philosophy, yet astonishingly ignorant of and indifferent to non-Muslim...
...emphasizes martyrdom; thus many Iranians are receptive to Khomeini's speeches about what a "joy" and "honor" it would be to die in a war with the U.S. Beyond that, Shi'ism allows for the presence of an intermediary between God and man. Originally, the mediators were twelve imams, who Shi'ites believe were the rightful successors of the Prophet Muhammad; the twelfth disappeared in A.D. 940. He supposedly is in hiding, but will return some day to purify the religion and institute God's reign of justice on earth. This belief gives Shi'ism a strong messianic cast...
...notably, a sense of having been divinely ordained to guide and govern Iran. Marvin Zonis, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago, notes that the Ayatullah "has more titles now than the Shah ever had: Savior of the Generations, Defeater of the Oppressors, Imam of the Age." Zonis believes , that the Ayatullah and the Shah "are a lot alike as leaders. Neither is particularly intelligent, but each is shrewd and cunning. Each is determined to impose his views on the Iranian people. Khomeini is ending up the same kind of ruler that the Shah...