Word: imam
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...backdrop of a worsening economy, in a culture that frowns upon premarital relationships and demands that a man reach a certain level of economic stability before considering marriage. "We have been discussing the issue of harassment for years, because it's an old phenomenon," says Sheik Ahmed Turky, an imam who leads a congregation of several thousand at one of Cairo's largest mosques, Masjid al-Noor. Still, he says, "the pressures of living and the costs of marriage" have added to it. (Read "As Men's Job Losses Mount, Wives Feel the Impact...
Today the Sepah is estimated to have 125,000 forces, while the Basij - which by Imam Khomeini's initial intentions was to comprise "20 million" - is estimated to number up to 6 million and is active in most cities, towns and villages across Iran. The majority of Basijis are involved in volunteer services at mosques...
Lots of people, adults and kids, are watching in the room with me. On the screen, Gandalf the Grey returns to the Fellowship as Gandalf the White. He casts a blinding white light, his face hidden behind a halo. Someone blurts out, "Imam zaman e?!" (Is it the Imam?!) It is a reference, of course, to the white-bearded Ayatullah Khomeini, who is respectfully called Imam Khomeini. But "Imam" is at the same time a title of the Mahdi, a messianic figure that Muslims believe will come to save true believers from powerful evildoers at the time of the apocalypse...
...protest. "How dare these men who call themselves protectors of religion enter a girls' dormitory in the first place?" Zeinab said. Her friend Sara, 27, added, "Our problem goes beyond the elections. They are ruining our religion. They chant 'Heydar, Heydar' [a name for the Prophet Muhammad's cousin Imam Ali, a central Shi'ite leader] when they kill these innocent people. That's terrifying! They feel justified in the name of Islam!" (See pictures of the Basij and Tehran's terror in plain clothes...
...seemed to be plentifully and painfully in evidence. But was the army solidly on the government's side or not? What about the Revolutionary Guard? What of the tank someone spotted? What do we do with the government claim that a suicide bomber attacked the sacrosanct mausoleum of the Imam Khomeini? And of the claim that demonstrators were breaking the ultimate Iranian political taboo, shouting "Death to the Supreme Leader"? Reports echoed on both new and old media said several key protest organizers had been arrested. But did the government succeeded in retaking the streets? Or will there be more...