Word: imam
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...flimsy but in-your-face blue sign near the entrance displays one of Khomeini's best-known declarations: "We will stand until our last breath, last house, last drop of our blood to elevate the word of God." The shrine's interior, reminiscent of an airport hanger, reflects the Imam's austere outlook. During his rule, Khomeini received all manner of dignitaries in a bare room at his daughter's modest residence in the theological center of Qum, and refused to eat anything more extravagant than fruit, yogurt and rice. In contrast, his sarcophagus has now been enclosed within...
...cancelled a major speech at the mausoleum earlier this month during Ramadan by the most prominent of Khomeini's 15 grandchildren, Hassan Khomeini, who also happens to be administrator of the shrine. Hassan, like many of his relatives, including at least three other grandchildren and a daughter of the Imam, has come out in support of the opposition movement. The move was just the latest in a string of developments in the past few weeks that revealed the regime's efforts to maintain control, even at the risk of further alienating the family of the founder of the Islamic Republic...
Therein lies the predicament for the regime. It has cast the street demonstrations as a supposedly Western-led, secular velvet revolution. But Shi'ites, who are the overwhelming majority of Iranian Muslims, believe that only an Imam's surviving lineage can accurately interpret his ideology. So to have so many Khomeinis jump ship set off alarms for the ruling hard-liners...
...when Hassan criticized the country's military for encroaching into politics. In retribution, a newspaper connected to Ahmadinejad, a veteran of the élite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), accused Khomeini's grandson of corruption and driving a BMW, marking the first time the regime insulted the Beit-e-Imam, the heirs of Khomeini...
Indeed, there already seems to be an ideological purge in the works. In a recent interview, Khamenei's representative to the IRGC declared that everyone "should obey the living Supreme Leader. Some people are sticking to Imam Khomeini's ideas; they should know that [Khamenei] has run the country for the last 20 years. The situation has changed." Before the brutal postelection security crackdown, Khamenei at least tried to appear to be an impartial, albeit autocratic, ruler, but that image was shattered by his June 19 speech bluntly threatening opposition protesters with violence...