Word: ite
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Ruhollah Khomeini--his given name means "inspired of God"--was born to a family of Shi'ite scholars in a village near Tehran in 1902. Shi'ism, a minority sect in Islam, is Iran's official religion. Like his father, he moved from theological studies to a career as an Islamic jurist. Throughout his life, he was acclaimed for the depth of his religious learning...
...bill to grant the vote to women. He called a proposal to permit American servicemen based in Iran to be tried in U.S. military courts "a document for Iran's enslavement." In 1964 he was banished by the Shah to Turkey, then was permitted to relocate in the Shi'ite holy city of An Najaf in Iraq. But the Shah erred in thinking Khomeini would be forgotten. In An Najaf, he received Iranians of every station and sent home tape cassettes of sermons to be peddled in the bazaars. In exile, Khomeini became the acknowledged leader of the opposition...
...groundwork for a clerical state. With revolutionary fervor riding high, armed vigilante bands and kangaroo courts made bloody work of the Shah's last partisans. Khomeini canceled an experiment with parliamentarism and ordered an Assembly of Experts to draft an Islamic constitution. Overriding reservations from the Shi'ite hierarchy, the delegates designed a state that Khomeini would command and the clergy would run, enforcing religious law. In November, Khomeini partisans, with anti-American passions still rising, seized the U.S. embassy and held 52 hostages...
Some of Iraq's next-door neighbors are afraid the country will fall apart if the U.S. hits it too hard. With Iraq pulverized, Iran becomes the biggest military power in the area. If the Shi'ite southern area of Iraq breaks away, Shi'ite Iran might gobble it up and move on to Saudi Arabia's eastern province, also Shi'ite and home to the kingdom's most important oil fields. At the same time, Iran would be deeply worried if the northern segment of Iraq were to break away and create an independent Kurdistan. Turkey and Syria share...
...this play is worth seeing. Maybe not for catharsis, but certainly for the best of current Harvard theater. O ite Bakhai...