Word: martyrdom
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...most powerful influence that cemented Khomeini's hold on his country is the spirit of Shi'ism?the branch of Islam to which 93% of Iran's 35.2 million people belong. In contrast to the dominant Sunni wing of Islam, Shi'ism 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...
...should we be afraid?" jeered Khomeini. "We consider martyrdom a great honor...
Every day after noon prayers, the students and the crowd went through a curious ritual that often ended in mass hysteria. The students came to the embassy gates to exchange political slogans with the people outside. They threw carnations and tulips, an Iranian symbol of martyrdom, back and forth through the gates. Said one worried Iranian bystander: "I think the're is a national death wish emerging...
PODHORETZ DROPS NAMES, and not always affectionately. He hates the politically nerveless and the overly cynical, but lands heaviest on the intellectual hypocrites, attacking, for example, Lillian Hellman, whose book Scoundrel Time defended Stalin and his crimes, while disgracefully comparing the plight of Eastern European dissidents to the bogus martyrdom of those who, under congressional questioning, evasively pleaded the fifth...
...city, by describing him as a martyr who "did not hesitate to confront the ruler when defense of the moral order called for it." The Polish government also balked at the Pope's expressed interest in returning home during last month's 900th anniversary celebration of the martyrdom...