Word: muhammad
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...reform. "We please the middle and lower classes," said President Seyed Ali Khamene'i, 44, last summer, "and let big landlords, big factory owners and the wealthy seethe in discontent." Opposing them are the ultrarightist clerics who insist that the Koran unequivocally condemns such socialistic practices. The Prophet Muhammad, they point out, was once a merchant, who said, "The merchant is among God's favorites." The leftists were rebuffed 16 months ago when the social reform bills they proposed were vetoed by the Guardian Council. But last summer they made up some ground by edging out of power...
There is a fundamental doctrinal reason for such enmity. Islam proclaims that Muhammad was the "Seal of the Prophets," God's final messenger to mankind. But the Baha'i faith-an offshoot of Shi'ism, which is itself a minority branch of Islam-asserts that two prophets came after Muhammad. To Muslims this constitutes a new, perverted faith. The first prophet was Mirza 'Ali Muhammad, who declared in 1844 that he was the Bab (gate), the pathway to God. He was executed in 1850 as a heretic. When Persian authorities tried to wipe out his disciples...
...damn and provocative shame. Muhammad I. Kenyatta...
Since the 7th century, when the death of the Prophet Muhammad precipitated the division of Islam between Sunnis and Shi'ites, the Shi'ites have stressed martyrdom as a way of atonement. About 20% of the world's 750 million Muslims are Shi'ites and they are the dominant majority in Iran. In Lebanon, Shi'ites outnumber Sunnis 3 to 2, but are overshadowed by the Sunnis in wealth and influence. Over the past few years, as the political situation in Lebanon deteriorated, the Shi'ite community grew susceptible to the radical religious politics...
...honor a self-conscious "publishing event": a 616-page special issue of Esquire, hailing "50 Americans who made the difference." In attendance were some of the issue's glittery contributors, including Norman Mailer, William Whittle and Kurt Vonnegut back subjects, Polio Vaccine Pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk, Boxer Muhammad Ali, Pollster George Gallup and Feminist Betty Friedan. Perhaps the central figures, however, were Phillip Moffitt, 37, and Christopher Whittle, 36, the Tennesseans who bought out investors including then Editor Clay Felker for a reported $3.5 million in 1979, when Esquire was losing $25,000 a day. Chairman Whittle...