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The Islamic revolution in Iran


The Islamic revolution in Iran

In 1979, the Shah was overthrown and went off into exile, dying a year later. The revolution involved many groups ? Tudeh, Mosaddeq-style secular reformers, and various Islamic factions ? but came to be led and dominated by a conservative Islamic faction under Ayatollah Khomeni. Partly in reaction to the Shah's policies, they were also strongly anti-Western and in particular anti-American. The main divisions of Islam are Shia'a and Sunni. The split goes back to a time just after the Prophet's death; would the movement be controlled by some of his leading followers (Sunni), or by his family, in particular by his son-in-law Ali (Shi'a)? There was a long, complex and bloody struggle over this. Today, Iran is the only major country that is predominantly and officially Shi'a, though there are Shi'a minorities elsewhere and a Sunni minority in Iran. The Iranian government supports the Shi'a Hezbollah movement further west, and is therefore accused by America of fomenting terrorism. One of the major events of Shi'a religious life is the Day of Ashura on the 10th of the month of Moharram; "ashura" means "10th". It commemorates the death of Ali's son Hussein at the Battle of Karbala in 61 AH (680 AD). This is not a joyful celebration, but a very sober day of atonement. Travellers should not play music or act remarkably cheerful in public at this time. Ashura is more-or-less the opposite of the Christian "Jesus died for your sins; you are forgiven", closer to "Hussein is dead and you did not save him; you must atone." Traditional activities include parades in which people beat themselves with whips, chains, even swords (safe if you are careful, and scalp wounds bleed beautifully). Some governments, including the Shah's and the Khameni regime in Iran, have forbidden the more extreme variants of this. Some terrorist groups also exploit the religious fervor of the day; Hezbollah's 1983 suicide bomber attack on the US embassy in Lebanon took place on Ashura.

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Iran Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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