Religious Power in Iran: Pre-Islamic Origins

Persons who are not familiar with Islam may wonder at the meager support of the Islamic and Arab governments for Iran, the self-proclaimed champion of Islam, in the recent war with Iraq, the avowedly socialist state. This may seem even more surprising in view of the great rivalry between the Arab states and their fear of Iraqi expansionism. The reason is that many Muslims, despite their deep distress over the open hostility between two Muslim nations, do not recognize Ayatollah Khomeini’s leadership as in any way binding upon them and consider him a mere political leader, albeit a Muslim, who is using Islam to promote his own power and prestige. For many Muslims the world over, at issue here is Khomeini’s interpretation of Is...