Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini developed wilayat al-faqih (the rule of the jurist theory), the basis for the Iranian political system, during his 15-year exile in a small house in the warren alleys ringing the shrine of the Prophet's son-in-law, Caliph Imam Ali, in Iraq's Najaf
Regime change has been a recurring theme in Iranian discourse. It has had resonance since 1951 when the West removed democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh (1880-1967) from power for keeping his poll promise of nationalizing oil to invest its profits for the welfare of the poor
The Mecca siege, Iranian revolution and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan back to back in the same year triggered a chain reaction and among other things fuelled Islamophobia, which has now escalated globally to epidemic proportions
