Download The Islamic Revolution

The Islamic Revolution
Or, The Iranian Revolution of
1979
Terms
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Islam is a religion.
Muslim is a person practicing Islam.
Not all Arabic countries are Islamic.
Not all Islamic Countries are Arabic.
Not all Muslims wear a veil (hijab.)
Hijab or ḥijāb (‫حجاب‬, IPA: [ħi.ˈdʒæːb]) is the Arabic
word for "curtain / cover" (noun), based on the root
‫ حجب‬meaning "to cover, to veil, to shelter". In
popular use, hijab means "head cover and modest
dress for women" among Muslims, which most
Islamic legal systems define as covering everything
except the face, feet and hands in public.[
World Arab League Countries
• The Arab League comprises of 22 members.
The members are Jordan, United Arab
Emirates, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria,
Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria,
Somalia, Iraq, Oman, Palestine, Qatar,
Comoros, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritiana
and Yemen.
• http://www.mapsofworld.com/thematicmaps/world-arab-league-countriesmap.htm
Arab/Muslim ?
• Nearly one in five people in the world today
claims the faith of Islam.
• A diverse community of believers spans the
globe.
• Over FIFTY countries have Muslim Majority
populations, while other groups of believers
are clustered in minority communities on
nearly every continent.
• Although Islam is often associated with the
Arab world and the Middle East, fewer than
15% of Muslims are Arab.
Muslim Populations
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Africa 308,660,000
Asia 778,362,000
Europe 32,032,000
Latin America 1,356,000
North America 5,530,000
Oceania 385,000
World 1,126,325,000
27.4%
69.1%
2.8%
0.1%
0.5%
0.0%
100%
Top 30 Countries with Muslim
populations over 10%.
Indonesia
182.2 m
Yemen
16.1 m
Pakistan
136.9 m
Saudia Arabia
16.0 m
Bangladesh
115.0 m
Uzbekistan
15.9 m
India
108.6 m
Malaysia
10.5 m
Iran
63.9 m
Mali
9.4 m
Turkey
61.0 m
Tunesia
9.0 m
Egypt
51.6 m
Somalia
8.5 m
Nigeria
40.2 m
Senegal
7.7 m
Algeria
29.1 m
Niger
7.5 m
China
29.1 m
Kzakhstan
6.9 m
Morocco
29.1 m
Guinea
6.5 m
Iraq
21.4
Azerbaijan
6.1 m
Sudan
20.4
Cote d’Ivoire
5.9 m
Ethiopia
18.3 m
Libya
5.2 m
Afghanistan
18.0 m
Tajikstan
5.2 m
Map of Islamic Countries
HISTORY: Mohammad Reza Shah
• Replaced his father as king of Iran in 1941 at the
age of 21.
• Mohammad Reza Shah's rule oversaw the
nationalization of the Iranian oil industry under
the prime ministership of Mohammad Mossadeq.
He continued the reform policies of his father, but
quickly a contest for the control of government
erupted between Shah and Mohammad Mossadeq.
• During WWII The US and Britain were concerned
with Iran’s friendly relationship with Germany.
• They invaded, occupied large areas of Iran, and
forced Reza Shah to resign from the throne.
• In need for a new leader, they permitted
Mohammad Reza Shah to take the throne, but he
began his reign amidst political disarray, economic
problems, and food shortages.
• While a Muslim himself, the Shah gradually lost
support from the Shi'a clergy of Iran, particularly
due to his strong policy of modernization,
secularization and conflict with the traditional
class of merchants known as bazaari, and
recognition of Israel. Clashes with the religious
right increased communist activity and a 1953
period of political disagreements with Mohammad
Mossadeq, eventually leading to Mossadeq's
ousting, caused an increasingly autocratic rule.
• Shah vowed to act as a monarch who deferred to
the parliament, but he continued to increase his
involvement in political affairs and oppose strong
prime ministers.
• He focused on reviving the army and making sure
the army was under royal control.
• In 1949 there was an assassination attempt
on Shah by the pro-Soviet Tudeh party,
resulting in the banning of that party and
expansion of the Shah’s power.
• Mohammad Reza established himself as a
strong Western Ally amidst the Cold War,
and at home he focused on reform policies
such as extension of voting rights to women
and the elimination of illiteracy.
• In 1967 he crowned himself King of Kings
(Emperor of Iran) and his wife empress,
causing discontent among many levels of
society.
• The increasing arbitrariness of the Shah's rule
provoked both religious leaders who feared losing
their traditional authority and students and
intellectuals seeking democratic reforms.
• These opponents criticized the Shah for violation of
the constitution, which placed limits on royal
power and provided for a representative
government, and for subservience to the United
States.
• The Shah saw himself as heir to the kings of
ancient Iran, and in 1971 he held an extravagant
celebration of 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. In
1976 he replaced the Islamic calendar with an
"imperial" calendar, which began with the
foundation of the Persian empire more than 25
centuries earlier.
• These actions were viewed as anti-Islamic and
resulted in religious opposition.
• By the mid-1970s the Shah reigned
amidst widespread socioeconomic
changes that benefited some classes
at the expense of others, and the
increasing gap between the ruling elite
and the disaffected populace.
• Islamic leaders, particularly the exiled
cleric Ayatollah Khomeini, were able
to focus this discontent with a
populist ideology tied to Islamic
principles and calls for the overthrow
of the shah.
• Amnesty International reported that
Iran had as many as 2,200 political
prisoners in 1978.
• Amnesty International reported that Iran had
as many as 2,200 political prisoners in 1978.
• The Shah's government collapsed following
widespread uprisings in 1978 -1979 and
consequently an Islamic Republic succeeded
his regime.
• With advanced cancer, he left Iran in January
1979 to begin a life in exile. He lived in Egypt,
Morocco, the Bahamas, and Mexico before
going to the US for treatment of lymphatic
cancer.
• His arrival in New York City led to the Iranian
takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran
by "Students of Imam's Line" and the taking
hostage of more than 50 Americans for 444
days.
• The Shah died in Cairo, Egypt, on July 27,
1980.
Timeline of US / Iran
Involvement
• 1953 US AND BRITISH INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
ENGINEER A COUP IN WHICH IRANIAN MILITARY
OFFICERS DEPOSE PRIME MINISTER MUHAMMAD
MUSSADEQ, A LEADING EXPONENT OF NATIONALISING
THE OIL INDUSTRY.
• 1979 16 JANUARY - US-BACKED SHAH OF IRAN FORCED
TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY AFTER WIDESPREAD
DEMONSTRATIONS AND STRIKES.
• 1979 1 FEBRUARY - ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS LEADER
AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI RETURNS FROM EXILE AND TAKES
EFFECTIVE POWER.
• 1979 4 NOVEMBER - IRANIAN STUDENTS SEIZE 63
HOSTAGES AT US EMBASSY IN TEHRAN, PROMPTING
DRAWN-OUT CRISIS LEADING TO SEVERING OF
DIPLOMATIC TIES AND SWEEPING US SANCTIONS
AGAINST IRAN. THEIR INITIAL DEMAND IS THAT THE SHAH
RETURN FROM THE US TO IRAN TO FACE TRIAL. LATER
IRAN ALSO DEMANDS THE US UNDERTAKE NOT TO
INTERFERE IN ITS AFFAIRS.
ISLAM
• The literal meaning of Islam is peace; surrender of
one’s will i.e. losing oneself for the sake of God and
surrendering one’s own pleasure for the pleasure of
God. The message of Islam was revealed to the
Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings on
him) 1, 400 years ago. It was revealed through
angel Gabriel (on whom be peace) and was thus
preserved in the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran
carries a Divine guarantee of safeguard from
interpolation and it claims that it combines the
best features of the earlier scriptures. (taken
directly from Islam.com)
Islam, Continued
• A Muslim has five main duties to perform,
namely; bearing witness to the Unity of God
and Muhammad (peace and blessings on
him) as His Messenger, observing the
prescribed prayer, payment of Zakat,
keeping the fasts of Ramadhan and
performing the pilgrimage to Mecca.
• Islam believes that each person is born
pure.
The Origins of Islam
• Islam arose, like Christianity and Judaism, on the
Arabian Peninsula amongst the Semitic people.
Islam's founder, the prophet Muhammad, was born
almost 600 years after Jesus of Nazareth in the
Arabian city of Mecca. At the time, Mecca was an
important commercial center.
• Muhammad was to enter into a successful career
as a trader, and made several business trips to
Persia and other lands. Nicknamed "the Reliable"
(al-Amin), Muhammad was a reflective man who
greatly valued dignity and respect in his dealings
with family and friends.
• Arabia in Muhammad's day was home to a great
variety of religious practices; people there
worshipped a number of divinities, and called upon
each for inspiration or assistance as the occasion
demanded. Challenging these beliefs, perhaps,
were Jewish communities that had established
themselves in the northern half of the peninsula
and the Sheban dynasty, in the far south, which
had converted to Judaism.
• Christianity, also, was not unknown to the Arabic
population- from time to time, missionaries who
spoke of the teachings of Jesus appeared in Mecca,
and won some converts. Muhammad's encounters
with these dominant belief systems, and with other
more minor religions he had come across in his
travels, led him to ponder their meanings, and to
undertake to discern the "true faith."
• As he grew older, this pursuit came to occupy more
and more of his time. He often retreated to a cave
above Mecca (caves being sources of power,
according to ancient Arabic belief) to meditate on
religious matters.
• According to Islamic history, it was there that
Muhammad, at age 42, was visited by the angel
Gabriel, a well-established figure from the Jewish
and Christian lore.
• Gabriel informed Muhammad that he was to be the
definitive prophet of "Allah," the true God, and that
he would be responsible for transmitting to the
world the true and complete will of the Creator.
This will was then revealed to Muhammad by
Gabriel in the form of the 114 surahs (chapters)
which would comprise the Koran.
• Gabriel also spoke of other, lesser prophets
who had come before Muhammad and
through their actions furthered Allah's work
amongst the inhabitants of His creation.
These prophets included some recognized
as such by Islam's sister religions, such as
Jesus, Abraham, and Moses.
• The Islamic view is that these holy men,
through their good deeds and their
primitive insight into Allah's will, helped
prepare the world for the revelation of the
Koran.
• The major books of the Christian and
Jewish traditions (the Torah and the
Gospels) are thus accepted by Islam as
being divinely inspired.
• But while Islam from its inception had
adopted the teachings and the luminaries of
its antecedents, it differed sharply with
them on certain matters. Principal among
these, of course, was the fact that Christians
and Jews refused to recognize Muhammad
as the final prophet of the one true God.
• There were also differences over
fundamental matters of doctrine. Islam
denounced the Christian concept of the
Trinity as blasphemous, as it put Jesus on
the same level as God. The more humble
Islamic view holds that Allah's messengers,
including Muhammad, are never more than
men, however developed their divine insight
may be.
Islam v. Christianity
• Islam denounced the Christian concept of
the Trinity as blasphemous, as it put Jesus
on the same level as God.
• The more humble Islamic view holds that
Allah's messengers, including Muhammad,
are never more than men, however
developed their divine insight may be.
• These differences, which some might consider slight (in
face of the religions' commonalities) ended up pitting the
two traditions against one another, and resentment
between the camps quickly grew.
• As each claimed to be the "one true faith," their
simultaneous existence (and growth) undermined the
other's claims to universal truth. This row over matters of
faith was translated into political hostility and armed
conflict.
• For centuries, a succession of Christian and Islamic
empires waged war upon one another, with the
justification being that the souls of the conquered would
be saved in the conquest.
• Likewise, the more latent competition between Islam and
Judaism has come around to a desperate struggle
between the nation of Israel and its Arab-Islamic
neighbors. It is interesting to reflect upon how much of
this mutual resentment is based on events that took
place up to fourteen centuries ago.
FYI
• Nowhere in Muslim law is violence
permitted or advocated as a religious act.
• There are Muslim Extremists just as well
as Jewish and Christian Extremists. I’ve
never heard of a Buddhist Extremist, but
they’re probably out there.
• The information on this PowerPoint is
designed as a guide to help you through
Persepolis.
I am not, nor do I claim to
be, an EXPERT on this
topic.
Lovingly yours,
Mrs. Korczyk