Ayatollah
Iranian religious title
Ayatollah is a high-ranking title for Shia Muslim clerics, particularly in Iran.
The word means "sign of God" in Arabic.
Ayatollahs are religious scholars who have reached an advanced level of Islamic jurisprudence and can issue authoritative rulings on religious law.
Ayatollah Khomeini led the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
The title is sometimes used loosely for any stern religious authority figure.
Islamic religious leader
- imamMuslim religious guide
- clericOrdained religious leader
- seminaryClergy training college
- scholarLearned, studious person
theologian · jurist · turbaned · robe · fatwa · religious law · preacher · piety
Islam's second-largest branch
- HusseinArabic name meaning good-looking
- AliArabic name, "sublime"
- AshuraIslamic day of fasting
- martyrdomSuffering for conviction
intercession · Mahdi · infallibility · shrine · pilgrimage · commemoration · mourning · sectarian
- 1979A calendar year
- overthrowForcible removal from power
- ShahPersian word for king
- theocracyRule by religious authority
uprising · exile · return · revolutionary · hostage crisis · transformation · radicalism · protest
- KhameneiIran's highest authority
- supreme leaderHighest-ranking authoritarian figure
- guardianProtective caretaker of another
- ruleGoverning principle or standard
sovereignty · mandate · governance · leadership · jurisprudence · decree · edict · pronouncement
mullah
Islamic religious leader
scholar · theologian · jurist · turbaned · robe · fatwa · religious law · preacher · piety · devotion
Shia
Islam's second-largest branch
martyrdom · intercession · Mahdi · infallibility · shrine · pilgrimage · commemoration · mourning · sectarian · minority
Khomeini
theocracy · uprising · exile · return · revolutionary · hostage crisis · transformation · radicalism · protest · resistance
Khomeini
- KhameneiIran's highest authority
- supreme leaderHighest-ranking authoritarian figure
- guardianProtective caretaker of another
rule · sovereignty · mandate · governance · leadership · jurisprudence · decree · edict · pronouncement · oversight
Tehran
Iran's capital city
constitution · sanctions · nuclear · bazaar · chador · morality police · dissent · protest · reformist · hardliner
Ayatollahsecularist
Advocate for nonreligious governance
atheist · technocrat · freethinker · agnostic · civil authority
Ayatollahlayperson
Non-specialist or unordained person
layman · congregant · commoner · Protestant minister · rabbi