27 uses
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Definition
a high-ranking Shiite religious leader who is regarded as an authority on religious law and its interpretation and who has political power as well
- His pointed white beard was a carbon copy of the one sported by the Ayatollah Khomeini.
- This sacred duty was most often performed by President Hojatoleslam Seyed Ali Khamenei (not to be confused with the Ayatollah Ruhollab Khomeini, who, as religious leader, outranks even the president), assisted by Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the speaker of the house.
- Then came a five-minute segment of Lebanese news because the Shiite Moslems in Lebanon are a strong and violent faction backed by Iran, loyal to the Ayatollah Khomeini and a three-minute wrap-up of world news, which meant some negative report about America.
- They were the Ayatollah's answer to the shah's Savak, the secret police.
- Half of the clan lived like Ameh Bozorg, oblivious to squalor, contemptuous of western customs and ideals, and clinging to their own zealous brand of the Ayatollah Khomeini's fanatical Shiite sect of Islam.
- How could I-a Christian, an American, a woman dare to offer my explanation of the Koran over the views of Imam Reza, the Ayatollah Khomeini, Baba Hajji, and, indeed, my own husband?
- "But this" he gestured to the horde of unsmiling Iranians scurrying through the streets of the ayatollah's Islamic Republic "is not what we wanted."
- In most cases his American schooling provided prestige, but in the offices of the ayatollah's government he encountered some prejudice.
- We walked through dingy halls, past a huge picture of the scowling ayatollah, and countless posters depicting the glories of war.
- A school system such as this could create an entire nation that would obey unquestionably, even to death, an ayatollah who served as the intelligence and conscience of the land.
- Why would they risk the harsh penalties imposed by the ayatollah for any violation of Islamic law?
- The ayatollah's own agents, soldiers, police, and pasdar were everywhere.
- Moody had resisted for five years, but Hormoz, almost at once, decided to return to live under the government of the Ayatollah Khomeini.
- But I knew better than to believe any tale of splendor in the ayatollah's republic.
- They are used to living in a clandestine manner, probably under the shah as well as the ayatollah.
- He told them that I hated the Ayatollah Khomeini, which was true and believable, and that I was an agent of the C.I.A. which was ridiculous, but served to show the depths of his craziness.
- From his exile in Paris, the Ayatollah Khomeini now began to issue harsh pronouncements against the shah in particular, and western influence in general.
- When the shah left Iran and, the following day, the Ayatollah Khomeini staged a triumphant return, Moody found cause for celebration.
- The festival encompassed all of Islam, not merely Iran, and, therefore, political rhetoric this day was confined to isolated caucuses of Iranians who chattered happily about the ayatollah's successful attempt to centralize power. i remained aloof from those discussions, socializing instead with my wide circle of women friends who constituted a United Nations in miniature.
- At first, from his comfortable vantage point nearly half a world away, he had felt secure enough to proclaim his zeal for the revolution and for the ayatollah's dream of turning Iran into an Islamic republic.
- I knew that I remained alive only at the whim of Moody and his ayatollah.
- By day he is a successful businessman, outwardly supportive of the ayatollah's government.
- Happiness and joy were out of place during this wartime period of pain and suffering, said the ayatollah.
- Moody had certainly thought against the ayatollah's government.
- The picture of the scowling Ayatollah Khomeini was relegated to the attic.
- Moody now drove to Alpena and spent Saturday and Sunday in conversation with Mammal, catching up on family matters, once again gushing over the Ayatollah Khomeini, slurring western-and particularly American-customs and morals.
- The Kurds had been hostile to the shah's government and were equally hostile to the ayatollah's.
There are no more uses of "Ayatollah" in Not Without My Daughter.
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