Political Islam

One of the most repeated slogans of the 1979 Iranian revolution was ‘neither East nor West, [only] an Islamic Republic.’ For others, the adoption of religious symbols such as veiling (hijab, niqab) was an alternative and highly visible statement of protest against the US-backed Iranian Shah (king). The revolution’s rejection of Western models in favour of an Islamic republic – led by Ruhollah Mustafavi Khomeini who would later dominate the post-revolutionary government and hold the position of Iranian Grand Ayatollah – led to Western fears of a Green Peril rising in the East. Unlike Arab nationalists who sought simply to redraw existing state borders, the Islamic Republic and its Muslim sympathizers were considered to represent a dangerous and unprecedented pan-Islamic political movement