ABSTRACT
Before the dawn of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, it was fashionable in the West to ignore Islam as an irrelevant or peripheral force in politics. The Islamic Republic of Iran and Islam have been conveniently chosen, perhaps for the lack of any better alternatives, to replace the Soviet Union and communism, respectively. For obvious reasons, Iran is no Soviet Union and Islam is not communism. Teheran has been supportive of all Islamic movements, even to the detriment of its national interests, Iran is not the cause of the Islamic resurgence. The Islamic Revolution in 1979 ended a cycle in Iran’s long history, one that began with the Constitutional Movement of 1905–1911. Thus, the Islamic Revolution was the explosion of pent-up frustrations and grievances of a population against the consequences of radical change imposed on them by the Pahlavis—change they neither understood nor supported.
