Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini

Sayyid Rūhollāh Musavi Khomeinī (Persian: سید روحاللّه مصطفوی موسوی خمینی) , May 17, 1900 - June 3, 1989), the Grand Ayatollah of Iran's Shiite Islam, the political and spiritual leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979, and served as the supreme leader of Iran from then until 1989. He is known as Imam Khomeini within Iran and among his international supporters, and by others as Ayatollah Khomeini. Khomeini was the Marza (Grand Ayatollah) of the Twelve Imams of Shia Islam, but is best known for his political role. In his writings and sermons, he expanded the "guardianship of al-Faqih" (guardianship of jurists) advocated by the Ussuri sect of the Twelve Imams, which is the theocratic rule of Islamic jurists. In 1979, Iran's Islamic Revolution overthrew the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. After that, Khomeini became the country's supreme leader, the country's highest political and religious leader. Khomeini is known as a "widely supported and charismatic leader", and some Shiite scholars regard him as a "fighter for the revival of Islam." In the Muslim world abroad, he is described as "the virtual image of Islam in Western popular culture." In 1979, he was named a Person of the Year by Time magazine. He is famous for supporting the hostages during the Iran hostage crisis and for issuing the order to kill the British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie.