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632–651) became a source of pride for Persian Shias as Shia Islam spread throughout Iran. Whether this assertion was true or not, it became popular over time. Shia tradition claims that Ali al-Sajjad was said to have been proud of being the son of the Persian princess Shahrbanu. By constructing a lineage that connected them to the Imams, the ...
According to The World Factbook of the CIA, between 90-95% of Iran's Muslim are Shia, and another 5-10% are Sunni, [72] the American Iranian Council, citing the Islamic Republic estimates, gives the Sunni percentage at between 7% and 10%. [73] (Almost all of Iran's Shia follow the Twelver branch.) The Atlantic Council gives a higher percentage ...
After the success of what would become known as a revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran as its religious and political leader for life. Khomeini had been an opposition leader to Shah for many years, rising to prominence after the death of his mentor, renowned scholar Yazdi Ha'iri , in the 1930s. [ 147 ]
Between the 7th century and the 16th century, Sunni Islam was dominant among the Iranians, but this changed with the Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam, which marked another historic societal shift for the nation. Consequently, Shia Islam remains dominant in modern-day Iran, where it is the official religion, as well as in Iraq and ...
Shi'a clergy (or Ulema) have historically had a significant influence in Iran.The clergy first showed themselves to be a powerful political force in opposition to Iran's monarch with the 1891 tobacco protest boycott that effectively destroyed an unpopular concession granted by the shah giving a British company a monopoly over buying and selling tobacco in Iran.
The first Shia theocracy in the 20th century was established in Iran following the Iranian Revolution that led to the fall of the Shah of Iran. The constitutional name of Iran was established as the Islamic Republic of Iran ( Persian : جمهوری اسلامی ايران transliteration : Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān ).
Iran functioned again as a leading world power, especially in rivalry with the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, Iran lost significant territories in the Caucasus to the Russian Empire following the Russo-Persian Wars. [20] Iran remained a monarchy until the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when it officially became an Islamic republic on 1 April 1979.
Islam had become Iran's predominant religion by the Late Middle Ages; [7] [8] the majority of Iranians were Sunni Muslims until the Safavids forcefully converted Iran to Shia Islam in the 16th century.