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Historic connection between Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini and India's Uttar Pradesh, his grandfather was India's...
An image of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini placed behind the current supreme leader of Iran
India connection of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: Two of the most important figures who have continuously made headlines during the recent escalation in the war between Iran and Israel have been Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. However, do you know that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's political predecessor and the founder of Islamic revolution of Iran has a connection with India's state of Uttar Pradesh? Here are all the details you need to know about Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his Indian roots.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the architect of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the political predecessor of the present Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had ancestral roots in Uttar Pradesh, India. As per a report by the Daily Guardian, the grandfather of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi, was born in the Kintoor village of Barabanki district, near Lucknow.
Syed Ahmad migrated from India's Uttar Pradesh to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq for religious studies and pilgrimage in the early 1800s. Eventually, Syed Ahmad moved to Khomeyn, Iran, where his descendants settled. Notably, Syed Ahmad kept the surname 'Hindi'—which literally means 'from India' to honor his Indian roots. Journey of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has spent almost four decades as Shi'ite Iran's supreme leader building a regional power to rival the Sunni states across the Gulf and implacably hostile to the U.S. and Israel – while crushing repeated unrest at home, a report by Reuters news agency said. Rise of Khamenei as Iran's Supreme Leader
The report also says that Khamenei was at first dismissed as weak and an unlikely successor to the Islamic Republic's late founder, but due to the charismatic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , Khamenei steadily tightened his grip to become Iran's unquestioned decision-maker.
Strengthening his power over Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has dominated successive elected presidents and promoted nuclear technology that has unnerved the surrounding region, unchallengeable in the office of Supreme Leader. Weakening influence of Supreme leader
However, ever since the Tehran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, Ali Khamenei's regional influence has been weakening as Israel has pounded Iran's proxies – from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq, the report said.
(With inputs from agencies)
