a little alarming. His hysterical reception, led by the nation’s
student generation, horrified them. An estimated 2 to 3 million
Iranians swarmed the streets, creating such a horde of enthu-
siastic chaos that the ayatollah had to be transported from the
airport by helicopter.
Ayatollah Khomeini was in some ways a mystery figure—not
just to outsiders who were riveted by the unfolding news from
the Middle East, but to his own people. He had become the most
respected, idolized Iranian in the world during the fifteen
years when he wasn’t even in the country. From exile, he had
relentlessly preached revolution. For years, his sermons had
been smuggled into Iran and distributed among mushrooming
legions of admirers. More recently, his message had been
broadcast worldwide by mainline media. Most Iranians had
come to agree with his accusations of corruption within the shah’s
regime and had clamored for Khomeini to return from exile
and bring justice to their land. Yet few of them had ever met the
man behind the message. Those who had met Khomeini found
him glowering and aloof, not given to courteous greetings or to
weighing the opinions of others.
Most of his people believed in his general vision: a new
government and society controlled by Islam. But they had little
idea how it would develop. A decade later, when he died, he
would leave behind a population that was growing increasingly
unhappy with the system he created.
When he returned to his homeland that winter, however,
Khomeini immediately commanded the homage—the very
spirit—of Iranians. He immediately became the unquestioned
force behind the Iranian government.
How had this small-town, childhood orphan risen to such
power?
In Iranian universities, discontented students during the 1960s
became politically active in opposing the shah’s regime. Most
notable among their leaders was Khomeini. An outspoken Shiite
teacher (Shiism is a branch of Islam), he lost his position and,
eventually, his citizenship. Ordered out of Iran, he continued to4 AYATOLLAH RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI
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