Such activity has dramatically increased since
the mid-1970s. Mujahidin groups led Afghan resis-
tance to the Soviet invasion during the 1980s,
supported the 1978 Iranian revolution and sought
to export that revolution to other Middle East-
ern sites, assassinated secular leaders in egypt
and other locations, resisted Russian authorities
in chechnya and Israeli authorities in pales-
tine, launched terrorist operations throughout
the world, including the attacks of September
11, 2001, and kidnapped/executed Westerners in
combat zones such as lebanon and iraq. Moderate
Muslims reject such interpretations of jihad, often
emphasizing the primacy of the so-called greater
jihad (a peaceful struggle against unrighteousness
in one’s own life and one’s community). However,
the mujahidin recruit warriors and gain support for
their actions by tapping into considerable Muslim
resentment toward Western power and excesses as
well as fears regarding threats to their faith from
Western influences. It is clear that the struggle
over the interpretation of jihad will be a major
issue within the Muslim world for years to come.
See also aFghan^ mUJahidin.
Stephen Cory
Further reading: J. J. G. Jansen, The Neglected Duty: The
Creed of Sadat’s Assassins and Islamic Resurgence in the
Middle East (New York: Macmillan, 1986); Gilles Kepel,
Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Translated by Anthony
Roberts (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
2002); Barry Rubin and Judith Colp Rubin, eds. Anti-
American Terrorism and the Middle East: A Documentary
Reader (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
Mujahidin-i Khalq (The People’s Religious
Warriors, or People’s Mujahidin; also
Mojahedin-e Khalq; acronym: MEK)
Officially known as the Sazman-i Mujahidin-i
Khalq-i Iran (People’s Mujahidin Organization of
Iran, acronym PMOI), the MEK is a group of Shii
Muslim-Marxist revolutionaries that arose during
the 1960s to oppose the regime of mUhammad
reza shah pahlavi of iran (r. 1953–79). It was
one of several anti-shah movements that objected
to his authoritarian rule and his strong pro-Ameri-
can stance. The real catalyst for this opposition
was the White Revolution, launched in 1963,
which imposed modernization from the top down
in the country with significant support from the
United states. The MEK’s membership consisted
of many college-educated young men recruited
from the urban middle class. It conducted several
attacks against the government in the 1970s, but
declined in strength as a result of internal feuding
and successful government countermeasures.
The movement was revitalized in the aftermath
of the iranian revolUtion oF 1978–79, when the
new Islamic Republic of Ayatollah rUhollah kho-
meini (r. 1979–89) was being created. Its leader
was Masud Rajavi (b. 1947), a former student
who had been imprisoned by the shah, and who
subsequently was denied the right to run for the
presidency of the Islamic Republic by Khomeini.
As a consequence, the group organized antigov-
ernment demonstrations, followed by a campaign
of bombing attacks against Khomeini’s allies, kill-
ing dozens of people, including the Iranian presi-
dent, prime minister, chief justice, and members
of parliament. Khomeini’s government responded
with force, killing and executing nearly 10,000 of
its members between 1981 and 1985. Surviving
members fled to France and then to iraq, which
was engaged in a bloody war of attrition against
Iran at the time. saddam hUsayn (r. 1979–2003)
gave Rajavi and his MEK sanctuary and supported
its armed terrorist operations against Iran, even
after the war’s end in 1988. Indeed, in 1997 it was
designated a terrorist organization by the United
States, as well as by Canada and several European
countries. Masud Rajavi has been superceded
by his wife Miryam Rajavi (b. 1953), one of the
founding members of the movement. She was
elected to share joint leadership with her husband
in 1985, and then became its secretary general in- After the fall of Husayn’s regime in 2003,
MEK came under the control of U.S. armed forces
Mujahidin-i Khalq 499 J