While developments such as these riled the Muslim leadership in
Iran, they were part of Pahlavi’s plan for modernizing his nation.
Iran had valuable oil reserves. The United States had technology,
military equipment, and valuable industrial advisors. By using
Iran’s natural resources and strategic foreign alliances, Pahlavi
believed he could create a modern-day empire that would be more
impressive, in many ways, than ancient Persia.
But he recognized that Iran’s Islamic clergy were a powerful
class to be reckoned with. He must maintain peace with them,
if at all possible. He was, after all, a Muslim himself, if not
a particularly zealous one. To forge a bond—or at least the
appearance of a bond—with the Muslim leadership, he visited
Islamic shrines and made the solemn pilgrimage to Mecca.
He brought aspects of Western culture to the country, but
he made some concessions to devout Muslim leaders who
complained, for example, of the loose morals depicted in
movies being shown in Iranian cinemas.
Pahlavi’s reform strategy took a momentous turn in 1962
when he declared a “White Revolution.” This was a sweeping
social and economic reform program. It included, among other
features, land reform, permission for non-Muslims to vie for
elective office, profit-sharing for the working class, an expansion
of education and health care into rural areas, and voting
privileges for women. To Western societies, these were seen as
positive signs of a progressive government. Iran’s Shiite leaders,
however, were irate—not just over the liberalized election
policies, which they thought would corrupt the character of
Muslim women, but over the land issues. Muslim clerics relied
for their financial security and power not on the peasants they
vocally defended, but on donations from more moneyed,
middle-class families. In effect, Pahlavi’s “White Revolution”
threatened to upset these contributions. Meanwhile, the shah’s
rural literacy initiative tended to undermine the community
authority of the religious educators.
It was at this juncture that Ruhollah Khomeini began to
emerge as a militant Muslim leader. He fiercely condemned his30 AYATOLLAH RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI
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