Abbas Amanat

He could appear very uncompromising and he had a sense of confidence, self-confidence that virtually everybody else lacked.

And he was a man of opportunity.

As soon as he would see that

a chance and opportunity would open up, he would jump on it.

And that's what he did, basically.

As more the political space opened, the weaknesses of the Shah's government became more evident.

His indecision became more evident.

His lack of confidence became more evident.

Khomeini managed to move further into the center of the movement because he was the only authority that had this network of support through the mosques, through the people who paid

homage to him, who followed him, because there's a sense of following of the religious leader in Shiaism.

You are a follower of this authority, you're a follower of that authority.

And he's basically created an environment in which people looked upon him as a kind of a messianic figure.

that came to save Iran from what they considered at the time the problems of dictatorship under the Shah.

People had very little sense that what Islamic law is all about because the secular education has left that into the old religious schools.

This is not something that ordinary educated Iranian who goes to the universities understands.

is going to learn.

Therefore, there is a sense of idealization that there is something great there.

And there were quite a number of intellectuals who also viewed this kind of an idea of, they would refer to as West Toxication, that is this civilization of the West that has brought with it

all the modernity that we see around ourselves has enormous sinister features into it.

And it has taken away from us our authenticity.