AP Comparative Government Unit 7 Voacb: Iran

Theocracy

rule by religion or religious leaders

Ayatollah

In Shiite Islam, a title in the religious hierarchy achieved by scholars who have demonstrated highly advanced knowledge of Islamic law and religion

Ulema

a higher clergy within Shi’ism’s religious leaders, who came to be ayatollahs

Basij

“People’s militia,” which serves as a public morals police

Farsi

Language of Iran

Imams

Descendants of the prophet Muhammad; considered by Shia to be true political and religious leaders of Islam

Islamism/Islamic Fundamentalism

The belief that Islam should be the source of the political regime

Majlis

Iran’s legislator, unicameral

Mahdi

In Shiism, a term for the “hidden imam”, the descendant of Muhammad who will return to earth to usher in a new age

Persia

Name for Iran before 1935

Quietist

Description of view within Shiism that rejects theocracy and the direct role of religion in the state

Shiism

Minority sect of Islam that differs from Sunnism over the rightful heir and proper descendants of the prophet Muhammad

Ummah

Literally “community”; meant to refer to the nation or Islamic communities everywhere

Reza Shah Pahlavi

Monarch of Iran from 1925 to 1941

White Revolution

Policy of reforms enacted by Reza Shah, beginning in 1963, to rapidly modernize and Westernize Iran

Revolutionary Guard

Paramilitary force charged with defending the regime from domestic and internal enemies

Iran-Iraq War

The 1980-1988 conflict between the two countries, started by Iraq

Operation Ajax

U.S and UK backed overthrown of Iranian prime minister Mosaddeq in 1953

Guardian Council

Appointed body that vets candidates for office and can overturn legislation

Bonyads

Parastatal foundations made in part from assets nationalized after the Iranian Revolution

Ashura

The most important Shia religious holiday, commemorating the death of Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad

Velayat-e faqih

Rule by Islamic jurists; also, Islamic Republic’s political system, which places power in the hands of clerics

Assembly of Experts

Elected body that chooses the supreme leader

SAVAK

Secret police of prerevolutionary Iran

Supreme Leader

Chief spiritual and political leader of Iran

National Front

Political party in Iran following World War II; it opposed the monarchy and favored greater Iranian control over natural resources; outlawed after Operation Ajax

Expediency Council

Appointed body that mediates between the Majlis and the Guardian Council over legislative disputes

Ruhollah Khomeini

First supreme leader of Iran, from 1980 to his death in 1989

Mohammad Khatami

President of Iran from 1997 to 2005

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

President of Iran from 2005 to 2013

Hassan Rouhani

President of Iran from 2013 to 2021

Ali Khamenei

Current supreme leader of Iran, as of 1989

Ebrahim Raisi

Iran’s current president since 2021