| This thesis will analyze the role of Shi'i religious symbols employed in the Iranian revolution of 1979. During the revolution, the Shi'i symbolic structure of the Karbala' paradigm or the symbols of Karbala' and of Husayn's martyrdom were extensively employed to mobilize the masses. Regarded as the Imam and as the symbol of the revolution, Khumayni extensively utilized such religious symbols in order to generate mass revolutionary political consciousness against the Shah's tyrannical regime. In other words, throughout the revolution the traditional 'ashura' mourning ceremony--commemorating a tragic historical event the martyrdom of Husayn who was killed on the battlefield of Karbala' on Muharram 10, 60/680--was transformed into and politicized to be a vehicle of mass revolutionary political mobilization. |
