ABSTRACT
Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Mostafavi Mousavi Khomeini's mission was to remove foreign influences from Iranian society and transform Iran's culture into one based on Islamic principles. Shiite clerics and religious leaders were at the forefront of Iran's 'first religious revolution'. The Shiite leaders seemed to be victorious by forcing Mozaffar al-Din, Shah of Qajar, to establish a constitutional government, and they found themselves excluded from power in Iranian politics. After establishing Reza Shah's government and winning his final victory over the Qajar dynasty, Reza Shah Pahlavi, commonly known as Reza Khan, began a liberal socio-economic reform process that attempted to model the Iranian system. As a Sufi philosopher and a religious teacher, Khomeini resented the loss of clerical power due to the modernization and secularization of the government under the rule of Reza Khan and his progeny Reza Shah.
