A small Indian village in the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh is distinguished by its historical connection with Iran. This village is evidence of India’s cultural ties and spiritual and cultural connection with Iran. This village, called Kintoor, is the ancestral home of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 Iranian revolution that overthrew the monarchy led by the Pahlavi family. Track updates on the US-Iran war
Seyyed Ahmad Mousavi Hindi, grandfather of Ayatollah Khomeini, was born in the village of Kantoor in 1790, but later immigrated to Iran’s Center Province in a village called Khomeini. Al-Musawi Al-Hindi settled in Al-Khomein, and the family lineage subsequently flourished there, according to a report by ANI news agency.
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Al-Musawi Al-Hindi kept the suffix “Hindi” in his name to honor his Indian heritage even after he settled in Iran.
Why did Syed Ahmed Mousavi Hindi move to Iran?
According to reports, Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi was 40 years old when he traveled to Iran via Iraq in 1830 with the Nawab of Awadh. This was the time when the British Raj was tightening its grip over undivided India. Perhaps tired of the colonial system, Mousavi Hindi settled permanently in the Iranian village of Khomein where his family grew to become very influential in the religious and social spheres.
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Seyyed Ahmad Mousavi Hindi’s son, Ayatollah Mustafa Hindi, became a famous scholar of Islamic theology. His son, Ruhollah, was born in 1902, who later became famous and known as “Ayatollah Khomeini” or “Imam Khomeini.” Ultimately, he overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty, a move that changed the political landscape of the Middle East forever.
Cultural relations between India and Iran
The spiritual and lineage-based relationship between India and Iran remains a profound living history for the people of Barabanki.
“Ayatollah Khamenei has a connection with the whole of India, and he was the supreme leader of the Shiite community. We learned the way of life from him. Ayatollah Khamenei has no direct connection with Kantoor, but Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the Islamic Revolution, his grandfather hails from here. He immigrated to Iran and stayed in Khomeini. The British regime did not want him to return to India. Ruhollah Khomeini’s father passed away,” said Dr Rehan Kazemi, a resident of Rasulpur in Barabanki. He told ANI: “He passed away when he was 5 years old, and his grandfather raised him.”
Another resident, Syed Nahar Ahmad Kazmi, believes that it is this cultural connection between India and Iran that has allowed Iran to allow Indian ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz amid the West Asian conflict and blockade of trade routes.
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Kazemi was quoted as saying: “Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini has a direct relationship with Kantoor. We heard that Ayatollah Khamenei was a disciple of Ruhollah Khomeini. There was discrimination against women and alcoholism, so they led the revolution. There was an ancient relationship between India and Iran. They had to close the route due to circumstances, but they allowed ships flying the Indian flag to pass.”
Iran and the West Asian War
The Middle East entered a crisis after joint American-Israeli strikes targeted Iran on February 28, and Iran responded by attacking American facilities in the region. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a disciple of Ruhollah Khomeini, was assassinated in one of the first strikes while he was in his office. Protests erupted in several parts of the world and many Indian states such as Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir after Khamenei’s death.
Even when the United States and Iran temporarily stopped fighting six weeks later and agreed to hold mediated talks in Pakistan, Khamenei’s killing was one of the most devastating outcomes of the war.
With inputs from ANI
