Iran's former supreme leader: A lineage tracing back to Uttar Pradesh

From Barabanki to Iran, Iranian supreme leader Ayutollah Ruhollah Khomeini's ancestry is deeply rooted in Indian Shia foundations, a link lesser known to many.

The present geopolitical tensions between Iran and Israel have the citizens observing links between the Iran's former supreme leader to India. The founder of the Islamic regime in Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini has his roots tracing back to the region of Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh. His grandfather, Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi, hailed from the district, now known for its spiritual and cultural significance.

The district of Barabanki is said to be a place of cultural and spiritual importance. Apart from the epic legends surrounding the district, Barabanki is known to have a substantial population of the Shia community residing in its grounds.

Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi was born in a town called Kintoor, which is in the Barabanki district today. According a BBC journalist Baqer Moin, the surname 'Hindi' was to show his connection with India. He was a Shia cleric, and was born around the 1800s. As the British rule grew, he left for Najaf, Iraq to visit the tomb of Inam Ali, and never came back.

Soon, he found a home in Khomeyn, Iran, where he got married. Though he left India, he did not remove 'Hindi' from his name, with Iranian records containing his full name, as stated in media reports. Ahmad Hindi had five children, one of them being Sayyid Mustafa Musawi, who is the father of former supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini.

Ruhollah Khomeini, also known as the father of Iran's Islamic Revolution, was one of Ahmad Hindi's grandchildren. He went on to become the country's first supreme leader, with his ideologies' foundations focusing on Shia traditions. He opposed the Westernization of Iran, which was then under the leadership of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. After a period of differences in ideologies between the two figures, Khomeini overthrew the Shah, and Iran came to be known as the Islamic Republic of Iran. The course of the country changed. Khomeini ruled Iran for 10 years. In 1989, Ruhollah Khomeini passed away due to a heart attack.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the second and current supreme leader of Iran, belongs to a different lineage of clerics. As a successor of Khomeini, he now leads Iran in country-related affairs. Though both leaders are followers of Shia traditions, their family backgrounds differ.