Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini, (1902 – 1989), known in the Western world as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Shia Muslim religious leader, philosopher, revolutionary and politician. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of homeland and the leader of the 1979 persian Revolution that saw the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah.