ayatollahn.

1950 D. N. Wilber Iran (ed. 2) ix. 211 A very few of the most important Iranian religious leaders, resident either in Iran or at the Shi'a shrines in Iraq, bear the honorary title of Ayatollah.

1952 Islamic Rev. Aug. 28/2 Dr. Musaddiq..has shown remarkable courage and consistency in his campaign..to win over the support of the people, including Ayatullah Kashani and the Muslim religious groups.

1964 R. W. Cottam Nationalism in Iran xvi. 308 Ayatollah Sayyed Kazem Shariatmadari, one of three ayatollahs arrested in connection with the rioting, had earlier issued a statement.

1978 Economist 26 Aug. 13/2 The ayatollahs..have not, as yet, suggested that they would use such powers to introduce Islamic law in Iran.

1978 Daily Tel. 8 Dec. 4/2 The Ayatulla is considered to be the most prominent religious leader within the country.

1979 Observer 28 Jan. 9/1 Ayatollah (the title means Gift of God) Khomeini is 78 years old.

1986 Time 17 Nov. 15/2 The aged Ayatullah may be too weak to provide much direct leadership anymore, but no one dares do anything of which he disapproves.

1979 Observer 15 July 2/9 Mr Frank Chapple..said ‘self-styled ayatollahs’ were leading a ‘conspiracy of academics and professional people to keep ordinary people and their views out of the party’.

1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Apr. 473/3 The ayatollahs of the campuses, young and old, no longer had the same power to rouse their contemporaries.

1984 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 8 Nov. 8/2 An ayatollah among the nuclear warfare mullahs, he had written extensively about nuclear policy at a high level of abstraction.