Editor’s Note

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Notes

1 Ancient Iranians were one of the earliest civilizations to adopt a solar calendar based on 365 days with an extra ‘leap’ day added periodically. For over two thousand years, they have observed the New Year at the precise time of the spring equinox. The modern calendar, adopted in 1925, is a solar calendar based on one developed by Omar Khayyam in the 11^th century as a solar hijri calendar, that is, it starts with the hijra of the Prophet Muhammad to Medina (622 CE in the Western solar calendar). However, the majority of Muslims generally use the Islamic lunar calendar, in which years are 10 to 11 days shorter than solar years. Currently, it is now year 1443 after the hijra, but according to the Iran’s Islamic solar calendar, it is 1401 years after the hijra. Iranians use the Islamic lunar calendar for religious purposes, i.e., the observance of Islamic rituals such as the month of fasting, Ramadan (Ramezan in Persian).

2 Twelve Iman Shia Muslims—approximately 90 percent of all Iranians—associate the Mahdi figure with the Twelfth Iman—direct descent of Ali and the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter, Fatima–whom they believe did not die but rather God took him into a suspended state to return to bring justice to the world at end times.

3 These events occurred before the 1979 Revolution when a shah (king) stilled ruled Iran. The shah had closely aligned Iran with the United States during the Cold War and also with Israel, which maintained a huge trade mission in downtown Tehran.