LUCKNOW: Amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, a nondescript village in Uttar Pradesh is drawing attention for its links to the biggest figure in Iran's recent political history.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, the fiery cleric who ignited Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and became its first supreme leader, had his roots in Kintoor in Barabanki district, around 50 km from state capital Lucknow.
Now, the village, once dominated by Shias, has a population of 13000 with just five Shia families remaining here. From Kintoor, Ayatollah Khomeini’s grandfather Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi had migrated to Iran in the 19th century.
Among the five Shia families now residing in the village, the Kazmis claim a distant kinship with Musavi.
A portrait of Khomeini adorns a wall in the room of Syed Nihal Kazmi who claims that his great great great grandfather Mufti Mohammad Quli Musavi and Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi were cousins.
As per the Kazmis, Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi was born in an illustrious family of Shia scholars in Kintoor in 1790. In 1830, at the age of 40, he embarked on a pilgrimage along with the Nawab of Awadh. After visiting the revered Islamic cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, they ultimately reached Khomein in Iran, where Musavi chose to settle permanently.
The Kazmis claim that Musavi added the word Hindi with his name to reflect his Indian roots in which he used to take pride. “He added ‘Hindi’ to his name to keep Hindustan alive in his identity," said Syed Adil Kazmi.
In 1839, Musavi married Sakineh Ahmad, his friend's sister. She was his third wife who gave birth to Ayotollah Ruhollah Khomeini's father Syed Mostafa. Musavi died in 1869 and was buried in Karbala. However, the Kazmis also claim that the Musavis originally belonged to Nishapur in Iran and migrated to India in the early 1700s, settling in Kintoor.
In fact, the Musavis claim descent from the Prophet through his daughter and the seventh Shia Imam -- Musa-al-Kazim.
The Kazmis in Kintoor say that it was a legacy which came full circle with the Musavis journeying from Nishapur in Iran to Kintoor and then back to Iran again.
Local residents still point to the remnants of ‘Syed Wada’, the Musavi family’s ancestral residence in Kintoor. The once expansive structure has withered with time, but people still regard it as a sacred marker.
Syed Wada, the house, though decayed, bears witness to a journey that helped forge the Islamic Republic of Iran. “Visitors from Lucknow and even farther come here just to see this place," said Sajjad Rizvi, another local resident. With tensions running high in West Asia, many villagers in Kintoor openly express solidarity with Iran.
“We are Indians, but our sentiments are with Iran. That’s the land where our bloodline now walks. The West and Israel are shedding innocent blood. We stand against injustice," said Imran Naqvi, a local youth.
Musavi's legacy lived on in his grandson Khomeini, born in 1902 in the Iranian city of Khomein. Raised by his mother, he became a scholar of Islamic law, mysticism, and philosophy. He read widely, including the works of western thinkers, which shaped his revolutionary worldview.
In 1979, Khomeini led the Islamic Revolution that dislodged Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ending Iran’s monarchy and establishing a theocratic republic. He became its first supreme leader.
After Khomeini’s death in 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took over as the supreme leader. Today, he's at the helm as Iran grapples with another major crisis.