“They Were Going Together with the Ikhwan”: The Influence of Muslim Brotherhood Thinkers on Shi‘i Islamists during the Cold War

By analyzing the interest displayed by the followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in writings by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, this article shows how the Shi‘i Islamist movement in Iran and Afghanistan was both transnational and influenced by Sunni Islamists in the Arab world. Using mostly Iranian and Afghan sources, this article discusses these influences through the notion of Islamic revolutionary ecumenism. While much attention has been given to Khomeini’s call to “export” Iran’s Islamic Revolution, this article shows some of the ways his own followers “imported” their ideology.