World: The Grateful Family

Why today is the Shah reviled and Ayatullah Khomeini revered? One reason is that millions of Iranian poor were untouched by the new wealth of the monarch's industrializing society; meanwhile, many remember the role traditionally played by the Shi'ite mullahs as protectors of the oppressed. TIME Correspondent William McWhirter talked with one peasant family, uprooted from the Ayatullah's birthplace of Khomein (pop. 12,000) in central Iran. His report:

Surrounded by her sons and daughters, in-laws and grandchildren, the handsome 56-year-old matriarch, Marhemat Mokhtari, talks animatedly about the old feudal life in one of Iran's poorest areas. Fifty years ago, Khomein was controlled...