Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. To many the bearded cleric is a menacing symbol of militant Shi’ite Islam. But to millions of his admirers, both inside and outside Iran, he is the hero of one of the world’s last great revolutions. A decisive de facto grass-roots revolt in 1979 that unseated Shah Reza Pahlavi and brought to an end a self-indulgent regime.