Lucknow, March 1 -- As tensions continue to shape headlines around Iran and Israel, few would imagine that a quiet village in Uttar Pradesh shares a historical connection with one of the most consequential figures in modern Iranian history.
Yet Kintoor, a modest settlement in Barabanki district adjoining the state capital Lucknow, is widely regarded as the ancestral home of the lineage that produced Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran's 1979 revolution. What links this Indian village to Tehran is not contemporary politics, but a two-century-old story of faith, migration and enduring identity.
The connection dates back to the late 18th century, when Syed Ahmad Musavi was born in Kintoor. A respected religious scholar, he later ...