Encyclopedia of Islam

Mujahidin-i Khalq

  

499  J

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in Iraq. French security agents raided MEK prop-

erties in France in 2003, fearing that the organiza-

tion was attempting to set up a new base in that 

country. Several members burned themselves to 

death in protest.

The MEK’s original ideology was based on a 

modern Marxist interpretation of traditional Shii 

concepts and symbols, paralleling ideas espoused 

by Iranian intellectual and visionary a

li

 s

hariati

(d. 1977). In its propaganda Islamic terms such as 

tawhid

 (monotheism), 

Jihad

, 

mujahid

, and shahid

(martyr) were reconfigured to mean “egalitarian-

ism,” “liberation struggle,” “freedom fighter,” and 

“revolutionary hero,” respectively. u

mma

, the idea 

of the ideal Muslim community of believers, was 

interpreted to mean “dynamic classless society,” 

an idea that is a cornerstone of Marxist ideology. 

The movement’s ideology has changed consider-

ably as the political dynamics of the Middle East 

have changed and Marxism has fallen out of fash-

ion. It now presents itself as an enemy of the reli-

gious fanaticism of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

Maryan Rajavi is known as president-elect of the 

National Council of Resistance of Iran, in which 

MEK holds a dominant position.

See also 

commUnism

; 

politics

 

and

  i

slam

; 

terrorism

.