On 11 February 1979, a mullah listens to the radio as he plants seeds in his Qom garden. What he hears will define Iran’s modern history: ‘The ill-omened regime of the Pahlavis is finished, and an Islamic government has been established under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini.’ Crowds pour into Qom’s streets, jubilant. In The Mantle of the Prophet , the late pre-eminent scholar of Iran Roy P. Mottahedeh weaves a tapestry of the Islamic Revolution and its deep roots in Persian culture. We witness prisoners chanting Ferdowsi and Rumi verses against the Shah’s regime, mullahs writing about Che Guevara and Islam and students in Paris debating Algeria and Cuba. This is a unique glimpse into the extraordinary Iranian twentieth century, as it was lived and suffered by its people.