Islamic revolution defined its enemies as the infidel abroad and apostate at home.

Evidence

Islam provided more than symbols and slogans. As interpreted by the revo­ lutionary leaders and spokesmen, it formulated the objectives to be attained and, no less important, it defined the enemies to be opposed. These were familiar from history, law, and tradition: the infidel abroad, the apostate at home. For the revolutionaries, of course, the apostate meant all those Muslims, and espe­ cially Muslim rulers, who did not share their interpretation of authentic Islam and who, in their perception, were importing alien and infidel ways and thus subverting the community of Islam, and the faith and law by which it lived. In principle, the aim of the Islamic revolution in Iran and eventually in other countries where such movements established themselves was to sweep away all the alien and infidel accretions that had been imposed on Muslim lands and peoples in the era of alien dominance and influence and to restore the true and divinely given Islamic order. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1122

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the core distinction between the infidel (foreign) and apostate (internal Muslim rulers) as the revolution’s two enemy categories.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how the apostate-at-home category has been applied to different Muslim rulers across successor movements.