The Iranian revolution’s appeal crossed sectarian lines where Shi’ism was unknown

Evidence

The appeal was naturally strongest among Shi‘i populations, as in South Lebanon and some of the Gulf states, and weakest among their immediate Sunni neighbors. It was and remains very strong in the greater part of the Muslim world, where Shi‘ism is virtually unknown. In these, the sectarian difference is unimportant; Khomeini can be seen not as a Shi‘ite or a Persian but as an Islamic revolutionary leader. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1514

Categorization

• XREF: Corroborates/qualifies Said-adjacent claims about Islamic revolution being read by Western and Muslim audiences alike as a representative Islamic event rather than an Iranian one.