---
title: 'Rajai and Bahonar in divine palms above Statue-of-Liberty figures: Isfahan Islamic Guidance poster, 1981'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/rajai-bahonar-divine-palms-statues-of-liberty-isfahan-1981/
description: Tall poster in three bands. At top, the portraits of a man in a dark suit and a cleric in a white turban rest in two green open hands over flames.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Poster that shows two assassinated officials in flames and pictures the faces of named opponents under Statue of Liberty crowns. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Rajai and Bahonar in divine palms above Statue-of-Liberty figures: Isfahan Islamic Guidance poster, 1981](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/rajai-bahonar-divine-palms-statues-of-liberty-isfahan-1981.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/rajai-bahonar-divine-palms-statues-of-liberty-isfahan-1981.jpg)

# Rajai and Bahonar in divine palms above Statue-of-Liberty figures: Isfahan Islamic Guidance poster, 1981

Tall poster in three bands. At top, the portraits of a man in a dark suit and a cleric in a white turban rest in two green open hands over flames. Below, three silhouetted figures with Statue of Liberty crowns, each holding a flame as a torch and each with a small photographic face, stand under Quranic lettering, a quotation from Khomeini and the credit line of the Isfahan Islamic Guidance office. The tell: the opponents are turned into a hated emblem, the rescued men into a sacred one.

## Text on the object

Original (Arabic and Persian) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
قلنا يا نار كوني برداً وسلاماً على إبراهيم
گفتیم ای آتش سرد و سلامت باش بر ابراهیم   « قرآن کریم »

امام خمینی:
آقای رجائی و آقای باهنر در نبرد با قدرتهای فاسد همرزم بودند
« اداره کل ارشاد اسلامی اصفهان »
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
We said: O fire, be coolness and safety upon Abraham.
We said: O fire, be cool and safe for Abraham   ["Noble Quran"]

Imam Khomeini:
Mr. Rajai and Mr. Bahonar were comrades in arms in the fight against the corrupt powers.
"General Office of Islamic Guidance, Isfahan"
```

First line Arabic (Quran 21:69), second line its Persian rendering with the source tag 'Quran-e Karim' in small script at left; the rest is Persian. The three men's faces carry no captions. The English is a literal machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader.

[← "1 Maja": PZPR works-committee invitation to the May Day march, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/poland-pzpr-may-day-invitation-poznan-1981/) [Apartheid Kills: Stop the Tour, Day of Shame (Wellington protest poster, 1981) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/apartheid-kills-stop-the-tour-wellington-1981/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)