"Was the shah of Iran a Muslim?"

He challenged and tried to modernize some teachings and traditions, and the government was secular under him, but he was a muslim. Here's his bio and some more info:

Born: 26-Oct-1919
Birthplace: Tehran, Iran
Died: 27-Jul-1980
Location of death: Cairo, Egypt
Cause of death: Cancer - Lymphoma

Gender: Male
Religion: Muslim
Race or Ethnicity: Middle Eastern
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Royalty

Nationality: Iran
Executive summary: Last Shah of Iran

Father: Reza Shah Pahlavi (b. 1877, d. 1944, elected Shah 1925)
Wife: Princess Fawzia of Egypt (b. 5-Nov-1921, m. 1939, div. 1948)
Daughter: Shahnaz Pahlavi (b. 27-Oct-1940)
Wife: Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari (b. 22-Jun-1932, m. 1951, div. 1958, d. 26-Oct-2001)
Wife: Farah Diba (b. 14-Oct-1938, m. 1959, four children)
Son: Reza Pahlavi II (b. 31-Oct-1960)
Daughter: Farahnaz (b. 12-Mar-1963)
Son: Ali-Reza Pahlavi (b. 28-Oct-1966)
Daughter: Leila Pahlavi (b. 27-Mar-1970, d. 10-Jun-2001)

High School: Institut Le Rosey, Switzerland
University: Military College, Tehran

Persian Monarch 1941-1979

Domestically, he advocated reform policies, culminating in the 1963 program known as the White Revolution, which included land reform, the extension of voting rights to women, and the elimination of illiteracy.

These measures and the increasing arbitrariness of the Shah's rule provoked both religious leaders who feared losing their traditional authority and intellectuals seeking democratic reforms. These opponents criticized the Shah for violation of the constitution, which placed limits on royal power and provided for a representative government, and for subservience to the United States. The Shah saw himself as heir to the kings of ancient Iran. In 1967 he staged an elaborate coronation coronation ceremony, styling himself "Shah en Shah" - King of Kings. In 1971 he held an extravagant celebration of 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. In 1976 he replaced the Islamic calendar with an "imperial" calendar, which began with the foundation of the Persian empire around 500 BC. These actions were clearly aimed at sidelining the Islamic religion, and excited the opposition of Muslim groups, which rallied around the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Provided that you refer specifically to Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, or his father Reza Shah. Newspaper articles from 1959 cite concerns over the possible marriage of "a Muslim sovereign and a Catholic princess," referring to MR Pahalavi's interest in marrying Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy. From remarks about Reza Shah's multiple simultaneous wives and general social habits, it may be inferred without direct statement of the fact that he was Muslim as well.



The entire Wikipedia reference may be found here.

Iran, formerly Persia. MR Pahlavi was the last monarch.

Crisis in Iran (Mike Wallace)

There are basically two major peoples in Iran, the Arabs and the Persians.  Most of the Persians were the wealthy and ruling class while the Arabic people were poorer and usually the working class.  Many of the Persians left Iran after the fall of the Shah because they were afraid of the extremely conservative Islamic or Muslim, clergy.  The Shah fell through many problems the major one being that he was trying to force feed modern ideas and concepts on a basically uneducated and backward people, who were being told by their clergy that the Shah's plans were a sacrilige to the Islamic Faith.  And he also ruled with an iron fist, being a benevolent despot, just didn't work for him in a world where the clergy was able to use the same modern weapons, of communication against him, that his people didn't want to face.

He is buried in the Al Rifa'i Mosque in Cairo.