Ali Shariati was an Iranian sociologist who inspired supporters of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. During the 1960s Shariati studied in Paris where he became involved in student politics. On his return to Iran, he taught at the University of Mashhad. In his work he sought to explain the problems of Muslim society in light of Islamic principals. He disassociated religion from what he regarded as the monopoly of religious clerics, consequently he was unpopular with the religious establishment in pre-Revolutionary Iran. However he commanded great support from young urban Iranians who wanted to change the rule of the Shah. Shariati fled the country in 1977 but died three weeks later in England.

After the Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, the new leader drew on Shariati's popularity by appropriating him for his own cause. Posters, like this one were produced which used martyr symbolism, such as poppies, to imply Shariati was a martyr of the revolution.