Ali Reza Pahlavi, Son of Late Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Found Dead of Apparent Suicide

Ali Reza Pahlavi, son of late Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, found dead in Boston home, in apparent suicide.

Ali Reza Pahlavi, the second son of the former late Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, committed suicide at his home in Boston early Tuesday morning.  According to media reports, the Boston Police Department said he was found dead of a "self-inflicted gunshot wound." If I'm not mistaken, Muslims consider suicide a sin? What in the world drove him to take his life? I have seen him on CNN so many times giving his views about the state of Iran and the Muslim world.

He is survived by his mother Farah Diba, brother Reza, sister Farahnaz and half-sister Shahnaz.  This family seems tormented. His younger sister Leila died of a drug overdose in 2001. It's a shame that such a brilliant man couldn't find a way to solve the problems that dogged him enough to push over the edge and to committing suicide. Pahlavi earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he studied at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.