Velayat-e Faqih

Full Description

The doctrine of “Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist,” developed by Ayatollah Khomeini in lectures delivered in the 1970s, which held that in the absence of the Hidden Imam, political authority should be exercised by the senior Islamic jurist. Incorporated into the 1979 Iranian Constitution, velayat-e faqih made Khomeini and his successors the supreme political authority in Iran, superior to the elected president and parliament. It remains the fundamental constitutional principle of the Islamic Republic.

Critical Perspective

Velayat-e faqih was a theological innovation rather than a restoration of Islamic tradition — classical Shi’a jurisprudence had maintained that clerics should remain separate from political power. Khomeini’s critics within the religious establishment, including Grand Ayatollah Shariatmadari, opposed it on precisely these grounds. The doctrine created a permanent tension between democratic and theocratic elements in the Iranian constitution that has never been resolved.