There are two levels of government in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The first level, which apparently represents the sovereignty of the people, includes the President (holds the role of CEO in a highly centralized state), parliament (has the task of forming and discussing legislation) and the judiciary, which controls and interprets the laws adopted. The second level, which represents the sovereignty of God, consists of only one person: the supreme leader, or Fakih.
The faqih has an absolute monopoly of state power. He appoints the head of the judiciary and can fire the president if he so desires. He is the commander-in-chief of the army and can veto any law passed by Parliament. His position is anachronistic and extremely unique: it allows for the institutionalization of religious control over all aspects of state power.
And it is heretical. The concept of Faqih, contrary to the claims of the Iranian clerical regime, is very far from the foundations of Shiite Islam. It reflects neither historical consensus nor majority opinion in modern Shia political thought. This is an absolutely artificial position, invented by the person who first took it: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Shiism, like Christianity, has a messianic character. The Shia doctrine says that the transitory world and all its imperfections will disappear when the Mahdi appears, who will one day begin to rule the earth. Up to this point, any governments are temporary and illegitimate, because the possession of direct political power is considered a usurpation of the divine powers of the Mahdi. And therefore, for almost all of the last 1400 years, the Shia clergy have refused to meddle in state affairs, choosing the position of political non-participation.
Yes, Iran’s leading ayatollahs fought alongside the country’s merchants and young intellectuals to create the first independent democratic movement in the Middle East. The Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, as it became known, led to a progressive constitution that guaranteed fundamental rights and freedoms to all Persians, as well as an independent parliament (National Advisory Council), free elections and clear separation of powers.
But the era of the constitutional revolution was short-lived. In 1921, a British-backed military coup brought the Pahlavi dynasty to power in Iran. The constitution was forgotten, the parliament became toothless and the state returned to dictatorship.
Pahlavi brutally repressed all political activities of the clergy. Although some prominent religious figures took part in the second Iranian revolution of the last century (the so-called Nationalist Revolution of 1953), it was only during the third Iranian revolution of 1979 that the clergy left the mosques to come to power.
Khamenei, 83, ill, is believed to be preparing his eldest son as a successor
This development of events is entirely due to Khomeini’s unprecedented interpretation of the Mahdi. Contradicting 14 centuries of Shia doctrine, he argued that during the absence of the Mahdi – the only legitimate leader of the Islamic State – political power should be in the hands of the Mahdi’s representatives on earth, ie the clergy. In other words, instead of waiting for the end of time for the return of the Mahdi and creating an ideal society, the clergy with the right authority should create an ideal society for the Mahdi so that he can return to the end times. Khomeini called this theory “wilayat al-faqih, that is “the power of the faqih “.
It was a shocking statement and a radical religious innovation in Shiite Islam. But Khomeini went even further, arguing that political power should not be in the hands of all the clergy, but only one. “supreme spiritual guide. “Furthermore, he insisted that as viceroy of the Mahdi, the supreme spiritual leader should have the same power not only as the Mahdi, but also as the prophet Muhammad himself.” When a mujtahid (Theologian-Islamic jurist), just and enlightened, proceeds with the establishment and organization of the government, – Khomeini wrote in the political treatise “Islamic Government”, – will have all those rights in the affairs of society that the Prophet had.
No Muslim religious figure has ever made such shocking proposals. The idea that every person can have the same infallibility and divine authority as a Prophet goes against centuries of Islamic theology. This theory was so evidently heretical that it was immediately rejected by almost all the other ayatollahs in Iran. (including Khomeini’s immediate leaders – Ayatollah Borujerdi and Ayatollah Shariatmadari), as well as nearly all the great ayatollahs of Iraq An-Najaf, the religious center of Shia Islam.
What made Khomeini attractive was his ability to articulate his radical doctrine with topical populist rhetoric. With his colleagues intimidated enough to keep quiet and the pious Iranian masses eager enough to act, Khomeini’s hands were free to take control of the post-revolutionary government. Most Iranians have not yet had time to understand what exactly they agreed, and Khomeini has already translated his interpretation of the Mahdi into the political sphere, transformed Iran into an Islamic Republic, and declared himself the country’s first Faqih. : the highest secular and religious authority.
In 1989 Khomeini died and Fakih’s position passed to his personally chosen successor, Ali Khamenei, while the clergy and people practically did not resist. Faqih was supposed to be Iran’s most learned religious ruler, but Khamenei was a mid-level religious figure (he was not even an ayatollah) with weak authority. However, it was he who got this position, and the main reason for this was that almost all the other more qualified religious figures in Iran (including the great Ayatollah Ali Montazeri, whom Khomeini first chose as his successor) denounced the Faqih doctrine as anathema to Islam.
Today many believe that Khamenei, 83, ill, is preparing his eldest son, Mojtab (now has an even lower spiritual rank than Khamenei himself at the time of his appointment as successor) to become Iran’s next top leader. As a result, this position will lose the last remnants of religious legitimacy it still has, and the true meaning of Faqih will become obvious: this is a synonym for Shah.
If that happens, subsequent protests will likely overshadow the riots we are witnessing today. Already one of the most widespread slogans in the streets during the ongoing protests is: “Mojtaba, Bemiri, Rahbari ro Nabini”, that is “Mojtaba, we will see you die before becoming a leader. “
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Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2022
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