Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist: Velayat-e Faqeeh [Original Version]

by Ayatollah Ruhollah Imam Khomeini

This is the book that is the original thesis on which the Islamic Republic of Iran is founded. The Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, also called the Governance of the Jurist ( Vilayat-e Faqih; Wilayat al-Faqih), is a post-Age-of-Occultation theory in Shia Islam which holds that Islam gives a faqih (Islamic jurist) custodianship over people. Ulama supporting the theory disagree over how encompassing custodianship should be. One interpretation – Limited Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist – holds that guardianship should be limited to non-litigious matters (al-omour al-hesbiah) including religious endowments (Waqf) judicial matters and the property for which no specific person is responsible. Another – Absolute Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist – maintains that Guardianship should include all issues for which Prophet of Islam and Shi'a Imam have responsibility, including governance of the country. The idea of guardianship as rule was advanced by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in a series of lectures in 1970 and now forms the basis of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The constitution of Iran calls for a faqih, or Vali-ye faqih (Guardian Jurist), to serve as the Supreme Leader of the government. In the context of Iran, Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist is often referred to as "rule by the jurisprudent", or "rule of the Islamic jurist".

94 pages, Paperback

Published January 9, 2017

Reviews

[safavid dreamer · Rating 2 out of 5]

In these lectures Khomeini’s world view are explicitly laid out. Islam is a political militant religion not a neutralized religion of prayers & internal struggle. He characterizes the Islamic world as being subverted from the outside by imperialist actors to weaken Islam. The signs of this subversion include - women having freedom, sexual openness & tolerance, alcohol consumption & usury. Khomeini is railing against the “imperialists” but also the Iranians (clergymen & university students) who are either quiet or enamored with the West.

Khomeini is essentially in these lectures seething about modernity. He attributes the forces of modernity in play in iran to conspiratorial Jews & western imperialists. He sees both Pahlavi Shahs of Iran as puppets of western imperialists - who want to weaken the faith of Muslims. All of this is outlandish & unsubstantiated. Any fair reading of both Shahs would see that while they were friendly to the west they weren’t necessarily puppets. I mean Reza Shah himself was ousted by the British.

Khomeini believes Islam & Islamic governance is the true path to freedom & happiness. Yet at the same time he says that anyone who propagates corruption against Islam should be hanged - I don’t think voicing dissent against a religion should warrant death but that’s just me. The promise he makes in these lectures are hilarious to read in hindsight since none of them came to bare fruit. Khomeini claimed that once an Islamic government is established all non-Islamic governments would collapse or be unable to respond. As of writing this is clearly not true the Middle East if anything is more Zionist now than it was during the Shahs time.

When reading these lectures from a secular perspective they are horrifying. They demand that Islam be militant & violent. Khomeini is not hesitant to bring back stoning & lashes for crimes such as drinking alcohol or cheating.

The strongest argument Khomeini presents is against the clerics who think Islam is just a spiritual & non socio-political relgion. He says that the prophet & the caliphs after him were political - the caliphs had the law but their role was to enforce it. In Khomeini’s interpretation of Islam , it is an all encompassing religion that is deeply invested in politics & jurisprudence.

For Khomeini secularism (non-Islamic governments) are orders that have lead to chaos & anarchy (I assume he means moral anarchy) - Furthermore, having these secular governments in the Muslim lands has led to weak governments and division between the Ummah. As a result, imperialists have been able to divide & conquer. This is again a hilarious take on history - the Islamic world has always been divided amongst itself. Logically Khomeini argues the just Muslim should agitate for an Islamic political revolution against secular states.


One of the major errors Khomeini makes is his reasoning for the weakness of Muslim states. He thinks they are weak as they are divided & not practicing Islam to its fullest extent as a socio-political grounding. However, it’s really Europe which was able to overcome superstitious & religious intolerance through the enlightenment (the use of one’s reason in the pursuit of knowledge not faith or superstition) that allowed the west to leapfrog the Muslim world. The Muslim world through its inhibition of science, secular thought & critique stagnated while Europe became a centre for ingenuity & dominance.

Khomeini is also strictly anti-nationalist in his lecture he cares more about the Ummah & Muslims than Iranians & their well-being.

These were just some of the thoughts I had about these lectures it’s a bit disjointed but oh well

[alexandros · Rating 5 out of 5]

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