Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist

Thanks, Thought Bubble.

So the new Islamic Republic of Iran was based on Khomeini's idea about what an Islamic government should be, a principle he called Velayat-e Faqih.

Mainly, it was that a Sharia law scholar would have ultimate authority because he was more knowledgeable than anyone about law and justice.

There would be a legislature and a president and a prime minister, but any of their decisions could be overturned by the supreme ruler, who from 1979 until his death was Khomeini.

It, it's more Marx than Muhammad, and-

It's interesting you say that, right? 'Cause certainly if you look at, like, Velayat-e faqih, which is, you know, Ayatollah Khomeini's writing, there's a, a very strong Marxist undertone, if not overtone, in the text.

Uh, but if you look back to certain figures, right, like Hajj Amin al-Husseini, who was seen as, like, one of the f- the forefathers of Palestinian nationalism, you know, he was not so influenced by Marxist thinking or Third W- Third Worldism.

It didn't really exist that time in the Middle East.

And they did, they succeeded, but unfortunately, because of a lack of freedom, uh, that was preceding to it, they couldn't, um, really educate.

You know, the whole public was rallying behind, uh, Khomeini, which was a religious figure, a- and just didn't know exactly how, you know, uh, horrible his ideas and his, uh, Velayat-e Faqih, which is the Supreme Leadership, was.

So yeah, it was, um, there was, you know, good, um, appearance back in the Shah's time, but there wasn't, uh, social freedom, and that's why people revolted.

All right.

You know even in '60s when um, the whole uh, process of revolution started, you know opposition to Shah's policies In '60s this was the main point where Imam Khomeini was saying those days ...

This is before even he formulates his idea of Velayat-e Faqih in that way.

Uh, He was saying-- His speech at that time was that an American officer And he used this term Even the cook in the embassy of the United States of America in Tehran If he kills a Marja Taqlid of Shias in Iran We can’t do anything.

You know? His trial will happen back in America."He says,"This is humiliation for the nation"We don’t accept that".