What is Velayat-e Faqih?
Islam has two branches. One Islamic sect is the Sunni sect, and it evolves into four different schools of theologies, Hanbali, Hanafi, Shafi'i, and Maliki. The Last Islamic sect is the Shia sect, which has three Shia Islam's thoughts: Zaidis, Ismailis, Ithna Asharis, or Twelve Saints.
The Safavid dynasty reigned in Iran from 1501 to 1722. The Safavid dynasty had its origin in Sufism's Safavid order, was established in the city of Ardabil in the Iranian Azerbaijan region. It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish origin. The Safavid dignitaries intermarried with Pontic Greek Turkoman, Circassian, and Georgian dignitaries during their rules. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids regained the independence of Greater Iran. They reasserted the region's Iranian identity. Therefore, the Safavid dynasty became the first dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to form a national state known as Iran.
King of kings Ismail I issued a royal decree about Iran's state religion as Shia sect of Twelve Saints to be his newly formed nation's official religion. This royal issue provided the foundation for Iran's independence against Sunni neighbors that they had powerful militaries—the Ottoman Empire to the west and the Uzbek confederation to the east.
Shah Ismail was moving Iran toward a secular system. However, it brought into the Iranian body politic the implied inevitability of consequent tension between the shah, the design of a secular state, and the religious leaders, who saw all secular states as unlawful and whose absolute ambition was a theocratic state.
The idea of a theocratic system remained a conflict between a monarch and the religious faction in Iran. The religious factions drafted a manifesto and called it Velayat-e Faqih. According to the Islamic laws that reflected the Shia sect of Islam, this manifesto discussed how a community's daily affairs should be governed. The idea was not appealing to most religious scholars like Musa al-Sadr, who rejected the Velayat-e Faqih. He asserted the Velayat-e Faqih did not meet the expectation of modern time.
Khomeini Hindi formulated his version of a theocratic system and named it the Absolute Velayat-e Faqih as a political system. He believed that Saint Mehdi, the Twelve Saint, is hidden from human visibility and lives in another dimension of reality. The clerics were closed to God, and God granted his wisdom to the clerics to rule a nation according to God's will as non-clerics deemed as minors and must obey the clerics' rule to reach salvation. Otherwise, people will be going to hell after they will die. Thus, Khomeini formed a system that did not need the consent and will of Iranians to govern. Khomeini's version of approval and will was not coming from people. It was coming from God. In this light, he gave the title of Ayatollah or Sign of God to himself.
Khomeini Hindi associated himself with God and believed that he was free from human error of judgment because he was associated with God. Mr. Hindi also talked in length about a modest lifestyle. He thought the luxury lifestyle corrupted the human soul. After six months of ruling Iran, the living standard began to drop. He rejected all forms of science and social science as a tool to solve Iranian issues. He believed Koranic verses had a different kind of solutions to all problems. Even Khomeini's followers would say if we look closely at Koran, we will make a rocket and travel to the moon or performing complicated brain surgeries.
When Khomeini became aware, Iran's economy lost its power. He said that I could not believe the purpose of all these sacrifices was to have less expensive melons.
Khomeini had an obsession with having people to die for him. He asked several times from Iranians, "could anyone wish their children to become martyred to obtain a good house? This is not the issue. The issue is another world." He also reportedly answered a question about his economic policies by declaring that 'economics is for donkeys.' This disinterest in monetary policy is said to be "one factor explaining the Iranian economy's inchoate performance since the revolution."
Other factors include the long war with Iraq, the cost of which led to government debt and inflation, eroding personal incomes, unprecedented unemployment, ideological disagreement over the economy, and "international pressure and isolation" such as US sanctions following the hostage crisis.
Due to the Iran–Iraq War, poverty had risen by nearly 45% during the first six years of Khomeini's rule. Emigration from Iran also developed, reportedly for the first time in the country's history. Since the revolution and war with Iraq, an estimated "two to four million entrepreneurs, professionals, technicians, and skilled craft emigrated to other countries.
On June 03, 1989, Khomeini Hindi closed his eyes from this world, and his son Ahmad Hindi did not become the head of the state. Ali Khameini was elected by other clerics like Hashemi Rafsanjani as the head of the state.
Jurisprudential Background
In The Language of Islam, any form of domination is interpreted as "Velayat," and various Velayat types, including Velayat, Velayat over children, fatwa, Velayat in judgment. According to Islamic theory, absolute Velayatmeans absolute sovereignty in all matters is devoted to God. The legitimacy of other types of Velayat stemmed from the relationship they have with this origin. Velayat decree is one of the province's classes, which means the community's political and religious zeal. In Islam, the Velayat of the command is delegated to the Prophet from God. However, this province's continuation after the Prophet has been the source of essential differences between Islamic religions. In Shi'a thought, the Prophet's succession has been completely transferred to the Twelve Saints or Imam Mehdi, which is why any government governed by non-Imams is illegitimate and usurped. The Shi'a belief in the occultation of the Infallible Imam since 260/662 created a severe crisis regarding implementing the principles of imams' Velayat. It has led to various theories for responding to this vacuum. Velayat-e Faqih is one of the solutions that has been put in place to resolve the impasse of absenteeism. This theory became stronger after the consolidation of ijtihad and the creation of marja'iyya, causing jurists to gradually become more powerful and perform some infallible Imam duties toward society.
Mesbah Yazdi, in the book "Islamic Government and Velayat-e Faqih" and Abdollah Javadi Amoli in About Revelation and Leadership, most of all have explained this theory. Of course, this view is not specific to these two, and people like Nasser Makarem Shirazi and Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani have a similar idea.
In the Vali-e Faqih political system, the government's legitimacy during the occultation is due to the divine decree and the Vali-e Faqih's legality due to his installation by the Infallible Saint-Mehdi. In this way, this system takes its legitimacy from the Vali-e Faqih, not the other way around – and all the work of the three branches is valid when it satisfies the Vali-e Faqih.
Javadi Amoli considers the Velayat-e Faqih opposite of the jurist's lawyer and considers it a significant theology and jurisprudence issue. He says leadership is an appointment, not a choice. Whether the leader is the successor to the Saint Mehdi, the Vali-e Faqih, the clerics appoints him either by the general installation or with a unique installation. It is not about representing the jurist. It speaks of Velayat-e Faqih. In an intellectual analysis, he uses the rule of grace as an argument for the appointment of Velayat-e Faqih (guardianship of the jurisprudent). Proponents of this theory also cite Khomeini's writings and activities. In his rational argument for Velayat-e Faqih, he writes, Whatever the reason for a leader in the same reason for government necessity after the Guardian's absence.
The people's opinion and choice in this theory give no legitimacy to the Velayat-e Faqih government, and the vote for experts is a reference to the see. This means that people choose religious experts to discover the jurisprudent of the truth and the divine wisdom to their testimony to leads to others' certainty.
Mesbahasserts that Khomeini's remarks at the time of Mr. Bazargan's appointment, the use of the word "appoint" in the implementation of the presidential decrees of Banisadr, Rajai, and Khamenei. The mandate for the formation of the Expediency Council, which was not anticipated in the Supreme Leader's powers in the Constitution, is a witness to the supreme leader's beyond the law and the absolute rule of rule the jurist. He believes the Expediency Council's formation is a symbolic sign of the top leader's powers, as expressed in Article 110. Under normal circumstances, the Vali-e Faqih is within the same framework, but under extraordinary circumstances, the Supreme Leader can make appropriate decisions according to his absolute divine wisdom.
Defenders of this theory also consider Principles 5 and 107 of the Constitution to be a testament to their approach.
Velayat-e Faqih and the Constitution
Khomeini and his like-minded people use the word "velayat-e faqih" to take over a political rule with all the powers available to the Prophet Muhammad and the Infallible Saints in Shi'a Islam.
The main difference between marja'iyya and the Vali-e Faqih: the Islamic laws have the role of guiding the people, while the Vali-e Faqih, which is considered the caliphate, is the political management of the Islamic society. The first is based on the science of religious authority. The second is subject to the public's acceptance; therefore, according to the Islamic Republic's Constitution, the Vali-e Faqih only leads the people's political leadership, and the role of marja'iyya remains.
Mehdi Bazargan drafted the Constitution for Iran. The Constitution was not an authentic one. Mr. Bazargan borrowed the Belgium Constitution and presented it to Iranians as the new Constitution. There was no mention of the Vali-e Faqih. Khomeini approved the draft without mentioning it. With the Revolutionary Council's approval, instead of the Assembly of Experts' general vote, he reviewed and finalized the Constitution. The Assembly of Experts added the Velayat-e Faqih to the draft in the 75-member Assembly, headed by Sayyid Muhammad Husayni Beheshti.
The members of the Assembly of Experts have not received detailed information about the behind-the-scenes negotiations, according to the official text of the negotiations (published in 1984), they first discussed the issue in the third session of the Assembly of Experts of Khuzestan Member of Parliament Seyed Mohammad Kiavash, followed by Ilam Member of Parliament Abdurrahman Heidari and then Hassan Ayat.
Abolhassan Banisadr, after knowing that the Assembly of Experts decided to set the Constitution based on the Velayat-e Faqih, he, along with seven others, including Ayatollah Taleghani, Ezzatollah Sahabi, Ali Golzadeh Ghafouri, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, Noorbakhsh and Moghadam Maraghehi, decided to resign in protest of this issue, but ultimately stayed in the Assembly of Experts and opposed the principle of the Velayat-e Faqih. Morteza Haeri Yazdi (son of the founder of Qom Seminary) also opposed the Velayat-e Faqih but refused to speak out. According to Banisadr, Makarem Shirazi, he also gave a hard speech against the Velayat-e Faqih (guardianship of the jurist). He said that today is the black day of Iranian history.
Ezatollah Sahabi says Ayatollah Beheshti opposed the Velayat-e Faqih but told him, "there are no conditions for us to discuss these issues now." Still, as can be seen in the negotiations' published text, He gave a speech in defense of the Velayat-e Faqih's vote after a speech by Moghadam Maragheh in opposition to the Velayat-e Faqih.
Hashemi Rafsanjani asserts that Khomeini and other clerics did not enter the Velayat-e Faqih into the draft Constitution because of their confusion about how Khomeini considered the Velayat-e Faqih. Khomeini deemed the Velayat-e Faqih powers far more than that and contented to prevent intellectuals' criticism.
In the revision of the Constitution in 1989, the circumstances of marja'iyya were removed from the Vali-e Faqih's requirements. The absolute phrase was added, and his powers were broader (Article 57 and 110 of the Constitution). In the new revision of Article 5, it was as this:
During the occultation of the Vali-e Asr in the Islamic Republic of Iran, "the Velayat-e Faqih of the people is responsible for a just and comparable jurist, aware of the time, courageous, and manager.
And Article 57:
The ruling powers in the Islamic Republic of Iran are the legislature, the executive branch, and the judiciary, governed by the absolute the Vali-e Faqih of the people and the people's Sainthood. These powers are independent of each other.
Leadership Experts Circuit
Electing the ruling of the Vali-e Faqih and members of the Assembly of Experts is a faulty and orbital cycle. The defective circuit leads to the strengthening and reproduction of the authoritarian political system. The person appoints the leader of the Jurists of the Guardian Council. The other six members of the Guardian Council are jurists elected by the judiciary's head appointed by the Supreme Leader. These jurists must get a vote of confidence from a parliament that has passed its representatives through the filter of approbative supervision. Such a guardian council finalizes the list of candidates for the Assembly of Experts. The Guardian Council, according to the Election Law of the Assembly of Experts, is a reference for the recognition of eligible persons. Thus, the approval of candidates is based on the prevailing political view of the Guardian Council. This institution is a former obstacle to any foreign entry into the Assembly of Experts. Such an assembly of experts is supposed to oversee the leadership's work or oust him or elect a new leader, which is an orbital trajectory.
Although the Assembly of Experts' Speaker announces that the Assembly of Experts' highest commission is the Supreme Leader who supervises the Guardian's work, who has the final word in every matter to enforce all the rules according to his will. The Assembly of Experts has only been in the Supreme Leader's position of praise and approval. There has been no questioning, criticism, and re-election.
Copyright © 2020 Peyman ADL DOUSTI HAGH
All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment