Why does only Iran have a Governor of the Jurisprudence?

Upvote:3

The Governor of the Jurisprudence is the Supreme Religious Leader of Iran. He is more powerful than the President, and is to the President, what a medieval Pope was to a medieval king.

This role was created in Iran as a result of the 1979 revolution against the Shah. No other Islamic country ever had such a violently anti-secularist revolution or the incentive to put forth such a post.

The have been only two Governors of the Jurisprudence in Iran so far. The first was the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The second one is the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Upvote:4

Wilayat al Faqih is traditionally not a position, but a principle, or theory. The principle says that an Islamic Jurist as a guardian of people. There has been several different views on what this means, and if the Islamic Jurist is a guardian in all things, including secular, or only a guardian in religious matters.

Ruhollah Khomeini expanded on this principle in a series of lectures in the 1970's where he argued for Islamic Jurists to be guardians of the people as a general rule, even for secular matters. He later used this view as a basis in the Iran constitution.

In that constitution he created the position of Wilayat al Faqih. This was a new invention, and this is why no other country than Iran has had this position: Khomeini is the one that created this position, and he created it for himself.

So the problem here is the statement "even though its existence was provided for under shariah law from the starting of Islam religion". This is incorrect.

More post

Search Posts

Related post