نشریه حکومت اسلامی
سال پانزدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 55، بهار 1389)

The guardianship of a religious jurist has been established by many intellectual proofs. Imam Khomeini and the late Ayatollah Khoi's opinions about this matter are based on two of these intellectual proofs. Moreover, in the history of Islam it is evident that governors, judges and representatives were appointed by the Infalliables and this procedurewent on until the end of the minor occultation of Imam Mahdi. We cannot expect the system of Imamate and divine caliphate to exist if its requisites - such as the existence of a legal representative of Imam - do not exist. In principle, the attainment of perfection will be possible only when there is a government which adopts and excutes Islamic law and divine precepts, and this continues during the occultation period of the infalliable Imam. God has entrusted the responsibility of governing to a righteous person to prapare the ground for people to attain perfection, and there is no one among the people who is worthier than the one who has knowledge, justice and competence.

Discussing the structures of Islamic system, the article sheds light on the main elements of Islamic system, the boundaries of Islamic system and power network. It also touches on the special functions or duties of the Islamic system and the jurisdiction of Wali al-faqih (guardian jurist of Islamic law). Generally speaking, Ayatollāh Jawādi Āmuli sees that thestructure of Islamic system is founded on the system of Imamate and wilāyah (guardianship), and holds that during the occultation period, the faqih who enjoys all the qualifications – as such, he is the nearest one to the infallible Imam – holds the responsibility of leadership and guardianship. The essence of such authority is, in fact, the authority of divine revelation and divine law in the period of the presence of infallible Imamand the guardianship of fiqh and justice in "the occultation period". He holds that such government is considered legitmate through divine decree and consent, and thinks that though people have no role in rendering it legimate, the establishment of Islamic government demands people's consent and support. The Islamic identity of the Islamic government represents the establishment and its republicanism represtents the affirmation. The author addresses this issue in the light of Ayatollāh Jawādi Amoli's thought making use of the systematic analysis model.

Due to the current socio-political changes in the Islamic world including the Islamic Ropublic of Iran, the question of insight is becoming one of the most important issues of the society. Though the grand leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenie, has – in many occasions and in Friday prayer sermons – emphasized the significance of the question of insight, no in-depth analysis and research has been done in this regard so far. Therefore, owing to the special role, status and significance of insight and lack of studies of it, in providing an answer to the question as to which are the most important bases of insight, the article seeks to make clear that, within religion, that is, through careful analysis of the qur’anic verses and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad and his household as well as the grand leader's thought, the main four bases of insight are the Quran, piety, loyalty to the authority of the Prophet and his honsehold, and sound thought.

People think that the issue of "catching sight of the new moon" which does not fall in the fiqh province is cocrned with taqlid, and thus they try to follow the instructions of a supreme religious authority. This essay tries to answer the question as to who is responsible for announcing that the new moon has been seen. That is, is it the duty of supreme religious authorities or the duty of the politico-religious leader and Moslem presiding judge to decide? In other words, is it the government's duty or the supreme religious authority's duty to decide the day of Feast of Fast-breaking (‘Id al-Fitr)?First, we have to know the measures and responsibilities of each of marji' (supreme religious authority) and Islamic government, and then see with which state of affair the question of announcing appearance of the new moon and the date of the Feast of Fast-breaking is consistent. It should be noted that the arguments concerning the necessity of taqlid (i.e. following the instructions of faqihs) apply when an ignorant of a fiqhiquestion has to cosult with a knower and they are valid only in as far as explaining fiqhi injunctions are concerned and it has nothing to do with the subject of decisions, because it is the mukallaf (one who is legally responsible for performing religious duties) who decides on such subjects, and so acceptance of authority, taqlid, is not permissible in this case. Moreover, making a governmental judgement to confirm that the newmoon has been seen falls within the duties of a religious judge, and due to the fact that this judgement have to be abided by all, it is not a matter of controvercy among faqhis and it is impossible to have more than one judgement about the case in point. Therefore, announcing that the new moon has been seen and appoiniting the date of the Feast of Fast-breaking,‘Id, is among the options of a Moslem presiding judge or a politico-religious leader.

According to the principle 99 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Guardians’ Council is responsible for supervising the elections. This sort of supervision defined by the Guardians’ Council is called ‘approbatory supervision’. The author reviews and discusses the criticisms and doubts raised about approbatory supervision in the light ofthe fiqhi viewpoint, and establishes the following ideas: 1. Relying on the principle of acquittance to reject approbatory supervision is incorrect, because in spite of the various meanings which the principle of acquittance has in fiqh, in criminal law and in civil law, no one of the meanings of the principle of acquittance has any relation with elections orwith the assessment of candidates’ qualifications. Therefore, the principle of acquittance is particularly out of the case. 2. Relying on the principle of charity is also incorrect because of the fact that this principle is regarded valild only when doubt is raised and that it is related to one particular action and has nothing to do with indvidual's conditions andqualifications. Therefore, the principle of charity is irrelevant too. 3. The principle of lack of guardianship is not a barrier to the approbatory supervision of the Guardian's Council, because in some cases, the principle of lack of guardianship, has no evidence for guardianship whereas the supervision of the Guardians’ Council is of ample evidence. 4. It is incorrect to rely on Imam Khomeini's fiqhi idea about the status of approbatory supervision because his fiqhi idea is said to be inconsistent with such interpretation. Consequently, the mentioned supervision in the principle 99 of the Constitution is absolute, i. e. it is not restricted to supervision of certain kind to obtain information but it includes overall supervision – referred to as "approbatory".

The questions of political philosophy can be examined and looked at from two aspects having two foundations: natural and supernatural. Transcendent political philosophy is concerned with the supernatural philosophical view about the questions of collective life and the area of voluntary political and social human activities. Its main objective is taken to provide explanations for the necessity of meritocracy and to prepare the way fot people's collective participation to do good and ensure social welfare in a monotheistic and virtuous society. Having in mind various aspects and realms of the soul, Mullā Sadrā succeeded to provide explanations for the supernatural philosophical foundation of the rational social life in the light of the doctrines of the principiality of existence and the trans-substantial motion of the spirit as well as an organic look to the realm of society. To elaborate on this foundation in the areas of politics and sociology, it seems necessary to define the sort of relation between psychology and political philosophy. The present essay (which consists of two parts) seeks to shed light on this relation.