A Glance at the Political Function of the Guardianship of the Muslim Jurist as an Institution in Fostering Social Solidarity in the Islamic Republic of Iran

The issue of social solidarity and unity is regarded as one of the current and most serious issues and one of the major concerns of sociology in the field of sociology of consensus. An investigation into this issue takes on an added importance especially in regard to societies of ethnic and cultural disintegration. Since the experience of establishing an Islamic government in Iran on the basis of the principle of the ‘Guardianship of the Muslim Jurist’ is a first-hand experience only over the three last decades, it is necessary to make a study of the structure and function of the institution of Guardianship of the Muslim Jurist as well as the important role the Supreme Juristconsult plays as a leader in fostering social solidarity either in theory or in practice or as a matter of experience. The religious status and background, along with the political management, of the institution of the Guardianship of the Muslim Jurist, as stipulated in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has caused this institution to be of pivotal role in fostering social solidarity among the people of Iran and in making the Iranian society promote their national union and solidarity around the strategic management of the Supreme Leader. Having taken a functionalist approach toward the issue in question, this article seeks to show that the Guardianship of the Muslim Jurist, as a religious and social institution, is capable of making the best of its potential and actual capabilities, stipulated in the Sacred Law as well as in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in promoting and preserving social solidarity and unity. In addition, the article studies the aforementioned function of the institution in question from the legal, doctrinal, and historical point of view.