The theory of the Guardianship of Muslim Jurist and its Firm Foundation in Imam Khomeini's Thoughts

The theory of the guardianship of the Muslim jurist constitutes an important element in Imam Khomeini’s political thought in relation to the leadership of the Islamic community at the time of Occultation. In addition, Imam Khomeini is the only Muslim jurist who succeeded to form an Islamic government on the basis of this theory which can be said to be the first objective crystallization of a Muslim rule over the Islamic community. Some believe that, over time, Imam Khomeini’s thought on the subject in question has undergone some changes or has taken a developing course. The main question this article seeks to answer is that whether the theory of guardianship of the Muslim jurist has been a fixed or unchanging idea in the political thoughts of Imam Khomeini and that whether it has been a coherent and unified theory, not being evolved into a new discourse over time since it was developed by Imam Khomeini. To answer the above questions, the author, drawing upon the documentary-descriptive method, has looked at the two books Hokumat-e Islami [Islamic Government] and Kashf al-Asrar [Unveiling of the Mysteries], trying to show whether or not the theory of the guardianship of Muslim jurist has undergone changes or remained unchanged. The findings of this research work shows that as far as the theory of the guardianship of the Muslim jurist is concerned, there is no contradiction or discrepancy between these two books, though it seems that the way in which Imam Khomeini formulated the theory at issue in Kashf al-Asrar is not clear-cut, or rather, it is implicit, due to the circumstances of Iran in 1920s. That is why it is thought by some that Imam Khomeini has been in favor of the theory of the supervision, and not guardianship, of the Muslim jurist. This brings evidence to the fact that the theory at issue has been explained away and justified or interpreted differently under changing political circumstances. The same theory, however, has found its clear unambiguous expression in the book the Guardianship of the Muslim Jurist in 1348.