Political Legitimacy in Governance Based on Rational Reason, with an Approach to Imam Khomeini’s Intellectual Principles

Legitimacy is one of the long-standing and most essential debates in political systems. It is important in that the political systems’ sustainability depends upon legitimacy. Therefore, any government tries to consolidate its legitimacy to avoid disruption. Reason is an outstanding element in Imam Khomeini’s political thought. Therefore, in terms of political legitimacy of the governance, he considers appealing to reason as the most important intellectual proof. Speaking about Imam Khomeini’s manner of Ijtihad (the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the legal sources), rational proof is more outstanding in his political legitimacy. Imam Khomeini’s jurisprudential and Usuli (principles of Islamic jurisprudence) fundamentals are influential constituents of his political thought. Many novel debates presented by him on political jurisprudence come from the practice of rational proof in using the references. Additionally, in view of Imam Khomeini, rational proof can be used for conforming jurisprudential principles to modern-day developments and issues. The discovery of many jurisprudential principles and their use in political arena is a result of Imam Khomeini’s rational work. Therefore, in identifying the criteria for verdicts in his rational method, Imam Khomeini appeals to reason to analyze and conform jurisprudential principles to everyday developments. This is how the political theory of the absolute rule of the Islamic jurisprudent and the establishment of an Islamic system of government are formed.