Differences in the Definition of Government in Political Thought of Imam Khomeini and Abul A la Moududi

The main thrust of this paper is to discuss how different definitions of the issue of government and its requirements in the political thoughts lead to significant differences in the structure and components of government and its requirements. For those who think within the framework of a specific intellectual tradition this condition is a function of requirements which are inherent in the structure of that intellectual tradition. In fact, different requirements in the intellectual structures of Sunni and Shia thoughts have led to different definitions of the issue of government. Attempts have been made in the present paper to discuss the structural differences between the Shia and Sunni thoughts regarding the issue of government focusing on the political thought of Abul A’la Moududi who believes in a divine democratic government with divine-popular legitimacy and Imam Khomeini who believes in an Islamic Republic based on the guardianship of jurisprudent with divine (Wilai)-popular legitimacy.