Permissibility of Initial Jihad with the Permission of Authoritative Jurisprudent With Special Reference to Imam Khomeini's Viewpoints

Without any doubt it is mandatory during the time of presence of the Infallible Imam to initiate a jihad in order to call the infidels to Islam, but almost all the jurisprudents maintain that it is not obligatory during the time of Occultation. Indeed, the contemporary religious authorities, even those who have written an independent treatise on the Wilayat Faqi (Guardianship of Jurisprudent), have not touched the issue as if they have taken it for granted that initial jihad is not permissible during the time of Occultation of the Infallible Imam. The author of Jawahir is the only contemporary jurisprudent who in his book Jihad maintains that there can be an initial jihad during the Occultation provided that there is no opposition to the Wilayat Faqih and the public accepted it; but in his later book Commandment of Good and Prohibition of Evil, he categorically mentions that the presence of the Infallible Imam is necessary for any initial jihad. Imam Khomeini in his book Al-Bai', states; the attribution of non-defensive war to the Infallible Imam requires contemplation, but he does not mention the subject of contemplation. The hypothesis of the present paper is that initial war is permissible with the permission of Jurisprudent, but the subject of contemplation is that the source of reliance of the jurisprudents is traditions, but this reliance is not complete as sticking to consensus is not reliable either. The practical conclusion of the issue in contemporary era is that in the non-Islamic countries, the struggle of the Muslims against the ruling governments is initial jihad provided that they fight for the supremacy of Islam with the permission of the jurisprudent.