Vilayat-e Faqih

[[]] What is "wilayat al faqih"? "wilayat al faqih" in Arabic means the "authority (guardianship) of the faqih (jurist)" over the ummah (Muslim community). Many think that only certain maraji' such as Ayatullah Khomeini and Khamenei believe in this authority in order to form a government and rule the country (Iran), however as a matter of fact every single Shia marja' believes in wilayat al faqih but to different extents.

Every marja' believes in "wilayat al faqih al hisbiya" which allows that certain marja' (faqih) to issue fatawa to guide the ummah, judge, collect khums etc on behalf of the Imam until his reappearance. Most of the maraji' believe in wilayat al faqih just to this extent and believe they don't have any other roles such as doing a revolution or forming an Islamic state as these could be only done by infallibles i.e. Imams, and since Shias believe their 12th and last Imam is present and living the maraji's role is limited to wilayat al faqih al hisbiya.

However there is another ideology first introduced by Ayatullah Naraqi and then used by Ayatullah Khomeini to form "Islamic Republic of Iran". This ideology known as "wilayat al faqih al mutlaqa" says that the faqih has "absolute authority" over the Muslim ummah. This allows the faqih to be involved in every issue i.e. politics and even do a revolution and form an Islamic state. Wilayat al faqih al mutlaqa is rejected by most of the maraji' as they believe that such authority could only belong to the Imams and no other person or faqih has the same rights as them.

A few names to mention of the recent maraji' who opposed the idea of "wilayat al faqih al mutlaqa" are:

Sayed Mohsen Al-Hakim, Sayed Abulqasim Al-Khoei, Sayed Mohammad Al-Rohani, Sayed Kadhim Shari'at Madari, Sayed Hussain Borujerdi, Sayed Golpayegani, Sayed Mohammad Hadi Al-Milani, Shaikh Hussain Vahid Khorasani, Sayed Ali Sistani, Shaikh Ishaq Al-Fayadh, Sayed Mohammad Saeid Al-Hakim, Mirza Jawad Tabrizi, Sayed Taghi Ghomi and Sayed Sadiq Rohani.

Ayatullah Abulqasim Al-Khoei for example states in his books that:

"There is no proof for the absolute authority of the faqih during the occultation"

"Yes there is authority (gurdianship) for the faqih in two places and those two are issuing fatwa and judging ..... however for authority in other places there are no ahadeeth with reliable sources and proof."

"So the (absolute) authority for the faqih during the occultation is not proven because it is limited to (only) the prophet (Muhammad) and the Imams."

You can find more explanation regarding the ahdeeth and why they are weak and not reliable in his "Makasib" and "Minhaj Al-Saliheen".

After reading all the explanations and the proofs regarding wilayat al faqih al mutlaqa, one starts to wonder, why is there that "most" of the maraji' who believe in this ideology have or are somehow benefiting from it!? Was this only an "Islamic excuse" for Ayatullah Khomeini to do the revolution in Iran and appoint himself as the leader? Why is it that all the "new" Ayatullahs that have graduated from the "hawza" (Islamic seminary) in Qom, Iran believe in wilayat al faqih al mutlaqa? Is this all an excuse to gain political power? Who appoints the faqih (leader)?

I remember when speaking to Hussain Khomeini (Ayatullah Khomeini's grandson) he was telling us how much his grandfather hated the hawza of Najaf and how he used to get angry and prison Hussain in his room when Hussain talked about Najaf in front of his grandfather. Maybe wilayat al faqih al mutlaqa was only an excuse which Ayatullah Khomeini could use to gain political power, be a leader and possibly threaten the thousand years old hawza of Najaf (Iraq) and strengthen the two hundrad years old hawza of Qom (Iran). Wallahu A'lam.

• For the doctrine, see Guardianship of the Islamic jurists
• For the book by Ayatollah Khomeini establishing the doctrine of faqih as ruler, see Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist
• For the Wilayat-e-Faqih of the Islamic Republic of Iran, see Supreme Leader of Iran
• For the current Wilayat-e-Faqih of Iran, see Ali Khamenei