Walayet-e faqih as a political theory: The case of Ayatollah Khomeini

The questions on who should rule the society and the source of legitimacy of the ruler are as old as human history. One of the answers given to these questions is the recognition of the educated people's right and authority to rule. The first of these people is the philosopher. This view, which has been advocated since ancient Greece, has changed shape in Islamic civilization and the philosopher has left its place to the jurist. Sunni and Shiite thought agree that the authority of religious representation is in the hand of the faqih. The Ithnāʿashariyya developed the rights and authority of the jurist, on the axis of the theory of " Walayet-e faqih", which started from a limited area and evolved into absolute dominance, and brought it to the field of application with the Iranian Islamic Revolution. With this study, we have aimed to examine the idea of the rule of an educated elite, which was formulated around the philosopher and the jurist, starting from Ancient Greece, and finally to deal with the system applied in the Islamic Republic of Iran within the framework of the Walayet-e faqih theory advocated by Ayatollah Khomeini. In the first part of the study, the historical background was given. In the second part, the development of Ayatollah Khomeini's idea of Walayet-e faqih and its application in the Islamic Republic of Iran were mainly examined on the basis of his own works and statements. In the third part of the study, criticisms of the theory of Walayet-e faqih were evaluated. At the end of the study, Ayatollah Khomeini did not put forward a new theory, but he made a theory with controversial borders accepted by the masses of people by going beyond the scientific basins, and after the Iranian Islamic Revolution built the new regime on the basis of this theory; Although it is generally accepted today, it has been concluded that objections and criticisms against the theory and its application continue among both ulama and intellectuals both inside and outside Iran.