Political and Religious Leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini: an interpretation of political leadership in modern Iran

Abstract

The author argues the specificity of the Iranian social and political structure, placing the country between Islamic traditionalism and modern society. Attempting to gain a deeper understanding of the essence of the political culture of contemporary Iranian society, Kulyushin explores the relationship between religion and politics in the country. He traces the transformation of religious leadership to the political one in the 16 th ‑20 th centuries, the historical evolution of the velayat-e faqih theory, which has made it possible to legitimize the rule of the ‘ ulama’ within the ideological framework of the Imami Shi'ism. The focus of Kulyushin’s study is on the figure of Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79. The author explores the role of the religious component in the formation of Khomeini’s political status. In particular, basing on the preamble to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran as amended in 1989, the official biography of Khomeini and the school textbook on modern history, Kulyushin discusses the conventional title of Khomeini, imam , and its relation to Shi‘i theological concept of imamah , explaining the use of this title as a “political metaphorization”, when moral and political expectations related to the “hidden Imam” (­ al-imam al-qa’im ) are being transferred onto the outstanding political leader.