What Is an Ideal Islamic Government? Transformation of Ayatollah Khomeini’s Governmental Theory

Abdollah Baei Lashaki,Masoumeh Rad Goudarzi

doi:10.5539/ass.v9n17p153

Abstract

Ayatollah Khomeini is famous for the theory of Islamic Government or Guardianship of the Jurists, and the Islamic Revolution. But his ever first political book known as “Kashf al Asrar” or “Revealing of the Secrets” written in 1940s shows that his politico-juridical opinion had been different before his exile to Iraq in 1960s and it, then, experienced a kind of radical change. In the current article, the researchers evaluate the main elements of Ayatollah’s governmental theory, his desired model of government in each book and the fundamental differences from the first work to the second one. In addition, the researchers investigate the effects of his personal experiences as well as Shi’a main paradigm of political jurisprudence in formation, formulation, and transformation of his thoughts and the degree of compatibility of his thoughts with his predecessors. The research reveals that his main concern in “Kashf al Asrar” was answering to the question that how should we govern, and then in Islamic Government he puts the question of, who should govern and what characteristics such a person should obtain in advance. These kinds of questions, in each book, were the result of a different juridical paradigm of thoughts that he had adopted.

Highlights

Ayatollah Khomeini is well known by the theory of “Governance of the Jurists” which first introduced by the great jurist of early Safavid time, Mohaqqeq Karaki, and later received a lot of attention by a number of jurists in Qajar era such as Mulla Ahmad Naraqi and Mohammad Husain Najafi
The evaluation and contrast of Ayatollah Khomeini’s governmental thought base of his two famous political books has revealed that in each stage he was preoccupied with different kind of questions
In Kashf al Asrar his main concern is “how should govern and what is the role of Sharia in administration of the country”

Summary

Introduction

Ayatollah Khomeini is well known by the theory of “Governance of the Jurists” which first introduced by the great jurist of early Safavid time, Mohaqqeq Karaki, and later received a lot of attention by a number of jurists in Qajar era such as Mulla Ahmad Naraqi and Mohammad Husain Najafi. A careful deliberation in Ayatollah’s first political book, Kashf al Asrar (Revealing of the Secrets) which has received less attention by researchers in comparison to the “Governance of the Jurist or Islamic Government” book, shows that his governmental thought experienced a fundamental transformation. In the “Islamic Government,” the focal point of the discussion is the canonical right of Ulama in direct administration of the country Ayatollah wrote his ever first political book in about 1943. A careful deliberation in the book could give readers a comprehensive notion of Ayatollah’s view toward Islam or at least an accepted model of government at the time, which is far from what he alleged in “Governance of the jurist or Islamic Government” and apparently showed a major juridical and political transformation in his thoughts. It leaded the researcher to find out what innovations he has made in each paradigm

Ayatollah’s Desired Model of Government in Kashf Al Asrar

The Ideal Form of Government in “Islamic Government” Book

The Form of Government

The Main Characters of Islamic Government

Conclusion