The wilāyat al-faqih after the revolution. The Vali-ye faqih in the constitution and nezām of the islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract

This essay deals with the theological-juridical doctrine of the Arabic wilāyat al-faqih (velāyat-e faqih in Persian), an expression that can be translated as ‘tutelage of the Islamic jurisprudent’ - and, in the forwarding of doctrine by the Great Ayatollah Khomeini, even with ‘government of the Islamic jurisprudent’ - and its development and institutionalization in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IR of Iran) after the 1979 Revolution. In this framework, the essay analyzes the function of the vali-e faqih (the Islamic jurist in charge of the government of the RI of Iran), vis-a-vis the Constitution and the order (nezām) of the country. The term vali-ye faiqh, due to its repeated use and prestige, tends to alternate with synonyms like rahbar, rahbar-e enqelāb, maqām-e rahbari or maqām-e mo’azzam-e rahbari.