In the Footsteps of Martyrs 191is sufficient to understand the basic outline of the doctrine and its
place in Khomeini’s political and religious ideology.
Khomeini argued that in the absence of the Mahdi, divine guid-
ance could come only from the Hidden Imam’s representatives on
earth: that is, the Ulama. Khomeini was not the first Shi‘ite theolo-
gian to have made this claim; the same idea was formulated at the turn
of the twentieth century by politically minded clerics like Sheikh
Fazlollah Nuri (one of Khomeini’s ideological heroes) and the Ayatol-
lah Kashani. But the Valayat-e Faqih proposed two startling modifica-
tions to traditional Shi‘ite doctrine. First, it insisted that absolute
authority be concentrated in the hands of a single cleric, instead of all
qualified clerics. Second, it argued that, as the deputy of the Mahdi,
the supreme cleric’s authority was identical to that of the “Hidden
Imam.” In other words, Khomeini’s guidance was, like the guidance of
the Prophet and the twelve Imams, infallible and divinely inspired.
“When a mujtahid [a qualified jurist] who is just and learned
stands up for the establishment and organization of the government,”
Khomeini wrote in his historic political treatise, Islamic Government,
“he will enjoy all the rights in the affairs of the society that were
enjoyed by the Prophet.”
This was an astounding assertion and a radical religious innova-
tion in Shi‘ism. Countering long-held beliefs that the Shi‘ah could be
led only by the Mahdi when he returns from his occultation in the
spiritual realm, Khomeini argued instead that it was the responsibility
of the clerics to usher in the messianic era by establishing and govern-
ing the Mahdi’s state for him. The Valayat-e Faqih proposed that in
the absence of the “Hidden Imam,” the Faqih—the Supreme Jurist
and the country’s “most learned cleric”—should have “the responsi-
bility of transacting all the business and carrying out all the affairs
with which the Imams were entrusted.” And because he was the repre-
sentative of the Mahdi on earth, the Faqih held “the same power as
the Most Noble Messenger” and would also be entitled to absolute
obedience from the people.
It is a sign of the great diversity of religious and political thought
that exists in Shi‘ism that most other ayatollahs in Iran—including his
superiors, the Ayatollahs Boroujerdi and Shariatmadari—rejected Kho-
meini’s doctrine of the Valayat-e Faqih, arguing that the responsibility