لطفا منتظر باشید ...
Otherwise
it is counted a contempt/disgrace to the people and a desecration to the
guardianship of the jurisconsult.
He
who undertakes the guardianship upon a madman, a fool or a young child,
organizes/administrates them according to his own thought and opinions. So
regarding playing, entertainment, sleeping, feeding and other affairs he treats
according to his own desire and will. This is the indication of the
guardianship upon the interdicted. However the guardianship of the Prophet, the
Imam and his successor is not of this kind, rather their guardianship refers to
that of Allah, that is the religion and its school themselves undertake the
leadership and guardianship of the society. The reason is that whereas the
people are under guardianship of the religion, the real personality of the
Prophet and other infallible persons is under the guardianship of the religion
and their legal personality.
For
the Infallible - from the aspect that they are infallible have nothing except
from Allah. [For instance] if the Holy Prophet as a trustee of the divine
revelation receives a verdict of fatwa
from Allah and announces it to the people, it is obligatory for all, including
the Prophet to act according to such a fatwa.
For
instance, Allah has bidden: "They ask
thee for a decree (about the Law):
Say, (O' Our Apostle Muhammad!) God giveth you a decision..."(Quran: IV,
176)
"This is Allah's fatwa. Narrate it to the people."
Once this fatwa is announced to the people by the Prophet, it will become
obligatory for all, even the Prophet, to act accordingly.
Another
example is about the guardianship verdicts such as coming to a rupture with a
certain tribe, or expelling/banishing, the Jews for instance from the city. So
submitting such an injunction is obligatory and therefore, violating it is
forbidden even for the Prophet.
It
is also true for the judges. For instance, when two hostile parties
attended the law court of the Holy Prophet, and he judged about them, once the judgement is finished and the verdict is issued, then
violating that verdict is forbidden and therefore, following it is compulsory
even for the Prophet. So there is no privilege for the Prophet in this regard.
After the Prophet, the same is true for the Infallible Imam, and if he has a
special deputy such as Malik Ashtar
(Imam Ali's companion) and Muslim ibn Aqil (Imam Husayn's deputy) the
same position is true for them.
In
case there is no special deputies, the same position
is true for the general deputy (na'ib amm).
Did
the late Imam Khomeini have any [special] privilege to the Iranian nation in
this regard? Whenever he issued a fatwa, it was obligatory even for Imam
Khomeini himself to act accordingly. Or when he judged that the Israeli embassy
should be wound up/closed, it was compulsory for all, including he himself to follow this judgement.
Since he has no personal privilege in this regard, nobody can object that
accepting the guardianship of the jurisconsult means
that Iranian nation, for instance, are interdicted!
It
has become clear that the guardianship of the jurisconsult
is not of the kind of the guardianship upon the madmen or the interdicted,
rather it is the guardianship of the school [of thought] (religion) guardian of
which is an infallible person or his just deputy. The Prophet himself is under
the guardianship of the school, in the other words, the real personality of the
Prophet, the Imams or other individuals are the subset of the guarded, and his
legal personality is the guardian.
Now
that the meaning of guardian (waliyy) became clear, no harm would occur for the monotheism, that is accepting the guardianship of the saints
becomes equal to monotheism. Because according to the verse:
real Guardian, while the saints are His symbols and tokens. Like a mirror that
reflects the Guardianship of Allah and not like boiling water,
for instance that got hot due to the fire.
In
this state one takes pride in the guardianship, for he is under the
guardianship of Allah. As an example, take a tree. It needs suitable water and
air to grow. These two are of vital importance. The role of guardianship upon
the society is like that of water and air for a tree. If one likes to become
the blessed tree of Touba,
he should follow this way.
The
late Imam Khomeini emphasized: "Support the guardianship of the jurisconsult so that your country remain secure." The
reason was that the tree of humanity should grow in good conditions.
Necessarily an expert in Islam who believes in it should take the reins of
government so that when he issues an injunction, before the others he acts
himself acts accordingly. This is the meaning of the guardianship of the jurisconsult that returns to the guardianship of
jurisprudence and justice. Otherwise nobody has guardianship upon the others.
In
the guardianship of a father upon his son the father is not obliged to act
according to his order before his son, and subsequently the son cannot object
why his father did not act accordingly first. While in the guardianship of the jurisconsult if he do not follow
his order before the others, the nation has the right and option to object him.
Imam
Ali, the master of the believers, said: "We never ordered you to do a certain
duty unless we excelled you to act accordingly." The message of prophet Shuayb (Jethro) in the Holy Quran is:
myself unto that which I forbid you from it...." (Quran: XI, 88)
It
has become clear [through the past discussions] that if the guardianship of the
Prophet and Imams is for the sake of their real and not legal personality,
thus the guardianship of the just jurisconsults
too, is considering their legal personality that is jurisprudence and justice.
So nobody can cheat the people that if they accept the guardianship of the jurisconsult it means the [recognition] that they are
interdicted. Because the people are intelligent and
understand whether this guardianship is that of upon the interdicted or that of
upon the free human beings.
Genetic and Legislative
Guardianship
Guardianship
is divided in two kinds: genetic (takwini) and legislative (tashrii). As examples of the
first kind, Allah is the guardian of man and universe. The human self has
guardianship upon its inner powers/faculties and also upon every kind of
application of the imaginative and imaginary faculties, as well as upon its
healthy members/parts of body. Once the self orders to see or
to hear, the eye and the ear will submit provided the member is not paralyzed
or maimed.
This
kind of wilayah returns to cause and effect. Each cause
is the wali of the effect, and every effect is
under guardianship of a cause. The causality of the cause is either as reality
or as a manifestation of the real cause. If the causality of a thing is real,
its wilayah will be real, too, and if its causality
is a manifestation of the real cause, its wilayah too will be a manifestation of the real wilayah.
Legislative
guardianship means that one person is the guardian of the others according to
law. A part of this kind of guardianships refers to jurisprudential issues,
another part returns to the ethical affairs, while the rest refer to the
theological issues.
In
the genetic guardianship it is impossible to violate. For instance, once the
self has determined to imagine an image in the mind, it will be drawn in the
mind instantly
If man wills to bring, for instance, the holy shrine of Imam
Riza in his mind, once he wills, the imaginary image
of that place will come to his mind. It is not true that if one's internal
system/organ is healthy, in case he wills a matter, the system does not submit.
Or he wills to see a place but will not be able to. So, in case the member/body
part the member is not paralyzed or maimed, then it would be under the
protection/guardianship (wilayah)
of the self, while the self is the protector/guardian (wali) of the healthy member.
However, the matter is different in the legislative kind of wilayah, since
this kind may be violated. In the other words the man can follow or violate a
law and an ordinance related to responsibility (taklif), because he is free, and
this freedom is a matter of his perfection. A part of the legislative wilayah is
discussed under the topic of Interdiction' (hajr), where certain individual
are interdicted due to immaturity, foolishness, madness, and bankruptcy. And
subsequently a guardian will be determined for them.
In some cases a guardian and supervisor is needed because of
the death. For instance, a deceased person needs a guardian (wali), and his
heirs are prior to the other to be his wali concerning the funeral rituals. Another instance is the
killed person, so that his heirs have guardianship upon his blood (to take
revenge). This is the jurisprudential kind of wilayah that is discussed in
different chapters of jurisprudence such as Purity (taharah), Punishments (hudoud), and
Blood-money (diyah).
But the legislative wilayah
that is discussed under the topic of wilayat-e faqih is loftier than these issues. It is not of the
type of wilayah
that is discussed in such different jurisprudential parts of Interdiction (hajr), Purity (taharah), Blood
vengeance (qisas),
and Blood-money (diyah).
The Islamic community neither is deceased person nor an
immature, a fool, a madman, and a bankrupted to require a wali.
All the attacks and the criticisms of both the local and
abroad writers against wilayat-e faqih are
initiated from this misunderstanding that they deem it is of the wilayah discussed
in the jurisprudence under the title of Interdiction, while it is not relevant
to it at all, rather it means supervision and
protection.
The holy verse :
and those who believe, - those who establish prayer and pay the poor-rate,
while they be (even) bowing down (in prayer)." (Quran: V, 57) addresses the wise and responsible persons
and not the irresponsible or the interdicted.
Allah, the
Exalted, never addresses the interdicted, the madmen, the immature and the
bankrupts by the holy verse "The
Prophet (Muhammad) hath a greater claim on the believers that they have on
their own selves " (Quran: XXXIII, 6), or
the verse: V, 57, or the verse "O' ye who
believe! Obey Allah and obey the
Apostle and those vested with authority from among you" (Quran:
IV, 59). The meaning of this wilayah is to supervision and
administration to which refers the essence of wilayah related to the legal
personality of the waali and not his real
personality.
It means that when Imam Ali, the Commander of the Faithful
writes in his letters that this is a message you receive from your wali. Imam Ali from the aspect that he is the son of Abu Talib, is
the same as other individuals and locates under the wilayah of his own Imamate.
Because of he wants to issue a fatwa, it is obligatory even for him to act
according to his fatwa. And when he issues a verdict of judgment, he is not
permitted to violate it, and should act accordingly. And when he rules as a
ruler, even he himself should follow it and cannot violate.
Therefore, it has been made clear that Imam Ali is under wilayah
considering his real personality, and is the wali,
and the Commander of the Faithful considering the fact that he has received
this post denoted by the holy verse (Quran: XXXIII, 6) due to the Event of Ghadir and the like.
Position of wilayah in the theological discussions
One can discuss on wilayat-e faqih from two aspects: jurisprudential and
theological.
The first one is that in case such a law exists, is it
obligatory to act accordingly? This is a matter propounded by a jurisprudent
that is the submission compulsory for us and consequently is the disobedience
forbidden? Do some of the individuals of the Islamic community have the right
to take the reins of government, and is it permissible for them?
These two issues are jurisprudential. In the other words,
whatever is propounded regarding the ruler (waali) from the aspect that he is
responsible (mukallaf),
and any issue subject of which is the act of responsible (person), are
jurisprudential. Is it obligatory for the people to obey the waali from the
aspect that they (people) are mature, wise, intellectual, erudite and
responsible? The answer to this question, whatever it could be (positive or
negative), is a jurisprudential answer.
But the theological approach to wilayat-e faqih is that: Has Allah issued any
commandments regarding the occultation period?
The subject of such discussion is Allah's Act and
necessarily the act of the responsible.
If Allah has ordered, its submission is obligatory both for
the ruler (waali)
and the people. Because Ali, the commander of the faithful, said:
" If people had not come to me and supporters had not exhausted
the argument " (Nahj al-Balaghah, sermon 3). If
those who gave alliance and also the companions were not available, argument (hujjat))
would not be perfect for me and subsequently I would not accept it.
The reason is that propounding a jurisprudential discussion,
for instance, if we proved in jurisprudence that it is obligatory for people to
submit the wali-ye faqih, or
if we prove that a full authority jurisprudent has such a right, duty or
responsibility, although it is a jurisprudential issue, necessitates the fact
that Allah has commanded such a way. Because unless Allah has issued such a
commandment neither the jurisprudent nor the people become responsible.
So it has become clear that as a formula, if the subject of
a discussion is Allah's Act, then this discussion is a theological one, while
if the subject is the act of responsible (person), then the discussion is a
jurisprudential one.
The reason that Imamate is one of the parts of the
principles of our branch of Islam (Shi'ism) while the
Sunni branch does not recognize it as a principle of the religion, is that the
Sunni branch holds that it is not obligatory for Allah and the Prophet, and
Allah has not given any commandments regarding the leadership of the Ummah. It is
people that should elect a leader. So Imamate is their attitude is an
application like other jurisprudential applications.
But in our attitude we hold that this task is an Act of
Allah, for we believe in infallibility. So we hold that Allah has commanded his
Prophet to introduce Ali as his successor.
Now the discussion has reached this point that Allah is
aware of all corpuscles of the universe, ("And
doth not concealed from thy Lord (even) the weight of an atom in the earth nor
in the heaven, " Quran, X: 61), He knows
that His Infallible Saints (awliya') are
present for a limited period and the last Infallible Saint (that is Imam Mahdi)
will be under occultation for a long period. Has Allah issued any
commandments/instructions/ injunctions for occultation period, or has abandoned
