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Islamic Leadership
Among the most important and eternal
principles
of Islam is the principle of leadership,
which is also
called guardianship (Wilayah).In Islam, the leadership
of society is a divine responsibility
that is not left to
just anyone, and Allah makes known
to the people
those righteous and worthy persons
that He has chosen
to perform this important task.During the time of the Prophet (SA), the leader and
guardian of the Islamic society
was of course the
Prophet (SA) himself, and
he was never irresolute
about performing this important
task.He received laws
and commands from Allah and communicated
these
to the people, he was commanded
by Allah to implement
in society the social and political
laws of Islam,
and to lead, through his sacred
leadership, the society
to the path towards perfection.The management of all the political
and social affairs
of society was in his hands.The
orders for jihad (Islamic
holy war) were issued by the Prophet (SA), and he
personally appointed the commanders
of his forces.In
all these responsibilities, he
would confer with the
people, but the final decision
was always taken by him
and Allah gave him complete authority
in this regard.The Prophet's (SA) decisions
took precedence over
the immediate wants of the people,
for he was aware
of their best and long-term interests,
and was more
able than they were themselves
to guide and lead them
to felicity and freedom.In the Qur'an Allah tells us: The
Prophet is more
in authority over the believers
than they themselves."But this leadership and guardianship
is not limited
to the time of the Prophet (SA).Rather the people of
all times need a divine leader
and guardian.For this
reason under the command of the
Almighty Allah, the
Prophet (SA) appointed Imam
Ali (AS) to be the
leader of the people and the guardian
of the society
after himself.At a huge gathering
of Muslims, while
returning from his last haji the
Prophet (SA)
announced at a place called Ghadir
Khumm:
"He whose guardian I am, also his
guardian is Ali"
Thus, it was by the order of Allah
that Ali (AS)
was designated by the Prophet (SA) as the leader and
guardian of Islamic Ummah after
himself.Likewise,
Ali (AS) in turn did not
leave the Ummah without a
divine leader.At the command of
Allah and in accordance
with the decree of the Prophet (SA) he appointed
al-Imam al-Hasan (AS) to
the post of leader-
ship, and made this known to the
people.In the same way, each of the infallible
Imams
appointed a successor to lead and
guide the Ummah,
until it came to the turn of the
Twelfth Imam, Muhammad
al-Mahdi (AS) who, at the
order of Allah, was
hidden from the vision of mankind.During the Imam's Ghaybah (occultation),
Muslim
society is not bereft of the proper
leadership According
to the words of the Twelfth Imam (AS) and the
Imams before him, the leadership
and guidance of Islamic
society during this period is the
duty of just,
aware, selfless and brave mujtahidin
jurisprudents).During thisperiod the leader of
Islamic society
must be great scholar of Islam.Virtuous and pious.Who must be totally aware of current
political and social
affairs and of the needs of the
people.The Muslims
must choose him to be their leader
and follow his instructions.When the Muslims accept such a
leader they can
easily gain their freedom and overcome
the injustice
and oppression of the tyrannical
powers.As is clear,
by accepting the principle of religious
leadership.the
people of Iran have freed themselves
from the tyranny
and injustice of the puppet regime
of the ex-Shah, and
are slowly but surely on their
way to overturning the
whole of the oppressive world order.With perfect vision and decisiveness,
the Islamic
leader guides the Ummah in all
social and political
affairs.He is ultimately responsible
for the armed
forces, and he keeps watch over
the laws and management
of society so that by following
the Islamic programs
the society moves towards perfection.He puts
a halt to deviations and centralizes
all the forces and
resources of the nation.He turns
the whole of society
toward a single goal; freedom from
oppression and
the attainment of sincere service
to Allah.
