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Shiite Islam maintains a fundamental teaching that is a foundational dogma of this sect of Islam. That dogma is called wilayat al-faqih—the “guardian by a jurist.” This means that, in an Islamic state, a divinely anointed scholar of Islamic law must exercise unquestioned authority over elected officials and the rest of the government. That role today is filled by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who also serves as the mariaa, or spiritual guide for many Shiites outside of Iran. You see Khamenei’s face on billboards in Beirut, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, for example.
As Wall Street Journal reporters, Yaroslav Trofimov and Gina Chon, argue, “[his] moral authority—and the wilayat al-faqih ideology that underpins it—has been shaken by [his] handling of Iran’s disputed presidential elections.” With his brazen support of Ahmadinejad, he has departed from his traditional role as a neutral arbiter and consensus-builder. He has hailed Ahmadinejad’s re-election as a “divine assessment” and ordered an end to all protests. In addition, many clerics have sided with the protesters, defying Khamenei. Trofimov and Chon report that “This jolt from the turmoil in Iran is reverberating in Shiite communities throughout the Middle East, from the Levant to Iraq to Saudi Arabia and others. . . A debate around Shiite clergy’s role in affairs of state has erupted in Lebanon, where a Hezbollah-led coalition lost parliamentary elections to a pro-Western bloc days before the Iranian presidential contest.” Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, warned critics not to criticize the wilayat al-faqih ideology: “Wilayat al-faqih . . . and such issues are a part of our religious belief. Insulting it is an insult to our religious belief.” But Syed Ali Amine, the Shiite mufti (chief religious authority) of Tyre in south Lebanon, has argued that Nasrallah is trying to halt all discussions about this ideology because it will challenge his authority with Hezbollah: “Despite Nasrallah’s statements, this challenge already happened in the streets of Tehran and several Iranian cities. . . This is the biggest proof that wilayat al-faqih is not part of the religious beliefs, but it is power and political ideology. Those who protested in the streets of Tehran did not offend religion or the Shiite sect.”
What has occurred in Iran has diminished of the role of the mullahs and increased the power and authority of the military. As I mentioned in last week’s Issues in Perspective, Admadinejad placed members of the Revolutionary Guard into a majority of the ministries of his government. Iran is no longer a government run by mullahs; it is a military dictatorship. The Supreme Leader, Khamenei, has thrown his support to this military dictatorship, which has resulted in the diminishment of clerical power in Iran. It is a raw grab for power. Iran is no longer the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is a brutal military dictatorship ruled by thugs and a ruthless militia. Perhaps former President Bush was correct when he called Iran one of the members of an “axis of evil.” I doubt very much that our new president will have any success negotiating or “engaging” this brutal band of gangsters, who are on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons capability.
See the Trofimov and Chon article in the Wall Street Journal (26 June 2009). |
