Reading the Concept of Walāyat al-Faqīh from Islamic Journals

Abstract

According to the Shiite-Imāmiyya, since the imams, who have religious and worldly authority after the Prophet Muhammad, have absolute political authority, no legitimacy problem arose during the period when the imams were alive. During the period when the twelfth Imam Mahdī al-Muntazar was in ghayb, however, due to the impossibility of establishing an Islamic state that would make absolute justice prevail, the governments during ghayb were regarded as usurpers according to Shī’ah. Nevertheless, especially from the beginning of the ghayb al-qubrāʾ and the process of the Usūlī ulama taking over the 86owers of the imam until Khomeini, the Shīʿite ulama came to a compromise with the governments under their rule under certain conditions. These reconciliation attempts of the ulema show that they were not indifferent to politics even before the revolution. In this respect, the Safavid rule (1501-1736) is important. The events around the Sheikh Safīy al-Dīn's takkah, which transformed from a Sunni Sufi lodge into a Shi'ite political movement, added a new dimension to the role of the Isnaāshariyya jurist during the Safavid period. Ulema gained an important power in politics.
During the Qajar period (1796-1925), the religious administration of the society was completely in the hands of the ulema, which led to the strengthening of the bond between the ulema and the mujtahids. This eventually led to the development of the institution of merjiyyat. In this period, the people moved away from politics as a result of some policies of the state and approached the ulema. In time, the ulema became the authority for political complaints as well as religious complaints.
The most important name we need to mention in order to understand the concept of wilāyat-i faqīh is undoubtedly Mullā Ahmad Nārāqī (d. 1245/1829). The innovations that al-Narāqī brought to the political position of the faqih are very important for our subject. In his work Avāʾid al-ayyām, he divided wilāyah into two categories: fixed and non-fixed. He stated that those whose guardianship is fixed are prophets and imams, and those whose guardianship is not fixed are just jurists, fathers, grandfathers, husbands, and masters. He stated that the wilāyah of those other than the faqihs is limited and that the wilāyah of the faqihs cannot be limited to any field (Nārāqī, 1417). He extended the authority of the faqaha to cover the entire authority of the imam whom he represents, saying that since the fuqaha is the representative of the imam, his authority is also fixed. In addition to all these, he mentioned that the fuqaha are the most perfect being after the imams and superior to all human beings, and that the fuqaha have authority over kings just as kings have authority over people. While putting forward this view, al-Narāqī never aimed to establish a state ruled by the fuqaha. He only wanted to revive the Shi’i world by offering new perspectives in the implementation of these duties, which had become ineffective during the period of ghayba.
Until Khomeini, the faqih could only represent the imam in the following three matters: a) guardianship over the person and property of orphans, orphans and widows, b) guardianship over the religious life of the community, and c) general matters concerning the welfare of the Muslim community. In addition to all these, Khomeini emphasised the administration of the government and the regulation of all political life by the faqih, clearly stating that the faqih has the same authority as the prophets and imams. This idea became one of the basic principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was established as a result of the revolution in Iran in 1979 This concept, which seemed extremely simple when it first emerged, had a great resonance with Khomeini. It caused turmoil not only in Iran but also in the whole world. Because with this concept, the Shiite political world had a legitimate government, while deep-rooted Shiite institutions such as the merjiyyat were shaken to its foundations.
In this study, it will be tried to evaluate how Islamist journals published in Turkey from 1979 to the present, which represent a rich place in the history of Turkish publishing, approach the concept of wilāyat-i faqīh in general terms. The journals included in the scope of the study were scanned by content analysis method and the texts dealing with the theory of wilāyat-i faqīh in these journals were identified. In this context, 53 journals were scanned and it was found that only 6 of them mentioned the subject. Among the journals we identified are "Dünya ve İslam", "Misak", "Hüner", "Tevhid", "Bilgi ve Düşünce" and "İktibas". In the following pages, we will discuss the subject under the titles of the definition, characteristics and powers of wilāyat-i faqīh, the justification of wilāyat-i faqīh, the differences between democracy and Islamic governance, velayat-e faqih according to Ahl al-Sunnah, and criticisms against the theory of walayat-i faqih.