Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Kawtharani, Farah W

Titel

Against the Absolutist Government: Shams al-Din’s Critique of Khomeini’s Thesis Wilāyat al-Faqīh

Ist Teil von

• Political Thought in Contemporary Shi'a Islam, 2019, p.103-130

Ort / Verlag

Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This chapter examines the political and legal writings of Shams al-Din on government in general and on Islamic government in particular. A great part of his scholarship addressed the concept of government in Islam. He engaged in a critique of Khomeini’s political theory of wilāyat al-faqīh (the absolute guardianship of the jurist), discussing the challenges that such a government would cause for the separation of powers, citizen compliance with governmental authority, and the dangers of vesting absolutist powers in the hands of the supreme guardian-jurist. He also formulated a governmental thesis called wilāyat al-umma (the umma’s sovereignty upon itself) in response to Khomeini’s wilāyat al-faqīh. The chapter elucidates the legal (Islamic) reasons that prompted Shams al-Din to voice his reservations against wilāyat al-faqīh. It also explains his concerns over the dangerous political repercussions of wilāyat al-faqīh on Arab Shi‘i minority groups living outside Iran, specifically how political and ideological connections with Iran through loyalty to wilāyat al-faqīh could jeopardize the integration of local Shi‘i populations into their respective Arab states.