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Iran
Index
Figure 9. Powers of the Faqih
The preamble to the Constitution vests supreme authority in the
faqih. According to Article 5, the faqih is the just
and pious jurist who is recognized by the majority of the people at
any period as best qualified to lead the nation. In both the
preamble and Article 107 of the Constitution, Khomeini is
recognized as the first faqih. Articles 108 to 112 specify
the qualifications and duties of the faqih. The duties
include appointing the jurists to the Council of Guardians; the
chief judges of the judicial branch; the chief of staff of the
armed forces; the commander of the Pasdaran (Pasdaran-e Enghelab-e
Islami, or Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or Revolutionary
Guards); the personal representatives of the faqih to the
Supreme Defense Council; and the commanders of the army, air force,
and navy, following their nomination by the Supreme Defense
Council. The faqih also is authorized to approve candidates
for presidential elections. In addition, he is empowered to dismiss
a president who has been impeached by the Majlis or found by the
Supreme Court to be negligent in his duties
(see
fig. 9).
Articles 5 and 107 of the Constitution also provide procedures
for succession to the position of faqih. After Khomeini, the
office of faqih is to pass to an equally qualified jurist.
If a single religious leader with appropriate qualifications cannot
be recognized consensually, religious experts elected by the people
are to choose from among themselves three to five equally
distinguished jurists who then will constitute a collective
faqih, or Leadership Council.
In accordance with Article 107, an eighty-three-member Assembly
of Experts was elected in December 1982 to choose a successor to
Khomeini. Even before the first meeting of the Assembly of Experts
in the spring of 1983, some influential members of the clergy had
been trying to promote Ayatollah Hosain Ali Montazeri (born 1923),
a former student of Khomeini, as successor to the office of
faqih. As early as the fall of 1981, Khomeini himself had
indicated in a speech that he considered Montazeri the best
qualified to be faqih. Hojjatoleslam Ali Akbar
Hashemi-Rafsanjani, who as of late 1987 had been the speaker of the
Majlis since its formation in 1980, also supported Montazeri's
succession. Rafsanjani, in fact, nominated him at the first
deliberations of the Assembly of Experts, as well as at subsequent
conventions in 1984 and 1985. At the third meeting, Montazeri was
designated "deputy" rather than "successor," but this put him in
line to be Khomeini's successor. Since November 1985, the press and
government radio and television broadcasts have referred to
Montazeri as the faqih-designate.
Data as of December 1987
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