Word: faqih
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Khomeini's actual role is much less easy to define, especially in a quick first reference at the top of a news story. With the technical title of "velayat-i faqih," or guardian of the faithful--written into the country's constitution after much debate in 1979--a position which allows him wide-ranging power to approve laws and dismiss presidents and such...
...Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini. Despite his advanced age (82) and frail health, the religious leader has relinquished none of the levers of power that he grasped upon his triumphal return to Tehran 3½ years ago. Under Iran's Islamic Republican constitution, Khomeini's role as Velayat-e-Faqih, or religious guardian, gives him more power than either President Seyed Ali Khamene'i or Prime Minister...
...Muslim priesthood. The ayatullah, 78 and ailing, was apparently not arrested. It is forbidden under Islamic law to execute a religious leader of Shariatmadari's stature. His downfall, however, was seen as another victory for the religious hardliners. Under the constitution, the successor for the role faqih, or supreme theologian, must be chosen before Khomeini dies. But the process has bogged down in a morass of clerical rivalries. At the time the alleged plot was revealed, some of the more radical clergy were trying to limit the powers of the senior, conservative grand ayatullahs like Shariatmadari...
...number of right-wing clergymen have agitated publicly for a share of political power, now monopolized by the ruling, Khomeini-backed Islamic Republic Party (I.R.P.). One source of their discontent: Khomeini's announcement on Oct. 12 that he was delegating some functions of the cherished Velayat-e-Faqih (Supreme Theologian's Mandate)* to the Majlis (parliament...
...seeds of Banisadr's conflict with the orthodox mullahs were sown in the Assembly of Experts. Banisadr, as a ranking member, tried to modify the sweeping powers of the faqih, the supreme theologian who heads the government. That drew the ire of orthodox Muslims, who suspected Banisadr of trying to undercut the clergy. In the January elections to the parliament, Banisadr's supporters were soundly defeated by candidates of the Islamic Republic Party. Led by an archenemy, Ayatullah Seyyed Mohammed Beheshti, the cleric-dominated parliament now threatens to stonewall him as the outgoing Revolutionary Council did. Among other...