Word: velayat
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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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...
...personally by 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...
...recent weeks a 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...