JOURNAL OF POLITICAL THOUGHT IN ISLAM
Year:2018 | Volume:4 | Issue:16 |Papers Count:6

Undoubtedly, the current hegemony of the discourse of governancial jurisprudence is heavily indebted to Imam Khomeini's thoughts.It is through this discourse that we get to the functional approach to jurisprudence which is one of the bases for paving the way for the continuity of the Islamic Revolution. The laws of the Sharia (fiqh) with a moral approach can better function in different levels of the society. The growth and continuity of this success is more or less indebted to the employment of politics in moral jurisprudential discourse and its hegemony over other governancial discourses. The attribution of political jurisprudence to the gem of ethics to make it in tune with rational and universal human laws, which are also endorsed by the Legislator, is one of the initiatives of Imam Khomeini that has transformed jurisprudence from a static set of rules to a dynamic one. The study of the moral political jurisprudence and its role in the continuity of the Islamic Republic shows that relying on a morality based on collective wisdom, with the centrality of tolerance and freedom, as the pillars of moral political jurisprudence, can pave the way for the continuity of the Islamic Revolution. Freedom as the infrastructure of law and tolerance is the necessity condition for the survival of a society and also is an imperative of moral political jurisprudence.

This paper is an attempt to explain social ethics in Imam Khomeini's thought by using an analytical-descriptive approach. Documental method has been employed to analyze the data collected from the works, speeches and books of Imam Khomeini. What follows is a good example for how the hypotheses have been tested in this paper. Ethics in Imam Khomeini' s thought is the very Islamic ethical system which is based on Quran and hadith (traditions) handed down from the Infallibles. Ethics for Imam Khomeini encompasses the entire human life -- in this world and the Hereafter as well as individual and social life. Imam Khomeini has considered all aspects of ethics to propose a practical approach in this regard. For Imam Khomeini, the ultimate goal of ethics is for the human to get closer to spiritual values and God. Social ethics in Imam Khomeini's thought has intellectual and anthropological foundations, the most important of which are mentioned in this paper. Value, power of will, free-will and perfectionism are among the theoretical anthropological foundations of social ethics that leave a crucial influence on his social life. Comprehensiveness, moderation, priority of spirituality over materiality, rationality, incentive, and the ultimate ideal are among other theoretical foundations of social ethics in Imam Khomeini' s thought each of which having its own influence on human life. In section of practical ethics in both political and social behaviors, some of Imam Khomeini's viewpoints and his ethical precept -- like social justice, mercy and kindness, serving the public, and attention to the Muslim's coffers – are mentioned that Imam himself did observe and asked others to follow suit.

The present study has been conducted to investigate the hierarchical approach of the parents and children to Imam Khomeini' s political values. To this end, seven dimensions, considered as the key Islamic Revolution's political values in Imam Khomeini's thought, have been assessed, namely, freedom and the relation of religion with people’s votes, Islamic unity, duty and its relation with result, independence and lack of foreigners' interference in Iran’s affairs, inseparability of religion and politics, fighting arrogance and support for revolutionary groups, and finally support for the disinherited in the world. The data that were collected, using quota sampling, from the youth aged 17-25 of Ilam city, were analyzed to determine parent vs children priorities of the Islamic Revolution political values. Among parents, the most positive approach was towards independence, while the most negative approach was towards freedom. Among children, the most positive approach was towards independence while the most negative approach was towards freedom and lack of separation of religion from politics.

Finding the similarities and qualifications of the ruler and between the political structure of Sunni Islam and velayat-e faqih (rule of jurisprudence) in Shia Islam is the main concern of this research. The principles of the legitimacy of the rule of jurisprudent (velayat-e faqih), according to majority of religious scholars are divine, while the Sunni caliph’s legitimacy is popular-divine. By studying velayat-e faqih one understands that the conditions for practical establishment of the rule of jurisprudent in Shia Islam are almost the same as those for a Sunni Caliph.Sunnis' emphasis on succession to the Prophet, necessity of obeying him, implementation of Sharia and ijtihad (individual inference) as a necessary qualification of the ruler are are the same as the bases for velayet-e faqih in Shia Islam. To present a religious model of a ruler to the Sunni world, it suffices to review the conditions and qualifications mentioned by great Sunni theologians. A closer look at these conditions and qualifications would reveal that a Sunni ruler needs to have ejtihad (power of individual inference from the text), justice, and management capability which all overlap with the conditions of velayat-e faqih. Therefore, the qualifications of velayt-e faqih can be comparative studied with the conditions and qualifications of an ideal ruler in Sunni.

Political developments are directly affected by the epistemological frameworks of actors in the process of experiences and real life in the society and politics. Leadership is the key actor in the dynamism of political developments. The importance of leadership becomes evident when the leader enjoys the status of a political leader and a theoretician at the same time, something that Imam Khomeini did enjoy. The epistemological frameworks and the political leadership of Imam Khomeini indicate that the reality changed to become compatible with his epistemological model and some parts of his epistemological-leadership model became compatible with the contemporary political realities. That is why he supported the idea of public participation in politics and construction of a religious democracy. This reality led to a change in Imam Khomeini's epistemological system, construction of structures, changing the institutions in politics, political sharing of episteme and a kind of diversity and difference in political awareness.The research is centered on the relation of leadership and political reality in Imam Khomeini's epistemology. The main question of the research is: How Imam Khomeini’s epistemology of political thought shaped his leadership and led the trend of Iran's political realities on the ground? The findings of the paper indicate that Imam Khomeini’s politics-oriented epistemological system in interaction with the practical process for the establishment of the Islamic Republic through helping the establishment of new institutional structures and political structure of sharing episteme has shaped the epistemological sources of political system and revolutionary elites of the Islamic Republic and thus shaped the trend of the course of developments.

Right to self-determination is a right for peoples and nations to determine their destiny and improve their social and political life. Self-determination is not a mere principle, but a right. This right belongs to nations and their individuals and has been mentioned in the first article of the United Nations Charter. Self-determination is the basis for creating peace, friendly relations, and peaceful coexistence among nations. In the light of the Convention on Political and Civil Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the rights stemming from the right to self-determination are divided into political, economic and cultural rights.The two conventions have established the right for peoples to determine their own political, economic and social systems. At the same time, establishment of a system under the people’s rule was among the main goals of Imam Khomeini's revolution, something that he always insisted on during his struggles against the monarchical rule. Imam Khomeini maintained that this right is based on reason and is among peoples' fundamental rights. He was also of the opinion that based on reason and International Declaration of Human Rights, all nations, in all areas, should be able to determine what they wanted. The objective of this research is to investigate the reflection of the right to self-determination in light of the Islamic Revolution, in viewpoint of Imam Khomeini in comparison with international documents. To this end, descriptive-analytical method has been employed in this research.