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- Title
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC: AN OXYMORON FROM A SHARIA-BASED RELIGION TO A FIQH-BASED CULT.
- Authors
Rafatijo, Homayoon
- Abstract
The Islamic Revolution of 1979 gave birth to a complex Church-State integrated political structure that has ideologically terrorized Iranians for over four decades. The revolution centered around Ruhollah Khomeini's doctrine of Absolute Mandate of the Jurist, which was developed based on a juristic interpretation of the Shia Sharia. This Article shows that the doctrine of Absolute Mandate of the Jurist has completely transformed Shia Islam by shifting away from the fundamental underpinnings of the Shia Sharia and by adopting a natural law theory of sovereignty for a fallible leader. This Article, however, argues that Shia Islam itself sets the stage for this transformation, through its doctrines of Imamate, Infallibility, and Occultation. Finally, this Article demonstrates how the codification of the doctrine of Absolute Mandate of the Jurist in Iran's Constitution resulted in an oxymoronic form of government, which simultaneously dangles the carrot of democracy and wields the stick of despotism.
- Subjects
ISLAMIC law; CULTS; OXYMORON; IRANIAN Revolution, 1979; DEMOCRACY; DESPOTISM
- Publication
Mitchell Hamline Law Review, 2023, Vol 49, Issue 1, p206
- ISSN
2472-4807
- Publication type
Article