NCRI – The remarks of the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in his meeting on Thursday, September 8, with members of the mullahs’ Assembly of Experts was a display of the Velayat-e Faqih’s (supreme clerical rule) loss of clout and the regime’s fragile state on one hand and the mullahs’ fear of uprisings in the region as well as Khamenei’s futile attempt to take advantage of them.
Khamenei who has been discredited amongst all clerics, including mullahs within the ruling clique, yet calls himself the “regime’s main kingpin” said: “Absolute clerical rule is a flexible concept of rule … which can rectify or amend a path wherever necessary.” He however warned: “One must be wary of a dangerous misunderstanding of this concept by mixing flexibility with deviation and short-comings in the face of foreign pressures.”
“Just as the Imam [Khomeini] did not submit to pressures and instead persisted in the case of Salman Rushdie, the principles and foundations as well as the identity and goals of the regime must be safeguarded. We must know that if we let go of the principles, the very identity of our regime will be lost and we will never reach those goals… We must repent if we have shortcomings in our principles… They protest to us and pressure us over the issue of Qisas (punishment of retaliation)… the pressure us over the issue of Diyeh (blood money), they pressure us on veracious issues to force us to submit. It is wrong to do so; that is deviation; one must not succumb to such deviations.”
In an unprecedented acknowledgement, Khamenei described the concept of Velayat-e Faqih is Khomeini’s creation in the history of Islam, adding: “The establishment of a regime on the basis of Islamic jurisprudence was unprecedented prior to the Imam [Khomeini], and that grand individual was the first person who introduced and created both in concept and in practice a political regime on the basis of religious democracy and rule of the supreme jurisprudent.” He simultaneously called for the expansion of this reactionary concept to Arab countries.
While touching on regional developments, the mullahs’ bankrupt Supreme Leader continued his deafening silence over the heroic uprising of the people of Syria, which he fears, and made no reference to his strategic ally.
Referring to the downfall of the regimes in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen, he said: “This is a great danger that regimes come to power in these countries based on Western models in the name of democracy” and “These nations’ religious elite must take over control of these nations’ affairs.” He laid bare his ominous goal of exporting fundamentalism to these countries and said: “Here the [mullahs’ regime] can help these countries by introducing religious rule of people. Religious rule of people, which is our grand Imam’s innovation, can be a model for all these countries. It is both rule of people and based on religious teachings. This is our responsibility and must be carried so that the enemies of these nations are not able to use the void that has been created. This emptiness must be filled with Islam.” He was however forced to admit: “Sunni jurisprudence – whether the Shafi’i jurisprudence in Egypt or the Malikis in certain countries in that region, or the Hanaffis in certain countries” do not agree with the concept of Velayat-e Faqih.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 9, 2011
