On the 30th anniversary of the election by the Assembly of Experts of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, following the departure from the mortal world of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), we present you a special two-part article on the status of leadership in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Now we have part one of this article as follows:
Leadership has a special status in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is the system of government based on popular religious rule. The person to serve as the Leader of the country should be a top religious scholar, well versed in Islamic sciences, aware of political and social issues, courageous, and with a flawless moral record. The Late Imam Khomeini, as initiator of the dynamic concept of Velayat-e Faqih or Governance of the Supreme Jurisprudent, bequeathed to the nation and the world the rules of governance of the society by the most qualified person of his times, in the absence of the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (AS), the 12thand Last Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny), who is awaited as the Redeemer of Mankind for establishing the global government of peace, prosperity, and justice.
In the first decade of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini played the role of helmsman of a ship, ably guiding Iran towards security and consolidation by weathering the plots of the anti-revolutionaries and the Americans, as well as the 8-year war imposed by the US through Saddam of the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Baghdad. Each of these political crises, economic sanctions and military offensives failed to undermine the Islamic revolution, because of the prudence and political acumen of Imam Khomeini, who stabilized the Islamic Republic system. The unique role of Imam Khomeini made enemies of Islamic Revolution think that after him, the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic will come to its end. They were proved wrong. Imam Khomeini’s foresight had established such a strong and stable system, that it was important for any event to derail it.
The constitution of the Islamic Republic which is based on the Holy Qur’an, the Sunnah of the Prophet, and the guidelines of the Infallible Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt, set in motion such a perfect mechanism that the next Vali-e Faqih or Supreme Jurist, as the Leader of the country, is determined through the vote of the the Assembly of Experts, which is a highly qualified body of ulema, elected through public ballots. This ensured that there will never be any leadership vacuum in the Iranian society. The Assembly of Experts within less than 24 hours after the passing away of Imam Khomeini, took a historic decision by electing Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the then president of the Islamic Republic as the Vali-e Faqih and Leader of the Islamic Republic and the Islamic Revolution. He was not voted to the post of Vali-e Faqih because he was the president, but because he was a fully qualified jurisprudent, aware of political and social issues, flawless of moral characteristics, frank, forthright, and courageous in the face of enemies and their plots.
Ayatollah Khamenei proved a worthy successor to Imam Khomeini, as is evident by his role over the past three decades in guiding the country on the path of progress and protecting it from the plots of both the internal and external enemies. For the past 30 years, much to the chagrin of the Great Satan, the US, and the client regimes in the region, as well as the anti-revolutionaries who want to sell out the country to the superpowers, he has shown profound wisdom and prudence in defeating all sorts of plots. The various elections in the country, as envisaged by the constitution, such as presidential, parliamentary, assembly of experts, and town and urban councils, have continued to be held under his supervision, will full freedom for the people, based on Islamic teachings. This is proof of the dynamism of the Islamic Republic system and the astuteness of the Leadership.
In the current turmoil in the region, the Islamic Republic of Iran stands as the land of stability and the people of various walks of life, are living in security, thanks to the insight of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. He has ensured that the unique system of government based on popular religious rule is exemplary and is serving as a model for people of the neighbouring countries aspiring to determine their own destiny by breaking free of the shackles of dictatorship and the deceit of western liberal democracy, as advocated by their enemies, especially the US.
It is worth recalling that in 1989 on hearing news of the passing away of Imam Khomeini, the enemies were delighted at this bitter incident were seeking to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran. At that time the Voice of America said with joy "The death of Ayatollah Khomeini will definitely lead to instability in Iran, and some predict that the situation would probably fuel the flames of civil war.”
The US and its satanic aspirations were proved wrong as Ayatollah Khamenei ably took over the leadership as one of the most outstanding disciples of Imam Khomeini. As a matter of fact, the Late Imam, though he did not express his opinion publicly, had told his close confidantes, including Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani that Ayatollah Khamenei is the hope of the future for guiding the Islamic Revolution and Iran. The opponents of the revolution, however, tried to undermine the position of the Leader on the assumption that Ayatollah Khamenei did not have popular support and the ability to continue the path of the Imam. They were disappointed when the Iranian people, including scholars, senior officials, senior jurisprudents, and various organs declared their allegiance and full support for the leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei as the successor to Imam Khomeini. For his own part, Ayatollah Khamenei, who is gifted with sharp intellect, insight, foresight, political prudence, and economic acumen, proved to the main factor in stabilizing Iran and the status of leadership.
In his first speech as the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei said:" We have made a covenant with God to follow the path of Imam Khomeini, which is the path of Islam and the holy Qur’an and the path to the dignity of the Muslims, and we will not give up any of the ideals drawn by the Imam.” A glance at the thirty years of leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei shows that not only has he continued the way of Imam Khomeini, but has managed to materialize many of the lofty objectives of the Father of the Islamic Revolution despite the many difficulties and obstructions that have taken place.
In this period of ups and downs, the authority of Iran and the strengthening of the organs within the system have increased. This authority is due to the economic, political, scientific, cultural and military achievements and, in particular, internal unity and solidarity. The leader of the Islamic Revolution in the past three decades has succeeded in keeping people and political currents unified around the axis of the values and goals of the revolution. He also supported officials with different viewpoints, but noted in various ways their mistakes and misconduct. One of the issues that the Leader has always emphasized is to reform the country's economic structure and move seriously towards the economy without dependence on oil revenues. He has proposed the “Economy of Resistance”, saying such an economy is based on knowledge, expertise, technology, national interests, and social justice. The materialization of the objectives of this plan could safeguard Iran against the plots of its enemies.
Thus, over the past thirty years, despite the economic sanctions and political pressures, the Islamic Republic of Iran has had significant success in helping deprived people in remote areas, increasing agricultural production, livestock, industrial and mineral resources, but according to the Leader, these developments should further be expanded.
Ayatollah Khamenei's emphasis on science and technology has inspired the nation to make spectacular progress in fields such as medicine, nanotechnology, nuclear technology, stem cells, aerospace and many other fields. Interestingly, most of these successes are due to the reliance on young experts who are always encouraged and supported by the leader. Meanwhile, in the past three decades, there have been a number of dilemmas and problems within the country that the leader has resolved with intelligence and sharpness. In this relation, we can mention the differences of political currents that were occasionally misused by the enemy. As in the 2009 presidential elections, Western regimes sought to exploit the inflammatory atmosphere resulting from the baseless allegation of fraud in counting votes. Despite the fact that they mobilized all their political, propaganda and intelligence capabilities for this, the wise decision of the Leader nullified this dangerous conspiracy.
With the guidelines of Ayatollah Khamenei as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, over the past thirty years, despite sanctions and threats, Iran has become one of the top military powers in the world. Iran now produces various types of missiles, drones, ships, submarines, tanks, airplanes, air defense systems and electronic warfare and other light and semi-heavy weapons with the help of its highly skilled specialists. The presence of these diverse and advanced weapons, available to hundreds of thousands of trained, brave and motivated forces, has made the enemies set aside the plan to invade Iran. In the field of foreign policy, Ayatollah Khamenei has laid emphasis on three principles of dignity, wisdom and goodwill as guidelines. The anti-oppression campaign and the defense of the oppressed people, which are the principles of Islam and the revolution of Iran, have always been taken into consideration by the Leader. In this regard, support for the oppressed people of Palestine, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Bahrain and some other places is on the agenda of Iran's foreign policy.
No comments:
Post a Comment