For this he quoted the example of the Roman emperor...

For this he quoted the example of the Roman emperor Romulus’s heir Numa who diverted his people towards religion and happily governed them in peace and security. The point is that from the governments of the Banu Umayya and Banu Abbas to the Othmania caliphates, all of them were dependent on the Fatwas of the accursed people. Even an eternally accursed ruler like Yazeed depended upon a Fatwa for the killing of Imam Husayn (a.s.).

Even in Iran the mullahs were heavily involved with the previous Shah’s government. In all these periods the Fatwas of the mullahs were for sale and strengthening the grip of the kings. Slowly, slowly the realisation dawned upon the mullahs that if based on their Fatwas which were bought by a rulers for a few pennies they can achieve governance, then why can’t they themselves take over the rulership on the basis of all their Fatwas.

And so they spun their web of Taqleed and formed a large group of their followers (muqallideen). So much Khums money was being collected from them that it even exceeded the national budget of many small countries. In other words a government within a government had been formed and this thought of forming their own government was a necessary conclusion for them.

Agha e Khomieni writes in his book ‘Islamic Government’: ‘Their plan is to keep us backward, to keep us in our present miserable state so they can exploit our riches, our underground wealth, our lands, and our human resources. They want us to remain afflicted and wretched, and our poor to be trapped in their misery.

Instead of surrendering to the injunctions of Islam, which provide a solution for the problem of poverty, they and their agents wish to go on living in huge places and enjoy lives of abominable luxury. We believe in government and believe that the Prophet (s) was bound to appoint a successor, as he indeed did. Was a successor designated purely for the sake of expounding law? The expounding of law did not require a successor to the Prophet.

He himself, after all, had expounded the laws; it would have been enough for the laws to be written down in a book and put into people’s hands to guide them in their actions. It was logically necessary for a successor to be appointed for the sake of exercising government. Law requires a person to execute it. We need righteous and proper organs of government; that much is self-evident. Today, we have 700 million Muslims in the world, 170 million or more of whom are Shî‘ah.