That is...

That is, during the period of occultation and even at the time of the Imams ( ‘a ) from whom the helm of government was taken away, through general designation and authorization, competent individuals were introduced to implement the law of God. For example, Imam as-Sadiq ( ‘a ) authorized the Shi‘ah fuqaha to implement divine commandments and engage in administration in regions where people had no access to the Imam.

This fact is necessarily established during the period of occultation because when the Imam of the given time was under surveillance or practicing dissimulation [ taqiyyah ],[^2] he would generally designate individuals to address administrative affairs of people on his behalf. Is this practice not then necessary for the period of occultation when the people have no access to the Imam ( ‘a ) for centuries? I do not intend to expound religious proofs and juristic basis for this subject.

I only want to justify why in Islam the law enforcer must be designated by God and how God authorizes the law enforcer. We have stated that this authorization is either specific as in the case of certain personalities, or general as in the case of the duly competent fuqaha . Regarding this theory, whether in the dimension of legislation or implementation of law, objections were expressed, the most important of which was that it is allegedly repugnant to the essence of human freedom.

We refuted this argument in previous discussions. Another objection was in relation to implementation as the wilayah al-faqih system was considered inconsistent with democracy. Democracy is a system which has been accepted by all sensible people throughout the world. In practice, even the socialist countries failed to challenge democracy and had no option but to accept it. So, mankind today, at least in our age, has no option but to embrace democracy.

The Islamic government project which is known as the government of wilayah al-faqih is, however, considered inconsistent with democracy. Meaning of democracy and its functional shifts At the outset, I deem it necessary to explain the term “democracy”. The literal translation of “democracy” is “government of the people” or “populism”.

It means that the people themselves are involved in administration, legislation, implementation of law and the political affairs of society, and no one else is involved in enacting and implementing law. This is the meaning of the word “democracy”.