The Faqih’s authority
The party of god pledges allegiance to Iran
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Mohammad Ali Jaafari, speaking Sunday to Iranian newspaper JamJem about recent Israeli military maneuvers, said, “Iran’s significance lies beyond its borders,” adding that the Islamic Republic will probably open a military front in South Lebanon to defend itself against any Israeli attack.
This statement calls to mind Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah’s declaration after the May invasion of Beirut by Hezbollah-led militants that he is a proud member of the Wilayat al-Faqih, or the Iranian “Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist.”
The doctrine of Wilayat al-Faqih, initiated by Ayatollah Khomeini and expanded in the Iranian Constitution in 1979, was the ideological foundation for the Islamic Revolution in Iran. It gives the Guardian, or supreme leader – today, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – authority over religious, social and political matters for the entire world’s Shia. He is in charge of people’s lives, and the power he wields is “divine” and not restricted by geographical boundaries.
It was the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that founded Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 and the training they provided, both military and ideological, was based on the doctrine and practices of Wilayat al-Faqih. Indeed, Hezbollah’s founding statement, issued in February 1985, said, “We, the Umma of Hezbollah, consider ourselves part of the Islamic state of Iran… We are committed to the orders of one leadership, represented by the Wilayat al-Faqih, the supreme leader.” In 1987, Nasrallah said in an interview with al-Aahed magazine, “Those who reject the Faqih’s authority are rejecting God and the descendents of the prophet Mohammad.”
This belief has spread among many Hezbollah supporters, who today consider Iran’s supreme leadership a model to follow, especially when it comes to politics and resistance. “The Islamic Revolution, and with it the doctrine of Wilayat al-Faqih, taught us the real meaning of Islam and how to wait for Imam al-Mahdi: To be religiously, politically and militarily active,” Kassem, the 21-year-old son of a Hezbollah fighter, told NOW Lebanon.
In Lebanon
But although Wilayat al-Faqih has been embraced in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ibrahim Shamseddine, son of former President of the Higher Shia Counsel Imam Mohammed Mehdi Shamseddine, told NOW Lebanon that many in Lebanon do not support the Iranian doctrine, pointing out that here, “the political system is different.”
“The Shia in Lebanon are independent by origin; they relate to their state without any mediator… Lebanese Shia should not have their project independent or separate from the Lebanese state,” Shamseddine told NOW Lebanon.
Other Shia clerics – like Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah and Sayyed Ali Al-Amin, the former Mufti of Tyre and Jabal Amel in the South – tend, in their readings of Islam, to limit the Faqih’s authority to those in need of guardianship, such as the insane and the poor. Fadlallah and Amin, who have both been criticized and, at times attacked, by Hezbollah, usually refer to the teachings of Iraqi Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, who identifies himself with a school of thought that separates religion and politics.
Fouad is a 40-year-old Hezbollah supporter from the South. While he does not regard Wilayat al-Faqih as his religious authority, he accepts its role in steering the Resistance’s ideology. “Wilayat al-Faqih is a new thing in Lebanon,” he said. “The Lebanese Shia never believed in this doctrine until Hezbollah took power. They used to refer to Najaf [in Iraq], rather than Qum [in Iran] for religious matters.”
“Even today,” he continued, “Iran’s ideology is only powerful when it comes to the issue of resistance and political affairs. Many of the Lebanese Shia still consider Najaf their religious reference. They cannot live under the rule of an Islamic state like Iran. They are used to the Lebanon’s liberal nature and need a space to breathe.”
Sayyed Ali Al-Amin has been a vocal critic of Hezbollah’s allegiance to the doctrine of Wilayat al-Faqih, arguing that adherence to it prevents the party from acting in the best interests of the nation. Since, in his opinion, the rule of the Guardianship in Iran has become political, Hezbollah’s support means that it will naturally be at odds with the political system in Lebanon.
Amin was deposed from his post at the Higher Shia Islamic Council during the unrest of May. When opposition fighters attacked his house in Sur and threatened his family despite the support of the council’s vice president, Sheikh Abdel Amir Qabalan, as well as that of many other Shia clerics. He later called for the formation of a committee to investigate Hezbollah’s actions and for a formal apology.
Guarding Lebanon
With the objective of reassuring the Lebanese, Nasrallah has said that Iran wants Lebanon to remain a diverse country. But what he was also implying, however, was that Hezbollah operates at Iran’s whim, and that those who fought in the streets of Beirut and attacked other Lebanese are simply part of the Wilayat al-Faqih army.
Hezbollah’s Christian ally, Free Patriotic Movement leader General Michel Aoun, immediately jumped in to explain Wilayat al-Faqih as a spiritual authority, akin to the Vatican and the role it plays for Christians; something that leads without interfering in politics or public life. What Michel Aoun did not seem to acknowledge, however, is that the Vatican does not support an armed group in Lebanon running a state-within-a-state. Nasrallah’s statement reflects a clear turning point in the party’s political direction, not to mention its true loyalty.
If Hezbollah’s Christian allies are going to continue to be associated with the militant group, they need to therefore ask if they will be part of the doctrine and military force of Wilayat al-Faqih. And Lebanon’s Shia should ask who is controlling their fate, Iran or Lebanon?