Of course, "Wilayat al-Faqih" is one of the definite laws in Shia jurisprudence. That some not-so-well educated people claim that Imam [Khomeini] invented the notion of "Wilayat al-Faqih" while other scholars did not accept it, derives from ignorance. The one who knows the words of the jurists knows that the matter of "Wilayat al-Faqih" is one of the strong and obvious topics in Shia jurisprudence. What Imam Khomeini did was to put this notion into practice in light of the great and new horizons that today's world, today's politics and today's schools of thought have opened before humanity; Imam Khomeini codified the notion of Wilayat Al-Faqih and made it develop roots, become solid and sound and strongly backed by arguments; that is, he made it understandable and acceptable to anyone who is familiar with the new political issues and the emerging political schools.
My dear ones! In Iran, during that period of fourteen years, especially during the last years, Muslim warriors did not feel they were alone; they always felt that Imam was connected with them. In the event of the death of his son, another dimension of the great personality of Imam Khomeini was revealed. Many individuals might be magnanimous, wise, and brave; but those who have expanded their grandeur to their emotions and to the depths of their hearts are not many. He was an elderly man --nearing 80 years of age-- at the time his intellectual and prominent son died. Indeed, his son was also an eminent religious scholar, a hope for the future. The sentence that was heard from him at the event of his son’s passing away was: “the death of Mustafa is a hidden blessing of God.” He regarded this event as a hidden, divine mercy; he took it as a merciful blessing, a hidden one! You see how great a person can be! Imagine the calamities, hardships and the intensities that came upon this great man during the revolution, and he endured them so strongly, resisting like a mountain: this was rooted in the fact that he had a great soul which was reflected in how he received the news of the passing away of his beloved son. Then he was exiled from Iraq and sent to Kuwait, and then to France: he said: “if I am not allowed to reside in any country, I will travel from the airport of one country to the next to convey my message to the whole of the world.” That greatness, that courage, that patience, that rare resistance, that power of divine and prophetic leadership revealed itself again here. This was a great new aspect of his personality. Then he returned to Iran and went through the events that led him to found the Islamic Republic.
Imam Khamenei, June 4, 1999
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