the concept of Velayat-e Faqih (rule by Islamic jurists/clerics),
which would underpin the future Islamic republic.24
How was Khomeini able to galvanize a diverse set of social,
political, and religious groups and what was Khomeini’s
own ideological perspective? From the beginning,
Khomeini desired universal justice and felt that only an
Islamic world order could achieve such a goal. In other
words, the export of the revolution to the wider Islamic
world was central to the revolution’s success within Iran.
Moreover, only a faqih-directed Islamic republic like Iran
could create sufficient space for the construction of an
Islamic world order. Khomeini was thus dedicated to the
ideal of bringing about justice to the whole world, not
simply to Iran and the Islamic world.