A Comparative Study of Legal Addresses by Imam Khomeini and Generally Accepted Viewpoints

Legal addresses theory is one of the most important scientific and fundamental innovations by Imam Khomeini which is enriched with many scientific values and points and has immensely affected the jurisprudential and theological discussions. According to this theory, legal addresses, irrespective of personal qualities and capacities such as inability and power, shall be practiced by all bearing responsibility and it is not considered independent with the diversity of the addresses per the number of those in charge. This theory precisely counters the generally accepted views of renowned jurists and theoreticians of religious law such as Sheikh Ansari, Ayatollah Nayini, and Ayatollah Khoyi in inclusion of the preconditions for undertaking the religious duty such as wisdom and power, and in independence of the religious rules per the number of all under religious duty. In this paper, we have conducted a comparative study of the two theories and came to the conclusion that the legal addresses theory is fundamentally secure, possessing very strong bases for reasoning. Therefore, Imam Khomeini’s views on no independence for religious rules, is thus supported and the alleged faults with it are rejected.