A new look at Imam Khamenei's theory of religious democracy Document Type : Original Article

Religious democracy is a model of government that is based on the divine-popular legitimacy of the government, and at the same time that it considers the will and will of the Holy Prophet as the priority, it also gives authenticity to the will and will of the people and believes that the people play the main role in the formation, continuity, efficiency and prosperity of the government. And in fact, they are the main owners and supervisors of the government. The theory of religious democracy was founded by Imam Khomeini and after him Imam Khamenei promoted, explained and continued this theory. The purpose of this research is to present a new interpretation of Imam Khamenei's theory of religious democracy. In this article, with a descriptive, inferential and interpretive method, we have first presented a comprehensive and at the same time brief explanation of the concept of democracy and the concept of religion, and then we have analyzed and clarified the concept of religious democracy from Imam Khamenei's point of view. According to him, the religious democratic government is based on the main tripod and whenever one of these tripods and indicators in the religious democratic government is lost. These tripods, in order of priority, are: "realization of scientific, managerial, insightful and moral qualifications in the agents of the religious democracy system", "formation of the government with the consent and participation of the general people" and "the efficiency of the religious democracy system". At the end of the analysis and explanation of the paradoxical nature of the concept of religious democracy, we have presented a comprehensive critique in nine scientific and convincing answers.