The Interrelation between Legitimacy and Acceptability in the Islamic Government from the Shahid (Martyr) Ṣadr’s Viewpoint

Concerning the role people play in the Islamic government, Shahid Ñadr has made a peculiar statement which is diffferent from what other scholars have stated in this regard. The main question of this research is that ‘according to Shahid Ñadr, how would be the correlation between legitimacy and acceptability as far as a religious democracy is concerned.’ To find an answer to this question, an eclectic method has been used. However, in exploring Shahid Ñadr’s main theory, and in analyzing his theory, a library research method and a qualitative research method such as content analysis have been used respectively. Fom Shahid Ñadr’s point of view, Islamic government is essentially impossible to form unless its main component, i.e. infallibility, is present. This infallibility is directly guaranteed by God when one of the Infallible Imams is present and in Periods of Occultation this infallibility can be achieved by 1) the controls and supervision provided by both the people and the elites towards each other and the guardian jurist, 2) consultation (i.e., the spirit of holding consultation from the part of Infallible Imams on the one hand and that of seeking consultation from the part of people on the other) and 3) people and elites’ giving allegiance to the Muslim guardian jurist (wali-e faqih) to which Shahi Ñadr refers in Arabic by the term “jawwe Ýismat ”. To put it another way, the establishment of the Islamic government is possible when the quality of ‘infallibilty’ or what is termed as the ‘jawweh Ýismat ’ of the Muslim guardian jurist is guaranteed and this can be made possible if people’s participation in their governmental and social affairs reach to the maximum. Thus, the government of the Muslim guardian jurist is closely tied with the people’s participation, meaning that legitimacy and acceptability are closely interrelated.