السلطة السياسيّة في فكر القائد الشهيد آية الله العظمى ‏السيّد علي الخامنئي (رضوان الله عليه)‏

Political power is one of the foundational concepts of political science, and its definition, foundations, agents, and objectives distinguish one political theory from another. The central concern of this study is to provide a systematic exposition of political power in the intellectual framework of the Martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution, focusing on a novel question in the study of power: How can apparently limited power ultimately prevail over immense material power, and why is the seemingly victorious side ultimately portrayed as defeated and discredited? Conventional theories of power have failed to answer this question because they largely neglect the spiritual and teleological dimensions of power. Addressing it requires a fundamental reconceptualization of political power within the framework of Islamic political thought.
Numerous studies have examined political power. Arjini and Lakzaee (2019), in Conceptual Clarification of Power in Imam Khomeini's Political Thought, analyzed the concept of power in the intellectual system of the founder of the Islamic Revolution. Lakzaee (2021), in Agents of Power from the Perspective of the Supreme Leader, identified five Qur'anic models of political actors, including prophets, ṭāghūt (tyrannical authorities), and political, economic, and cultural agents. In The Sources of Transcendent Soft Power (2022), he introduced faith and patience as the principal sources of soft power, while in The Logic of Material and Spiritual Power, he explained the fundamental distinction between these two forms of power. More recently, in Factors of the Decline of Power (2024), he examined the causes of political weakness from the Leader's perspective. Despite these valuable contributions, no comprehensive study has yet systematically examined all dimensions of political power—including its foundations, sources, agents, and objectives—through the tripartite framework of the internal system, agentive system, and teleological system. The present study seeks to fill this gap.
The central hypothesis of the study is that, within the intellectual framework of the Martyred Leader, power departs from the conventional definition of "the imposition of one's will upon others" and is instead redefined as "the capacity to act for the realization of divine and human values." Spiritual power—grounded in conscious faith, steadfast perseverance (ṣabr), sincerity, and piety—ultimately prevails over material power, which is based on wealth, coercion, and deception. This superiority is founded upon the divine law of the triumph of truth over falsehood, derived from Qur'anic verses 5–6 of Sūrat al-Qaṣaṣ, which is presented as a universal historical principle determining the ultimate destiny of competing powers.
In contrast, the inferior theories of power in Western political science stand on the opposite side. Max Weber defines power as the probability of imposing one's will upon another. Hans Morgenthau conceptualizes power primarily in terms of national interest and hegemony. Steven Lukes, by introducing the dimension of hidden power through the shaping of preferences, and Joseph Nye, through his theory of soft power based on attraction and culture, advance beyond purely coercive conceptions. Nevertheless, these approaches remain confined within materialistic and domination-oriented paradigms. Because they neglect the transcendent sources of power—such as faith, trust in God (tawakkul), and connection with the Divine—they cannot adequately explain historical instances in which the forces of truth have prevailed over materially superior adversaries. Consequently, these theories stand in clear contrast to the teleological and monotheistic worldview of Islam.
The research employs the method of semantic implication (dalālah), encompassing explicit, implicit, and inferential meanings as developed in logic and the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. Guided by the theoretical framework of the threefold system—the internal system (foundations and sources), the agentive system (actors), and the teleological system (objectives)—the study conducts a qualitative content analysis of the Martyred Leader's speeches, messages, Qur'anic commentaries, and his seminal work, An Outline of Islamic Thought in the Qur'an.
The principal objective of this research is to formulate an indigenous theory of power within Islamic political thought and to provide an effective model for political system-building based upon the Qur'an and the Prophetic tradition (Sunnah). Its subsidiary objectives are: first, to clarify the fundamental distinctions between this conception of power and prevailing Western theories; second, to identify and classify the transcendent and degenerate agents of power by presenting the Qur'anic model of the "Triangle of Ṭāghūt," consisting of political, economic, and cultural actors serving tyrannical authority, in contrast to the system of Divine Guardianship, represented by the prophets, the divinely appointed leaders, and committed believers; and third, to delineate the teleological structure of power across four interconnected levels: liberating humanity from superstition and the domination of the lower self, establishing social justice and resisting oppression, forming a unified Islamic community (Ummah), and ultimately realizing a New Islamic Civilization characterized by the dignity of the Muslim community.
The study's novelty is fourfold. First, it introduces the neglected question of the historical triumph of spiritual power over material power. Second, it presents a fivefold Qur'anic typology of political actors through the concept of the Triangle of Ṭāghūt, providing an analytical framework for distinguishing the forces of truth from those of falsehood. Third, it develops a comprehensive theoretical model for analyzing political power through the integrated dimensions of foundations, actors, and objectives. Fourth, it demonstrates the transformation of power from an instrument of domination into an instrument of service, thereby highlighting the epistemological distinction between this Islamic conception and the dominant Western tradition.
The findings reveal that political power in the thought of the Martyred Leader is transcendent, ethically committed, and service-oriented. It is founded upon profound monotheistic principles, including a fitrah-based anthropology, a worldview centered on the perpetual struggle between truth and falsehood, an epistemology grounded in piety, and an axiology centered on justice. Its enduring sources are conscious faith and steadfast perseverance. Within the system of Divine Guardianship, righteous political agents fulfill the functions of legitimization, deterrence, and duty-oriented leadership, standing in opposition to the political, economic, and cultural dimensions of the Triangle of Ṭāghūt. The civilizational objectives of this conception of power begin with liberating humanity from superstition and self-enslavement, progress through the establishment of justice and the formation of a unified Islamic Ummah, and culminate in the realization of the dignity and legitimate authority of the Muslim community. Compared with prevailing Western theories, this view fundamentally redefines political power by emphasizing its spiritual and ethical dimensions, thereby providing a coherent explanation for historical instances of the triumph of truth over falsehood. As such, it represents a significant step toward the development of an indigenous Islamic theory of political power and it is a model that provides researchers, policymakers, and actors in the Islamic world with an analytical and operational framework.