Velâyat

Velâyat, also spelled Velāyat or Wilayat, is a term from Arabic and Persian that means guardianship, authority, or jurisdiction. In Islamic and especially Shia contexts, velâyat refers to the leadership and guardianship of the community by recognized religious authorities, ranging from the Prophet Muhammad and the Imams to later scholars and jurists deemed qualified to exercise authority in accordance with Islamic law. The concept encompasses both spiritual guidance and, in various historic and theological formulations, political leadership.

In Twelver Shi’ism, wilāya denotes the rightful authority exercised by the divinely appointed leaders, the Imams, and their designated successors. After the occultation of the twelfth Imam, different schools have debated how lawful governance should be organized in the interim, with some emphasizing a form of spiritual authority and others arguing for active juristic stewardship within the social order.

The most prominent contemporary usage is velāyat-e faqīh, or guardianship of the jurist. This doctrine was developed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and became a foundational principle of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the 1979 constitution. It holds that a senior Islamic jurist should hold ultimate political authority in the absence of the hidden Imam, guiding the state and ensuring that laws and policies conform to Islamic principles. The Supreme Leader, as the bearer of velāyat-e faqīh, oversees major state institutions and exercises broad strategic influence, alongside elected bodies and other constitutional authorities.

Outside Iran, velâyat is used more broadly to denote guardianship or jurisdiction in religious, legal, and administrative contexts.