Introduction
Our today’s world, mainly the Islamic countries, is in a very critical state. Never before so many wars took place like today, mostly in the Islamic countries occupied by the Western World or its puppet-regimes. Bad news about the severe hardships our brothers and sisters are suffering in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Sudan and in many other countries reach us every day. Today about 30.000 children per day are dying of illnesses that are normally easily to cure, but they cannot resist them due to weakness caused by hunger and malnutrition. although living in material Although living in material affluence, even in the rich countries people are suffering a lot of illnesses, , like loneliness, depression, psychical illnesses, destroyed family life and many more. They are suffering scarcity as well, not in a material, but in a spiritual way. The poisonous ideology of materialism has made them feel unhappy and deprived them of the belief in God and in a sense of life beyond the material boundaries.

The Light of Hope
In the year 1979 the light of hope arose at the horizon of mankind, the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The Islamic Ummah was in a deep slumber till that time, but the noble people of Iran under the leadership of Imam Khomeini, may our souls be sacrificed for him, overthrew the tyrannical regime of the Shah and founded the only Islamic State in our time. The founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran was an example for all Muslims in the world, and even for a lot of non-muslims in the so-called “Third World”, especially in Latin America and Africa, for it showed them that liberation from tyranny is possible, even for the weak people, and this gave hope to the poor und oppressed Nation all over the world. Ernesto Cardenal, a famous Catholic priest in Nicaragua, known as a representative of the so-called “Theology of liberation” considered Imam Khomeini to be “the Holyness of that time”. The Islamic Revolution of Iran has won much more sympathizers all over the world.
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as the governmental System is focused on preparing the awaited return for the 12th Imam – may he arise soon. While the scientists and the intellectuals work on theoretical and practical concepts, what has to be done in the fields of politics, economics and social affairs, to accelerate the Awaited Return, this work will deal with the question, what the Islamic Ummah can do to prepare the salvation.
Preparing the salvation

Based on the historical event, that Imam Hussain (a.) sent his deputy Muslim ibn Aqeel to Kufa to prepare the arrival of Imam Hussain (a.) and what the people of Kufa did wrong, so that they could not take advantage from his arrival, the question arises, how we, as Muslims in the world, have to deal with our today’s Muslim ibn Aqeel, so that our awaited pure Imam may return.
At first, many people of Kufa wrote letters to Imam Hussain (a.) and urged him to come and liberate them from the tyrannical governor of Kufa, Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad. We all know what happened to Imam Hussains (a.) deputy Muslim ibn Aqeel. The people of Kufa betrayed him and finally, he was killed by them. But imagine what may have happened if they had received him in an appropriate manner and had done their utmost to defend him against attacks und to protect him, just like as he was the Imam himself. Then Imam Hussain (a.) would have come to Kufa and liberated them from tyranny. But how we can learn from the mistakes of our predecessors in order to avoid the same sins and faults they made? We, the Ummah of today, must ask ourselves what is our duty to prepare the longed – for return of our awaited 12th Imam?
The awaited Imam´s deputy and Walayat-e-Faqih
At first it is very important to understand, that every Imam sends his deputy, before arriving himself. So it is our duty to find this deputy and deal with him, as if the pure Imam himself would have come! This is important due to several aspects, which have to be considered. The day when the awaited Imam of Time will come, several others also will pretend to be the true Imam. Only those who are used to deal with the Imams deputy as if he himself had come, are trained and prepared to differ between the true and the wrong Imam. Furthermore several forces in our today’s Kufa (which is nearly the whole Islamic world) will try to separate our recent Muslim ibn Aqeel from the people. Therefore it is our duty to identify the Imam’s deputy and tighten the relation between him and the Muslims.
The principle of Walayat-e-Faqih gives a good basis for the needed respect according to the deputy of the awaited Imam. But first I’d like to utter a few words about the principle of Walayat-e- Faqih (leadership of the jurist). What is walayat-e-faqih, and why it is essential for the Islamic Ummah, for the?
As we know, mankind has always guided mankind on the Right Path. Guidance began with prophethood. Each Prophet had to fulfil four duties:
Accepting wahy (revelation) and receiving the Divine rules (akhkam) from it,
Delivering those Divine rules to the people and explaining them by his own life,
Arbitrating between quarrelling people,
Governship and Wilayat, this means leading and ruling Islamic community.
With our Prophet Muhammad (s.) prophethood came to an end, and with his demise, the first duty (wahy) has been fulfilled, for everything the Prophet (s.) had described as halal (lawful) will remain allowed till the Day of Resurrection, and everything he hat described as haram (unlawful) will remain haram till that day. Hereafter that Imamat began based on the Twelve Imams. Those Imams hat the same duties like the prophets, except of wahy, because after the demise of our Prophet Muhammad (s.) no further Prophet will arise, so there won’t come a new law, a new schari´a.
We learn from history that from the first Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.) till the martyrdom of Imam Hassan al-Askari (a.) all eleven Imams tried to fulfill those three remaining duties, but unfortunately, due to tyrannical rulers of the Omayyad and Abbasid caliphs their possibility to rule the Islamic Community was very restrained.
The two Occultation an the Black Stone
After our Twelfth Imam went into ghaiba tus-sughra, the Minor Occultation, he appointed four deputies (sufara) to serve as a link between the Imam und the people, namely Abu Amr Uman ibn Said ibn Amr al-Amri al-Asadi, Abu Ja´far Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Amri, Abu al- Qasim al-Husain ibn Ruh an-Nawbahti, and Abu al- Hussain Ali bin Muhammad as-Samuri.
In the year 329 a.h., this means 941 a.Chr. the Twelfth Imam went into Major Occultation (ghaiba tu´l kubra) . It has to be mentioned that only 10 years before in the year 931 a.Chr. a sect called Qarmatians had stolen the Black Stone (Hajar-ul-Aswad) and brought it to Bahrain. And the Black Stone came back broken in several peaces 10 years after the start of occultation. So the Major Occultation started just in the middle of the time, when the Black Stone had disappeared. All these signs will have its importance, when the time of return is awaited.
Deputies during Occultation
After the Twelfth Imam went into Major Occultation (ghaiba tu´l kubra) according to Allah’s command, the question arises if there is no deputy like there was after the Prophet in the form of the Imams? Can we imagine that Allah left his Ummah all alone, without a leader? Is there no one fulfilling the thee duties mentioned above? Many people say that we cannot do anything, we even cannot found an Islamic State, and due to absence of our Twelfth Imam. But we can be sure that those people won’t do anything after his appearance. Imam Zaman (may he arise soon) is quoted to have said the following words concerning the jurists (fuqaha):
“They are a proof for you, and we are a proof for them though Allah”.
Now, why is the Principle of Walayate-e-Faqih necessary for us? Some people maintain the view that this is a very new concept , some may even say that it is a bid´a, something newly- invented not belonging to Qur´an and Sunnah. But after pondering over it on the basis of Ahadith and Aql (reason) we will see that this view is not correct.
Imam Zaman (may he arise soon) said:
“Look carefully at those people conveying our sayings caring about what we consider as lawful and unlawful and having knowledge about our principles and commands. Choose one of them who is to give verdicts, because I myself chose such a person for that task. Rejecting his verdict is like disregarding of Allah’s command und rejecting to our command. Verily, the one rejecting our command, has rejected Allah’s command, and verily, such a person has entered the abode of shirk (polytheism). “ (Usool Kafi)
This means nothing less than the fact that disobeying the Imam’s deputy is equal to disobeying Allah’s commands, and , much worse, it even it means to become a mushrik, a polytheist .
Imam Ali (a.) said: ”The Ulama (scholars) are the heirs of the Prophets” (Usool Kafi). And he also said: “The faqih of the time has the same status as the Prophets of Bani Israil” (Bihar ul-Anwar). Here it must be mentioned that Bani Israil were ruled by prophets.
It is also reported from the Commander of the Faithful (ameer ul-mo´minin), that he stated: “The scholars are the commanders for the people.” (Mustadarrik ul-Wasa´il).
There are many sayings of the Imams of Ahl al- Bait (a.) confirming the system of Walayat-e- Faqih, as many scholars stated. Islamic rules (ahkam) are not restricted to worship only like prayer and fast, rather they compass every field of human life, both individual and social matters. Islamic rules control the relationships within Muslim community and how to behave towards the enemies of Islam. Islamic law offers solutions for every problem, but many people do not know this, and unfortunately many of then do not have many information about the system of Walayat-e-Faqih and consider it to be wrong, but just this system offers solutions for all problems Muslims are facing today, One of the most severe difficulties Muslim community is suffering from in our days is disunity, and the system of Walayat-e- Faqih is the most effective way for us to come to unity.
Without a proper leadership of Islamic community it is impossible to apply the most important action of religion (foru´uddin) like Khums, Zakat, enjoining the good and forbidding evil and Jihad. For instance, who is to collect khums and distribute it? Who would punish criminals in the right way prescribed by Islamic schari´a? In case of someone whose property is occupied, who will give him his right? Who will care for justice? Or supposed a man suppresses his wife, who will listen to the wife’s complaints, and who will force her husband to behave well towards her?
Islamic world of today is confronted with new opinions every day, for example, someone appears claiming to be the Imam al-Zaman or to be a prophet, or the Holy Qur´an is dishonoured, or the Holy Prophet is debased, as happened in form of the blasphemous caricatures against our Prophet. In every time a new “Clash-of-culture-fighter” arises against Islam and Muslims, sometimes even among Muslims. Innovations in worship are established like some forms of Azadari on the occasion of Ashoora. If a true and rightful leadership of the most-knowing jurist (faqih) exists, then there will be a solution and an answer for all problems.
Without the principle of Walayat-e-Faqih the Islamic World is unable to stand up to all those problems till the awaited return of Imam Mahdi, may he return soon. In short, in case of non-existence of Walayat-e-Faqih, then the Islamic norms and laws cannot be applied at any rate. Some people think that only with the return of Imam al-Mahdi (may he arise soon) an Islamic Government could be established, but one can hardly imagine that Allah, His Holy Prophet and the pure and noble Imams agree with the non-implementation of Islamic rules and principles till the return of the Twelfth Imam, on the contrary, they always were holding the view that the Islamic laws have to be applied and implemented and the establishment of an Islamic State. Therefore it is not reasonable that we should be content for living without living according to Islamic rules in the time of occultation of the Awaited Imam. Due to hostile propaganda, some Muslims even say that religion and policy have to be separated, but if a religious government was something bad, then the Islamic governments of for example Hazrat Dawood, Hazrat Sulayman and some other righteous servants of Allah would not be mentioned in the Holy Qur´an. Now, who is the Wali-ul-Faqih, whose command the Muslims should obey?
Walayat-e-faqih and imitation (taqleed)
We cannot deal with Walayat-e-Faqih without touching the question of taqleed. First, taqleed means imitating someone we consider as our ideal. This means for us muslims choosing a scholar who has the grade of a marja´ul- taqleed as a guide and obeying to his fatwas and verdicts. The system of taqleed is based on numerous hadiths of the Imams.
Sheikh Ansari reported from Imam Hassan al-Askari (a.), who stated:
“And it is obligatory to follow the ones among the jurists (fuqaha) who guard themselves (from sins), protect their religion, stand firm against their desires and are obedient towards their Imam. Such attributes are found only in few of them, not in all.“
This means, according the Hadith of Imam Hassan al-Askari (a.) states above, that the scholar we imitate must be someone without worldly wishes and interests, and this is a personaliry who does not strive for material benefits and worldly prestige. An Islamic jurist (faqih) who is free from such deficiencies should be followed in Taqleed. These are the requirements a Marja´al- Taqleed has to fulfill. Now, who can decides who is a Marja´and who is not? There is a committee deciding this and furthermore, whose taqleed is allowed and the one of the fuqaha is the most – knowing of them (a´lam). This committee is called “Majles Ahl-e-Khobregan”, this means the Council of Experts. All the instructors of the religious schools (hawzah), who know all scholars and their characteristics, opinions and verdicts, are members of that committee.
The most – knowing jurist (a´lam) is the one in whose heart the fear of Allah is implanted, who does not strive for material values and prestige, whose characteristics are a role model for the Islamic Ummah, he is someone who has deep knowledge about Islamic jurisprudence and also about policy and social problems the Muslim community is facing today, and who is just (adel). He is the one who stands up bearing the responsibility of all jurists and establishes a government, this is just the leadership of the jurist (Walayat-e-Faqih) the Holy Prophet has established in his time. All Muslims therefore are bound to obey this government and leadership and to protect it, as well. Of course there are a lot of wise scholars who hold the rank of marja´iyyah, but not everyone of them is able to apply Islamic rules, because many of honoured and wise Maraje´are living in countries occupied by the enemies of Islam, like in Iraq. But the position of Wali-ul-faqih requires that the Waly-ul-amr is living in and leading a free state instead of living in an occupied one.
Imam Ali (a.s) stated in Nahj al- Balaghah in his fourth sermon: “A leader is necessary for the people, may he be just or sinful.”
Now, everyone can decide himself what government and leadership is the better one. The leadership of an unjust tyrant or the one of a most-knowing, just jurist, having excellent knowledge about the Islamic laws, acting justly? Everyone can find out with his own reason and honesty what is better and does not need any further evidence for the system of Walayat-e-Faqih. Or to explain it with he words of the beginning: Everyone can find out himself who is the Muslim ibn Aqeel of today.
To find the recent Muslim ibn Aqeel
Now we come to the most important question, who is the Waly-ul-faqih of today? As all of us know, the Waly ul amri´l Muslimeen (commander of the muslims) is the deputy of Imam al-Zaman (may he arise soon), the leader of the Islamic Revolution, the Waly al-Faqih Ayatollah al-Uzma Sayyid al- Hussaini al Khamene´i, may his shadow endure. The committee mentioned above, the Council of Experts, elected Imam Khamene´i after the demise of Ayatollah Khomeini (q.s.) for Wali ul - Faqih. After the demise of Ayatollah Araki (r.) Imam Khamene´i was confirmed as Marja´al A´zam, the greatest Marja´and as the most-knowing (a´lam). Lots of his followers even know him as most knowing before.
About a dozen of members of the Council of Experts (majles-e- khubregan) gave their personal opinions before giving their ultimative votes for a person, and the Name of Imam Khamene´i was mentioned over and over again. According to voting, most of the 74 members of the Council of Experts considered Imam Khamene´i as the new leader of the Islamic Revolution and therefore, the new Imam of the Islamic Community. And many of those who held back their votes did this according to their own statements because they deemed the clear wish of Imam Khomeini (q.s.) sufficient and an election as unnecessary.
In this context I regard it as necessary quoting some of Imam Khomeini´s statements he made about Imam Khamene´i. He said about him: “I want to announce to all of you that, if you think, that among all the presidents, kings, scholars and similar rulers in the whole world there is only one bearing the characteristics of Sayyid Khamene´i, who clings strictly to Islamic law and serves it, then you will search for such a person without avail!” He also stated: “Sayyed Ali Khamene´i is on the battle-field a warrior full of self-sacrifice, on the field of worship a teacher, a brilliant speaker on the Friday prayer, a servant of Islamic Community (Ummah) and according to the command written in the Holy Qur´an, he behaves hard against the infidels and soft- heartedly against the faithful.”
After this, I would like to quote some members of the Council of Experts:
Ayatollah Sheikh Ali Meshkini, chairman of the committee of experts
(Majles-e-Khubregan) and member of the University of Training of Teachers in the Hauzeh – e Ilmiyyeh at Qom: “In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Mercyful. Hazrate Ayatollah Khamene´i is among the jurists und mujtaheds on such a high level and he has the ability to prove the precepts of Islamic Law (shari´ah), what is necessary for the position of leadership, and he fullfills at the same time all requirements necessary for leading the Islamic community and Wilayat. Through their information and the statements of Imam Khamene´i, the members of the Council of Experts came to this conclusion and support it. Therefore it is obligatory for all muslims, may they be Shiites or Sunnis, and especially the scholars standing in opposition to us, may Allah guide them, and for everyone wishing the Islamic Revolution and Islam spread out and wishing religion being established as law and that there should be no division (wa aqimu-dina wa la tafarraqu – establish religion and do not devide) and that religion is to be declared openly, for those, is is both according to shari´ah and reason, to consider Ayatollah Sayyed al- Khamene´i as a jurist and as the Wali of the muslims! My supplications are with those people following the Qur´an and praying in the direction of qibla.”
Ayatollah Hadi Rouhani, another member of the Council of Experts stated: “As I have just announced, the Islamic Revolution and the honourable system of the Iranian Nation have become a target of hostile propaganda. The enemy tries to separate Marja´iyya and Walayat from each other, and according to shari´ah, it is essential for the person of Marja´ and Wali being one and the same person. When we look for the most- knowing and for the marja´iyyah with all its requirements, this means that that person must be a jurist, someone having knowledge about policy , knowledge about social aspects, that he must be an expert of management, and, as Imam Khomeini has stated, that it is necessary for a marja´ to know about his nation and the whole world, then only Imam Khamenei comes into question as Marja´and Leader (wali) because he unifies all that attributes on himself. We did not find anyone except him unifying all these attributes on him. Imam Khamenei has proved his excellent role of leadership and his attributes though his deeds in front of every muslim. Therefore it is obligatory for every muslim and for every Shiite to follow him in taqleed. May Allah protect them all.”
I would like to quote one of the most famous and honourable mara´je of our time, Ayatollah al- Uzma Sayyid Ali Sistani: “Everyone is bound to follow the one who has the position of walaya according to shari´ah, even the mujtadedeen, if public affairs in his command are concerned and if it has to do with the sustenance (nutrition and the like) of the people. In cases serving the protection of the Islamic system, the accepted Wali – ul –Faqih has authority over all muslims!” He also said: “If someone does not know if a fatwa differs from the opinion of the most - knowing (a´lam), he should follow the most - knowing. No fatwa is valid as far as it is not from the most- knowing himself. “
If we know who is the Muslim ibn Aqeel of today, To accelerate the return of the awaited Twelfth Imam, it is our duty to listen to his words, as if they were the words of Muslim ibn Aqeel himself. We must translate his speeches and fatwas into all languages of the world, to teach each other in his fatwas and to establish a system of learned Islamic scholars, who all are allegiant to him. We have to understand that all pride is based on the respect and dignity we feel in following him, independent from our own knowledge of Islam. We should be ready to defend him and be with him, wherever he needs us. This includes all aspects of life and all possibilities of participation in social activities. Each of his words should be accepted as if the 12th Imam himself had spoken it. Every of his advises should be implemented as soon as possible, especially in the year of national unity and Islamic solidarity.
Only if we treat Imam Khamene´i as we should deal with the deputy of Imam Mahdi – we can open our door for receiving the blessings of Love. Only if we treat him as the true deputy of Imam al-Zaman (may he return soon) , we can hope to be worthy to his re-appearance.
Our Muslim ibn Aqeel is among us. And our today’s Imam Hussain is on the way to us. So let us prepare this awaited arrival with the true al-Hussaini among us, the leader of the Islamic revolution and the Imam of the Ummah, as it is stated in the Islamic Republics constitution. May Allah save us Imam Khamene´i until the return of Imam Mahdi and may Allah grant Imam Khamene´i´s right hand the recovery to show us the returned 12th Imam whose hand we can inshaallah kiss near of the united Black stone. To prepare this my husband an my sons kiss the hands of our today’s Imam. 
(Translator of “Nahjul-Balagha and Kitab-ul-Irshad into German)