How is it possible that the Islamic Republic of Iran has lasted 30 years?
Some of the revolutionaries themselves are probably surprised by this longevity. In 1979, they wrote a constitution that enshrined Imam Ruhollah Khomeini as the leader of the Islamic Republic. Surely they didn’t expect him to live another 30 years, past age 100, but their insistence on Khomeini’s unique characteristics made it unlikely that anybody else would be qualified to succeed him. The Iranian Revolution at 30 Source: The Middle East Institute www.mideasti.org This wide-ranging mega-collection of more than 50 original essays is the first of a series of six similar publications commemorating the events of 1979. Sure enough, after Khomeini’s death, the constitution had to be rewritten to allow Hojjat al-Islam ‘Ali Khamene’i to serve as head of state. He did not have the scholarly credentials to serve as a top-ranking cleric (marja’-e taqlid), much less to overrule other top-ranking clerics, as Khomeini had been constitutionally permitted to do, yet the Islamic Republic survived. Mo
