Islamic Government in the context of "The policy of exporting the Islamic Revolution"

The Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (Persian: ولایت فقیه, romanized: Velâyat-e Faqih, also Velayat-e Faghih; Arabic: وِلاَيَةُ ٱلْفَقِيهِ, romanized: Wilāyat al-Faqīh) is a concept in Twelver Shia Islamic law which holds that until the reappearance of the "infallible Imam" (sometime before Judgement Day), the religious and social affairs of the Muslim world should be administered by righteous Shi'i jurists (Faqīh).

Wilāyat al-Faqīh is associated in particular with Ruhollah Khomeini and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a series of lectures in 1970, Khomeini advanced the idea of guardianship in its "absolute" form as rule of the state and society. This version of guardianship now forms the basis of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which calls for a Guardian Jurist (Vali-ye Faqih, Arabic: وَلِيٌ فَقِيهٌ, romanized: Waliyyun Faqīh), to serve as the Supreme Leader of that country. Currently, this role is held by Ayatollah Khamenei.

Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian cleric, politician, political theorist, and revolutionary who founded the Islamic Republic of Iran and served as its first supreme leader from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the main leader of the Iranian Revolution, which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and transformed Iran into a theocratic Islamic republic.

Born in Khomeyn, in what is now Iran's Markazi province, his father was murdered when Khomeini was two years old. He began studying the Quran and Arabic from a young age assisted by his relatives. Khomeini became a high ranking cleric in Twelver Shi'ism, an ayatollah, a marja' ("source of emulation"), a mujtahid or faqīh (an expert in fiqh), and author of more than 40 books. His opposition to the White Revolution resulted in his state-sponsored expulsion to Bursa in 1964. Nearly a year later, he moved to Najaf, where speeches he gave outlining his religiopolitical theory of Guardianship of the Jurist were compiled into Islamic Government.

One of the most dramatic changes in government in Iran's history was seen with the 1979 Iranian Revolution where Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown and replaced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The authoritarian monarchy was replaced by a long-lasting Shiite Islamic republic based on the principle of guardianship of Islamic jurists, (or Velayat-e faqih), where Shiite jurists serve as head of state and in many powerful governmental roles. A pro-Western, pro-American foreign policy was exchanged for one of "neither east nor west", said to rest on the three "pillars" of mandatory veil (hijab) for women, and opposition to the United States and Israel. A rapidly modernizing capitalist economy was replaced by a populist and Islamic economy and culture.

The leader of the revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was the Supreme Leader of Iran until his death in 1989. He was followed by Ali Khamenei.

The Ennahda Movement (Arabic: حركة النهضة, romanized: Ḥarakatu n-Nahḍah; French: Mouvement Ennahdha), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia.

Founded as the Movement of Islamic Tendency in 1981, Ennahda was inspired by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and through the latter, to Ruhollah Khomeini's own propelled ideology of "Islamic Government".