Twelver in the context of "The Twelve Imams"

A state religion (also called official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as a confessional state), while not a secular state, is not necessarily a theocracy. State religions are subject to advantageous treatment by official or government-sanctioned establishments of them, ranging from incentivising citizens to recognise and practice them through government endorsement to having public spending on the maintenance of religious property and clergy be unrestricted, but the state does not need to be under the legislative control of the clergy as it would be in a theocracy. Generally, these religions have more rights and fewer restrictions in the country than other religions in a country.

Official religions have been known throughout human history in almost all types of cultures, reaching into the Ancient Near East and prehistory. The relation of religious cult and the state was discussed by the ancient Latin scholar Marcus Terentius Varro, under the term of theologia civilis (lit. 'civic theology'). The first state-sponsored Christian denomination was the Armenian Apostolic Church, established in 301 CE. In Christianity, as the term church is typically applied to a place of worship for Christians or organizations incorporating such ones, the term state church is associated with Christianity as sanctioned by the government, historically the state church of the Roman Empire in the last centuries of the Empire's existence, and is sometimes used to denote a specific modern national branch of Christianity. Closely related to state churches are ecclesiae, which are similar but carry a more minor connotation.

The Jaʿfarī school, also known as the Jafarite school, Jaʿfarī fiqh (Arabic: الفقه الجعفري) or Ja'fari jurisprudence, is a prominent school of jurisprudence (fiqh) within Twelver and Ismaili (including Nizari) Shia Islam, named after the sixth Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq. In Iran, Jaʽfari jurisprudence is enshrined in the constitution, shaping various aspects of governance, legislation, and judiciary in the country. In Lebanon, this school of jurispudence is also accounted for in the legal system of the country and Shia Muslims can call upon it for their legal disputes.

It differs from the predominant madhhabs of Sunni jurisprudence in its reliance on ijtihad, as well as on matters of inheritance, religious taxes, commerce, personal status, and the allowing of temporary marriage or mutʿa. Since 1959, Jaʿfari jurisprudence has been afforded the status of "fifth school" along with the four Sunni schools by Azhar University. In addition, it is one of the eight recognized madhhabs listed in the Amman Message of 2004 by King Abdullah II of Jordan, and since endorsed by Sadiq al-Mahdi, former Prime Minister of Sudan.

The Five Pillars of Islam (arkān al-Islām أركان الإسلام; also arkān ad-dīn أركان الدين "pillars of the religion") are fundamental practices in Islam, particularly Sunni Islam, considered to be obligatory acts of worship for all Muslims. They are summarized in the hadith of Gabriel. The Sunni and Shia agree on the basic details of the performance and practice of these acts, but Shia denominations may have their own lists of pillars that differ from the Sunni five, such as the Twelver Ancillaries of the Faith (consisting of four pillars and six obligatory acts) and the Ismaili Seven Pillars. The five pillars are: profession of faith (Shahada), prayer (Salah), almsgiving (Zakat), fasting in the month of Ramadan (Sawm), and pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj).

The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires. The Safavid Shāh Ismā'īl I established the Twelver denomination of Shīʿa Islam as the official religion of the empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam.

A dynasty rooted in the Sufi Safavid order founded by sheikhs of native Iranian (possibly Kurdish) origin, it was not only Persian-speaking, but also Turkic-speaking and Turkified. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Buyids to establish a national state officially known as Iran.

Ṣadr ad-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī, more commonly known as Mullā Ṣadrā (Persian: ملا صدرا; Arabic: صدر المتألهین; c. 1571/2 – c. 1635/40 CE / 980 – 1050 AH), was an Iranian Twelver Shi'i Islamic mystic, philosopher, theologian, and ‘Ālim who led the cultural renaissance in the country during the 17th century. According to Oliver Leaman, Mulla Sadra is arguably the single most important and influential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last four hundred years. Though not its founder, he is considered the master of the Illuminationist (or, Ishraghi or Ishraqi) school of Philosophy, a seminal figure who synthesized the many tracts of the Islamic Golden Age philosophies into what he called the Transcendent Theosophy or al-hikmah al-muta’āliyah.

Mulla Sadra brought "a new philosophical insight in dealing with the nature of reality" and created "a major transition from essentialism to existentialism" in Islamic philosophy, although his existentialism should not be too readily compared to Western existentialism. His was a question of existentialist cosmology as it pertained to God, and thus differs considerably from the individual, moral, and/or social, questions at the heart of Russian, French, German, or American Existentialism.

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.

The supreme leader of Iran, also referred to as the supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution, but officially called the supreme leadership authority, is the head of state and the highest political and religious authority of Iran (above the president). The armed forces, judiciary, state radio and television, and other key government organizations such as the Guardian Council and Expediency Discernment Council are subject to the supreme leader. According to the constitution, the supreme leader delineates the general policies of the Islamic Republic (article 110), supervising the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive branches (article 57). The current lifetime officeholder, Ali Khamenei, has issued decrees and made the final decisions on the economy, the environment, foreign policy, education, national planning, and other aspects of governance in Iran. Khamenei also makes the final decisions on the amount of transparency in elections, and has dismissed and reinstated presidential cabinet appointees.

The office was established by the Constitution of Iran in 1979, pursuant to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's concept of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, and is a lifetime appointment. Originally the constitution required the supreme leader to be Marja'-e taqlid, the highest-ranking cleric in the religious laws of Usuli Twelver Shia Islam. In 1989, however, the constitution was amended and simply asked for Islamic "scholarship" to allow the supreme leader to be a lower-ranking cleric. As the Guardian Jurist (Vali-ye faqih), the supreme leader guides the country, protecting it from heresy and imperialist predations, and ensuring the laws of Islam are followed. The style "Supreme Leader" (Persian: رهبر معظم, romanized: rahbar-e mo'azzam) is commonly used as a sign of respect although the Constitution designates them simply as "Leader" (رهبر, rahbar). According to the constitution (Article 111), the Assembly of Experts is tasked with electing (following Ayatollah Khomeini), supervising, and dismissing the supreme leader. In practice, the Assembly has never been known to challenge or otherwise publicly oversee any of the supreme leader's decisions (all of its meetings and notes are strictly confidential). Members of the Assembly are elected by people in elections, and are approved by bodies (the Guardian Council) whose members are appointed by the supreme leader or appointed by an individual (Chief Justice of Iran) appointed by the supreme leader.