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| | The Rahbar: ’Ali Khamene‘i and the Iranian Culture Wars, The Estimate, August 25, 2000 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-25) |
 | | Ayatollah Sayyid ‘Ali Khamene’i seemed to many, prior to the death of Ruhollah Khomeini, to be a cleric of the second rank, albeit a politician of the first rank. |
 | | As the concept of clerical rule was adumbrated by Khomeini, it based the right of the clerical establishment to intervene in state affairs on a daring expansion of the traditional Shi‘ite concept of the marja‘, the clerical scholar who is a source of tradition and religious rulings. |
 | | Ayatollah Hossein ‘Ali Montazeri, generally conceded to be an ayatollah ‘ozma, was Khomeini’s own, official choice as successor until the two fell out near the end of Khomeini’s life. |
| www.theestimate.com /public/082500.html (2549 words) |
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