"The overriding theme of the constitution was the concept that ultimate sovereignty over the political system belonged to God. Any other basis for sovereignty, whether the people, a ruling dynasty, or conformity to some alternate ideology, was un-Islamic and unacceptable. In the Islamic Republic, God’s will is expressed through the “rule of the just Islamic jurist,” the vilayat-e faqih. He is to advise the parliament and the president and has the power, at the rare times he may deem it necessary, to overrule the government or any part of the government. The first faqih of the Islamic Republic was Ayatollah Khomeini. His successors were to be selected by the Assembly of Experts. If no single individual was perceived qualified for the position, a committee of three or five could be selected to fill the role (Bakhash 1984; Hussain 1985). The Constitution of the Islamic Republic with the inclusion of the crucial vilayat-e faqih principle embodied the victory of the Shia fundamentalists over the other groups in the revolutionary alliance. The fundamentalists’ triumph was due to a number of factors. Of primary importance was Ayatollah Khomeini’s role as the dominant personality of the revolution. Because Khomeini and the fundamentalists enjoyed a much wider base of popular support than any of the other anti-shah groups, the fundamentalists controlled most of the revolutionary organizations (the komitehs and the revolutionary courts) and possessed by far the biggest militia, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, to enforce their will."