Öz
One of the theories that Islamic political philosophy and science deals with is Wilāyat al-Faqīh. This theory, which considers the political leadership of the ulama as the basis of the legitimacy of the power, is also included in Sunni thought, but has a more prominent and important place in Shiite thought. After a thousand years of theoretical development, in the twentieth century, Ayatollah Khomeini made this theory the axis of the political and administrative order of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and today the political and administrative structure built on the basis of this theory and theory is examined from various aspects. Since most of the studies in this direction are based on the period when the theory came into practice, they ultimately focus on the given field. With this study, in which we examine the development stages of Ayatollah Khomeini's Wilāyat al-Faqīh thought through his works, historical records and testimonies, we have come to the conclusion that Ayatollah Khomeini's thoughts on Wilāyat al-Faqīh can be discussed in four periods. While Ayatollah Khomeini was not directly involved in politics in the first period, which lasted in 1962, he led an increasingly tough opposition between 1962 and 1979 and brought up the custody of the jurist in this period. He defends this in its nominative form from 1979 to 1988. After 1988, he reached the idea of absolute custody of the jurist.