The post of rahbar was created for Ruhollah Khomeini, the architect of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, who held the high and rarely bestowed clerical rank of marjaʿ-e taqlīd (“religious jurist worthy of emulation”). The constitution made that rank an essential qualification for the position, but the requirement was removed in 1989 to allow Ali Khamenei, who had a low clerical rank, to become rahbar. Amendments lowered the qualification to any jurist of Islamic law who is judged to be just and pious and can project political and social leadership. The rahbar is selected by the Assembly of Experts, a deliberative body of Islamic jurists who are directly elected every eight years (although the jurists must first be approved by the Council of Guardians in order to run).
