God has created man and His purpose of creating man was to give him opportunity to attain sublime perfections. The path to the perfections intended by God requires men to move in the direction of truth and divine obligation. The right to determine one’s destiny is a human natural right which is given to human beings by God, the Almighty. To demand this right in a proper way in the form of the right to designate a ruler is taken to be an important stage in the growth and perfections of human beings in a human society. Islam, as the best religion and divine guidance, has been bestowed upon humans for their personal and social happiness. People, either when the Infallible Imams are present or when they are absent (as the case with the last Infallible Imam in the period of Major Occultation) have decisive role in the establishment of an Islamic government.
In accordance to the right to determine one’s own destiny at the time when the Infallible Imam is present (alive), people are entitled not to entrust the task of ruling and of running the social affairs to someone other than infallible Imams. Rather, they are entitled to elect, consciously and out of their free will, one of Infallible Imams of their time, as their leader, follow him as a good leading exemplar (oswatun Îasanah) and obey him without question. On the other hand, again according to the same right, this time in the period of occultation, people are entitled to demand their own rights by direct or indirect participation in the election of their leader, trying to elect from among the candidates the one who has the necessary and general qualifications of a leader.
This kind of democracy in the contemporary world is the best of its kind which is nowadays termed as ‘religious democracy’ in the political literature of the world. The only practical example of this system of democratic government in this contemporary world under the name of Islamic Republic of Iran continues to exist in a lively manner.