Ghadir is the feast of Islamic justice and leadership, the feast of humanity, projecting light on the ideologies and inducing hopes in the hearts. It is the renewed covenant of the prophet’s mission in the guardianship of Imam Ali (PBUH).
We bring here a part from precious speech by Imam Khomeini where he highlights significance of following the conduct of the divine leaders of Islam:
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Government of justice guarantees implementation of Islamic laws
The issue is the issue of government and politics. Government means politics, politics in its totality. God, the Almighty, commanded the Prophet to hand over this government and this politics to Imam `Ali just as the Messenger of God himself had politics. Government without politics is impossible. This politics and this government blended with politics were established on the day of `Id al-Ghadir for Imam `Ali. Narrations stating that" Islam is founded on five things" do not mean the general guardianship of leadership) imamah (. That leadership in which no action is acceptable and admissible except belief in imamah is not referring to the government. Well, most of our Imams had no government. Though we believe Imam `Ali ruled for a certain period; His Holiness Imam Hasan also ruled for a very short period; the rest of the Imams did not rule.
That which God, the Almighty, ordained and thereafter ordained for the Imams of guidance is government, although they did not allow this government to bear fruit. Therefore, God has ordained government for Imam `Ali) `a (; this government means politics; that is, blended with politics.
Among the crookedness that has unfortunately appeared, that is, so many crookedness have appeared but the most severe of which is that there appeared agents in the past, from the time of the Umayyad and `Abbasid caliphs( may Allah's curse be upon them)who would say that religion is confined to religious questions while politics is confined to government. Every party has come out and taken this power until such time that the global players realized that religion must be turn into a mere form of worship.
These players came and did so while we also believed that religion had nothing to do with politics, that politics is the business of the emperors. It implies that we denigrate God, His Messenger and the Commander of the Faithful because government was politics; government is not reciting supplication; government is not praying; government is not fasting. The government, the government of justice, leads to their observances though the government itself is only a political instrument. One who says that religion is separated from politics has denied God, denied the Messenger of God, and denied the Imams of guidance.
That the voice of Ghadir has been raised so high and that Ghadir has been held in high esteem, as it is, is due to the fact that with the implementation of guardianship, i. e. with the turning over of government to the hands of its rightful owner, all these problems will be solved; all deviations will be removed. If the government of justice were established, had they allowed Hadrat Amir( `a )to establish the government he wanted, all the deviations would have been removed and the environment would have become a proper and wholesome environment, which would be an opportunity for all individuals who had thoughts, mystics who had thoughts, philosophers who had thoughts, jurists who had thoughts, and all others. In view of this," Islam has been founded on five things" does not mean that guardianship( wilayah )pertains to this; the essence of guardianship is the issue of government; the government is such; the government is not even from the branches of religion.
What has been there for our Imams before Ghadir and before anything else is a station which is the station of general guardianship, and that is the Imamate; it is narrated in the tradition that" Hasan and Husayn are Imams whether they are sitting or standing." [2]" Imam" does not mean government; that is another" Imam"; that is another issue.
That issue is the issue that if someone does not accept him, if he does not accept the general guardianship, even if he performed the prayers according to the Shi`ite jurisprudence, they are invalid. These do not pertain to the government; these do not relate to it; these are among the roots of religion; belief in them is obligatory and they belong to the roots of religion. And the deviation that has taken place- apart from the other deviations- is that we have come to believe that politics is none of our business.
Ghadir has come to let everybody understand that politics is related to all; in every period there must be a government; there must be politics but just politics so that through it prayers could be performed; fasting could be performed; Hajj could be performed; all the precepts could be performed; the way could be opened so that the thinkers could comfortably and confidently present their ideas. Therefore, it is not what we imagine that the guardianship they are referring to here is Imamate and that Imamate is in the realm of the branches of religion; it is not so. This guardianship means government; the government is the implementer of these things; it is the implementer of other affairs. These deviations are so many; one cannot rectify all of them.