Originally, Shi'a belief was that they should refrain from politics in the absence of one the twelve Shia Imams; see Imamah (Shi'a doctrine). But after The Occultation of the twelfth Shia Imam, the original Shia concept of leadership became untenable, so the notion of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists (Velayat-e faqih) was derived by Ruhollah Khomeini.