According to Imam Khomeini and his views on leadership's qualities, as reflected in the supplementary of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a leader needs to know how to make legal decisions through Ijtihad that is independent interpretation of the legal sources, the Qur'an and the Sunnah, but he should not be necessarily a marja’. (Sahifeh-ye Imam, vol. 21, p. 371)
It is worth it to mention that some qualities are common for both marja’iyat and leadership, but some qualities are specific to each status. For instance, ‘fame’ or the state of being known by many people is a requisite qualification for becoming a marja’, but it is not counted as a necessity for a leader, who is mostly identified in terms of pragmatism and expediency.