An example of one of those whom the Shi'ah consider to be among their scholars, namely Khomeini.

The Shaykh : And I give an example from the reality of some of the scholars of the Shi'ah in this age. I do not think any of you has not heard of Khomeini, whom the Shi'ah call "Ayatollah." Likewise, I do not think any of you has not heard of, or perhaps read, his treatise titled "The Islamic Government." In it, he states that the people of the Ahl al-Bayt hold a rank with Allah that he assigns to the rank of the messengers, prophets, and angels. So, regarding this, we can say that he is a disbeliever. But can we say that every Shi'ah is like this? No, because there are some... and it seems that in his liberation and release from many of the beliefs of the Shi'ah, he is... I feel that this is a Shi'ah writer, because some words slip out of him that reveal his madhhab, but he is fighting the Shi'ah in many of their beliefs. Therefore, as for those of these Shi'ah whom we know in detail as I mentioned earlier, it does not matter to us whether he is from the elite or the common people. If we know from him a belief that constitutes disbelief, we declare him a disbeliever; otherwise, we do not. This is, as you know, due to the gravity of declaring a Muslim who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah to be a disbeliever.