ماهنامه معرفت
سال بیستم شماره 9 (پیاپی 168، آذر 1390)

Thanksgiving for the continous divine blessings and graces is a necessity or at least one of the conditions of submission to God. We as humans are ungrateful for many divine blessings and we even do not think of them. If we meditate for a while and delibrate,we see that we are unable to express our thanks for the endless divine blessings. Our problem is that when we are granted any blessing, we do not remember the other divine blessings. We had better solve this problem through practice and religious and spiritual teachings. On the other hand, we more often express our thanks only for material blessings and take no heed of the spiritual ones and so we are never able to express our thanks for them. The present paper deals with this issue in detail.

Jihad is among the concepts whose peaceful impact on international relations has not been well recognized due to the misunderstanding of its real nature. Preliminary jihad is basically intended to invite others to Islam and in case such an invitation is rejected, war will be declared against those who reject. The condition of the necessity of the elaborate pre-war invitation indicates that the main aim of jihad is to convey the divine words to people. In the foreign policy of the Islamic government, this invitation is manifested in different ways; such as adopting the principle of promoting cordial relations and the principle of benevolence. The peaceful rules of Islam concerning such issues as Zimmi contract and security contract is evidence to the fact that Islam has a peaceful coexistence with the people of all religions, grants them rights for the duties that have been appointed to them, and which Muslims have to observe.Using an analytical – documentary approach and relying on reliable Islamic resources, the present paper tries to prove the aforementioned views.

The comprehensiveness of the manifest religion of Islam lies behind its all-embracing approach to the problems of man's personal and social life. A cursory glance at the religious recourses, including the holy Quran and the traditions and conducts of the infallible Imams (peace be upon them) shows that the eternal religion of Islam seriously observes man's social life as well as his personal life. Shiite tradition reference books provide a comprehensive view on the social affairs of man's life including politics, and the chapters which are concerned with social affairs presented in these books verifies this.Based on an analytical and descriptive study of the traditions in "Kitab al-Hojjah" in Kulani's Usul al-Kafi, the present paper traces one of the fundamental branches of political sciences, called "political philosophy" in this reliable reference book of traditions, and presenting an introduction on the common components of Usul al-Kafi, it investigates the traditions related to political philosophy through reasoning rather than documantation.

Since the very beginning of the development of Shiite fiqh at the time of Imam Ali (the Commander of Faithful), it has experienced different periods, schools, and paradigms. The anti-Jihad, formed traditional,(Sunnati Usuli), traditionalist (Akhbari), and modern formal paradigms are among the main ones. One of the common features of these paradigms is that they have developed in a completely non-governmental and individualistic background. Now, that Shiah jurists have the unprecedented opportunity to be in authority, the Shiite fiqh has come out of isolation and individualistic condition and is moving towards the management of a national, regional, and international government. "The paradigm of governmental fiqh" seeks to infer legal injunctions through a governmental view under the umbrella of traditional fiqh and ancestor's macro methods, preserving the heritage of the ancestors.Using a documentary approach, the present paper sheds light on the paradigm of governmental fiqh and its difference from the Shiite fiqh in the previous stages. This paper, which is centred on the view of the grand Ayatollah Khamenei's (may God protect him) and the foundations of his fiqhi thought, elaborates on his views about governmental fiqh by tracing the different periods of the history of fiqh. The necessity and nature of governmental fiqh, its difference from individualistic fiqh, and the modus operandi for attaining governmental fiqh have been dealt with.

The present paper investigates the principles of justice in the Supreme Leader's thought. Justice has always been considered by many movements, revolutions, and reforms in the world as one of the basic mottos, but most of them have failed to put it into practice. We should first make sure what the principles of justice are in order to be able to realize it. When the principles of justice are identified, the nature of our attitude and the angle of our view about its value will be known and its boundaries will be determined in the context of Islamic thoughts. This will enable us to provide a practical modus operands for identifying this fundamental value according to these principles. It is very important for us to identify the principles of justice, because justice-centredness is one of the basic mottos of our plans.Delibrating on the Supreme Leader's words and sayings by referring to the software available and the Supreme Leader's Website, this paper seeks to explicate the theoretical principles of justice in the Supreme Leader's thought.

The present paper investigates Miriam Galston's interpretation of Farabi's political philosophy. Having made a contrastive study of Farabi's four main works (Madina Fazelah [Utopia], Siyasat Madaniyyah [Civil Politics], Tahsil al-Saadah [Realization of Happiness], and Fusool Montazaah [Abstracted chapters]), Galston tries to come up with a new conception of Farabi's political philosophy. The attention given to Aristotelian principles by Farabi's political philosophy is an interesting feature which characterizes Galston's interpretation. However, the in attention to the difference between Aristotelian philosophy and Platonic philosophy and the fact that Farabi's political philosophy is influenced by Islamic doctrines has not only led to Galston's failure to prove his claim but also to finally affirm the famous approach adopted by the interpreters of Islamic political philosophy who hold that Farabi's political philosophy is influenced by Platonic philosophy. The present paper elaborates on this point, using an analytical-documentary approach.

Demoracy, which is one of the most important issues in political philosophy, has been interpreted in different ways. In the light of the analysis of the historical understanding of the word"democracy" and explanation of its main elements, democracy can be defined as a kind of government in which people's participation in political affairs, their freedom and equality before the law and their satisfaction with the governing political system are officially recognized. If we study the Islamic doctrines we come to the conclusion that Islam has been concerned with the realization of the elements of the concept of democracy. This idea adduces grounds for providing a new model of democracy, because there has been no pure and genuine democracy throughout the history; rather all types of democracy have some limitations in the framework of different beliefs. Accordingly, the modus operands and mechanisms for realizing democracy have been defined.Accordingly, pure democracy based on Islamic doctrines, in which Muslims believe, can be specified and the mechanisms of its realization be determined. Thus, a new model of democracy, known as religious democracy, has been developed. The present paper elaborates on this subject, using a theoretical approach.

Religious democracy is a new term in the world's political discourse which has come into common use in the context of Islam's political principles, being influenced by Prophetic and Alawid doctrines. It tries to manifest value principles and foundations by observing people's rights in the realm of politics and society management, avoiding despotic governmental types. Thus, Islamic system does not correspond with the western secular types.Using a documentary – analytical method, the present paper tries to expound Ayatollah Misbah's views on religious democracy. The research findings reveal that religious democracy is founded on people's contest, value – orientation, right – orientation, and legalism. Religious democracy finds its meaning in the framework of Islamic principles and values. Religious democracy seeks to achieve people's demand and stress the significance of high religious principles and aims. It does not seek to negate or weaken people's demand because such negation will make religious democracy lose its value content, and attributing the word "religious" to it will not be appropriate.

The Islamic awakening as an identity-seeking uprising with its civilizational approach in a framework of political Islam is now if effect. It aims to regain the high status of Islamic civilization. Political Islam is a discourse which focus on the concept of "Islamic government" and its main concern is restructuring Islamic society according to Islamic principles. The direct confrontation with western culture and civilization has provoked this discourse which aims at decentralizing liberal discourse at a global level and defending Islam against invasion of arrogant powers. The present paper studies the pivots of the confrontation in Islamic societies between the discourse of political Islam and that of secularism. The research which uses a descriptive–analytical method, is based on the available resources and concrete realities. The most important finding of this paper is that the challenge and conflicts between political Islam and the West has a civilizational nature and the West tries, through the promotion of secularism and secular systems in Islamic societies, to confront Islamic awakening.