نشریه پژوهش دینی
سال چهاردهم شماره 30 (بهار و تابستان 1394)

Infallibility of the Imam (a.s.) is one of the foundations of the Imamate in Shiism and Shiite scholars have demonstrated its necessity through various proofs and defended it since a long time ago, while this issue has always beencriticized by the opponents.Alusi, a contemporary Sunni interpreter, is among the scholars who disagree with infallibility and has criticized the views of the Twelverson this issue. He believes that infallibility terminates with the seal of the prophecy and only justice and ijtihadsuffice to preservereligion and there is no need for infallibility ofthe Imam. He also believes that there is a contradictionbetween infallibility of the Imam and his occultation as aShiite belief. These views of Alusihave been mainly derivedfrom his way of approaching the Imamate and equating the Imamate with caliphate and demoting the Imamate to the rank of ordinary scholars. Some of Alusi’s ideas have been influenced by his predecessors and they have been exploited by the contemporary opponents.Analyzing and evaluating the views of Alusi on rejecting theproofs ofShiism,this study explicates the rational proofs offered to demonstrate the necessity of the infallibility of the Imam andestablishhis standing and the status of the Imamate.

The Quran is the book of guidance for men of all ages andGod, the most high, has utilized anecdotes and, within the anecdotes, various literary styles and storytelling in order to shed light on concepts, attract the audience, convey the sublime spiritual concepts, transmit ethical instructions and religious teachings, accelerate and facilitate understanding of concepts and help the profound spiritual concepts settle in the soul and heart of man. Meanwhile, allegory, metaphor,brevity andprolixity and otherliterary styles are among the forms of communicating messages in the stories of the Quran. They are utilized to materialize and visualize the intellectual and spiritual concepts in the Quran so that everyone canbenefit from it depending on his/herpower of understanding. Besides, since one of the goals of the Quran is to employsymbolic language to elucidate life issues, storytellingis one of the best ways to fulfill objective. In particular, direct and authoritative message induction is not always compatible with human nature and, undernumerousconditions,a message can be delivered artistically and indirectly. The Quran has taken this significant point into account in telling stories and has employed various literary styles to conveyits messages.Some of these literary styles are dealt with in the present paper.

The issue of resurrection has been manifestly mentioned in the Avesta, the Bible, the Talmud and the Quranand only in the Pentateuch Torah,there is no explicit reference to this point. The Old Testament does not include descriptions of the Paradise, but the Avesta and the New Testament contain such general description of the Paradise as ‘a place of comfort and happiness’, ‘the best life’ and ‘the eternal life’. The detailed attributes of the Paradise and its blessings, more similar to what the Quran mentions, are found in the oral tradition of Judaism, the Talmud, and in the books of Zoroastrianism, which reveal their Devine nature and the unity of their origin. In addition, the issue of resurrection and the attributes of the Paradisehave been dealt with comprehensively and in detail in the Holy Quran in comparison with the books of Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity. This is indicative of distortion of the previous scriptures, the higher position of Islam in the evolutionary course of religions and the superiority of the Holy Quran to other scriptures.

Studies on the Quran revealthat the disbelievers named the Quran asatir al-avvalin(‘fables of the men of old’) to deny therevealed origin of this holy book and to refute the resurrection.The Arabic word ostureh (singular form of asatir) which may be translated into ‘fable’ in English has been defined differently, but what we may conclude from various definitions is that ostureh is the special worldview of the ancient man. Hence, discovery of the social structure of man’s life in the distant past as well as his thought system counts a lot. However, given the primary nature of the life of the pre-Islamic Arabs, can we say that what they understood fromostureh was exactly what it meant to the ancient people?Investigation into the Quranic verses and reflection upon their context tell us that from the perspective of the pre-Islamic Arabs, whose all walks of life had been influenced by connection with thejinn, ostureh is the same association they had with thejinn. An evaluation of the structure of the life of the pre-Islamic Arabs and the context of verses in question as well as the similar names the disbelievers used to call the Prophet all is evidence of the claim made in this research.

The Ottoman army’s advance intoEastern and Central Europe made the church authorities offerpolicies and plans to deal with the growing threat of the Ottoman Empire. One of the most famous of these measureswas Contra Franciaplan (the peace conference of Muslims and Christians)which was proposed by Juan de Segovia, the famous Spanish Cardinal. Although this plan had not been arranged on the basis of the political realities of the time, it led to significant changes in various areas of the Western research on the Quranin the mid-fifteenth century. Using the method of studying historical context, the present paper explores the motives ofarranging Contra Franciaplan, issues related to it, as well as its impact on the Westerns’ Quranic studies. The findings of the present study reveal that the hostile atmosphere of Europe then not only resulted in the failure of theContra Franciaplan, but it also caused the Quranic studies to be subject totheological polemics.The Ottoman army’s advance intoEastern and Central Europe made the church authorities offerpolicies and plans to deal with the growing threat of the Ottoman Empire. One of the most famous of these measureswas Contra Franciaplan (the peace conference of Muslims and Christians)which was proposed by Juan de Segovia, the famous Spanish Cardinal. Although this plan had not been arranged on the basis of the political realities of the time, it led to significant changes in various areas of the Western research on the Quranin the mid-fifteenth century. Using the method of studying historical context, the present paper explores the motives ofarranging Contra Franciaplan, issues related to it, as well as its impact on the Westerns’ Quranic studies. The findings of the present study reveal that the hostile atmosphere of Europe then not only resulted in the failure of theContra Franciaplan, but it also caused the Quranic studies to be subject totheological polemics.