فصلنامه شیعه شناسی
پیاپی 58 (تابستان 1396)

By creating deprivation in the life of their citizens, the authoritative governments who are dependent on the trans-regional powers in Middle East prepare the ground for ideological and political divergence due to democratic demands among them. The challenge between the political discourse of Shiism and the radical Sunnism may be analyzed from this angle. This divergence is developed by information services in some countries, aiming at weakening the political authority of Islamic world. Islamic movements, with a democratic approach for getting out of this social crisis, are trying to gain their real status in various areas of the Middle East. The present study seeks to answer the question of what the effect of the Shiite political discourse and universalism with a democratic approach on reproduction of modern Salafism is. (Question) The speculation of this article is that the evolutionary trend in theoretical framework and the practical structure of the Shiite political discourse and its link with the universal discourse stimulate the rivalry of the Sunnite radical discourse, and the anti-democratic radical Sunnism has heighten the crisis in Islamic world, intensifying violence in the region and throughout the world. (Hypothesis) Achieving democratic convergence as a solution for the aforementioned discourse can be useful for getting out of the crisis. (Goal) The data of the main sources obtained through historical studies using the interdisciplinary method made it possible to reconcile the discourses. (Method) promoting peace and universal coexistence and developing Islamic democratic convergence in theoretical and practical domains in line with fulfilling the interests of the trends involved are among the achievements of this article (findings).

The mourning ceremonies and rites of Ashura in various historical periods, in addition to various forms, have accepted a variety of social changes as well. These changes were affected by social, political and cultural conditions of the society,and found the opportunity to grow and reproduce their special intellectual system to affect the society. The main issue in the present article is to show – using a documentary study, while considering the necessity of sociological approaches in analyzing historical phenomena, Ashura mourning in particular – the type and extent of analysis and understanding the logic of the social changes and evolutions throughout history.

The religious structure of Azerbaijan republic and the way people look and the elite view Islam, and Shiism in particular, in that country is the product of a long historical process full of vicissitudes; without studying it, no one can have a right and realistic understanding of the religious and political evolutions of the present society of Azerbaijan. Indeed, formation and activities of Islamist parties has been realized in this very context of this historical product. Thus, through an investigation of the course of Islamic evolutions in Azerbaijan, one can have a better understanding of the political-religious atmosphere dominating the activities of the Islamists in that country. Similarly, the attitude and approach of the Islamist trends in Azerbaijan greatly help Islam and Shiism, the way they interact or confront the ruling political regime, goals and ideals and their view on Iran as the greatest Shiite country in Islamic world.

The present study aims at a comparative investigation of the types of argumentative themes of the poems composed by Bahr al-Uloom and Shahryar in mourning for Imam Hussein. The committed poets (Sayyid Mahdi Bahr al-Uloom in Arabic poetry and Muhammad Hussein Shahryar in Persian Poetry) have dealt with Ashura with a deep emotion. The bases of argumentation in their elegies and lamentations include argumentative bases by adducing reason (addressing one’s reason and loving Ahl al-Bayt as well as answering the false claims of the oppressors), resorting to the element of emotion and arguing using the Quranic verses (the qualification of Ahl al-Bayt for caliphate and imamate and answering the false claims of the Umawid and Abbasid caliphs), as well as the dialectical bases by adducing the related traditions (Imam Ali’s succession and hadith of Kasa). By investigating poems on Imam Hussein’s virtues, the images associated start from the whole universe; then they enter the subject of thirst and martyrdom, and end with the captivity of the women and children. The point of difference in Bahr al-Uloom’s poems is in those couplets dedicated to the Kufan people and the letters written by them. And in Shahryar’s poems, the images of Ashura event are more in number and enjoy a greater emotional aspect. In their odes, both poets resort to the method of dialogue to state Imam Hussein’s grandeur, but this is more colorful in Bahr al-Uloom’s poems.

Abu Saeed Abul-Khayr (157-440 AH) was one of the prominent mystics of Samanid and Ghaznawid periods, who played a special role in promoting the mystical concepts in Persian poems. The mystical poems attributed to him have been mostly gathered in recent works. Nevertheless, one can find a course of the way and the time of entrance of the Shiite concepts into the mystical quatrains by analyzing those poems. In the present article, we have used an analytical method to investigate the concepts such as resorting to the Infallibles and seeking their intermediation in Abu Saeed’s elegies and supplication poems, and to compare the structure and the concept of these poems with other similar samples of Persian literature to analyze the rightness of attributing them to Abu Saeed and the course of their entrance of the Shiite concepts into mystical quatrains. The results show that although there are common origins between Abu Saeed’s poems and the Shiite thoughts, considering the extant sessions of Sheikh and the type and content of the poems, the Shiite concepts have entered the attributed quatrains after the seventh century and have been attributed to Abu Saeed later on.

Islamic and Shiite themes have a special status among the Muslim poets. The men of letter in Andalusia under governments with Shiite leanings, such as Bani Hamud and Almohads, inclined towards Shiism and used Shiite themes in their poems. Abul-Abbas bin Shakil was one of the Andalusian poets under Almohads, in whose poems one finds the Shiite thoughts more than any other theme. Making use of the Quranic verse and mentioning events in Islamic history (including succession of the Prophet and Ashura incident) are the contents of most of his poems. To prove the rightness of Imam Ali refers to evidences such as Ghadir Khom incident, the verse Tathir, Manzelt hadith, and Imam Ali’s knowledge and bravery. The present article analyzes and describes the Shiite beliefs in his poems. Those themes can properly show the spirit governing that time (under Almohads) in Andalusia as well as the religious inclination of the poet. Looking at the few poems extant from Ibn Shakil, one may find that his poems are so simple and far from literal complexities and are ready to state the poet’s ideas more than serving figures of speech.

To gain legitimacy, Safawid rulers used three methods of ‘verbal propagation’, ‘behavioral propagation’ and ‘pictorial propagation’. The present article aims at explaining the function of architectural inscriptions in stating the principles of Shiism and their effect on legitimacy of Safawid rulers. The question is as follows: “how did Safawid kings use inscriptions to state their thoughts and achieve their political and religious goals? The method of gathering data was documentary and the research method was descriptive-analytical. The Safawid monuments in Isfahan, Ardabil and Mashhad compose the statistical population of the study. Isfahan as the main capital and Ardabil and Mashhad were chosen as the religious and spiritual centers and the frontiers of Safawid dynasty in confronting the Ottomans and the Sunnite Uzbeks. The findings of the study showed that political and religious willing and thoughts of the Safawid rulers are manifested in inscriptions with the names of God and the Prophet, Imams, hadiths such as hadith of Noah’s ship, supplications and prayers especially great salutation and the Shiite witness, the verse Ulul-Amr, the verse Tathir, the verse al-Kursi, phrases in describing the rulers’ following Imams, the phrase ‘the promoter of the Twelver Shiism’ for describing the first Shah Abbas, and the titles of ‘al-Musawi’ and ‘al-Husseini’ at the end of the names of the rulers. Using these themes in inscriptions cause the infusion of the following ideas: ‘Safawid rulers are the real promoters of religion’, ‘they enjoy high legitimacy due to their relation to Imams’, and ‘Safawid government is the promised government just before the appearance of Imam Mahdi, and its task is to prepare the ground for his appearance’.