نشریه تاریخ اسلام در آینه پژوهش
سال نهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 33، پاییز و زمستان 1391)

Neyshabur is one of the four capitals of Great Khorasan and one of the ancient cities of Iran. It had a political and cultural importance in the early Islamic centuries. It was so important that some governments chose it as their capital. Its scientific and political status, Imam Reza is short visit to it and his narration of the "Gold Chain" tradition have added to its importance. This city enjoyed an important position in the first and second centuries ('AH') but the importance of this historical city increased in the third and fourth centuries ('AH'). The present paper tries to elaborate on Neyshabur's political importance, its conditions, the religion of its people, their customs, language, the conflicts and wars, its schools, its economic conditions, and religious sects of the city in the third and fourth centuries ('AH').

During their rule in Khorasan and due to their racist nature the Umayyads practiced discrimination against Mawālī (freed slaves) and the Arab people who shared them in thought and imposed high taxes of different kinds on them. Such a policy made Mawālī face serious and complicated economic conditions and stimulated them to contribute in the harsh regional struggle against Umayyad dynasty. One of the reactions was Harith b. Surayj's uprising. It was not only one of the most important uprisings that shook the Umayyad regime in Khorasan but also prepared the ground for Abu Muslim's uprising who managed to ruin the unstable bases of the Umayyad regime by making use of the experiences he gained from Surayj's uprising. The present paper tries to investigate the causes, development and outcome of Harith b. Surayj's uprising in Khorasan.

Ibn Abi Al-Hadid Al- Mu‘tazili is considered as the most famous commentator of Nahjol Balaghāh and his book as one of the most outstanding commentaries. The important feature of his book is his proper understanding of Imam Ali's sayings. Proper understanding is also contingent upon the historicism of every component to which paid special attention to explain and interpret Imam Ali's sayings correctly. Among the best means which Ibn Abi-Al-Hadid used in order to interpret Imam Ali's sayings properly are: considering the geographical context of the sayings, stating the reason behind the sayings, and attempting to find the date the sayings. Furthermore, he was able to use context-based criticism (textual criticism), individual's genealogy, other's citations, famous narrations and historical traditions in historicism of the different narrations. No doubt, the most important criticism about his commentary is the influence of theology and his sectarian attitude resulting from his religious fanaticism and enmity towards Shiism, and so, due to his Mu‘tazilite bias he has sometimes neglects historicism and his sectarian understanding takes priority over proper understanding.

Every year, when the eighth of Shawwal comes, the Muslim world and the Shi‘ah in particular commemorate the tragic event of destroying the holy shrines of the infallible and pure imams by Wahhabis and the invaluable historical works handed down from early Islam. Using a descriptive-analytical approach, the present paper describes this event, its outcome, and the reaction of the Muslim world to it. Then, it answers the basic question relating to the factors that contributed to weakening anti-Wahhabism atmosphere in Iran, neglecting the late Mudarres's project called "Commission to Defend the Holy Shrines", removal of Hajj prohibition, recognition of the newly established Saudi's government, and establishing diplomatic relationships with it in spite of the anti-Wahhabism atmosphere in Iran and the efforts of religious scholars and religious forces to react against and place pressure on the Wahhabis. This paper confirms the idea that the contribution and endeavor of Bahai elements in the Iranian government of the time played a major role in this regard.

Different factors contributed to the formation of the misguided sect of Bahaism. Among the factors which are worth mentioning are: misconception of the doctrines of Mahdism and awaiting the savior, the emergence of Sheikiyyah sect, in addition to some cultural and social factors like poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, and superstition. Regarding the political factors, we can refer to the weakness of government and multidirectional domination of foreign powers over the court and national resources on one hand and to the support offered by foreign powers for any deconstructive movement which targeted the strength of the government and religious scholars on the other hand. The mistake committed by some historians and the false claims of some followers of the misguided Bahaism has made some think that such religious scholars like Sheikh A‘zam Ansari did not adopt a rigid stance in dealing with leaders of Bahaism and Babism. The present paper tries to investigate these claims, and comment on them in the light of the existing evidence.

Investigating the status of women during the Age of Ignorance has been a subject of concern to researchers. However, a brief look at this question reveals that researchers have not made a thorough study of the personal and familial issues during the Age of Ignorance. The discussions on the status of women in Age of Ignorance are mainly related to female infanticide and kinds of marriage and divorce of that period, while the other aspects of women's life, particularly their role as mothers, were neglected. Therefore, the present paper illustrates this point by answering some questions relating to the mother's status in the Age of Ignorance and early Islam which are as follows: what was the mother's status during the Age of Ignorance? Was the position they occupied as wives and daughters lowly or was it high? Has Islam challenged all the mores and manners of Age of Ignorance or did it approve those which were compatible with moral standards? The present paper studies such issues like attributing descent to mothers, the role of the mother in training and naming the child, comparing the status of mothers during the Age of Ignorance and that in Islam.

Using a descriptive-analytical method and relying on authentic resources about the Holy Prophet's lifestyle and on the accounts of the battles of early Islam, the present paper studies the status of Qurayshi Bani 'Amir between pre-Islam until the demise of the Holy Prophet, their attitude towards Islam and Muslims and their interactions with Muslims during that period. It discusses the genealogy, economic condition, population, place of residence, and science. .. of this household in the pre-Islam period. Then, it explains and analyzes Muslim's status, life of Bani 'Amir polytheists, and the conduct of these two different ideological attitudes towards Islam and proves that Qurayshi Bani 'Amir adopted two completely different attitudes – disagreement and collaboration with the Holy Prophet in early Islam.