نشریه تاریخ و فرهنگ
سال چهل و ششم شماره 1 (پیاپی 92، بهار و تابستان 1393)

Al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā by Muḥammad b. Sa‘d Baṣrī (d. 230/844) is one of the significant books on the biography of the Prophet (S. A. W.)، his companions، successors to the companions، and the transmitters of ḥadīth up to the early decades of third AH century. With a case study of Imam ‘Alī’s life in this book، the present research seeks to elucidate the difference of the reports presented by the traditionists and historians concerning the incidents of the early period of Islam. The findings of this research indicate that Ibn Sa‘d، as a traditionist-historian، has sometimes reported the course of events differently from the historians due to his loyalty to the criteria and beliefs of the scholars of ḥadīth.

Integrity is among the fundamental concepts in the field of cultural heritage and the importance of knowing this concept and examining its status in the philosophical principles of perseverance is so great that achieving integrity is introduced as among the basic criteria of optimal preservation of historical monuments. Integrity has always been open to discussion in different historical periods، but because of different impressions made of this concept، it has been used with a different meaning in every period. This article is aimed at finding an answer to the question as to what the conceptual status of integrity is as one of the basic principles of cultural heritage in the theory of preservation and what process it has followed from the middle ages up to the present era; and، in general، what role has the meaning and value had in the philosophical principles of preservation as well as in the category of integrity? The findings obtained from the study of the sources and data indicates the semantic limits، the status، and the degree of importance of integrity in the course of preservation history and clarifies that this concept is one of the basic principles that has to be perpetually supported in all the fields of cultural heritage، to such an extent that discrediting this important matter would diminish the value of the monumental work and the only way to preserve the universal values is to preserve their integrity.

Mosque is among the most important edifices in Islamic Architecture، which has a significant role in the cultural، social، and religious life of the Muslims. Since mosque is God’s House and a place for whispering supplications to Him، the Muslim rulers have attempted to construct or reconstruct mosques. They have benefited from the help of the artists and calligraphers for the physical and spiritual decoration and beautification of the mosques; and thus، the art of calligraphy in the form of decorative inscriptions was employed with an aesthetic and ideological function in the architecture of the mosques and religious buildings. In the Timurid period، which is one of the prosperous Islamic periods in terms of architecture and art، abundant use has been made of the art of calligraphy in decoration of the mosques. Masjid-i Shāh or Imām، is one of the monuments of the Timurid period in Mashhad that is located in the south-west of Gawharshād Mosque and along the former Bāzār-i Zanjīr (Chain Bazaar). This mosque is one of the mausoleum mosques of the Timurid period، in whose internal and external space there are a total of 21 inscriptions with various scripts consisting of various contexts. This research is mainly intended to study various scripts and contexts used in this building.