نشریه تاریخ و فرهنگ
سال چهل و هشتم شماره 2 (پیاپی 97، پاییز و زمستان 1395)

Writing biographical layers (ṭabaqāt) is regarded as a procedure of Islamic historiography that has particularly been employed in biography writing by Muslim writers. This procedure has been practiced during successive centuries, from the third century AH until present era and has experienced different styles and methods. Writers in different vocations and fields have used this model for presenting rijālī (biographies of ḥadīth transmitters), historical, and biographical data, yielding a large volume of Islamic written heritage. Influenced by the social and political climate of their time and their own beliefs, the authors of these works have selected various methods for classifications of their books. Given the way the Islamic biographical layer writing and its various procedures developed, the stages of writing biographical layers and the impression of social climate on the writers are examined in this paper. In conclusion, the possibility of making connection between writing biographical layers and the issue of social classes of the Islamic community has also been taken into consideration.

Muhammad b. Muslim b. Shahāb Zuhrī is among the eminent traditionists and narrators of the first and second century AH. The picture presented of him in earlier sources and recently in modern researches has mostly an approach alternating between two extremes. The Shī‘ī sources in general introduce Zuharī as the enemy of the Ahl al-Bayt and a subordinate to the Umayyads and the Sunnī sources introduce him as a moderate and reliable figure. One of the problems raised about Zuhrī is his connection with the Umayyad caliphs; an accurate survey of the historical evidences indicates certain ups and downs of this connection. Relying on this connection, the Shī‘ī sources consider Zuhrī as a rijālī figure and an untrustable character, whereas some of his traditions about the sublime status of Ahl al-bayt as well as some of his positions against the Umayyad ideas show that the propositions confirmed by these sources are not acceptable about the Zuhrī’s subordination to the Umayyads, at least in an absolute sense. It seems the mere presence of Zuhrī in the Umayyad court has caused his being weakened in most of Shī‘ī sources and researches, whereas in most instances the impact of this connection cannot be noticed in Zuhrī’s tendencies.

Agricultural knowledge used to be orally transferred among the Iranian farm families in earlier times. Therefore, few books have been authored and left behind in the fields of agriculture. In this paper, it is tried to examine three books of Irshād al-Zirā‘a, Ma‘rifat Falāḥat, and Risāla-yi Ṭarīq-i Qismat-i Āb-i Qulb and thereby to demonstrate the amount of knowledge and the rate of progress and skill of the Iranian farmers in using water, land, climate conditions, observance of sequence and cultivation in planting various products, advancement of the quality of the products, animal and natural pesticide, storage and preservation of various kinds of products and fruits, and proper usage of water sources. It is a skill that despite scientific advancements in agriculture still can be very helpful and efficient to modern agriculture in Iran.

In middle centuries, the Muslims with a dynamic civilizational foundation had a great influence on other civilizations, especially in the Western Christian society. These impacts have been carried out in various ways and different regions, one of the most important of which is Andalusia, especially its frontiers. The relations between Muslims and Christians, either in conflict or peace, have been widespread within these borders. The outcomes of these relations have been considerable on both sides in military, social, cultural, and economic fields. Since the Muslims have been superior in different aspects over the Western Christians, the influence of the Muslim Civilization has been very considerable in terms of the frontiers of Andalusia. While examining the term thaghr (frontier) and the words related to it, this article seeks to answer the question as to what other functions these frontiers have had besides defense. The hypothesis in mind is that besides defense, the frontiers have had other functions such as cultural, political, and economic as well, which have been due to the widespread contacts between the Muslims and Christians in the frontiers’ regions.

The tribal outlook of the Turkmen and the Iranian Governance and Landowning have been two rival discourses in the Seljuk period, each one of which tries to expel the rival from the scene or to dominate the outlook of the other one. In tribal outlook, the governance belonged to the entire tribe and the governing household represented them in ruling. This type of outlook, whose major representatives were the Turkmen emirs, would restrict the power of the chief of the tribe to the tribal traditions. However, in the Iranian landowning pattern that was at first unknown to the Turkmen, the power was centered in the hands of the ruler. He had a transhuman status and was considered as the God’s shadow on earth; therefore, he had in his disposal the people’s properties and life and enjoyed absolute authority. The Iranian bureaucrats were the main promoters of this thinking and the conflict between the Turkmen emirs and the Iranian viziers is examinable in terms of the contradiction of two outlooks about the governance. The present article has considered the contradiction of these two outlooks among the most important components effective on the Seljuk’s governance structure and is intended to examine the Seljuk’s tribal outlook, particularly the Turkmen emirs, and its contraction with the Iranian landowning pattern. According to the findings of this research, the Seljuk Ghuzzes in the beginning of their entering Iran had a thinking restricted to the tribal traditions paralleled with evasion from the [ruling] center. Despite the attempts made by the Iranian bureaucratic agents and the approval of the Seljuk Sultans, the Turkmen emirs’ tribal outlook became more conspicuously apparent after the Khwaja Niẓām al-Mulk’s period, which caused the weakening of the bureaucrats and continuous combat between the Seljuk princes and emirs.

A part of the core concept of the Iranian images manuscript, particularly from the 10th century onwards are focused on representation of the themes of interest and emphasis to Shi’ism. In the meantime, Fālnāma-yi Tahmāsbī manuscript, which was produced during the dominance of Shi’ism discourse in the reign of Shah Tahmāsb, is a manuscript worth deliberation both in terms of theme and concept. It seems that the approach of the painters of this manuscript has been inclined toward representing the Islamic and Shi‘ī themes and contents based on the beliefs and traditions concerning Shi’ism discourse. Thus, this article is intended to thematically describe and analyze the images of this manuscript in line with the beliefs, traditions, and narrations of Shi’ism discourse. The findings of this research show that a selection of doctrines and important events of Islam and Shi’ism, the Qur’anic and religious stories that somehow represent the reality and righteousness of Shiism are illustrated in Fālnāma-yi Tahmāsbī manuscript. The important point is that there are some noteworthy signs, symbols, and pictorial preparations used in some of the images of this manuscript representing the beliefs and discourses of Shi’ism discourse that make it outstanding among religious manuscripts.