فصلنامه مطالعات تاریخ فرهنگی
پیاپی 31 (بهار 1396)

During the Abbasid caliphate period, especially during the period of Mamun, there were debates with non-Muslims, whether from the Ahl al-Kitab (People of the Book) or others, which, according to some of the authors, illustrate a brilliant era and free-thinking of Mamun and his belief in plurality of ideologies. But the analysis of the actions and dialogues of the caliph and debaters indicates another situation. This research, based on the qualitative method of interpretation (based on description and analysis), seeks to investigate the question that which space has dominated over debaters, especially non-Muslims, and how much they practiced self-censorship in expressing their beliefs and what has been the effect of the presence of Mamun in these debates. The present paper claims that, with regard to the encounters of the caliph with the debaters, the aim of these meetings was to overcome and suppress these groups with the aim of gaining the intellectual victory of Muslim over them.

Jews were well-known in spell and its various types and techniques, and they were known as magical secrets and magical supernatural abilities in Muslim societies’ culture. From the various types of magic, spells were more prevalent in Jewish and Muslim societies, and its basis was human and animalistic images. Considering such position, the recognition of Jewish pictorial spells in Islamic culture is the subject of this article. The question is what are the origins and forms of illustrated spells in the Jewish culture of Muslim societies? To answer, based on the cultural history approach, various evidences of the use of illustration in Jewish tales have been investigated in Jewish and Islamic sources and their continuity in the Jewish communities of the dwellers of Islamic lands has been shown

Over the past two centuries, the history of the Islamic world has narrated the conflict between the native Muslim traditions and the native Western culture. Egyptians, due to the three-year presence of the French government, were among the pioneers in confronting Western culture. Although the activities of the French in Egypt was not as unpleasant as the experiences of other colonialists in the Middle East, anti-Westerners and opponents of the manifestation of the modernization of Muhammad Ali Pasha, who came immediately after the departure of the French from Egypt, known him as a Westernized and dependent element. The aim of this paper which is based on descriptive-analytical method using library sources is to review and study the introverted or Westernized identity of Muhammad Ali Pasha and his successors, as a case study through the process of change and transformation of the “Office of Endowment" as one of the most experienced religio-economic institutions of Muslin community in confronting Egyptian community with modernity. In this regard, this article will compare two important laws which had been approved by Muhammad Ali Pasha and his successors about the “Office of Endowments” and compare its effects with similar laws in the period of Mamluks or Ottoman Sultans. On the other hand, the establishment of the institution and organizations for administration of the “Office of Endowment” during Khadivate until the domination of Britain over the Egypt will be noticed and a report on the evolution of this important governmental institution during the evolution of Egypt’s history in nineteenth century will be presented.

The present article seeks to answer the question of why and how a marginal newspaper, such as the Chanteh Pa Berahneh, can and, in a stronger sense, should be used to clarify the times in which it exists, and therefore it is necessary to come back to the context of historical researches as a main historical source. To answer this question, after reviewing the available editions of the Chanteh Pa Berahneh Newspaper from style, tune, content and audiences’ point of view and in the historical context of Constitutional Revolution, it is argued that the newspaper pursued its profession in "supporting the laborers" in two different ways: One was a "class consciousness in a general way", and the other was a "reaction to the events that influenced the lives of the laborers, in a special way." On the first way, some articles of the newspaper, with a pseudo-theoretical and, of course, understandable language for laborers had tried to plot the situation of laborer class against riches and excite them through justice-based thinking in language of satire in order to have an ideological invitation for protesting the current situation and eliminating social gap. In the second way, content of newspaper had reflected the additional issues of laborer class. The present article will highlight the importance and usefulness of this newspaper for writing the “history from the bottom up” as a branch of historiography which compared with the three type of political, cultural and social historiography faces a serious challenge in order to access to the historical status of the lower classes. Therefore, the necessity of returning these types of texts to historical research can be explained by the fact that any type of historiography is dependent on historical sources, but the type of historiography also determines what resources are important, so that resources that were not once seen in a period of time, can take the initiative, for example in historiography "from the bottom"

In premodern cosmology, there has always been the idea that the concrete universe is formed by forces or forces that determine the final direction and path of the universe. If political thought considered as a set of ideas for the scheme of political affairs of the universe that discusses the bases of power, coordination between political thought and cosmology will be necessary. Accordingly, cosmology provides a transcendent pattern for political thought that illustrates the crystallization of this pattern. Our hypothesis is that the Iranshahri’s political thought, in terms of its requisiteness, such as the thought of ​​justice, the idea of ​​hierarchy, the ideal kingdom, etc., must be understood by reference to the cosmic foundations which independently derived from the thought of ancient Iran. Thus, in the present paper, we will show how cosmology has played a role in the development and establishment of the Iranshahri’s thought, in particular. This study will be conducted by discussing the origin of the universe and the relationship of the finite world to the infinite.

The confrontation of Iranian elites of constitutional era with Western civilization led to the process of adaptation of concepts and devices of Western thought and, consequently, the formulation of conservative, modern, and reform-oriented religious knowledge discourses by the thinkers of this historical period. The reflection of accepting these discourses in the current Iranian context is critical for redefining the characteristics of aforementioned discourses. Recognizing the characteristics of discourse on reforming religious knowledge in Tehran Habl al-matin newspaper is a needed answer to this necessity. Critical discourse analysis is theoretical framework which helps us to unveil the characteristics of discourse on reforming religious knowledge. The application of this theoretical framework can be interpreted in this way that the components of historical context of the constitutional era such as the entry of new ideas, tyranny, colonialism and the failure of political reform determinant of the "relations of religion and modernity," were considered as the node around which the religious knowledge reformation discourse was articulated. The revival of the teachings of the Quran, return to the original Islam, redefining the role of the clergy, the need for unity of Muslims and respecting the rights of religious minorities were the most important characteristics of religious knowledge reformation discourse in Tehran Habl al-Matin newspaper; and due to the inter-discourse interactions, the components of traditional and modern discourses were articulated around the node of "relations of religion and modernity”