rasul jafarian

Sufi literature has been present across many parts of the Islamic world since the 3rd century AH and has always had both supporters and opponents. The influence of Sufism has varied across different historical periods, as has the intensity of opposition to it. The conflict between Sufis and other intellectual groups—whether philosophers, jurists, or others—has given rise to a substantial body of critical and polemical literature.The present treatise, likely dating to the 11th or 12th century AH in the Indian subcontinent, is one such work. Like many similar writings, it contains valuable historical and bibliographical information. This unprinted treatise sheds light on a significant chapter in the longstanding debate over Sufi doctrines, practices, and related literature, offering insight into the criticisms and challenges Sufism faced in this context.

Throughout history, from the advent of historiography to the modern era, numerous general histories have been written across the Islamic world. In Iran, the 8th and 9th centuries AH witnessed the production of significant encyclopedic historical works, such as Jāmi‛ al-Tawārīkh, Rawḍat al-Ṣafā, and similar texts. These works, sometimes highly detailed and sometimes abridged, covered the history of Iran, Islam, Transoxiana, and even India, often including accounts of the rise of Islam, the Prophetic biography, and the history of the caliphs. Remarkably, some of these historical works, authored by Sunni historians, also included biographical accounts of the Twelve Imams. Lub Lubāb al-Tawārīkh is one such example—a concise compendium of Islamic history. In this study, we present the section of the text related to the Imams as evidence of the deep-rooted presence of Twelve-Imam Sunnism (Tasnnun-e Davāzdah Imāmī).

In this installment of the Manuscript Studies series, the author examines several historical manuscripts. Some of the key topics covered in these texts include:
A valuable note by Ismāʿīl Khātūnābādī critiquing both Sufi opponents and jurists.
A note by an Imāmī scribe from mid-8th century AH in Shiraz.
An interesting colophon from a manuscript of ‛Allāmah’s Qawā‛id, dated 1019 AH in Isfahan.
A letter from a muḥaddith (hadith scholar) to Badī‛ al-Zamān Furūzānfar and Furūzānfar’s response.
Poems by ‛Abdī Beyg Shīrāzī concerning Sufis.
A note at the beginning of a manuscript regarding the war between Shāh Ṣafī and the Ottomans.
Several Persian phrases found in Ḥanafī fiqh texts on the topic of ‛itq (manumission of slaves).
An explanation of the Fifth Ṣaḥīfah from the book Ṣaḥāʾif al-ʿĀlam.
A critical strategic error of Sulṭān Muḥammad Khwārazmshāh in provoking the Mongols.
Abū al-Qāsim Zanjānī, Sheikh al-Ḥaram (d. 471 AH), and an old Iranian proverb.

This study contributes to the ongoing exploration of historical manuscripts and their significance in Islamic and Persian intellectual history.

The influx of Christian missionaries into Iran began to increase significantly during the Safavid era, particularly under Shah Abbas I (d. 1038 AH). In response, Shia scholars started composing critical works against these missionaries, addressing both Christianity in general and specific Christian writings. This trend accelerated during the Qajar period, leading to the production of numerous books and treatises in cities such as Isfahan, Kashan, and Tehran. Many of these works have since been edited and published. Among the most prominent critics was Fakhr al-Islam, who was active from the Nasiri period to a few years after the Constitutional Revolution, especially during the reign of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah. He authored several critiques of Christianity, some of which remain unpublished. Burhān al-Muslimīn, featured in this article, documents a dialogue between Fakhr al-Islam and a group of Protestant priests. This debate was penned by Fakhr al-Islam himself and was lithographically printed at that time. The article not only presents the original treatise but also provides an analysis of its content.

The discussion of the Appearance has a history as long as Islam itself, as the belief in the Mahdi has been intertwined with Islam from the very beginning. The Abbasid Revolution is a chapter in the history of the Appearance, and titles such as Saffah and Mansur were part of this narrative. This trend continued, as detailed in many historical sources, which I have also explored in my work on False Mahdis. The intriguing practice of some individuals, particularly Sufis and mystics with a penchant for cryptic texts, attempting to deduce the date of the Appearance has historical precedents. The current example revolves around a text titled  Nafaḥāt al-Rayāḥīn , written in 1179 AH in Ottoman lands. The author of this text endeavors to decipher the date of the Appearance by interpreting certain poems of Ibn Arabi and passages from Futūḥāt al-Makkiyah. In this article, along with a report on that treatise, the text has also been critically edited and presented as much as possible.

Introduction:

For a prolonged period, the historical studies regarding the concept of ‘city’ sufficed to examine only the physical aspects of urban spaces, despite it being a complex phenomenon. The primary steps those studies opted for included identification of the urban elements (e.g. plazas, bazaars, schools, palaces, sacred buildings, etc.), examination of the locations’ topography and the components’ interrelation within the urban-scape, analysis of the construction techniques and architectural features of each building, depictions within the context of architectural tradition/history, and discovery of their differences and innovations. Ultimately, if a concept was conceived, it stood at the intersection between a city and its economic, political, religious, and social affairs.Along with the developments in modern history, however, numerous other methods for examining and discussing various spheres of urban spaces gradually emerged; researchers noticed the significance in a different aspect of cities – the experiences and emotions intertwined with urban spaces. According to these scholars, ‘modern cities’ possessed certain characteristics that allowed further connection and interaction with the inhabitants, referred to as the ‘urban experience’. They realized, in a later stage of progress, that such experiences could be found not only in modern cities but also in pre-modern ones.The very same standpoint affected the historical studies regarding the Islamic cities – namely the Safavid Isfahan and the Ottoman Istanbul – as well as the emerging cities on the threshold of the early modern era, such as the Mughal India and the Islamic West; due to their peculiar characteristics, these cities were comparable to their western modern counterparts. One of these characteristics is the pursuit of pleasure in public urban spaces, a concept studied and attributed to Safavid Isfahan, particularly on Chahar Bagh Street, as well as its squares and bridges.In this article, through the versified travelogue Muhit al-Kunayn authored by Salik Qazvini, we aim to study one aspect of pleasure-seeking and explore this concept not in gardens, squares, and bridges, but in markets, not only in Safavid Isfahan but also in other cities of the era. 

Literature Review:

In recent years, scholars have reexamined the notion of pleasure-seeking within Iranian urban settings, with a consensus that Isfahan, the capital of the Safavid Empire, is a pivotal point for this exploration. Isfahan's unique physical and social features have prompted researchers to view it as a city that accommodated a larger urban population and provided ample space for leisure activities. However, most research has focused on third-person perspectives, with less emphasis on personal experiences and memories within urban spaces. Kathryn Babayan's The City as Anthology (2021) marked a shift by exploring urban life through themes of love and friendship, reconsidering the concept of pleasure in Safavid Isfahan. Inspired by Babayan, this article revisits Salik Qazvini's travelogue, expanding the concept to other cities and highlighting the complexity of human experiences in urban environments.In “Discursive Images and Urban Itineraries” (2018), Emami examined the interplay between literature and urban landscapes, noting Qazvini's “spatial realism”. Additionally, Losensky's work, “Poetics and Eros in Early Modern Persia” (2009), provided a foundational basis by exploring Mohtsham Kashani's love experiences. Although Losensky focused more on rhetoric than city depiction, his approach helps us delve into Salik's experiences within urban spaces, particularly the bazaar. 

Methodology:

This article employs a multi-faceted approach to investigate the concept of urban experience within Iranian cities. Methodologically, it involves an analysis of primary sources, such as Salik Qazvini's travelogue, and secondary sources including works by Babayan, Emami, and Losensky on Safavid culture. The study utilizes a comparative approach to highlight similarities and differences in portrayals of urban life in Persian literature tradition. Additionally, contextual analysis situates texts within historical and cultural contexts. Moreover, a background layer incorporates the phenomenological method to interpret the text. 

Discussion:

For the purpose of the article, we first demonstrate how the travelogue reflects Salik Qazvini's personal experiences and poetic individuality within the context of Safavid-era poetry, particularly the “fresh style”. Then, through his experiences, we trace the unique urban pleasure of Salik, which involves the pursuit of beauty in the cities. We ponder upon all the cities that Salik visited—cities such as Qazvin, Tabriz, Isfahan, Shiraz, Baghdad, and various cities in India—and we reexamine these cities through his eyes, revealing the layers of his definition of the cities. In the process of deciphering the text, we come to realize that a significant part of the city's definition arises from the complexity of human emotions and subjectivity. This definition is intricately linked to the subjective experiences of its residents as much as it is to the objective elements of the city. While the physical backdrop of the city remains constant for everyone, the perception of the city often varies with each individual's unique experiences. We further explore this distinction by contrasting the experiences of several other poets with those of Salik. Additionally, we delve into the complexity of the poet's emotional attachment to the city, as exemplified through pilgrimage and pleasure in his travelogue. Through this exploration, we illustrate that the inner sentiments of individuals encountering the phenomenon of the city are varied and encompass a diverse spectrum of emotions. 

Conclusion:

Studying Safavid-era poetry, known as the “fresh style”, reveals that poets of this period skillfully blended tradition with innovation to explore earthly issues and everyday experiences. Salik Qazvini's travelogue stands out for its portrayal of the city as a primary setting for personal experiences and emotions. Using various poetic forms like couplet-poem, ode, lyric poem, eulogy, and city disturber, along with themes of mysticism, Sufism, and romance, Qazvini constructs the cityscape from his unique perspective. He depicts the city as a realm for pleasure and intellectual exploration, intertwining its beauty with that of the beloved, reflecting the personal and social experiences of its inhabitants.The second discussion addresses the poet's complex subjectivity towards the city. Qazvini expresses various emotional layers when encountering urban landscapes. His travelogue narrates his journey both as a pilgrim and an observer, blending religious and worldly experiences. These intertwined aspects of urban life illustrate the multifaceted nature of human experiences within dynamic urban settings. 

Mirza Mohammad Akhbari (d. 1232 AH) is one of the Akhbari scholars who is known for his numerous works containing sharp criticism of Mujtahids. In the present research, a less-explored aspect of Mirza Muhammad Akhbari's ideas and works, which includes his mystical tendency, has been studied. This research also study impact of the intellectual context of the time (the first decades of the 13th lunar century) on his ideas. That time was the era of conflict between the three discourses of Ijtihad, Sufi and Akhbari. The questions of this research are: How was Mirza Mohammad Akhbari's connection with Sufism and mysticism? How this kind of connection has been manifested in his works? and to what extent mystical aspect of his thought has been affected by his Akhbarism? The results of the research indicate that Mirza Mohammad Akhbari’s positions on mysticism and Sufism were influenced by his hostile literature against the mujtahids. Mirza Mohammad Akhbari defends mysticism and criticizes Sufism, using the dualism of mysticism/sufism. He also wrote treatises on mystical wisdom and was in contact with Sufis. He likened Sufis to Mujtahids and mystics to Akhbarites and considered Sufis and Mujtahids to be similar to each other in their heresy and dependence on Sunnis. Furthermore, by defending Sufi figures that have been criticized by scholars, he has practically taken the side of Sufis in the debate between mujtahids and Sufis.

The history of the discussion on " Excommunication of the people of Qibla" dates back to the early Islamic centuries when differences between the Mu'tazilites, Kharijites, and Murji'ites were pronounced. This theological issue persisted both theoretically and practically as governments and sects engaged with it. During the seventh to ninth centuries, as the Islamic world experienced relative tranquility, the escalating Safavid-Ottoman conflicts brought the matter back to the forefront. During this period, some Sunnis vehemently advocated for the Excommunication of the people of Qibla, asserting its plausibility. However, moderate Sunni scholars sought to narrow the scope of this concept and create grounds for rejecting the takfir of the people of Qibla. This article introduces and examines some unpublished texts on this subject, as well as reports on some lesser-known printed works from the Safavid era.

The School of Hadith, which was formed mainly in Baghdad, developed in many cities of Iran. An important part of this school was formed in Khorasan which led to the production of some of the six Sunni books. Hadith School also emerged and developed in Neishabur, Isfahan and Ray. At the same time, hadith was the source of jurisprudence, Quran commentary, ethics and theology in general, as well as the history of Islam. Every Muḥaddith could be active in several fields of religious sciences. Hadith School of Isfahan had many scholars whose works have survived up to now. Ibn Mandih's family is one of them. Abu Na’īm is one of the main figures of the hadith school of this city, who, of course, was of the Shāfi'ī and Ash'arī faith in opposition to many of his fellow hadith scholars. He was also a Sufi at the same time. His legacy in the field of Rijāl and history is very valuable. It has both the Prophet's Sirah entitled Dalāil al-Nubuwa, Mairifat al-Ṣahābah in the biography of the Companions, the local history entitled Tariīkh-e Iṣbahān, and the Ḥilyat-ul-Awliyā in the biography of the scholars and figures of the Islamic world. His historical heritage in the broadest sense of the word is very valuable, although it is mixed with Sufism. He has preserved many resources for us. This article is a brief report of his life and his historical legacy.

In this article, as the 34th issue of the series of articles titled "Reading Manuscripts" the author has examined the text of some manuscripts as follows: 
 
A war over quarantine 190 years ago
The news of Seyyed Ni'matullah Jazāirī about the widespread plague of 1102 AH and its decrees
The ruler of Khabushan and the claim of restoration of Sarbidaran government in 967
Asceticism and piety of the Chief of Astan Quds Razavi during the Tahmasb Kingdom
When Shah Tahmasab referred to Timurid history
News of a plague
The destruction of the royal palace on nobles and scholars on the day of Eid al-Adha 1105
Invitation to the mourning ceremony held in Jumadi al-Awalā, instead of Muharram in the house of Wuthūq al-Dawlah
Request from Seyyed Mohammad Kāzem Yazdi about reading the news of Hazrat Qasim's wedding
Mirmadad and comparing himself with Khwaja Nasir

In this article, in the form of the 29th part of the series of essays, named Reading Manuscript, the author has analyzed the text of several manuscripts. These texts are as follows:A note by Mirzā Jalāluddīn Tehrani in a manuscript A document about the condemnation of sending Iranian children to study in Istanbul Some historical notes about the rulers of Gilan between 1264 and 1290 The death of several scholars of Dashtaki family The history of the emergence and rise of the great power of the kingdom A multi-line travelogue to holy cities of Iraq Date of death of Sheikh Morteza Ansari Invasion of locusts in 1254 AH in Karbala and 1267 AH in Shiraz from the words of an eyewitness "Apparent justice of foreigners" as one of the signs of the emergence of Imam Mahdi A book in Ihsaie's handwriting in the house of Seyyed Kazem Rashti Date of death of Mohammad Shah Qajar A note by Abulqasem Taghari Yaghmai Writing to relieve grief from 1264 A.H Ahmed bin Hanbal's letter in defense of the people of Ardabil against Babak Khorramdin.

Between 1345 and 1356, a discourse was formed on the axis of "Science and Civilization in Islam". This issue had a background that I have discussed in other articles, and here I want to focus on four books. These four works are from four famous writers, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Abdul Hossein Zarin Kub, Mohammad Reza Hakimi and Seyed Mohammad Baqer Najafi. The discourse of "Islamic civilization" was indirectly effective on the Islamic revolution of 1357. It can be said that there was a secret idea that it is possible to establish a new civilization under the banner of Islam against the Western civilization. Here I have tried to explain the general principles of this discourse in the shadow of these four books.

Before this, I wrote an article titled "The First Writings in the Field of Islamic Civilization", the purpose of which was to review the studies concerning the writings of Islamic Civilization from the beginning of the entry of Islamic Civilization and its roots into the writings of Islam with a bibliographic approach. The above-mentioned article was published in the Ayeneh Pajhuhesh No. 184 (pp. 17-38). That article was the introduction to the text you will see here. In addition, there is another article entitled "The Literature of Criticism in the Region of Qom" which was published in the second volume of articles on the first one hundred years anniversary of Qom Seminary.The present article is a review of a number of books and articles under the title of "The Authorship of Islamic Civilization in Iran during the Second Pahlavi Period". The goal is to show what subjects are followed in these books and what works have been written on these subjects.

The range of scientific activity of Muslims regarding the People of the Book dates back to the beginning of the rise of Islam. They are often mentioned in the Qur'an, and later on, over the centuries, the people of the book, the Torah, the Gospel, and the beliefs of Christianity and Judaism have been repeatedly addressed in a comparative or non-comparative studies. These studies were developed in the Safavid and Qajar periods, and especially in the recent Qajar period, they were the focus of attention. The book Idah al-Mashiklat is a comparative work between the Torah and the Gospeland Islam. The author, surprisingly, has tried to find historical information related to Islam in those two books. This idea is based on some old beliefs that those two books contain prophecies about the future. In this article, this book is introduced more.

Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad Ibn ‘Alī Ibn Bābawayh al-Qumī (381 CE) is a prominent Shī‘ah scholar of the fourth century AH. Al-I‘tiqādāt, one of his prominent works, comprises of forty-five chapters. He has compiled the most important Shī‘ah beliefs evidenced with Qurānic verses and ḥadīths. The present study investigates the status of Shaykh Ṣaddūq and his Al-I‘tiqādāt in the Safavid era. The crux of this study is the analysis of impactful societal components which led to the circulation of Al-I'tiqādāt during the Safavid era. Adopting a descriptive-analytical method, the study seeks to answer the above question based on the available sources in the given era. Findings show that the cultural-religious policies determined by Shāh Ṭahmāsb, religious and educational institutions, as well as religious texts and teachings, were used to stabilize, institutionalize, and spread Shiism in Iranian society during the Safavid era, which resulted in a number of noble Shī‘ah Arabic works being rendered into Persian.

Mīrtaqī al-Dīn Kāshānī (alive in 1016) wrote one of the longest biographies of the poets of his time. He dedicated each volume to one or two cities and gave a biography of the poets, a report of their lives and the best samples of their poems such as odes, lyrics, quartets, etc. This work is an important source for the social history of Iran in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. In this article, an attempt has been made to extract and present a selection of data that is useful for the social and cultural history of Iran in this period from one of the newly published volumes of this book, which is dedicated to Estrabad and Ray. The jobs of poets, travels, communication with the ruling officials, Sufi interests, and similar issues are indicated in this report.

The present treatise is in response to a question asked by Shah Suleiman Ṣafavī to his special physician, Mirza Ashraf. The question is about the difference between rose water and meat water or Mā’ul-Laḥm. Shah asked why the meat water obtained by distillation is not greasy, but rose water is rich in ingredients. Based on the method of traditional medicine, based on Greek physics, and using Ibn Sīnā›s opinions, Mirza Ashraf tries to explain that composite objects have different conditions in the process of distillation. In some, their components are easily separated, and in others, it is not. This treatise, in a simple way, shows the relationship between Greek physics and traditional medicine with the common treatment methods using distilled herbs, issues that are not valid from the point of view of modern chemistry and medicine today, but in any case, it is a part of the history of science in our country.

In the present article, the author has examined the text of several manuscripts as the twenty-ninth section of the series entitled Reading Manuscripts. These texts are as follows:In the Turkish phrase / Bash Yuz Alton is two hundred dinars!
The attention of the rulers of Khorasan during the Qajar period to the history of Bayhaqi
A note from a Jorjani about Aurangzeb and Aurangabad in 1054
Traditional Veterinary: medical properties of the lions' organs.
Autobiography of Professor Mahmoud Shahabi Khorasani
Chronicles of the life of Sheikh Ibrahim Zanjani
A testimony for a person's poverty and asking the believers to help him
The experience of cooperation and association of the clergy with Fath Ali Shah Qajar

Considering the period of Umayyad domination from 41 to 132 AH, during three generations, and that Islam in this period, went through the most basic stages in shaping the history of thought, knowing about the currents of thoughts-faiths is very important. This job was done in the form of the establishment of the Nābitah-Nāṣibah sect, and later, Jāḥiz gave the best explanation of this ideology. Some Mu'tazilites, such as Abu Ja'far al-Ekāfī, played an important role in explaining it, but it seems that the historical significance of it for understanding Islamic thought has continued to receive less attention. Here, we will try to get a report of the false opinions and the perception of the sect Nābitah among Muslims, based on the data of various sources and especially what Jāhiz has said in this regard.

In the present article, the author has examined the text of several manuscripts as the twenty-seventh essay of the series entitled "Reading Manuscripts". These texts are as follows:Autobiography of Mullah Ali Ārāni from Iran in the first half of the thirteenth century Description of a Sheikh Bahā'ī’s teaching session and a conversation taking place between the teacher and the students A scholar's note from the Safavid period in the division of the current rules governing life When Shah Abbas, the second recommends a seyyed student to Agha Hussein Khānsārī letter of freedom for a black-eyed Georgian salve girl. In order to fight against infidel Russians, we need infidel foreigners ... Introduction to a semi-argumentative code of practice from the period of Fath Ali Shah Qajar Report of three terrible floods in Mecca in the eleventh century AH A note about the four pillars of the Ka’ba How "the radio" or the "sound box" becomes an apocalyptic sign

The jurisprudence of nations is a bilateral and interdisciplinary discussion between the two topics of "jurisprudence and nations and ethnography", which has always been considered and especially addressed in jurisprudential books. In a very simple form, the subject of this discussion is the rulings that have come from different angles in jurisprudence in relation to the believers and religious people of other religions, or the "nations". Some of these examples are very clear and well known; like the rulings of the people of Dhimma which are mentioned in different chapters of jurisprudence. For example, the ruling on the slaughter of the People of the Book, their impurity and purity, the taxes they have to pay as jizyyah, the ruling on their religious buildings, the issue of marriage, inheritance, and many other issues that somehow fall under the relationship of jurisprudence and nations.

In the present article, the author has examined the text of several manuscripts as the twenty-seventh section of the series entitled Reading Manuscripts. These texts are as follows: 
Istiftā on an endowed pan: An example of Istiftās in the Qajar period
Shah Ali Yazdi Shīī
A poem about Nāser al-Dīn, his quest for knowledge and the establishment of Dār al-Funūn and inviting teachers from Austria
Poems by Safaei Khansari in his own handwriting from 1110
Two freedom documents for two Georgian slave-girls from 1106 with the certificate of Allāmah Majlisī
Famine in Isfahan
A few historical notes
From the praise of the Shah to the praise of Mullah Mohammad Reza Mujtahid
A strange order for writing on an opal
Letter from the janitor of Imam Hussein (as) shrine to one of the Safavid officials to ask for help
  Poem of Abolghasem Ghoshiri against a student of philosophy
Ismail Amirkhizi's poem about Allāmah Mohammad Qazvīnī
Qajar women read Western novels in the winter sitting behind Kursis

The author's purpose in writing the present article is to analyze the scientific-research activities of Mohammad Ibrahim Āyatī. In line with this goal, after stating a brief biography of this researcher, he expresses the views of figures such as Parvin Gonabadi, Iraj Afshar, Morteza Motahhari, Ali Akbar Ghaffari, and Abolghasem Gorji about Āyatī. Finally, the author concludes by mentioning the names of some Āyatī’s translation books, such as The Mirror of Islam, The History of Ya'qubi, The Thoughts of Javid Muhammad, and The World in the Twentieth Century.

The collection "Ajvibah al-Masāil al-Mahnāiyah" is one of the jurisprudential collections that includes the questions of Mahnā Ibn Sanān ‘Alavī Hosseini and the answers of ‘Allāmah Ḥillī to these questions. In the present article, the author has researched the type of questions and answers in the mentioned jurisprudential collection and has briefly spoken about the social and civil questions of this collection.

In addition to historical and literary research done on the time of the importation of tobacco to Iran and the Indian subcontinent, there have also been discussions about it from a medical point of view, and some works have been written on this subject. One of these works is the treatise on the benefits of tobacco by Hesamuddin Machini, which was written during the Safavid period and at least three manuscripts of it are available. In the following article, the author has an overview of the mentioned treatise. In line with this goal, he first introduces generalities about the treatise and the remaining manuscripts of it. Then, it examines the content of the dissertation and finally, presents its text.