From Public Mentality to Body Representation: Imam Descendant SeyyedIsmaeel, Qajari Tehran and Settlement of Social Conflicts

In Qajari Iran, taking refuge to the shrines of Shiite Imam Descendants in case of litigation and settlement of disputes was a common act. Different lines of research show that the reason why this style of objection became common in that era lay in the weakness of Qajari ruling system and the loss of cohesive judiciary system in that era. In this article, the events of taking refuge to the shrines of Imam Descendants and making vows there are seen to characterize the same unified function of settlement of social conflicts. In the same vein, through adopting an interdisciplinary approach and based on historical and representative evidence, the causes of these issues are explained, while focusing on one of the major Imam Descendants in Tehran. Perceiving the relation between the spatial and body representation of the shrine and such functioning shows how the Iranian pubic mentality of a social institute affected the body and spatial manifestation of this institute in the city. What is the mutual impact of such body representation on this social institute?