پژوهش نامه تاریخ اسلام
سال پنجم شماره 20 (زمستان 1394)

Since the ninth century, a rich metaphoric and ideal space has been opened for reproduction of Mahdaviyat discourse; as the main pillar of Shi’ism. Via various sub-discourses, this discourse succeeded at marginalizing the dominant Sunni discourse. With Safavid dynasty gaining domination and hegemony, a radical strand of Mahdaviyat was organized around the nodal point of monarchy and with various nodes and signs. Concurrent with formation of this discourse, Shia intellectuals strived to push the radical strand of Mahdaviyat to the periphery via starting up Imamate Mahdaviyat with various nodes and signs, marked by Imamate as the nodal point, as well as otherizing the others. Employing Laclau and Mouffe’s Discourse Theory, the present study seeks to examine the relevant discoursal debates and their reasons in the historical and jurisprudential texts during the early half of Safavid dynasty.

Shortly after the martyrdom of Imam Reza (A), the Tahirid established a government in Khorasan, where people still lived with the memories of the presence of Imam. Imam’s guardianship provided great opportunities for the people to get acquainted with Shia teachings. Accordingly, besides their previous background, the inclination of the Tahirid towards Shi’ism was affected by their acquaintance and relation with Imam Reza (A) in Khorasan. In a similar vein, Taher Ibn Hossein’s attempt at defying caliphate and inclining towards the Alawites was as a result of sympathetic supports provided by the people of Marv, who were advocates of the Alawites. Studying the relations between Tahirid dynasty and Shia families like Khaza’ and Ajlian in Ray, plus their due positive performances, can further strengthen the hypothesis of inclination of the family towards Shi’ism. The policies adopted by Khorasan governors, Tahir and Abdullah, were mainly aligned with the Alawites as well. Contrary to conflicting narrations which indicate ambivalent and positive- negative attitudes of the Tahirid towards Shi’ism, there are pieces of evidence confirming their alignment with Shi’ism and the Alawites—resulted by the societal requirements or their personal encounter. The paper aims at studying the degree of relation between Tahirid dynasty and Shi’ism by considering a comprehensive set of factors indicating their alignment and the existing critical views.

The leaders and nobles of clans—under the auspices of the Umayyad governors and influence of the tribal structure and social grounds of the age of Ignorance—played an influential role in the socio-political transformations. The present paper studies the role of one of these personalities in the historical events of the first century of Islam. Ahnaf ibn Qais was one of the prominent figures of Bani Tamim. Islamic resources provide scattered and conflicting information about him. The present paper aims at studying Ahnaf’s personality, and evaluates existing reports on his presence and the consequences of his performances. Ahnaf’s presence dates back to the early years of Islam and Islamic conquests. He was one of the clan leaders, military commanders, and intellectuals of Iraq. He dwelled in Basra and attracted the attention of others by adopting dissimilar positions and attitudes. His personality was prominently shaped by his tribal origin and Bedouin and individualistic views dominating the socio-political atmosphere of the Islamic society. The present historical study adopts a descriptive-analytic methodology and relies on Islamic sources and documents. The paper suggests that by evaluating the degree of human relationship with history, a part of significant issues in the history of Islam could effectively be answered.

Historical and religious perceptions held by Muslim societies of principles of Islamic thoughts and cultures are mainly shaped by texts written during the first Islamic centuries. The traditionalistic nature of Muslim culture has made such works be considered as criteria or points of reference for learning about Islamic tradition. Nonetheless, interpretive-critical approaches to such texts suggest that they are narrative structures embedded with discoursal meanings which were created within the context of the first centuries. The contextual circumstances of such centuries were replete with religious and political conflicts between nations and sects, and the authors were chiefly biased in their writings. Hence, realistically looking, such conflicts and attitudes are likely to be reproduced in other eras as well. Putting forth a historical approach, the present paper proposes a methodological idea for rereading the works of historiographers of this era so that the religious dispositions embedded in such discourses could be reexamined.

Scrutinizing the history of Narration (Hadith) indicates conceptual changes to the term “tradition” during the first two centuries (AH). Conceptual changes to tradition during the first two centuries are resulted by various factors. Authors considered “tradition” as the sayings of the Prophet, his companions and followers and Muslims’ codes of conduct (Balaqaat). Narrators; however, narrowed the scope of the term. People of Arayat [3]considered tradition as creating systematic fatalistic jurisprudence, and eventually People of Verdict assumed it as an orderly system of jurisprudence based on verdicts. The present historical study is an imagery-based one which aims at exploring the conceptual changes to the tradition of the Prophet during the first two centuries (AH) via the lens of imageries. The findings of the study reveal that the tradition imageries have gone through conceptual transformations over time and in different lands in a way that “tradition” initially used to have a general conception and was then narrowed by the Shafii.

Considering the significance of death and resurrection in Islamic ideology, the issue of burial and how it is viewed by Islam is of great importance. There are various views on the way graves should be built and the signs related to them. However, the present paper explores how such differences set out and appeared in Iran. The authors take the view that in the graves identified over various Islamic periods in Iran there are pieces of evidence confirming close similarities between different Islamic religions about building mausoleums. The vast coverage of the field and the existing engravings, figures, and images carved on the studied tombstones point to political and religious unity of the people who lived under the auspices of Islam. Subtle variety of images and differences of form might be due to regional conditions and religious indulgence.