فصلنامه پژوهش های تاریخی
سال دهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 37، بهار 1397)

The manifestation of Iran's prominent place in the relations between East and West from the contemporary period is clear for history readers. This period, which partly coincided with the establishment of the national government in Iran by the Safavids, provided the opportunity for European countries to begin diplomatic and stable relations with Iran. In the meantime, it seemed, due to reasons such the territorial expansions and Russia's political and military authority, that Russia was more capable of establishing and developing relationships with Iran. But the obstacles arising from internal occasional problems and competing and conflicting government's measures, in the Safavid period, prevented these relations to progress.This article aims at reviewing the processes and dominations of Iran's relations with Russia duringSafavid period through reading the authentic sources and with documentary methods. The study also aims at challenging the ups and downs of the relations between the two countries at this historical era through a scientific approach and explaining how ill-fated relations led to tensions between the two governments.The result of the research suggests that the path of relations between the Safavid government and Russia, unlike most cases of Safavid relations with Europe, did not reach a fruitful outcome due to a lack of understanding of international relations and growing domestic tensions. It was a test for identifying the colonial powers and Tsarist of Russia from Iran's geopolitical position and at the same time, their inability to manage the country. The outcome of this test was the Russian military aggression in the territory of Iran.

Holy Aegis thinking of the king in the political history of Iran has an old background. This thinking was brought up as Divine Charisma. This thinking was discussed in historical texts and historians had referred repeatedly to the idea of Holy Aegis (God's shadow) and its related terms. Examples of such narratives can be found in historical texts of Afsharian era. Some of the most important historians of this era that used a manifestation of Holy Aegis thought in their works were Marvi and Astarabadi. In this paper we try to review and analyze the manifestations of Holy Aegis thought between the attitudes of historians of Afsharian era based on an analytical method. The results of this study indicate the direct and indirect use of Holy Aegis term by Nader Shah Afshar in order to legitimize himself and show the overcoming of this thoughts on beliefs and attitudes of the historians of Afsharian era.

In this paper, the performance of Amniyeh (gendarmerie), as the law reinforcement organization responsible for maintaining order and security in villages and roads during the Pahlavi I period is reviewed. Amniyeh and Nazmiyeh (Police Force) were responsible for maintaining order and security in areas under their protection. During the Pahlavi I period, most areas in Fars Province were covered by the Amniyeh as a military force, and Nazmiyeh’s presence was limited to major towns, and it was not present at all stages of Pahlavi I period. Unlike Nazmiyeh, Amniyeh would not perform its duties completely free of marginal issues. The questions that this research aims to answer are: 1) What is the most significant change in the organization of the Amniyeh Force? 2) What impact did these developments have on security and smuggling of goods in Fars? 3. Why did not the force succeed in eradicating smuggling in Fars? The method is descriptive-analytical based on the unpublished documents of the National Organization of Fars Foundation. The results of this study indicate a relative decline in the smuggling of goods in Fars as a result of reforms in the Amniyeh.

Sufism and Shiism in Iran's history has been discovered before any land and many Shia mysticism are Iranians directly or indirectly create great works in this field. One of the greatest thinkers of Iran's mysticism in the early Qajar period was Muhammad-taghi Mozafar Kermani known as Mozafar-ali Shaah who was disciple of Moshtagh-ali Shah. Bahr al-Asrar interpretation is a mystical interpretation written by Surah al-Hamd in Masnavi which takes about 4,000 distiches as it expresses the issue of existence based on the philosophy of Ibn Arabic and the learning of Surah al-Hamd, then, it identifies the guardianship of Imam Ali (AS), a basic condition of Islamic mysticism to access eternal bliss. The poet in this Masnavi, after expressing Surah al-Hamd in twenty Bahrs, expresses the unity of existence, appearance, and inner meanings of Islam, and divides faith and mysticism into seven rounds and calls it the Seven Periods. The poet expresses his views as he expresses the Periods, the rise of Shiism and Sufism (mysticism) from the beginning of Islam until the advent of the Promised. This study tried to investigate and criticize Muzafar-ali Shah's beliefs in the roots of Sufism and Shiism and the expression of Seven Periods as well as his views about the Taghieh that is one of the most important principles of Shiism.

The reign of Naser al-Din Shah brought upon political and social reformations in Iran. The changes that happened in the structure of the postal system was one of such reformations. The use of stamps in Iran brought upon fundamental improvements in the postal system and became a crucial factor in speeding up the administrative procedures of the post office.At first, stamps represented postal fare and had an economic rule. But at the end of Naser al-Din Shah’s reign, other functions were associated with stamps: political and social functions, as well as cultural functions.
This paper aims to answer the question of what the functions of stamps were in the postal systems of Qajar and Pahlavi eras, and also to investigate the developments made in the formal and conceptual framework of stamps in the mentioned eras.The findings show us that during the developments that occurred in Iran’s postal system, stamps played various roles and also were produced in various shapes and forms; and despite the problems and obstacles that faced the postal system, the trend of printing and publishing stamps kept on growing.

The good ties existing between the Byzantine and the Sassanid Empires deteriorated quickly after Emperor Maurice of the Byzantine Empire was killed, and his title usurped by Emperor Phocas in 602 CE. The Persian King Khosrow II used the vengeance of Maurice as a pretext to set about his goal of annihilating his western neighbor. Conquering the important city of Jerusalem from the Byzantines, along with transferring the True Cross to Ctesiphon turned the conflict into a religious war. Heraclius, through the use of financial helps received from the church and by encouraging popular forces, was able to deal fatal blows to the Sassanid army. With the death of Khosrow II, the conditions for peace materialized as both sides, after long years of fighting, were weary of warfare. Amidst all this, the Nestorian Christians played a major role in the eventual peace of 630 CE as the last diplomatic ties between the Byzantine and the Sassanid Empires. The current paper aims to study the significance of Nestorian Christians in the peace treaty of 630 CE and the role they played in it. Other issues explored by this paper include: the reason why peace negotiations were unsuccessful during Khosrow’s lifetime; the achievements secured from the peace treaty of 630 CE by both Empires; and the effects Khosrow’s interventions in the Nestorian Church affairs had on Khosrow’s losing of the throne.

Bursuqids, as a local governor family during the Seljuq period, were descendants of the Great Bursuq, who was one of the slaves of commanders of Hasanuyeh governors. When Seljuq armies conquered the Jibal, the heirs of Hasanuyeh joined the Seljuqs, then one of them, who called Bursuq, promoted his rank to the extent that was appointed as the first shihna (military commander) in Baghdad. In addition, he was appointed as a ruler of the former Hasanuyeh’spossession in Lorestan. He has ruled near 40 years in Seljuq court and his offspring played a key role in the political and military developments during the Seljuq period. Finally, the Bursuqids family was collapsed with the weakness of the Seljuqs and the arrival of new Turkmen powers. Using analytical- historical methods, this study seeks to introduce Bursuqids family, and to show their role in the political and military developments in the Seljuq period. Also, the overall effort is to analyze the political, economic, and social events of the Bursuqids era, rather than merely presenting a historical description.

By declaring Shia as the official religion of Iran, the Safavids used different tools to institutionalize and disseminate it. One of these tools was developing religious endowments. The holy shrine of Imam Reza, which is the only holy shrine of Twelver Shiites in Iran, became the most important religious state at the center of attention of the Safavids, and many endowments were established for it. As a result, the amount of endowments for the shrine increased. Goals of increasing the endowments for the shrine were to disseminate Shiite beliefs, glory/dynamism of the shrine and its continuity. The purpose of this article is to describe the function of the development of the endowments of the holy shrine of Reza (AS). The approach of this paper is that the main goal of the Safavid religious policy was to promote the Shia belief by developing religious places and creating endowments and expansion of the endowments. The implementation of this policy in connection with the shrine of Imam Reza (AS), which was accompanied with the support of the Safavid politicians, in the short and long term, increased the space, facilities, administrative organization of the shrine and the expansion of services to pilgrims and adjacent people, and in the long run, guaranteed the dynamism and the reliability of the organization for the future. In this paper, the data sources consisted of endowments and manuscripts extracted, as well as the results of published researches on the subject of the endowments of the shrine of Imam Reza (AS). Using the descriptive method, with the historical attitude, the expansion of the endowments of the shrine of Imam Reza (AS) has been investigated.

During the Qajar period, Iran was at the forefront of the strategic situation of Russia and the Western powers, especially Britain. Britain, in the Qajar era, through its colonial purposes, monitored Iran under any circumstances. In the era of Nasir al-Din Shah, many foreign ambassadors missioned for political and economic purposes in Iran, Britain also sent several ambassadors to Iran. In pursuing the responsibilities assigned to them, the British agents have carefully considered all other dimensions of Iran's economic, social and cultural aspects, in line with the interests of their own government. Although English agents were not free of interest in Iranian culture, they needed to know enough about Iran's ethics and traditions in order to carry out political services for their own government. This research aimed at answering the question that: How are the ethics and habits of Iranians from the point of view of British political agents during Nasir al-Din Shah era? The study used a descriptive-analytical method based on library resources.

The contrast between Ᾱz (greed) and Xrad (wisdom) is one of the oldest, most fundamental and everlasting Iranian concepts which has had a very effective role in forming Iranian's political and religious thought; however, unfortunately, it has not been noticed well. Although other faces of this concept (i.e. the contrast between Spenta-Mainyu and Angra-Mainyu, Hormazd and Ahriman, Aša and Druj, etc.) have been researched more, it seems the exact perception of them depends on the understanding and perception of the contrast between Ᾱz and Xrad. This research, relying on national stories, with historical research method, attempts to show the role of this concept in Iranian cosmology and its contribution to form Iranshahri's thought. The results of this research indicate that the contrast between Ᾱz and Xrad is a human face of Iranian dualism, because it manifests inside human beings more than other places. Thus, Xrad is divine essence or Farr-e Īzadī (divine glory) inside humans, and it is best guide to go along Aša or rightness rout and reaching redemption, and in contrast, Ᾱz is a devil which tries to mislead humans. This encounter become manifest in the form of contrast between Dād (justice) and Bi-dād (injustice) in politics and ruling as well. The kings whose guide is Xrad, are just and they have Farr, but the kings who Ᾱz overcomes them, are oppression and so they do not have Farr and legitimacy. In particular, this idea has appeared in the myth of Jamšid and Ẓaḥḥāk.

In Sassanid kingdom, several great and small families inhabited all over Iran, among which seven families of Kāran, Suren, Spāhbad, Mehrān, and Spandiaz, Zik and the house of Sassanid were more noble and powerful than others. The members of these seven families were known as the noblest Iranians and the heads of these families were very powerful in the Sassanid court. The connection of these families with the king was a combination of conflict and cooperation; in the time of authority of Sassanid kingdom, Iranian grandees and the heads of great families were obedient to the king, but when the king was weak, the true rulers of Iran were grandees and the heads of great families. Nevertheless, during the Sassanid history, Iranians believed that the king of Iran should be a member of Sassanid lineage; therefore other Iranian families, despite all their power and the occasional weakness of Sassanid kingdom and civil wars and chaos, did not ignore this belief and did not demand the kingdom at least until the last decades of Sassanid kingdom. The main question of this research is “How was the connection of the members of great families or Iranian seven families and grandees with the king from the rise of Sassanid to the reign of Ghobad I (488-531A.D)?” This paper reveals that the connection of Iranian grandees and families with the king was a combination of conflict and cooperation; in the time of powerful and warrior kings, great Iranian families were obedient to the king and when the king was weak, the true rulers of Iran were nobles and the heads of great families.

With the advent of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula, its decentralized and undeveloped structure was faltered. Social and political system ruling it, which was based on the tribe, reacted to Islam to survive and to continue his life, and among them some tribes and clans which accepted Islam and recognized it functions, provided a basis for the formation of Islamic State by migration of the prophet of the Islam and the Muslims. The difference in approach of these tribes in two poles of Islam, Mecca and Medina, one of them the origin and the other one a context for spreading the mission of the Prophet, is investigated in this article relating to their Qahtani and Adnani descents. Merchants and nobles of Mecca considered Islam as disruptive for their economic and social system and objected to it because they considered it malfunctioned. Adversely, the farmer people of Medina who wasn’t germane of Qahtani descent, accepted Islam and considered it the Mouthpiece of peace that had functions for them. This article aims to statically analyze the behavior of these tribes and clans, using the theory of Robert King Merton, regarding their relationship with the Qahtani and Adnani descents, in the range of perfect companionship, maximum companionship, half companionship, minimum companionship and non-companionship. The research method is based on analytical-statistical method and data is collected from the library. The findings indicated that Qahtani Arabs had the highest association and Adnani Arabs had the least association with the Prophet of Islam in the twenty-three years of his prophecy. Among the reasons for this fact we can mention the civilization history of Qahtani Arabs, urbanization history, as well as more familiarity with monotheistic religions, and also, permanent settlement of them in the same land which has raised their tolerance threshold to accept new cultures.