فصلنامه شیعه پژوهی
پیاپی 15 (پاییز و زمستان 1397)

It is significant to identify Ashura-related traditions among rulers as part of the elite class of the society in the important historical period from 656 AH/1258 (the year in which Baghdad and the Abbasid Caliphate collapsed) until 907 AH/1501 (the year in which the Safavid dynasty was established), in order to discover the extent to which such traditions had an impact on the growth and development of Shiism. For rulers had a greater impact on the propagation of Ashura-related traditions among people than other elites. Drawing upon historical texts written in this period as well as the notion of “ritual” as our conceptual framework, we can, in general, identify four traditions: “the belief in the priority of Husayni sadat (or the progeny of Imām al-Ḥusayn) for caliphate and government,” “the claim of vengeance on those who shed the blood of the family of the Prophet Muhammad,” “the tradition of waqf</em> (or endowment) in the name of the pure Imams,” and “pilgrimage of the mausoleums of the Imams by rulers.” Moreover, from the concomitance of these traditions, and their congruence, with cultural and social developments of the period—that is, the expansion of political and social activities of the Shi’as after the Mughal invasion, and the tendency of some rulers towards Shiism and Sufism—we can conclude the reasons for the acceleration of the growth and expansion of Shiims in the geographical, civilizational, and cultural limits of Iran. From this viewpoint, we can arrive at renewed knowledge of the social history and social lifestyles of Iranian Shi’as in their interactions with Ashura-related traditions of the rulers.

The problem of “monotheism”—and skepticisms concerning it—has been one of the most important questions throughout the human history, and Messengers of God exerted tremendous efforts to respond to, and account for, the problem. In the present research, by deploying the method of content analysis, we try to rediscover how the creator as well as the oneness of God are proved in Imām al-Ṣādiq’s debate with Ibn Abī-l-‘Awjā’.
Ibn Abī-l-‘Awjā’ was a well-known disbeliever and materialist in the period of Imām al-Ṣādiq, and they had a number of serious debates concerning a variety of religious matters. The novelty of our research is the deployment of the method of content analysis with a qualitative approach as an interdisciplinary method for the extraction, classification, and categorization of the findings of the research. The findings show that Imām al-Ṣādiq exploited a variety of methods and principles in his account of the problem of monotheism, which are based on rational rules as well as sensory-experiential rules. Obviously, the extraction of Imām al-Ṣādiq’s scholarly encounter with skeptics can provide a right pattern for today’s debates and argumentations with opponents.

The uprising of Zayd ibn ‘Alī (d. 121 AH/740) has been an obscure historical issue with respect to its backgrounds, factors, dimensions, and consequences. One dimension of the issue, which is still subject to discussions by researchers, is the relationship between Zayd ibn ‘Alī and the leaders of the Imāmīyya, and the nature of his beliefs and actions in these relationships. I believe that what led to diverse views of the matter is lack of consideration of the historical development of relationships, the political background of the events, and a unilateral view of the authenticity of the reports. Thus, in this paper, I separately consider the relationships of Zayd b. ‘Alī with his three contemporaneous Imams: Imām al-Sajjād, Imām al-Bāqir, and Imām al-Ṣādiq. The findings of this research show a varying and declining course of Zayd’s interactions with the leaders of the Imāmīyya, and the impact of existing political circumstances on reactions and positions of the Imams in the praise of Zayd ibn ‘Alī and his uprising. This is what went unnoticed by proponents of the endorsement of Zayd’s uprising by the Imams.

Turkish Alawites believe in the twelve Shiite Imams, or the Infallible (ma’ṣūm</em>) Imams. In fact, their religious beliefs and worldview are centered on Imamate. Thus, with a consideration of issues of Imamate, we can outline the Alawite beliefs, because their view of the Imam is ontological. In their view, the created world—everything other than God—begins with the emanation of the Imam from the divine essence as the first creature, and it then expands with the Imam. Then in the lowest world, the Imam plays a legislative, in addition to his existential, role. In this paper, we study the place of the Imam and Imamate from the standpoint of Alawites. In fact, with an account of the Imam’s place, we can easily know the Alawite view of Imamate, and then assess their belief system. Of Alawite figures, seven prominent poets had more conspicuous roles, and were more influential, in the propagation of Alawite teachings. Thus, their theories will be central to this research. Drawing upon poems by these Alawite founders and interpreters, we will consider the Alawite view of the place of the Imam and Imamate with a method of description, content analysis, and a library method.

“Certainty idealism” is the view that only certainty counts as knowledge, and what is not certain is not valuable. The popularity of the view among Muslims, including Shi’as, had certain repercussions, such as the the reliability of a hadith transmitted only by one person being denied by the majority of Shiite jurists (fuqahā’</em>) until the 7th</sup>/13th</sup> century. Jurists adopted different methods to prove their jurisprudential evidence. However, it seems that, instead of trying to render certainty idealism ineffective, we need to revisit the acceptability of this view. This research has been done with an analytical historical method with reliance on library documents. We seek to unveil the course of the formation of certainty idealism and its introduction to the Islamic thought, and disclose the role of the certainty requirement for knowledge in assessing the validity of evidence for the inference of jurisprudential rulings. We argue that certainty idealism originates from the Greek philosophy, and was then introduced to Muslims, including Shi’as, influencing their views of certain types of evidence for the inference of jurisprudential rulings.

The scope of the presence and propagation of Shiism in northern Africa dates back to the early Islamic period from the first century through the third centuries AH (7th</sup>-10th</sup>). There is no doubt that the policies of Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates against the Shi’as led to the presence of Shiism in this part of the Islamic territory. This paper deploys a descriptive-analytic method and draws on historical sources to answer the question of how Shiism appeared and spread in Africa in this period. The findings show that since the conquest of Egypt, Shiism found its way to Africa through propagations by a number of the Prophet Muhammad’s as well as Imam ‘Alī’s companions. However, the spread of Shiism was obstructed by the political power and influence of non-Shiite groups. Notwithstanding this, the presence of Imām ‘Alī’s agents in Africa and the immigration of sadat (the progeny of Imams) to the continent created opportunities exploited by the Shi’as in these territories, leading to the establishment of Shiite governments in certain areas of Africa.