فصلنامه مطالعات بنیادین و کاربردی جهان اسلام
پیاپی 3 (بهار 1399)

The Islamic world is one of the most sensitive and strategic areas in the geopolitical system at the spherical level. The enormous energy reserves, seas and communication routes, as well as its vast population and large population, have made this region a focal point in political and geopolitical equations. There are many opportunities in the Islamic world so that convergence in the Islamic world has the potential to bring about fundamental changes in the structure of global power. Despite the extensive human and natural capacities of geopolitical crises in the Muslim world, it has had devastating effects on sustainable development and sustainable security in the region, with geopolitical crises being a major obstacle to convergence between countries in the Muslim world. These crises have led to the boom in the economic capacities of the countries of the Islamic world, as well as countries engaged in security and marginalization issues and political conflicts. This descriptive-analytic study, using library resources and reputable internet sites, seeks to elucidate the role of trans-regional powers in the geopolitical crises of the Islamic world. This study highlights the role of transnational powers in the geopolitical crises of the Muslim world by identifying the sources of libraries and categorizing them in order to facilitate the identification of the role of these powers and their goals in the context of Islamic convergence. The Islamic world is one of the most dangerous areas in the world. The political security tensions in the region have had profound effects on the structure of power worldwide. The Islamic world has a variety of crises. Initially, the region, having been the center of the emergence of the world's religions, therefore has wide cultural complexities. Ethnic religious diversity in the region has made tensions visible at the formal, national and regional levels. Ethnic and religious differences have endangered the existence of political structures in the Muslim world. Ethnic geographical dimensions of the area is home to diverse ethnicities and races. The cultural diversity of these tribes has led the region to cultural competitions, with each ethnicity stepping in to develop its own culture. In the religious dimension, the territory of the Islamic world is divided between Shieh and Sunni religious groups. Another structural crisis in the Muslim world is problems with shared water basins and common border rivers as well as the dust phenomenon. As the Islamic World region is part of the arid region and the border rivers and catchments do not follow the political boundaries, so the shared waters pave the way for water conflicts and problems that have the potential for hydrophilic The title of a geopolitical crisis exacerbates the challenges of the Islamic world. Today, the problems of dehydration and dust have become a political security problem among the countries of the Islamic world, and these crises can be activated at any moment. Another geopolitical crisis in the Islamic world is geo-economics issues. Competition for sale of oil among oil-rich Islamic countries has hampered economic cooperation. Global powers are using the crises and tensions in sensitive areas of the world, including the Middle East and the Islamic world, to serve their own interests. Ethnic religious crises and in general the geocultural crisis, geo-economics crises and economic competition between regional powers and water crises in the Muslim world with regard to water problems have provided the ground for the presence and influence of world powers and these powers are exacerbated by the crisis being exploited. The resources of this region have prevented convergence. As it is seen today, with the increasing military and economic presence of world powers, the region is increasingly taking on new dimensions of spatial disruption and these crises are expanding. The results show that trans-regional powers have exacerbated geopolitical crises based on their goals, strategies and interests in the geo-economics, geocultural and hydraulic dimensions of the Islamic world. The economic wheel of world powers is turning to hydrocarbon energy sources, and these powers are increasingly in need of energy resources to meet their needs. Most of the world's energy resources exist in the Middle East in particular, and the Islamic world in general. Therefore, these powers are in the area of easy access to energy resources in the Islamic world. Global powers exacerbate geopolitical crises in the Islamic world by preventing regional cooperation between the countries of the Islamic world and securing their own interests and goals, thus making energy resources available at low prices and by turning the region into a market for the sale of their weapons. There is geo-economic competition in the Islamic world and between regional countries, and the interests of these powers are secured by preventing geo-economic cooperation between regional powers. On the other hand, the existence of geocultural crises in the Muslim world has provided the ground for the presence and influence of world powers to politically aggravate tensions in the region. As well as the hydrophilic problems in the Muslim world, it can pave the way for influence in the region's water projects to enable countries to engage in domestic issues and tensions at the local and regional levels, and to prevent cooperation and convergence between the countries of the Islamic world to achieve their goals. Follow their economy easily.

 Fundamentalism means at attempt to revive religious values and also confront ideologies and modern desires and secularism. The fundamentalists involve those who looking for removing existing international structure and establish new structure based on religious principles. In this regards, Islamic fundamentalism has turned to one of the serious threats in the international system during last three decades. It, not only, has endangered regional security but also challenged international security seriously. In other words, at the present, terrorism threats of radical groups are not limited only to the West of Asia, which is origin of Islamic fundamentalism, they also include other regions of the world; from Europe to the East Asia. In this regards, Al-Qaeda and ISIS are the most important terrorist actors that have significant role in development of the security concept and its dynamics.   Research

The research aim is to study terrorist groups of Al-Qaeda and ISIS comparatively. Accordingly, the main question of the research is that what are the similarities and differences of the Al-Qaeda and ISIS?, To understand  these two groups  better, the research focus locate on their differences. The findings of the research can be beneficial for domestic officials since Iran is living in neighborhood of Al-Qaeda and ISIS. 

 The research method is analytical –descriptive and the data gathered through library resources. With regard to the nature of these groups, the research has utilized constructivism theory which emphasis on self-other idea. 

Based on the research findings, the most important similarities of terrorist groups of Al-Qaeda and ISIS are origin of their ideology, apocalypse worldview, pragmatism, anti-western vision, believing in hierarchical structure in their system, pugnacity and bellicosity, anti-Shia approach, universality and applying cyberspace for operations and membership. However, meanwhile, they enjoy some critical and fundamental differences such as intellectual and geographical origin, establishing Islamic caliphate, leadership futures, quality of members, psychological and media tactics, operational priorities, financial resources, military strategy and structural differences, method of acquiring identity and eventually the way Al-Qaeda and ISIS look at women and minorities.

This research concludes that despite of some identical similarities, Al-Qaeda and ISIS enjoy obvious differences in many aspects especially in structure, goals, functional scope, method of action or operation, quality of leaders and means. In spite it, the focal aims is almost the same i.e. violence against innocent people and killing them. Based on their ideology, “the others” deserve to be killed. What is perceived is that Islamic fundamentalism is not going to stop or vanish. It, in return, is transforming to new form in contemporary day. On the basis of historical experiences, it is predictable that new Islamic terrorist group rise once again in the near future that even would be worse and dangerous than ISIS.

In order to implement the three-month and six-month sanctions against Iran - which Trump called for by withdrawing from the UN Security Council - on August 16, 2018, the " Iran Action Group " group was established by order of Mike Pompeo at the US State Department. The group's founders set out comprehensive goals in the form of 12 conditions for Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, and provided various tools. Congressional laws, US grants to governments and international organizations, the US trade deficit in power dealings, the region's military dependence on the US and US military bases are the group's main tools in implementing its strategies. The US government has so far made several attempts to put pressure on Iran, and the establishment of this group is one of them. However, there is disagreement about the purpose of this group around three axes: (1) This group should pursue new goals that are different from previous goals. In this regard, so far, the goal of putting pressure on Iran has been to change its regional behavior, but this group is pursuing further goals and even regime change. (2) This group is merely a tool to emphasize pressure on Iran and has propaganda aspects. Trump seeks to present himself as the flagship of the idea and a new and successful plan by rejecting the records of the past. Therefore, he is very interested in presenting his usual works as special and successful ideas. Trump's unpopularity among Republicans and his need for legitimacy are the main reasons for doing so. (3) The group seeks to integrate all anti-Iranian efforts around its axis. In this regard, it seeks to gain international consensus against Iran in implementing its unilateral policies, especially in imposing sanctions. However, regardless of the claims, is this group able to cover all its goals and to what extent can it cover them? This article uses the feasibility studies in various legal, resource, technical, operational, temporal and economic dimensions of the scope (range from adjusting regional behavior to regime change) and methods of this group (range from sanctions to direct military aggression). It is clear that 20 strategies may be prioritized, and which one is most feasible in US policy and which is the most challenging. However, whatever the purpose of establishing the Action Group, more importantly, its ability to implement its programs. In this regard, this report tries to examine the tools and goals of this group and the challenges ahead, its capability in the practical implementation of its policies towards Iran. But before that, the history of the creation and formation of such groups and a brief description of the goals of the announcement, the structure and the records of its chairman are presented. Also, in summarizing, taking into account the different dimensions of metacommunication, an initial plan of comprehensive confrontational strategies has been presented, which, of course, requires further research and discussion. Finally, this study believes that in order to further limit the project of the action group, it is necessary to focus on different dimensions of metacommunication. In this regard: (1) In the legal dimension: adherence to international rules and maintaining the IAEA by showing the dangers posed by Iran's withdrawal from the IAEA Board and its consequences for Europe, which can be facilitated by a slight facilitation of border control. He warned Europe; (2) In terms of resources: upgrading the economic context and diplomatic capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran by activating a new generation of young and motivated diplomats; (3) In the operational dimension: multiplication and diversification of import and export crossings and fields by facilitating the activities of the private sector, domestic and foreign, and preventing the fall in the value of the national currency; (4) Historically: Purchasing time and avoiding security-tightening measures no later than the 2020 US presidential election and (5) Economically: And security with other actors, especially international powers to protect exports, especially oil, and finding hidden channels for international financial transactions while diverting US attention to fake channels as major strategies to counter the group's anti-Iranian programs. Are offered. It is worth noting that these strategies are merely suggestions that determine the direction of future research.

Extended Abstract: Since World War II, more than half of the world's nations have experienced ethnic strife, and domestic violence in the form of an ethnic and religious foundation has been a very important and bitter reality in the world. In the present age, ethnic-religious conflicts have been a major concern and challenge for decision makers and scientists. Ethnic and religious violence in the post-Cold War era has become the most important bitter reality in many societies. In the post-Cold War era, the vast majority of violent international conflicts have been the result of internal strife, making it difficult to distinguish between domestic and international conflicts. Carment's study of violence between 1945 and 1981 found that of the 460 recorded cases, 202 were non-ethnic and 258 were ethnic, with 103 reported high and bloody violence. In the present age, the prevalence and spread of identity conflicts have caused geopolitical issues to take on a significant degree of geoculturalism, and international politics has largely taken on an identity nature. By allocating a quarter of the world's violence and ethnic and religious strife to the Middle East, these Region has become a focal point for politics and identity conflicts. This research is an explanatory research and has been done by causal-analytical method and historical-political sociological theoretical approach. The research question is what are the most important sociological and internal factors influencing the escalation of terrorism and ethnic-religious violence in the Arab Middle East since the late 1990s? The research hypothesis is as follows: Focusing on the historical-political sociological approach, we can say that the crisis of government and nation-building and the crisis of identity and the resulting political legitimacy play an essential, profound and important role in creating and paving the way for terrorism. There has been ethnic-religious violence. Of course, the author believes that, like any other social phenomenon, violence should be viewed for several reasons, but the need for in-depth exploration requires that the subject be explained and explained by focusing on one or two factors. The most important finding of this study is that in the Arab Middle East, ethnic and religious violence, which has now erupted more than ever before, has a historical past in the last century. Historically, two systemic crises, the crisis of political legitimacy and the crisis of identity, have been the main cause of ethnic-religious violence and the lack of democratic behavior and instability in the region. The crisis of the state and nation-building, and the crisis of identity and the resulting political legitimacy, have played an essential, profound and important role in creating and paving the way for terrorism and ethnic-religious violence. In the context of the problem and the general assumption of the research, the results of this study show that in most of the Arab Middle East, especially in the authoritarian republics, a mixture of extroverted model of state-building with direct involvement of colonial powers and imposed nation-building led these countries to From the very beginning, they face systemic crises, namely the crisis of legitimacy and the crisis of identity. The crisis of legitimacy over the government-nation divide and the rejection of the entire illegitimate political system by most ethnic and religious groups, in addition to the illegitimacy of the beginning and establishment, is rooted in ethnic-religious, political, cultural and economic discrimination. And mismanagement of discriminatory and unfair distribution policies. On the other hand, nation-building has led to a pervasive crisis of national identity in multi-ethnic and religious communities in the Arab Middle East, resulting in severe fragmentation of these communities and the formation and institutionalization of the seeds of national divergence and non-convergence. The findings of this study show that the existence of these two systemic and deep-rooted crises provided a historical and rooted obstacle for centrifugal movements and ethnic-religious violence in the region. At some point in history, such a backlash led to the emergence and outbreak of some violent mass actions and movements. But in relatively long historical periods, due to the structure of the rigid and repressive political power and the high political, human and financial costs, these movements remained silent but remained as a fire under the ashes and acted. Such a deep-rooted and institutionalized historical backbone in a number of countries in the region, such as Myanmar, Bahrain, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, has led to the emergence and perpetuation of a widespread wave of ethnic, religious, and takfiri violence. This pervasive wave has far-reaching consequences that even European countries have not been spared.

Extended Abstract: Islam is the second largest religion in the world in terms of the number of impersonators. The spread of Muslims around the world covers all continents, but what is known as the Islamic world and the Muslim-majority lands and countries include a vast expanse of space from the Atlantic coast to western China along the southern latitude to West - Northeast. Islamic lands in demographic, geographical, economic, geopolitical, geostrategic, geo-economics, geo-cultural, etc. dimensions have outstanding and almost privileged positions, and the utilization of these opportunities, power-building and empowerment resources are provided to Islamic countries and the Islamic world. It allows them to have far better conditions than in other parts of the world. But it is clear that the Islamic world, despite having the resources of power in terms of population, space and area, political power, military power, access to the three great oceans, routes and sea lanes, access to the four continents of the world, reserves The world's vast energy resources, fertile fields, freshwater resources, hydropower resources, important mineral resources, diverse climatic patterns, access to a variety of agricultural and horticultural products, etc, face many problems in various dimensions. Among all the features that can be mentioned for the Islamic world, it has several important features: "common threats against the Islamic world", "common religious and belief values", "common sense of Islamic identity", "common underdevelopment", "functional sharing in It is the "International Economy" and "the existence of regional convergent institutions", each of which can play an effective role in the convergence of the Islamic world. But one of the most important problems in the Islamic world is the domination of the atmosphere of tension, differences and divergences. This has exacerbated the problems of Muslims and is an important and influential component in the underdevelopment of Islamic countries. From the past decades and years, the need for unity and convergence in the Islamic world and between Muslim countries and nations has always been emphasized, but despite the measures taken in this regard, the problems remain. In fact, the situation of the Islamic world in terms of cohesion, unity and convergence is not in good condition for various reasons, and despite significant commonalities, differences and divergence in the Islamic world continue to seriously damage the convergence, progress and development of Muslim countries and nations. Just as various issues and problems are the cause of divergences in the Islamic world, on the contrary, there are appropriate capabilities and capacities in this geographical and human area that can provide a general outcome, the context of convergence, unity and behavioral cohesion of Muslim countries. The main purpose of this article is to identify and examine the most important capacities and capabilities available for the realization of convergence between Muslim countries and nations. So The present article seeks to examine and analyze the capabilities and capabilities of convergence in the Islamic world through a descriptive-analytical method and using library resources. The results of the studies show that the Islamic world, despite the divergences it faces, has significant capabilities and capacities, among which, in this article, some important capacities and capabilities in the Islamic world have been discussed. Threats to the Islamic world from these three sides of the threat are in the cultural and identity spheres, territorial integrity, independence, sovereignty, and so on. This issue can bring Islamic countries together to face serious threats and by creating a coherent mechanism in the field of cultural, security, political cooperation, etc. while repelling the threat, provide the ground for the unity of Islamic countries and societies. Many other nations that later embraced Islam also played a role in the development of this civilization, and during the process of its realization, nations became more civilized and developed. Therefore, unity and convergence, relying on common religious and doctrinal values, can continue to pave the way for the progress of the Islamic world. Accordingly, Muslims define themselves against other religious and cultural structures of the world and set mental and real boundaries between themselves and others (them). This issue has a very important and influential role in creating the convergence and unity of Muslims, and the component of feeling the common Islamic identity can be used as an important capacity and capability for convergence in the Islamic world.   The situation of the Islamic world in terms of cohesion, unity and convergence is not in good condition for various reasons, and despite significant commonalities, differences and divergence in the Islamic world is still a serious blow to the convergence, progress and development of Muslim countries and nations. Just as various issues and problems are the cause of divergences in the Islamic world, on the contrary, there are appropriate capabilities and capacities in this geographical and human area that can provide a general outcome, the context of convergence, unity and behavioral cohesion of Muslim countries. Among all the features that can be mentioned for the Islamic world, it has several important features: "common threats against the Islamic world", "common religious and belief values", "common sense of Islamic identity", "common underdevelopment", "functional sharing in It is the "International Economy" and "the existence of regional convergent institutions", each of which can play an effective role in the convergence of the Islamic world. In general, given the divergences in the Islamic world and the need for this cultural-geographical structure to unite and converge between Muslim countries and nations, it is necessary for countries to emphasize the existing capacities and capabilities in order to achieve this. In this regard, the contexts that have been mentioned and analyzed are the effective and grounded capacities and capabilities in creating convergence in the Islamic world that can be considered and processed. In this regard, all those who are concerned about the convergence of the Islamic world, including civic and popular, governmental and governmental, elite and authoritarian, intellectual, institutional (political / social / cultural), and most importantly religious scholars of all Islamic religions, they have a decisive and important role.

During the history of Islamic civilization there are different rationales for strengthening convergence and divergence which have shaped the destiny of these countries. Based on futures studies point of view these rationales can be categorized in term of social, technological, economic, environmental, political, and values, otherwise it will be nonsensical to achieve preferable future for Islamic civilization without paying attention to mentioned rationales and contexts. In this paper cultural and intercultural context and rational as a subdivision of values has been studied.  Developing scientific collaboration of Islamic countries together and with non-Islamic world has been a great effect on science and technology development in Islamic civilization. In this paper tried to focus on the role of international scientific collaboration prepare good condition for mutual and intercultural understanding between Muslim people. According to international scientific databases and by using environmental scanning collaboration among members of scientific communities of Islamic countries has been studied.

The methods which have been used in this paper including: Macro historian analysis of scientific collaboration in Islamic civilization, trend analysis to study current trends of scientific cooperation among Islamic countries, and scenario planning to determine alternative futures for scientific collaboration of Islamic countries. Analyzing the exchange of students, holding joint research and educational programs, coauthor ships in international scientific journals shows the trend of international collaboration between Islamic countries is not in a way which end to preferable future of Islamic civilization. The main collaboration of Islamic countries scientist and researchers are with western and non-Muslim countries. The most important uncertainties against scientific convergence and cooperation of Islamic countries includes: nature of state and orientation of scientific communities; in other words dependency or independency of Islamic countries states toward or from western countries from one side and orientation of their scientific community toward collaboration with western or Islamic countries determine the alternative futures of convergence among Islamic countries: Dependent or independent government to west world: dependent government looking its preferable future and utopia in west and independent government facilitate the international collaboration for their scientific communities and has no bias for Islamic or non-Islamic countries. Orientation of scientific countries toward Islamic countries or west. According to these mentioned dimensions there are four alternative scenarios: 1.Return to golden age of science and technology in world of Islam: in this scenario revival of past preferable situation which prepare good condition for government and scientific community members is following. 2.Open common: in this scenario we have independent government in Islamic countries and facilitate good situation for expanding collaboration of their scientific communities with their counterparts in islamic countries but there is great tendency for these community members to collaborate with western countries rather than Islamic world. 3.Close common: in this scenario there is a great tendency toward collaboration with Muslim countries among scientific communities’ members but their governments banned these collaboration. 4.Civilization entropy in Islamic world: based on this scenario there is no tendency in government and scientific community to have scientific collaboration with Islamic countries.

scientific convergence among Islamic countries and sharing their scientific, technological and innovative achievements are driver forces for shaping the preferable future in Islamic civilization. Policy making in Islamic countries for expanding mutual scientific collaboration requires consideration of complex interrelation among different stakeholders in national and international sphere.