نشریه پژوهش های علوم تاریخی
سال دوازدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 23، پاییز 1399)

Baghdad was the center of the caliphate of the Islamic world for more than five centuries. It was conquered by the Mongols in 656 AH, so this is the most important event in the political developments of that time. The military strategies of the Mongol empire enabled them to conquer almost the entire continent of Asia and parts of Eastern Europe. They adopted useful technologies for attacking fortifications from other cultures, and employed foreign technical experts. Their military structure was very flexible, and allowed the Mongol army to attack in large groups to besiege the enemy or ambush them in order to destroy a fugitive and defeated army. Thus, the present study seeks to find out what effects the Mongol military strategies had on the downfall of Baghdad. The article adopts a historical method in analyzing and explaining the military strategies of the Mongols in the conquest of Baghdad. The findings indicate that the weak structure of the caliphate, their military organizations, and the strategies they implemented played a very important role in the fall of Baghdad after five centuries of centralization of the caliphate. The use of light military equipment and catapults, their adoption of irregular warfare, consultation, and the evaluation of public opinion were the most important factors in the success of the Mongols.

Many Muslim scholars have used the Early history of Islam as an ideal example to explain their current situation and give a vision of the future and a prospect to solve the problems. Especially regarding the new social, political and economic circumstances in the last century and with the emergence of modernity, Egyptian scholars tried to provide a new representation of the early history of Islam in order to conduct society toward integrity in an Islamic manner. In this research, we try to study and put in context the works of Sheikh Mohammad al-Ghazali, one of the Egyptian contemporary Islamists, in order to scrutinize his representation of the early history of Islam. Ghazali with a Salafi attitude, introduces the early history of Islam to the Muslims’ Egyptian society and other nations, as the basis of returning to the golden ages of past. Besides the history of Islam he uses the Quran and Seerah to explain the past. The time and circumstances which Ghazali lived in made him confront capitalism, communism, and socialism and investigate social justice, political and cultural colonialism, the potential for establishing an Islamic government, women’s issue, the Quran and its concepts, the issue of Palestine, and Judaism in order to find a solution for the decline of the Egyptian society.

One of the most important achievements of Iran’s “Enghelab-e Mashruteh” was the Constitution. While it was considered as the most important guaranteeing document of the principles of the constitutional movement, it was changed and revised many times over the course of seven decades. Some revisions of the principles seemed inevitable due to the reign of the monarchy in the first decades. However, the 1949 amendment which granted the Shah with the right to dissolve the Houses, the 1957 amendment which gave the Shah the veto power over the financial decisions of the parliament, or the 1967 amendment regarding how to choose the heir to the throne led to changes in the constitution which cannot be justified through the legal grounds available in historical documents. It seems, however, that behind these legal aspects, political motives of the authoritarian monarchy has been the cause that led to these changes and disregarding the foundations of the Constitution. This research is an interdisciplinary work which studies the historical circumstances and the legal arguments put forward in accordance with these conditions, and criticizes the amendments to the Constitution.

Odes is a collection in four books of poems by Quintus Horatius Flaccus, the Roman writer and poet of the first century BC. The poems cover a wide range of topics about human relationships, everyday issues, and historical events. Parthians as one of the most important neighbors and rivals of the Roman Empire, and Achaemenids as Parthians’ descendants have been mentioned in different parts of this collection. Considering the shortage of sources on some parts of the history of Ancient Iran, especially the Parthian period, that has made the researchers encounter problems, this literary work would be a good source for contemporary historians who intend to study the foreign relations of Parthians with the Roman Empire, and the viewpoints of Romans on Iranians in the Achaemenid period. This research adopts an analytical-descriptive method to study how the Ancient Iranians are depicted in Odes of Horace and to compare critically the historical materials contained therein with other historical texts of the ancient world.

Although Shiraz had a considerable reputation during the Buyid period, it was in the era of the Salghurids government that it found a special situation among the Iranian cities. In the days of Atabak Saad and his son Atabak Abu Bakr, who sought to expand the territory of Khwarizmshahi, and then during the Mongol invasions, large cities were severely damaged, but Shiraz remained quite safe and witnessed the prosperity of the construction of public places. Although it seems that Fars, due to surrendering to the Mongols, remained completely intact against the invasion, the fact is that the state did not completely survive the accidents, but because of the presence of Sufis and judges, the culture of toleration had spread among people. Also, measures taken within the city that promoted the development of public spaces played an important role in this regard. This study investigates the relationship between the urban culture and the physical development of the city through the creation of public spaces as an internal phenomenon in the city of Shiraz in the seventh century.

Although Kashan was one of the main centers of lusterware production in the Islamic world during the Ilkhanid period, from the middle of the fourteenth century this industry declined in the city. Afterwards, at the end of the fifteenth century, once again, we witness the prevalence of making luster tiles in Kashan, but with different forms and contents. This article introduces 15 tiles which were produced between the years 1478 and 1560. These tiles were generally in the form of inscribed tablets with such functions as tombstone and mihrab, and were installed on the walls of religious buildings such as mosques and shrines. This paper, besides introducing two unknown luster tiles, surveys the content of all the known samples. It also tries to determine the difference between the luster tiles of this period and the Ilkhanid samples in terms of form, use, and content. Moreover, the relationship between the content of these tiles and the religious beliefs of the Iranian people at the beginning of the Safavid era has been addressed. The results show that in contrast to the Ilkhanid samples in which Quranic phrases constitute the main content, the luster tiles of this era are influenced by Shiite beliefs.

The inscription of the phrase “Shah of Iran” on a coin from the era of the reign of Qizil Arsalan (582-587 AH), one of the Atabeks of Azerbaijan (541-626 AH), is considered a novel and unique deed. The use of the word “shah” on coins in post-Islamic Iran was not new, and the rulers of the Buyid dynasty and then the Seljuk dynasty used this word on their coins; but the juxtaposition of the two words “shah” and “Iran” is considered new in the history of post-Islamic Iran. This not only was unprecedented in the history of post-Islamic Iran, but was not repeated until the reign of Nader Shah Afshar. The main issue in this research is the study and analysis of the reasons for using the phrase “Shah of Iran” on this coin. After gaining religious legitimacy, Qizil Arsalan sought to gain national popularity. Therefore, he had silver coins minted and the words “Shah of Iran” inscribed on them — silver and shah being the symbols of ancient Iran. It is important to note that the region of Azerbaijan was one of the bases of cultural ideology during the Sassanid era, and Sassanid traditions were rooted in this region. In addition, the poetry of the Azerbaijani school reflect the poets’ interest in Iranianism, and this influenced Qizil Arsalan. Considering his untimely murder and reviewing the poetry collection of poets such as Zahir Faryabi and Khaghani Shervani, we realize the failure of Qizil Arsalan in gaining national popularity.

The revolts of the Hassanids during the Abbasid Caliphate began with the revolt of Muhammad Ibn Abdullah in 145 AH. His uprising was of particular importance for reasons such as the allegiance of the first two Abbasid caliphs to him, his hereditary position, the massive propaganda about him, and his wide range of supporters. Among the various supporters of the uprising were some Ghulat leaders, people who shared few of the views and beliefs of the Hassanids. In this article, through a descriptive-analytical method, the factors influencing the Ghulats’ support for the uprising of Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, despite the minimal convergence of their beliefs, have been considered. The results of this study show that Ghulat leaders, in order to attract more supporters and teach their followers their own desired meaning for the Mahdi, made use of the circumstances created by the death of the Alavid elders and the Hassanids’ propaganda about the Muhammad Ibn Abdullah. On the other hand, Ghulats’ emphasis on the need for an armed uprising and eliminating the opposition in their teachings, while emphasizing the resurrection of the Mahdi to fill the world with justice, led to their acceptance of the two beliefs of the Hassanids: their superiority for Imamate and the necessity for an armed uprising. This eventually led to the support of some Ghulats for Muhammad’s uprising.