فصلنامه مطالعات تاریخ فرهنگی
پیاپی 53 (پاییز 1401)

The reign of Seljuk, in particular Isfahan, in terms of political, cultural, artistic, and architecture is considered one of the most important and influential periods. Despite this period, some unknown aspects such as how the palaces and gardens of the Seljuk sultans and statesmen were built should be investigated. This research will focus on the palace and gardens. The study uses the historical-analytical method, relying on historical and literary sources.  The author argues that the palaces and gardens of Isfahan of the Seljuk period can be classified into several categories including the identity of the owners, location, and period of construction. Most of the buildings belonged to the ministers and the rulers in the capital. There were some places for the residence of the sultans and their families, and some palaces belonged to administrative and official affairs.

Historians' approach to the previous governments and showing the connection of their time with the past is important. The reason is that historians as thinkers reflect part of the common perceptions of their time and this It is very important as an influential intellectual and cultural trend. Historians can evaluate the achievements of past governments and compare them with their eras. One of these historians is Reza Qali-khan Hedayat, who wrote the book Rouza-al-Safayi Naseri under the subtitle of Roza-al-Safayi Mirkhandan. In this work, the history of the final periods of the Timurids until the end of the Nasrid era, including the Turkoman, Safavid, Afsharid, Zandi, and Qajar, has been narrated. Considering that a part of this book is about the Safavid government, this article discusses the way Hedayat - the famous Qajar historian - narrates the Safavid and the connection between the Safavid and Qajar governments. The research shows that, unlike most of the historians before him, instead of emphasizing the Mongolian descent of the Qajars, Hedayat emphasized the relationship between the Qajars and the Safavids, in such a way that he assumed the Qajars were the succession of the Safavids. Hence, he shows Afsharid and Zandi's governments as less significant.

Religious pluralism is coined by John Hick (1912-2019). While  Hick analyzes religions from a non-religious outlook and prefers this discourse over religious approaches, at the same time he considers religion as the right path to reach truth and salvation. The religious pluralists have introduced some of the Muslim mystics and poets pluralists, however, they have neglected the 6th-century mystic poet, Ain al-Quzaat Hamedani (492-525 A.H.). This research, with a descriptive-analytical method, aims to investigate the relationship between the views of Ain al-Quzaat and religious pluralism according to today's standards. The findings of the research show that Ain al-Quzaat Hamedani does not fit into any of the new and modern perspectives but, his views, as a religious scholar are understandable in the approaches of pluralists in his historical context and he believed that all non-Abrahamic religions have the truth. Therefore, a broader model should be designed to understand the thoughts of Ain al-Quzaat in the field of theology.

One of the topics that attracts attention during the seventy-year history of establishing official relations between Iran and Canada (since 1956/1335) is the role of the book and its related issues in the relations between the two countries. According to the available documents, sending books from Iran to Canada by the government institutions and writing books about Iran (in Canada) with the cooperation and support of the Iranian government are the most important symbols of the connection between the two countries.  In this article, the role of the book in the framework of the official relations of the two countries from 1339 to 1357, has been investigated by using a descriptive-analytical method and relying on archival documents. The findings show that in this relatively short period, attention to the book on the political-cultural relations of the two countries has had significant importance and an expanding trend. In these publications, the history and culture of Iran have been written and published, and familiarity with Iran and the Persian language has expanded in Canada.

Khosrow Anushirvan has been considered a model of royal ethics and justice in Iranian literature of the middle period and literary texts. Khosrow Anushirvan known as dadgar had brought about security and prosperity in the country. This article describes Anushirvan's justice within the framework of the theory of virtue -justice and is based on Iranian literature and Middle Persian Zoroastrian texts. This research aims to answer two questions: First, considering the rich history of ethics in ancient Iran, can we find advice in the Pahlavi teachings of Anoushirvan? The second, is the concept of justice as attributed to Anushirvan in Persian texts an equivalent in Middle Persian texts?

The traditional Iranian textile industry during the Qajar period, particularly in the Naseri period (1896/1896/1848/1313), is often interpreted as a period of decline. The reasons include the industrial revolution, the import of European textiles, and the lack of support for domestic industries by the government. An in-depth analysis based on the primary historical sources including travelogues would be useful for this topic  Based on the analytical-historical method, this study argues that although the traditional textile of Iran in the Naseri era relatively declined, compared to the previous period, during the Naseri period, the production of silk fabrics, woolen shawls, cotton fabrics, and linen continued to flourish, so, in addition to domestic needs, foreign exports provided a part of the needs of the world market.