Journal of Contemporary Islamic Studies
Volume:6 Issue: 1, Winter-Spring 2024

The worldview of economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran originates from the economic thoughts of Islam. This worldview which is in conflict with all today’s superpowers requires a certain type of economy. This is because such a country faces constant hostility which is manifested in a different form in each era. Meanwhile, the arena of economics and the issues related to it – regarding its firm and tangible connection to the everyday life of the common public – snatch the attention of the enemies more. Therefore, in order to fight the tyrants, the Islamic Republic faces a pattern and notion in its economic realm which is named resistance economy, the notion which has been emphasized by the Supreme Leader in the past few years under various titles. This is in a way that in 2016, he named that year as «resistance economy; effort and act», which shows its importance. The present article attempts to provide a vivid interpretation of resistance economy and also provide its strategies based on the verses of the Qur’ān, with an emphasis on the statements and viewpoints of the Supreme Leader. The proposition here is that at the time of threats by the enemies, resistance economy is created via changing the priorities of goals and designing strategic principles regarding the Qur’ān as well as the statements of the Supreme Leader.

In the history of Philosophy, there have been three general approaches to relation between faith in God and faith in other religious facts on the one hand, and reasoning on the other hand, including strong rationalism, Fideism, and a combination of these two approaches such as Agustin’s opinion. This paper has been written to show that based on the Holy Qur’ān, people indeed establish their faith based on volition, not inference. The Holy Qur’ān says that a minimal level of rationality is enough to have faith in God and after that, there is not any other way for people rather than choosing faith. According to the Holy Qur’ān, volition is so determinative for faith that God has planned some experiments to put people in voluntary situations. This approach shows that the Holy Qur’ān’s point of view rejects the philosophical idea of Strong Rationalism for faith in God. In the Holy Qur’ān (the Muslims’ Holy Book), there are several ways to approve God’s existence. On the one hand, some of them are arguments and some are evidences used in special ways that are not similar to the arguments. On the other hand, some different factors are mentioned as factors effective on people’s faith in God. These factors include cases not classified in rational categories such as arguments and evidences. Moreover, some situations are described in this Holy Book that show people choose their faith voluntarily. It will be important to find that how much is the contribution of each mentioned factor in having faith in God. Overall, it should be mentioned that analyzing the nature of faith is not the main task of this paper, but it is just a study about the comparison between the effect of reason on faith and the effect of volition according to the Holy Qur’ān.

Various notions have been posited regarding the Aṣḥāb al-Aʿrāf (Fellows of Aʿrāf) (Qur’ān 7: 46-48) in verses 46-48 of Sūra al-Aʿrāf by the interpreters and, disregarding the notions for which no proof has been presented, other ideas can be categorized into four primary sets: the first set introduces the People of Aʿrāf as notable figures such as the prophets and infallible Imāms; the second set presents them as individuals having equal amounts of good and bad deeds; the third set introduces them as men or angels who recognize the Fellows of Heaven and Hell from their faces; and, the fourth set presents the prophet and indigent persons of each tribe as the Fellows of Aʿrāf. This study investigates the notions and proofs of the interpreters regarding the interpretation of the two aforesaid verses and shows how the correct opinion can be extracted according to the relationship of the verses and words in each verse as well as how it can complete the idea of previous interpreters. By paying attention to difference between Fellows of Aʿrāf (ʾAṣḥāb al-Aʿrāf) and Men of Aʿrāf (Rijāl al-Aʿrāf), it shows that the former include the interceders and the latter are the ones being interceded for.

One of the main issues in the domain of personal status that has led to disagreement among the Imāmīyya and four Sunnī denominations is the tabarru‘ī (free) will made to the relatives. Regarding this issue, there are three viewpoints. Some Sunnī scholars do not deem permissible making such a will to the heir and believe that the Will verse has been abrogated by the Inheritance verse, the narration «Lā waṣīyya li-wārith» that has been narrated from the Prophet of Allāh (s) confirms this claim, and making will to the relatives brings about envy and animosity among the heirs. On the contrary, Imāmīyya believes that the Inheritance verse cannot be the abrogator here. Moreover, they say that such a claim cannot be proved using a singular narration with an speculative implication; that is, the claim for the causation of animosity is not general and cannot be true for all cases. In addition, there exist many narrations from Imāms (a) whose content deem permissible making a will to the heir. Their argumentation based on the Will verse shows the permissibility of such an act. However, another group of Sunnī scholars believe that the permission by the heir is necessary for the accuracy of making will for the relatives, and the prophetic narration «Lā waṣīyya li-wā rith illā an yashā’a al-waratha» confirms it. Of course, this narration is also singular, has speculative implication, and is weak in terms of chain of transmission.

The life of Lady Fāṭima(s) is one of the topics taken into account by some orientalists. Some orientalists such as Laura Veccia Vaglieri in the Encyclopedia of Islam and Jane Dammen McAuliffe in the Encyclopedia of the Qur’ān have directly written articles about her. Some others such as Alyssa Gabbay (in her chapter in the book Female Religious Authority in Shī’ī Islam, edited by Mirjam Künkler and Devin Stewart) have adopted a special view to the Shī’a books and have addressed this sublime character. Some other orientalists such as Fatima Mernissi in the book The Veil and the Male Elite have provided some points about this important figure as part of their discussions about women in Islam. Despite their reference to various sources, orientalists have made some mistakes due to their reference to Sunnī sources and incomplete exploration of Shī’a exegetic, narrative, and historical works; confusion of denominational discussions; non-recognition of sound and rare narrations; and lack of specialty in intra-religious discussions. However, the noteworthy point in the orientalists’ works is that the exploration of the evolution of their ideas from past to present reveals that wherever they have had sufficient access to Shī’a resources and have made a complete study free from negative presuppositions and prejudices, they have been able to present more details of the existential aspects of this sublime figure. This issue is clear in their recent works, especially in the book chapter by Alyssa Gabbay. The article at hand, which is written using a descriptive-analytical method, aims at explaining and analyzing the foregoing orientalists’ discussions.

This article explores Sayyed Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr's depiction of the revolutionary Islamic identity, focusing on the revolutionary role of women. The analysis draws from four of his published books, including Contemporary Man and the Social Problem, and Fadak fi al-Tarikh (Fadak in History), to illustrate these concepts. The paper adopts the «content of analysis method» for data collection, involving related documents and the dilala method of text analysis. The article is divided into three sections. Firstly, it delves into Sayyed al-Sadr's portrayal of the Islamic identity and how it evolves into a revolutionary force in pursuit of freedom. Secondly, it examines the inspiring example of Fatima Al Zahraa (as) who, by disputing with Ibn Abu Quhafa (aka Abu Bakr) to claim her property (Fadak), demonstrates the potential for women to be active agents and even revolutionaries. Lastly, the article evaluates Sayyed al-Sadr's relationship with his sister Amina al-Sadr (aka Bint al-Huda), recognizing her as one of the early and prominent revolutionary women of Shia heritage.

The role of intellect in interpretation, is one of the controversial topics among Quran scholars. It is important to take advantage of the power of thinking and accordingly, to use rational arguments in understanding the contents of the verses of the Qur'an. Throughout the history of interpretation, different groups such as Imamiyyah, Ash'ari, Mu'tazilah, and Non-Mu'tazilah, have discussed and disagreed about the permissibility and impermissibility of using rational arguments in understanding the verses. Investigating the realm of reason as a source of interpretation is one of the goals of this article. The findings of the research with the descriptive-analytical method of the data extracted from the library sources are aimed at the important fact that the intellect in direct and indirect forms can be influential in the interpretation of the Qur'an verses from different dimensions This type of intellect is in agreement with the provisions of the Qur'anic verses and hadiths, and it also shows the implementation of the provisions of the verses and hadiths in the attitude towards the intellect.

The purpose of this article is to show «the place of peace in the international relations of the Islamic State». The most logical method is to refer to the Quran. According to the Qur'an, the basis of international relations is peace and peaceful coexistence. The reason is verses of the Quran. Not only from the verses of peace but also from the verses of Jihad. these interpretations and readings are supposed to be inferred. The provisions of the peace verses are: «the necessity of peaceful relations with nonviolent states», «the right to have good and fair relations with non-hostile states», «the prohibition of friendly relations with hostile states» and «the prohibition of aggression to neutral governments and allies in the conflict between Islamic State and hostile states». The verses of jihad are also used in such a way that one cannot fight a government or a group without reason or permission. The reason for the war can be some events like «invading Islamic lands» or «persecuting Muslims and conspiring against their religion and beliefs» or «persecuting and abusing their followers» or «killing and corruption on the earth» by a hostile group or an aggressive government.

The major goal of this research is to find out how the ‘viciousness’ issue in Mulla Sadra’s Supreme Wisdom is fundamentally affected by the words of Imam Ali (PBUH). The study of this issue can provide insight into a significant source of speculation from which Sadra has derived his wisdom. It also helps to reveal the hidden intertextual relationships between Imam Ali’s words, as the covert text, and Sadra’s intellectual remarks, as the overt text. In this study, a descriptive-analytical method is used to scrutinize the Supreme Wisdom and its relationship with the Imam’s words is identified through Kristeva's intertextuality as a new approach. The results show that Sadra has drawn upon Imam Ali variously to deal with the fundaments of ‘viciousness’. For instance, regarding the principles of abstract truth, originality of being, causality, and absolute dependence, Sadra adopts parallel negation, total negation, parallel negation, and partial negation, respectively.

This article argues that the Holy Qur’an is not in line with any of the three common beliefs about God's intervention in nature, including evolutionism, creationism, and intelligent design, and instead proposes a fourth approach and refers to it as the pleroma design. The pleroma design theory posits that God directly intervenes in the creation of life, while at the same time allowing evolutionary changes with the mechanism of natural selection. This theory provides an explanation that is both metaphysical and empirical in a way that is not contradicting. Unlike creationism, the pleroma design theory is unique in aligning with theological and philosophical principles without denying the evolution theory as the main contemporary scientific paradigm. It is also not committed to the naturalistic requirements imposed by evolutionists or relying on scientific and experimental evidence or pseudoscientific explanations advocated by intelligent design proponents. Ultimately, the theory of pleroma design illustrates that from one point of view, there is at the very least a complementary relationship between science and religion rather than conflict, and the other view would point to a compatible relationship between science and religion.

The cultural grounds of any phenomenon can be considered one of the most important fields in the development of the phenomenon. Therefore, paying attention to this issue and identifying it plays a significant role in the future of the phenomenon. This research aims to discuss the aspects of the realization of a new Islamic civilization in the phenomenon of Arba’in procession through the Delphi method and open and closed interviews with some scholars. Then, with the method of thematic analysis, the cultural themes gathered from the scholars’ opinions were examined. The findings of the research show that «cross-cultural communication for the expansion of religious culture and an Islamic lifestyle», «the Arba’in procession as a global medium», «jihad of explanation» (the holy war of explanation), «the continuation of the path of religion, spirituality, and Imams by the Muslim community (Ummah)», «demarcation with the enemy», and «requirements to achieving a new Islamic civilization and preparation for the emergence of Hazrat Mahdi (PBUH)» are the most important cultural grounds in the procession of Arba’in for the realization of new Islamic civilization.