فصلنامه مطالعات تاریخ اسلام
پیاپی 60 (بهار 1403)

After coming to power, Fath Ali Shah showed a great interest in luxurious and lengthy court ceremonies, and by taking advantage of Iranian traditions, he successively added to customs and traditions for public presence. He wanted to form a magnificent court like the powerful and famous sultans and emperors of Iran and show off the greatness and majesty of his kingdom to others. This paper, relying on historical data and using the descriptive-analytical method, answers the question that “What rituals and ceremonies were followed to attend the court of Fath Ali Shah Qajar?” and “What was the purpose of their implementation?”. The findings show that this king, expanded the court ceremonies and rituals of the royal presence, especially the public presence ceremony, which had a long history in the government tradition of Iran and was considered a necessity of the royal position. He used it to show the glory of his position and expand the legitimacy of his government.

In December 798 AH/1395 AD, a caravan was sent to China by the Timurid government. Among them, Ghiyas al-Din Naqash was in charge of writing down what he saw during his travels and to compile a travelogue. After entering the territory of China, in the travelogue he refers to the cities and places in Farsi names. The travelogue has sometimes chosen a name based on the Chinese names, sometimes considering a sign or symbol of the city, and sometimes based on the natural atmosphere of the destination. In this paper, it has been tried to use field study, desk study and online satellite images to specify the route and the names of the destinations and cities of the travelogue and match them with their current names in the current geography of China. Of course, there are some missing parts in the travelogue, and it has been tried to explore the possible routes of this travel.

A countless number of people from the elite society, including Sufis and Mystics, left Iran for Anatolia between 5th-7th centuries AH/11th-13th centuries AD. In this research, It has been tried to investigate and explain the reason for the emigration of Sufis by combining two descriptive and analytical approaches, and relying on library sources. Inspired by the Everett S. Lee's Push and Pull Theory, and relying on historical evidence, and contrary to the common belief which considers the influence of the Mongol attack as the main factor for such emigration, it was found that the most important effective factors in the realization of the emigration of Sufis and Mystics to Anatolia can be considered: a series of pushing factors such as the ever-increasing population of Turkmen immigrants, the spread of religious prejudices and its strengthening by politicians, wars, conflicts and natural disasters; as well as a series of pulling factors including the propaganda, educational activities and defense of the borders of Islam, establishment of religion, respecting mystics by Seljuk sultans and their tolerance and distance of Anatolia from turbulent areas.

The second period of the rule of Kalbalikhan (1219-1235 AH/1804-1820 AD), one of the powerful rulers of the Kangarloo Dynasty over Nakhjavan, coincided with the first round of wars between Iran and Russia. At the beginning of these wars, he cooperated with Russian military commanders, however, during the war of Yerevan (1219 AH/1804 AD), he turned to the Qajar government. So the question is raised that “What were the causes of Kalbalikhan's inclination towards the Russians before the war, and then his turning to Iran and continuing to hesitate to cooperate with the Qajar government? “This issue has been investigated based on the collection of manuscripts of the Kangarloo family's correspondences, Qajar historical sources, and Russian documents. The findings shows that Kalbalikhan turned to the Russians to deal with the policy of eliminating and integrating local elites in the structure of the unified government of Iran with the aim of his political survival, which resulted in his dismissal from the Nakhjavan government by Agha Mohammad Khan. In contrast, Fath Ali Shah's tolerant policy, along with the promise of Nakhjavan's rule and the presence of hostages from his family in the Qajar court, led to Kalbalikhan's inclination towards the government of Iran. However, this cooperation continued along with mutual suspicion due to Kalbalikhan's erratic behavior.

Due to the predictions and warnings cited by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), some of the companions tried to identify instances of "Fitna", i.e. sedition. The question is how Ali ibn Abi Talib (PBUH) introduced and exemplified them to the society. This paper, using a descriptive and analytical approach, demonstrates that he not only explained the nature and essence of sedition, but also provided specific instances to illustrate it. In addition to the incident of Saqifah, he addressed the assassination of Uthman and the consequences of this “major sedition”. He also considered the Battle of Jamal as a "major calamity" and one of the instances of the "Dehima" i.e. sedition. Furthermore, he regarded the rise of the Umayyads as an example of the "Amya-e-mazlameh" or the sedition of blindness and obscurity, describing it as the most terrifying sedition. Additionally, in another sermon, he enumerated the long-term consequences of the Abbasid rule and other seditions.

Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib was a companion and uncle of the Prophet (PBUH). There are conflicting narratives about him in historical sources. He was the ancestor of the Abbasid dynasty and the beginning of the Abbasid empire coincided with the compilation of Islamic sources. At that time, they had disputes with the Alawites, which arose from the crisis of the legitimacy of their government. These cases show that it is necessary to examine how the character of Abbas was formed in historical and narrative sources and how the political discourse of the Abbasids influenced this process. This research has been conducted by historical analysis method and using narrative, Rijal and historical sources. The finding is that Abbas did not become a Muslim until the conquest of Mecca, and the narratives that praise him and show spiritual dignity for him and his family must be disregarded. Actually, his character was formed during two stages under the influence of the Abbasid government's need for legitimacy. In the first stage, the Abbasids aligned themselves with the Alawites to legitimize their rule. However, after uprising of descendants of Imam Hassan, the legitimacy of their government faced a crisis. Therefore, in order to solve the problem, they had to pretend that after the Prophet, Abbas, who was his uncle, inherited the caliphate from the Prophet by proposing the theory that the inheritance goes from an individual to his uncles. Moreover, in order to justify the character of Abbas, they honored him through praise quotes.