فصلنامه شیعه شناسی
پیاپی 32 (زمستان 1389)

Gnosis is the paramount kind of knowledge about the most supreme truth of the existence and as the elder scholars have said it is the noblest knowledge about the noblest issues. Furthermore, the tendency toward gnosis is innate in human being. Hence, gnosis enjoys a unique power of fascination and lots of the people who search for culmination seek it enthusiastically. Meanwhile, as a result of the high value of the pearl of Gnosis, distinguishing the pure gnosis from the false and fake ones is difficult. Most of time, the pure gnosis remains unknown and abandoned because of the ornamented façade and deceitfulness of the fake gnosis. Although gnosis is inherent in the Islamic knowledge and an inseparable part to the Shiite knowledge, unfortunately it has remained hidden and its reality is unknown and lots of its aspirers wander around in its search. Therefore, in order to enjoy the bounty of gnosis and remain intact from the semi-gnosis and fake spiritualities, it is crucial to realize the features of the true gnosis, which is the very same pure Shiite gnosis. The present work, as a small step in this long route, is an attempt to provide some of the most important features of the Shiite gnosis.

Expediency is among the most important concepts of the political jurisprudence. Regardless of the primary expedients based on which the divine rules have been issued, expediency has found a new use in the realm of the governmental regulations. Imam Khomeini, in line with the rationalization of the theory of the absolute rule of the jurisprudent, has referred to the central notion of the expediency of the system. Generally, when the religious jurisprudents apply terms such as the disruption of the "system", they mean "social disruption"; however, it seems that by the "expediency of the system", Imam Khomeini refers to the "expediency of the Islamic Government", rather than just the expediency of the social system. Therefore, it might be said that applying the term of expediency with this meaning has been an innovation by the late Imam for the solution of the problems of the Islamic republic government. Although expediency with this meaning is considered as a solution to the problems of the Islamic government, there are theoretical and practical ambiguities in regard with determining the meaning, criteria, and the references for its discernment.

Abu Eshaq Ahmad Ibn-e Mohammad Ibn-e Ibrahim Thalabi or Thaalebi (born in 427 After Hijrah) is one of the Shafeite jurisprudents and interpreters and he is the author of the interpretation titled as "Al-Kashf va al-Bayan". Thalabi has mentioned numerous narrations on the virtues of the household of the prophet of Islam. This article deals with the narrations provided by Thalabi on the virtues of the prophet's household as footnotes to the verses of the Holy Quran. The researcher has divided them into two groups: the narrations mentioned just about the nobility of the prophet's household and the ones mentioned about the nobility of the prophet's household and the others. It needs to be mentioned that Thalabi, who is one of the famous interpreters of the Shafeite sect of Islam, has paid particular attention to the eminent status of the prophet's household in the Holy Quran from the viewpoint of the Moslems. He is in line with some Shiite interpreters in referring to part of the narrations and Quranic versus relevant to the virtues of the prophet's household.

The formation of guardianship institution in the third century (After Hijrah) is a turning point in the history of Islam. The descendents of the prophet's household (Sadat) attained a particular status and position in the Islamic society because of the kinship with the prophet. The purpose behind the establishment of this institution was to avoid the circumstances through which sadats were placed under the supervision of non-sadats.As a result of the migration of sadats to different parts of the world of Islam, a vast net of guardianship supervised the sadat's affairs. The difficulty of affairs relevant to preserving the affinity of sadats created a vast and deep relationship between the guardians and genealogists, the result of which was the formation of genealogy.During the forth and fifth century (After Hijrah), Khorasan was the center of the kingdom of Sunnite kings of Samani, Ghaznavi and Saljuqi, and sadats played an active role in different parts of the dynasty of these kings; therefore, through an analysis of the guardian's activity, one can gain a clearer picture of the relationship between the rulers and the guardians.In the present article, which takes a descriptive-analytic approach, first it has been tried to study a history of guardianship institutions and then to provide a clearer picture of the activity of guardians in Khorasan and the issues they were involved with.

According to what has been quoted in the book of Al-Naqz from the author of Fazaeh ol-Rawafiz, the Shiite elites are illustrated as miserable and expelled minorities who did not enjoy any appropriate social status and political position in the Islamic society. In response, Abd ol-Jalil Qazvini, based on some historical evidences has rejected this view and has claimed that the Shiite elites enjoyed a noble social and political status and played an active, effective and genuine role in the political and social changes of the community and they were considered as an approved and welcomed group in the Islamic society despite the time-by-time discouragements, pursuits and refutations. Based on the work by Abd ol-Jalil Qazvini, this article deals with the social status and political position of the Shiite elites regarding some indexes such as enjoying power, wealth, fame, exemplariness and contribution in decision makings, etc.

After the independence of Iraq from the Ottoman emperorship and the establishment of the royal system in this country, the Iraqi Shiites found themselves in a new situation as well. At the time of the royal sovereignty and the republic period, as a result of the policies of the governments ruling over Iraq, major changes took place in the social structure of the Shiite community in this country, among which one can refer to the increasing trend of the urbanization of this community. The transformation in the sociological depiction of the Iraqi Shiites from a typically rural to a typically urban population along with the occurrence of some events and political and intellectual phenomena within Iraq and beyond its borders during the twentieth century presented a new situation for the Shiites of this country. The reaction of the Shiites to these changes resulted in new conditions. Appreciation of these conditions is influential in the final analysis of the destiny of the Shiite society of Iraq in the twentieth century. This article is an attempt to study these conditions and their effects on the social structure and the political changes of the Iraqi Shiites.

Indonesia, as a Moslem country in the south east of Asia, is home to a large number of Shiites; so that we can consider an increase in the number of this group nowadays. The establishment of Islamic and Shiite organizations and centers in this country reflects the vast Shiite atmosphere prevalent in this country. After a brief history about the formation of the Shiite society in Indonesia, this article presents a classification on them and meanwhile it refers to the considerable number of the descendents of the prophet's household (Sadats) and the way they entered this country, and then it refers to the number of the Shiites in Indonesia. Next, the existence of the Shiite centers –which reveals the presence of the Shiites in a country– is discussed and then the article introduces some outstanding Shiite figures, and refers to some translated books from the Iranian scholars and thinkers, which can be deemed as the existence of Shiism and interest in the household of the prophet of Islam in this country. Finally, the article refers to some of the Shiite customs and traditions, especially the ones in the month of Moharram, attended to by the Shiites in Indonesia.