نشریه بانوان شیعه
پیاپی 26 (بهار و تابستان 1390)

The effect of praying and worship in reducing the mental problems of the modern societies has been the subject matter of many researches. In this regard, the present research studies the relationship between praying and happiness. The results suggest a meaningful positive direct relationship between spirituality and happiness. Thus, the growth and reinforcement of religious beliefs would lead to an increase in happiness. One of the instances of praying and worship is religious seclusion. Religious seclusion prepares the ground for the individuals to go on their life with a firm faith and increased hope, preparing themselves for dangers and fighting for God, always attempting to see themselves before God and avoid disobeying Him to cover the path to the hereafter. To do the study, 151 women taking part in religious seclusion in 1388 SH in Yazd city, Iran, were selected through simple sampling. The subjects were evaluated through pre and post tests conducted before and after the seclusion using Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. Analyzing the results using the T-test in the two correlated group showed that taking part in religious seclusion and specific relation with God during the seclusion rites would lead to a meaningful increase in happiness.

The present study aims at investigating the relationship between spiritual intelligence and religious attitude among female students of al-Zahra University in Tehran in 1388-89 SH. The research devices used were the Naseri Questionnaire of Spiritual Intelligence with 97 questions and the Khudayari-fard Questionnaire of Religious Attitude with 40 questions used for investigating the relationship between research variables (spiritual intelligence and religious attitude) among the sample group composed of 202 female students; the correlation method was used for testing the hypothesis. The results obtained showed a meaningful relationship between spiritual intelligence and religious attitude (r = 0.40; p < 0.001).On the whole, it can be concluded that the higher an individual’s spiritual intelligence is, at a higher level her religious attitude will be.

Entrepreneurship, as the motive force of economic and social development, has a fundamental role in the process of development of societies. On the whole, entrepreneurship is one of the effective factors in rural development, because it can create new opportunities for getting a job and earning, and plays an effective role in improving economic conditions of livelihood in villages. This is why it is especially important to measure the level of entrepreneurship of the villagers and attempt to diffuse and reinforce it in the process of rural development by preparing the initial grounds for it. Among the effective factors in developing rural entrepreneurship, one can refer to enabling the tribal and rural women and girls. This goal can be achieved by conducting educational programs in deprived rural areas. In the present article, while dealing with some of the conceptions related to entrepreneurship, the following issues have been studied and investigated: rural entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurs, challenges that face teaching entrepreneurship, the goals of entrepreneurship, and its strong and weak points in villages of Yazd province. The article goes on analyzing the data gathered through observations, interviews, and questionnaires. Finally, some suggestions related to planning and conducting educational courses on entrepreneurship have been stated.

Considering the importance of forming a family and strengthening it, and the negative consequences of divorce in various aspects of human life on the one hand and the importance of related laws on the other hand, it is necessary to investigate the effect of law on the rate of divorce. The present study investigates the effect of laws and regulations on the rate of divorce. Despite the single article on amending regulations of divorce (approved in 1371 SH by the Assembly for Discerning the Expediency of Islamic Regime, according to which it is necessary to refer to the court for divorce – even if the couple have mutual consent for it – and it is necessary for the court to issue a certificate to the effect that the couple will never reconcile) the question is why the rate of divorce is so high.In the present research, in addition to using existing statistics presented by the related organizations in previous years – including the General Register Office; the Statistics Center of Iran; the registered statistics; the books, essays and conducted researches; and the related internet sites – 182 cases of divorce requests in the Kerman Judicial Center for Family and Archive Office of Judicature in Kerman were used as research samples. These cases were related to three periods during which the laws and regulations experienced changes and evolutions. The first period is one year before approval of the single article on amendment of divorce regulations (1371 SH). The second period is one year after approval of that article, and the third year is 1388 SH.

Remuneration is considered as one of the financial rights of any wife, which can be claimed along with other financial rights such as dowry, alimony, etc. by the wife. Before approval of the related single article, however, there were no laws on the conditions of a wife’s desert and how these rights can be determined. In 8/28/1371 SH, the Assembly for Discerning the Expediency of Islamic Regime approved the proviso 6 of that article. While this was to protect the women’s rights, the provisions set for it caused some problems for women in claiming their remunerations. According to that proviso, the wife can claim her remunerations after seven requirements are realized and some of them are proved; otherwise she will be deprived of remuneration and will deserve to receive nihla. The weak points and defects in that article and, consequently, abusing the women’s rights in the conjugal period and after their husband’s death caused the lawmakers to append a proviso to the article 336 of civil law in 1385 SH. Although the aforementioned enactments aimed at protecting the women’s rights, there are still criticisms regarding removal of legal defects related to claiming remunerations and the conditions for receiving it, which have been discussed in detail in the present essay.

Women, as a part of population in any society, have always played an important role in society. In pre-Islamic and post-Islamic Iranian culture, especially after the establishment of Shiism under the Safawid dynasty, women have been recognized as an effective part of Iranian society. In that historical period, the national-Shiite Iranian identity was formed and the intellectual and social bases for later periods of Iranian history were founded. In that process, the role played by women was fundamental and effective. In fact, many of the current public beliefs and conventions, especially those common among women, have their roots in social conditions of the Safawid period and the women’s role under those conditions. Considering the importance of the issue, the present study aims at investigating the women’s attitude towards superstitions and false ideas in the Safawid period, and their role in spreading those ideas in the society. The main question of the study is as follows: “How effective was the women’s attitude towards superstitions and false ideas in spreading those ideas under the Safawids?” to answer this question, the following thesis was tested: “The nature of the Safawid society and paying attention to citations and news in the society on the one hand, and the lack of necessary and equal conditions for women in studying and acquiring knowledge on the other hand caused women’s leaning towards superstitions and diffusing them.” The findings of this study, while proving the abovementioned hypothesis, depict various aspects of superstitions common among women in the Safawid period.

The 8th and 9th centuries AH are among splendid centuries of Islamic period when the women had serious presence in the realm of various sciences, especially the Islamic ones. In that period, the transmitter women were trusted by scholars and traditionists and many men received permission from female traditionists to narrate hadiths. Due to the importance of this period, an investigation of the social and scientific life of the female scholars and jurists in that period could reveal the traditionists’ thoughts in later centuries. One of the knowledgeable women of that century was Fatima Umm al-Hassan, entitled as Sitt al-Mashayikh, who was the First Martyr’s daughter. The followings are among the issues discussed in the present article: traditional activities of the women in the age Fatima Umm al-Hassan lived, a brief biography of hers (birth, hometown, and her family and lineage), the sayings of great authorities on her, her scientific life, her masters and sheikhs. What is the most important point here is that today there is not many scientific works extant, and the only document available is a historical one, a donation document, said to be an evidence of her humbleness before knowledge and knowledgeable men. Finally, the present article speaks of the political and social conditions and the religious circumstances in her age.