پژوهش نامه تاریخ اسلام
سال دوم شماره 7 (پاییز 1391)

Historical sociology prepares the ground for a better understanding of social structures of past societies in which particular historical events and actions have taken place. After the demise of the Prophet, the issue of his succession and SakifatBaniSiida became the most important issues in the new Muslim community. In addition to Imam Ali, as the outstanding figure of the Household, there were other groups and trends of thought that also laid a claim to the caliphate. To publicly overshadow Ali (A), they kept overemphasizing on points of disagreement over the intellectual leadership of the society and reinforcing them. To that end, they took advantage of measures such as creating diverse religions and sects, fabricating narrations (Hadith), etc. Such customs were continued, organized and strengthened more vigorously throughout the next centuries.The present research aims to briefly introduce Saudi Arabia prior to the advent of Islam. For this purpose, it draws attention to a quickly-formed social flow which could unbelievably succeed well, despite the expectations of its designers, and could establish a new structure within the power pyramid of the Islamic government.

Hanafi jurisprudence is considered to be one of the important Islamic sects in terms of number of its followers, geographical expansion, codification of votes and judgments of its scholars. This jurisprudence, which is a more advanced and organized methodology of the school of “people of opinions”, has had a prominent and influential status since its birth in Khorasan and Transoxania. It can be said that the dissemination and expansion of Hanafi jurisprudence in those lands probably reached its apex during the Samanid reign; in a way that it made Khorasan and Transoxania as the second important center of Hanafi School after Iraq. The improvement of Hanafi jurisprudence in those lands during the Samanid era has had different factors but the most important ones are as follows:The closeness of Abu Hanafeh viewpoints with those of the Murjites especially in their definition of faith and its separation from action; the belief in increasing rather than decreasing nature of faith and the necessity of not excommunicating someone who commits mortal sins; the aid provided by Hanafi jurisprudences— especially the great Abu Hafse—in support of the Samanid founders and its consequent impact on confirming and legitimizing the Samanid government and the support of Samanian governors from Hanafi jurists and entrusting them to positions of judgments and jurisdiction in return; the great efforts made by immediate or mediate pupils of Abu-Hanifeh, like Abu MotiBalkhi, AbulqasemSamarqandi, Abu HafseKabir and his son Abu HafseSaqir in the development and deepening of Hanafi jurisprudence in that land; the realism and rationalism inherent in Hanafi jurisprudence; the attention given to the rights of women, blame- worthy people and newly-Muslim Turkish; the leniency of Hanafi jurisprudence especially in verdicts related to less-advantaged minorities; and finally, the outstanding capacities of Hanafi jurisprudence in its special attempts with regard to customs, analogical reasoning and praising.

The sixth lunar century is consideredto be one of the mostsensitiveperiodsof the western part of the Islamic world. Given that, theAyyubidgovernment was established in one of the most criticalperiods of Damascus (Shamat). From among the political events of that time, we can refer to events resulted from the political movements and brutal crusade invasions onthe heritage of the Fatimidsgovernment serving the SaljuqAtabeks.TheAyyubids territoryextended from Egypt to "Foratiyeh” island and was regarded as thehearthof civilization heritage and a good number of events.Given the crucial role played by this Islamic government in Jihad against the crusaders, studyingits bureaucracy in this civilization areacan prove effective in clarifying the administrative, bureaucratic and governmental systems of this dynasty. With that in mind, the present descriptive-analytic study aims to study the Ayyubid governmental andbureaucratic systems. To that end, it studies the historical background and process of formation of this system within this civilization area. The hypothesis tested in this study clarifies the point that the structure of the Ayyubid government and its bureaucracy system was more influenced by the Saljuqs,theAtabeks and the circumstances of the era than by the Fatimids, while adaptingitself to the needs and demands of its age.

Khwarazm area located in Transoxianahas been of great importance in the early Islamic centuries. Given the economic and political qualitiesof Kharazmduring this era, itspolitico-economic development can be taken into consideration.Considering theeconomic developments, we will focus on its active, dynamic and lucrativetrading system and considering the political developments, we will study its bipolar political structure. Having been located in the center of the commercial roads of the world, particularly Silk Road,Kharazmdeveloped asEast-West trade route. This had a major influence on its economic growth. Khwarazm geographical location and natural conditions including richness of natural and agricultural resources plus its access to two rich rivers also affected the commercial prosperity of its residents as well as its economic development. The political structure of the region was bipolar in which local families were subsets of the central government of Iran. This proved effective in commercial development and urban life of khwarazm since the central government wasboth a science promoter and commercial sponsor. The present study is adescriptive-analytic one and the data was collected through library method. The results of the study show that as a result of the above-mentioned factors, Khwarazm was seen as a regional model of politico-economic development during the early Islamic centuries. It should be mentioned that the presence of local government such as Al-Eafrigh along with the central government of Iran influenced the political development and growth of urban life in Khwarazm.

The Islamic Sufismor mysticism has been of especial importance in the religious history of Iran,particularly in Khorasanand prior to the reign of the Mongols. The nature of approaches taken by different Islamic religions towards this phenomenon and their alteration of positions throughouthistoryare amongimportant issues. Some Sunnite sects includingHanafite and Shafiiteshowedgreater tendency to Sufism and mysticism. From fifth century onward, this tendency and closenessled to stronger connections between mysticism and Shariah.It seems that the Shafiite clergymen had an effective role in this connection and its development. During this period, Sufism gained such an acceptance that itbegan to be seen as one of the Sunnite sects. The present study-through taking advantage of resources such as history, Melal and Nehal books, Rejal and Tabaghat and life stories of mystics and clergymen-aims to explore the ways through which the connection between Sufism and Sunnismtook place.