فصلنامه تاریخ فرهنگ و تمدن اسلامی
پیاپی 11 (تابستان 1392)

Communities in which religion plays a pivotal role, the relationship between the government and religion scholars affect politics deeply. During the Samanid government, religion scholars had a special status in the political structure as well as in the society. Their presence could be seen not only in religious positions, but also in state and political positions. Governmental policy of the Samanid rulers needed to use the religion scholars in political affairs. This paper studies the interaction between religion scholars and Samanid rulers, their devotion to establish a durable relationship, and the results taken from political positions of the religion scholars. As is known by the paper, religion scholars have had an effective role in Samanids’ power, consolidation, and also in their decline.

Iran’s armaments, dating back to ancient times, adore Iran and the world’s museums. The main focus of the research is study of Iran’s armaments in Islamic period by relying on the information of Islamic treasury in Iran National Museum. The major part of the information revolves around three main categories of military equipment, military organizations, and metalwork of Iran. The research questions include: what process took place for Iran’s armaments during Islamic period and how could the relationship between Islamic Treasury Artworks of National Museum with armaments be explained? The hypothesis indicates the structural and technological developments of the armaments and tools during Islamic period. Islamic Treasury Artworks of National Museum are material and documentary evidence, from the design and form of combat tools in various types, different periods of Iran during Islamic period. Having an analytico - descriptive research method along with field visit, the results indicate that armaments of Islamic treasury represent that there are two different phases before and after Safavid period in the history of armaments. Information about military organizations could be deducted from the related manuscripts and the remained Islamic texts, but the artworks could not represent the military organizations.

With the advent and spread of Islam, in addition to Arabs, people from other races and nations turned to Islam. Prejudices, ethnic and tribal affiliations, and blood ties among the pre-Islamic Arabs, on the one hand and on the other hand, the advent of Islam among Arabs brought about this idea among the Arabs after Islam that it appears that Arab Muslims were superior and first-class citizens while Non-Arab or Ajam people were inferior and second-class citizens. This opinion that was manifested in some Muslims’ behavior even during the prophet’s lifetime, posed a lot of problems for the Non-Arab Muslims. Several factors, some being more effective than the others, were involved to intensify this opinion; it, however, has been neglected to some extent in the contemporary studies. The paper attempts to have a deeper analysis of the problem and to point out to the Non-Arab Muslims’ situation, especially to Iranians’.

Sheikh Tusi’s Al-Rijal, being compiled in thirteen chapters and including 8900 narrators, has been written with the aim of counting the narrators of the immaculate imams and determining their ranks. The paper is an attempt to find out the principles and methods on which Sheikh’s classification of the narrators` position was based. Although Sheikh has not sought to state reliability, weakness, and to modify the matters in detail, his Rijali method, in general, is based on refraining from undermining the vulnerable people or, ultimately, from weakening the weak. And it is the fact originated from his moderate mood and, at the same time, being partially related to the historical situation of his era i.e. the early arrival of the Seljuks prejudiced in Shafei religion that led to the intension of conflicts between Shia and Sunni. The result of his attempt in this delicate situation is documentation of some narrations from the Sunnis and different Shia sects to reduce some dimensions of these damages. Therefore, his Rijali circle has been considerably expanded. It should be mentioned that referring to only the name of someone in this book does not mean that one could make sure that he is Imami or even Shiite.

One of the remarkable things in the history of Islamic territories may be regarded as the causes and grounds leading to the power of some slaves, inferiors, and sometimes those of bad record. These people, having entered the kings’ court as slaves, with the social and political situations happening in Islamic societies, were able to come to power and become powerful rulers. Therefore, they could take the destiny of a region in their own hand and appoint Caliphs or Sultans for the Muslims. Analyzing the Persian and Arabic texts written by the Muslims, this paper aims at answering the question on the causes and grounds for the power and influence of slaves and inferiors in Islamic territories of the era in establishing hereditary regimes.

When Muslim Nomad Arabs were scattered around as a religious jihad from Arabian Peninsula at the beginning of the seventh century AD, they had nothing of their own except their new religion; they did not know much about architectural techniques, their cities were just piles of primary mud cottages and their villages were just squads of tents or straw huts. Their only place of worship was Kaaba in Mecca which had relationship with none of the art degrees of buildings. However, a few decades after this emigration, they began a movement with the help of the defeated nations and their inherent facilities which could be called “Urbanization and development movement”; such being the case, after a short period of time, they began to build cities such as Kufa, Basra, Wasit, Baghdad on east and Fustat and Ramallah on west. Relying on the historical sources and evidences, this study aims at answering the question of the factors for such an understanding by the nomad Arabs and its historical necessity.