پژوهش نامه تاریخ اجتماعی و اقتصادی
سال دوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 4، پاییز و زمستان 1392)

Despite the limited information about harems in the Abbasid era, and also the non-systematic presence of women in various political, social, and cultural arenas until the second Abbasid era (232–334 A.H.), it is known that the phenomenon of ‘Qahramanegi’ ('commission', 'matchmaking') emerged during this era, especially in the time of al-Muqtadir Billah Caliphate (295–320 A.H). ‘Qahramaneh’ was a title given to women who acted as a mediator between the harem and the court of caliphs and, depending on their capabilities and influences, were assigned to perform different jobs. Taking advantage of the weaknesses of the caliphs as well as the existing power gap, these women managed to influence the political, social, and cultural activities. The present research was of a historical-social approach, and the reference sources were compared and analyzed. This paper is an attempt to study this phenomenon and introduce some well-known Qahramanehs in the era of the Caliph al-Muqtadir Billah, and generally, focus on the issue of women's presence in political and governmental arenas.

Attempts to gain security, as an important need of man throughout history, have always dealt with different types of defense equipment. The defensive measures taken with the aim of guaranteeing independence, maintaining territorial integrity, and protecting people against any invasion of the enemy, are whether military or civilian, respectively known as active and passive defense today. The passive defense measures, which are considered as important elements in providing security of cities, do not deal with direct use of weapons; but they include predicted and preventing measures in order to stand against the enemy without any fight or military involvement. On one hand, it imposes high costs on the enemy, and on the other hand, it improves the defensive power of domestic forces. Given the strategic position of Transoxiana and the fact that for centuries, this area was faced with numerous attacks—especially from Turks— it was essential to observe the principles of passive defense in its urban structure through development of municipal border fortifications. Bokhara and Samarkand, as the most important cities in the area, had passive defense elements such as the arks, city walls, ramparts, battlements, gates, etc. The present paper aims to study the passive defense structure during the early Islamic period.

The importance of Qom-Qasr-e Shirin road goes back to the years before Qajar. However, it became more significant during the Qajar period, as a result of improvement of the relations between Iran and the Ottoman Empire. The Qom-Qasr-e Shirin road was a path for exchanging agricultural products with Europe. The present paper aims to study the political and economic effects of this road. It was a descriptive-analytical research, and the related sources were reviewed to collect the data. It was concluded that Qom- Qasr-e Shirin road was the most important domestic road of Iran continued to the west Iranian borders. Due to its diverse functions, the road has had comprehensive effects on the political as well as economic lives of the cities, habitations, and houses along the path.

Muslim Diasporas in Malabar were formed by different ethnics and social classes, including local groups, immigrants, and hybrids. They also consisted of various social classes ranging from Indian local governors and merchants –whether strangers or locals- to hybrid Indian Muslim dealers (the Mapillas) and even the Iranian Sufis. It seems that the type of the constituting classes as well as their interrelations was influenced by those who, due to their social status and esteem, were in power. Therefore, the present descriptive-analytical research aims to study the position and role of Sufis in the Muslim Diasporas in Malabar. The research was of a historical approach using the theoretical framework of Diasporas. The results confirmed the hypotheses, and indicated that Sufis acted as the mediators for making an atmosphere of moderation, cooperation, mutual understanding, and interaction between local and the immigrant communities.

The American advisor, Dr. Arthur Millspaugh’s, travelled to Iran in 1943 accepting the Iranian government invitation to organize the existing economic chaos. He was on the belief that balancing the budget and controlling the inflation required incurring high taxes on high incomes. So, he proposed the income tax bill to the National Consultative Assembly. On November 11, 1943, the Assembly passed the bill, which consisted of 27 paragraphs. The new tax rates were based on the American tax system, but the individual exemptions, wrong declaration statements, and the loss resulted by the delayed payments were among the barriers to execution of the new law. The present study was a descriptive-analytical research based on the historical data, which was collected using the sources available at the National Library and Archives of the I.R of Iran, Center for International Research and Education of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the debates at the 13th and 14th terms of the Iranian National Assembly, the archive of the Ettelaat Newspaper for the years 1943 and 1944. The main research question was what the provisions of the income tax law, set by Millspaugh, were and what reactions different classes of people showed to that.

Economy and politics are so interrelated that none of them can remain stable without the other. This issue has frequently been addressed throughout the history. But in the past, there was not the science of economics as it is today; therefore, the historical and literary writings on politics, household management, and moral science – the three components of scientific wisdom – should be consulted to gain the necessary information.