فصلنامه تحقیقات کلامی
پیاپی 3 (زمستان 1392)

Faith is regadedan the most fundamental concept in the doctrinal system of shiism as well as Islam.It is defined as acknowledge by heart along with confession by tongue and action by bodily parts(limbs).Whether or not the confession and action are considered as part of the nature of faith concomitant of it , faith is preceded by some knowledge. This knowledge can be obtained an result of one,s attempts or given to human being due to grace of Allah. In either case the acknowledgement by tongue or heart is an act of human free will. Accordingly faith attaind in this way is an acquired one which paves the way for what is called in the traditions a God given or giyted faith. God given faith is beyond that in technical sense and according to holy verses and hadiths is a light and gift of god bestowed to the chosen individuals. This article is an attempt to explain the approach to holy verses and hadith through which one can see clearly the nature of faith an a gift by God to human being.

According to numerous accounts “mediation of grace" is one of the developmental aspects of the Infallible Imams peace be upon them. The purpose of the mediation of grace is that God sends down his general and special blessings on His slaves through them. At a higher semantic level the world and its stability is nothing but grace of God. It is done by virtue of the Infallible Imams peace be upon them. Using traditions, the author of this study tries to analyze and demonstrate the dignity. Although at first glance, the dignity of mediation seems to be exaggerated and may be denied, it is easily proved by the numerous authentic traditions.

Imam’s Knowledge is one of the issues that have busied the minds of the Shia scholars and thinkers and even many of the followers of the Imams. Thus, it brought about some questions from Imams in this regard. Due to the many questions that arise in this context, this paper deals with only one aspect of the problem that is Imam’s Knowledge as viewed by the Shia clerics; what is the extent of this knowledge and how much is it? Despite the Shia scholars’ agreement in some fields of Imam’s Knowledge, we do not find an adequate answer in some cases, including the above mentioned questions. Generally speaking, all theories can be divided into three approaches: the first approach, doubt and silence; the second approach, the scope of Imam’s Knowledge; the third approach, Imam’s full scientific comprehension of everything.

Development of the culture of Ra’y and Qiyyas in the first century, to serve as a complement to offset the lack of availability of Revelation, at least the lack of related issues in the Book and the Sunnah, they were resolved through Ra’y and Ijtihad. Development of this process in the current legal and judicial system caused many people consider it normal. The culture had revealed some effects among some Shia who were newly guided or those who had more interaction with the public. Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) tried to take them away from the faults of this culture. The present article attempts to examine the influence of Ra’y and Qiyyas on the Shia of Kufa in the first half of the second century.

Determining the main objective of the religious obligations, discussed briefly in Usul books, is one of the important theological issues. There are two main perspectives in this regard: "rational understanding" and "religion and belief." The followers of each of these two perspectives are trying to prove that one of the obligations is inherent and the other is born out of it. This paper reviews the reasons of two theories and finally the latter is chosen.

Imamia and Zaidiyya are the oldest groups in the world of Islam. Knowledge of the relationship between the two major factions contributes to a better understanding of intellectual history of Shia. In this article we try to review social, political and cultural relationship as well as interactions between the two groups during the period of the lesser occultation to the decline of the Buyids (Ale Buyah), the age of the authority of the Shia in the world of Islam. Analyzing historical records, we conclude that in this period, cooperation between Zaidis and Imamis in various fields had a growing trend, but due to some differences in belief, they have maintained their ethnic distinction in scientific debate and writing books of rejection.

Many reliable hadiths speak of the differences between inner nature of believers and unbelievers. According to these hadiths, the differences are effective in their prosperity and adversity. Some scholars deemed that these traditions are apparently incompatible with divine justice. They have begun to seek an explanation and interpretation for them. After evaluation of the most important ideas in this area and referring to the total traditions concerning the inner nature and beginning of the creation of the world, the authors of the present paper have concluded that the differences between human creatures do not pertain to the beginning of the creation of the world, but due to complications of human functions in doing divine assignments and tests and it has complete compatibility with divine justice.