فصلنامه سراج منیر
پیاپی 8 (پاییز 1391)

Undoubtedly, Imam Ali (AS) is the second greatest interpreter of the Holy Qur’an and its sciences after the Holy Prophet of Islam (SAW). Part of the Qur’anic sciences was presented to his followers in the form of quotations, narratives, and sermons. They were passed on to later generations in narrative and exegetical collections, including Nahj al-Balāghah. Although its compiler, Seyyed Razī, only collected some of Imam Ali’s sermons, letters, and pithy sayings, one would find traces of the Qur’anic sciences, their types, virtues of the Qur’an, Qur’anic teachings, its recitation rules, its interpretation and exegesis, morphology, and finally its freedom from distortion.

Narratology or narrative theory as the systematic study of narrative entered the realm of structuralism since about 1960. Theoreticians have since attempted to analyze the structure of the narrative using various methods such as dividing narrative into its segments. The Holy Qur’an urges the mankind to follow the example of prophets and divine leaders.This article seeks to analyze the Qur’anic account of Mary’s narrative in order to show its actions, general structure, and the relationship between its plot, theme, structure, characters, and their actions. The results are presented in the form of tables and graphs.

Perfect creation, will power, knowledge, wisdom, natural inclination towards God, and caliphdom all are extralegal concepts which constitute the elements of human dignity. Human dignity was first introduced into the Islamic moral and legal teachings through the Holy Qur’an as it says, “And surely We have honored the children of Adam….” The study of Islamic moral teachings reveals that human dignity constitutes their foundation. Teachings underlining self-knowledge, self-improvement, and spiritual purification all lead to human dignity. The teachings and practice of the Fourteen Infallibles (AS) demonstrated their concern for human dignity. Their good behavior and love towards people showed their recognition of human dignity. Moreover, most legal teachings of Islam are based on the recognition of human rights. In sum, maintenance of human dignity is one of the objectives pursued by Islam

As the symbol of wealth, arrogance, and rebellion, Qārūn has been referred to in three chapters of the Holy Qura’n: Sūrah al-Qasas (The Stories), Sūrah al-Ankabūt (The Spider), and Sūrah al-Ghāfir (The Forgiver). In Sūrah al-Ankabūt and Sūrah al-Ghāfir, just a single verse is dedicated to Qārūn’s story while seven verses of Sūrah al-Qasas recite his unlimited wealth, arrogance, and eventual death. According to the Qur’an, Qārūn was of Moses’s people, but he behaved arrogantly towards them. He was very wealthy and believed his wealth was just the result of his competency and merit. His people benevolently advised him, and also God reminded him, and all those who were like Qārūn, that men who were stronger than him in might and greater in the amount of the riches were all destructed. Yet, he again rejected to donate his wealth and began to show off while the worldly-minded wished they had been in his place. Then, God’s torment descended, and Qārūn and his house were devoured by the earth. The Bible, like the Qur’an, describes his fate in chpater 16 of the Book of Numbers under the Hebrew name of “Korah bin Izhar bin Kohath bin Levi”: Korah was a cousin to Moses, but he was jealous of Moses and Aaron and rebelled against Moses in collaboration with Dathan, Abiram, On, and 250 princes of Bani Israel. After that earth opened mouth and devoured Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Afterwards, a fire came from God and burnt his remaining companions. In this study, the two texts are compared and contrasted to pave the ground for greater understanding and empathy between the followers of the two holy religions.

A close look at Allameh Qāzī’s works reveals the fact that he interpreted the Holy Qur’an using the Qur’an-based exegesis, that is, a technique of exegesis in which minor verses are interpreted through major ones. This was the standard technique practiced by the Holy Prophet of Islam (SAW) and the infallible imams (AS) as well as Islamic jurisprudents in their interpretations of āyāt al-ahkām (legislative verses) of the Holy Qur’an. Allameh Tabataba’i owed his technique for the exegesis of the Qur’an and hadīth to Allameh Qāzī and based his Tafsīr al-Mīzān on the Qur’an-based exegesis. The study of Allameh Qāzī’s interpretation of Samāt prayer and Ghadīriyah book of poetry suggests that he was a great man of letters and religious interpreter.

Extremely vulnerable to the hardships of life, an impatient man would fail to maintain his mental health and fall victim to mental disorders. Patience is defined as resistance against difficulties and hardships of life as well as internal obstacles. Its degree fluctuates over time. Therefore, the teaching of patience gains great importance. The Holy Qur’an uses a number of methods to teach patience: It directly urges the believers to exercise patience and advise each other to do so, it states its advantages, or provides the believers with some examples. Likewise, psychology suggests differential reinforcement, relaxation, self-instruction, modeling, and identification as patience-teaching methods. Patience helps one to achieve the truth, grow in resistance against hardships, maintain mental balance, and love the others. Hardiness is a similar concept. However, patience directs one’s attention to all positive and negative consequences of the hardships of life and reduces his sense of impotence and stress. It also encourages him to devote more effort to overcoming the obstacles and, thus, reduces his pessimism towards the world and increases his love towards the others. Patience is, then, an effective method to come over depression. Moreover, it reminds him of the bounties of God to make him feel happier.

Penned by Muhammad Ya’qoub Kulainī, al-Kāfī holds an important position among the Shia hadīth collections due not only to its comprehensiveness, chapter design, and reliable references but also to his living in an era close to that of Shia imams (AS), high scientific status, and access to four hundred principles of Shia hadīth collection. The present study seeks to verify the authenticity of al-Kāfī through the examination of its references. For this purpose, historical evidences and the viewpoints held by Muslim scholars on its references were studied. They included the four hundred principles of Shia hadīth collection, earlier hadīth collections as well as those collections whose compilers have been disqualified, those collections whose compilers’ trustworthiness have been disputed, and those reliable collections whose compilers have been disqualified. The results suggested that Kulainī has tapped reliable resources to compile al-Kāfī as a highly trustworthy collection of hadīth.