فصلنامه مشکوه
پیاپی 79 (تابستان 1382)

The issue of admissibility or inadmissibility of uprising for establishing a rule be fore the advent of Imam Mahdi (AJ) has been a crit ical discussion among the Islamic sclolars. In this article, twenty nar rations from Wasa¥ 'il al-Shi a and Mustadrak al-Wasa¥ 'il concerning the inadmissibility of uprising are brought up and reviewed. After translating the narrations and discussing their chain of transmission, the author has proceeded with a review of their content and significations In the and, he states that given the reliability of some narrat ions, chain of t ransmission and signification, the ir cont ent is incompatible with the narrations confirming the uprising. Furthermore, these narrations do not match up to the general Islamic rules, conclusive proofs of defensive Jihad (holy war), and Forbidding evil.

The hadith of the Saved Sect has be en one of the most controvevsial hadiths in the history of theological disputes and ideological debates, wherein contradictory claims have been made. The present article is not intended to introduce the Saved Sect, rather, it aims at de lineating the extent of the conflict over this issue. The write r, hereby, sets forth an image of conflict over the determination of the Saved Sect. Then, he deals with another version of this hadith which views only one sect as deserving to go to hell, and the rest as deserving deliverance. In the end, he points out possible suppositions in confronting this hadith along with its various versions.

One of the verses that has attracted the attention of the Shia and Sunni interpreters and scholars is the verse 60 of the sura al-Isra¥ '. Despite attempts made by a few Sunni Scholars to explain and identify the "Cursed Tree" in this verse with such cases as the tree of Zaqqum, there is a consensus among both Shia and Sunni scholars that what is meant by th Cursed Tree is the dynasty of Bani Umayya and Bani Marwan who were cursed by God. This collective impression is established in this article with the use of the viewpoints of the Shia and Sunni interpreters ond hadiths.

In this article the author has described the means and ways of utilizng the mass media in U.S.A by war-mongering Evangelists to create a hysteria for the Prot estant and times eschatqloy. The controversial televangelist s and the political and social organizations of the militant Evangelists in that country are introduced. The religious and political propaqanda of the militant Christian fundamentalst s to att ain the is war-monge ring goals are explained to the readers in the article.

The tragic incident of Karbala and the A¥ shu¥ ra¥ uprising are among the most determining events in the world of Islam. The present article has cast a sociological glance at this historical event. The writer regards some cultural characteristics of the Kufans, such as overflowing of sentiments, tribal bigotry,ideological inst ability, and par t icular ly the cunning measure s t aken by Ubaydullah bin Ziya d as the major cause of the non-inclusiveness of people's mo veme nt in Ku fa. The full supe r ior it y o f t he t hen ruling p owe r in propaganda and communication, hence the lack of mass mobilization, are among other factors touched upon in this article.

The rise of the Seljuq rule and the fall of the Shiite State of the Buyids are regarded as among the sensitive events of the Shiite history. The study of this se ct ion of the Shi' ite political and cultural deve lopment s yields valuable outcomes. In view of this transfer of power and the feebleness of the Buyids rule, the present article deals with the Shiite's mannerism and socio-political conduct. Insistence on normative positions, the approach to reason, disavowal of the ext remist views of the he re t ics and the Qarmatians, and the growth of scholarly power are introduced as cultural policies of Shias of this period.

Abdallah bin Maymu¥ n is one of the figures about whom contradictory viewpoints have been expressed. With a survey and delving into the viewpoints of the earlier and the recent writers, this article has demonstrated that the above mentioned figure has been a companion of Imam al-Ba¥ qir and Imam al-baqir (A.S). The writer concludes that Abdallah bin Maymun, who has lived in the second century, has no relation to Qarmatians and the Ismailis.