TARIKH WA TAMADDUN-I ISLAMI
Year:2016 | Volume:12 | Issue:23|Papers Count:8

Aniconism in Islam is an incontrovertible presumption for the researchers of Islamic arts. The main question of this study is that what the imagination and interpretation of Muslims, in the early centuries, was about figural images which caused aniconism in Islam. The present paper shows that the permanence of the verdict seems to be associated with the cultural conception of magic and talismans which was rooted in the old civilizations such as Iran, Egypt and ancient Palestine. The main hypothesis is that the relation between image-making and the magic and talismans was one of the most important social factors that caused the reaction of Muslim jurists and scholars to the issue and subsequently led to the persistence of aniconism in the middle centuries. Therefore, it can be stated that Islam’s opposition to figural images was not from an aesthetic standpoint but along with the Quran’s stand against polytheists and idolaters, was because of that cultural conception of magic and talisman.

One of the most important events that had an everlasting and unprecedented impact on Muslim cultural quests was their gaining access to paper and paper industry since the middle years of the second century AH. In many recent studies, it has been claimed that the development of paper industry in Baghdad and the production of Baghdadi paper happened within the first few decades after the construction of the city. According to those researches which are based on the reports of relatively recent sources, some years after paper production in Samarqand (about 179 AH), production of paper in Baghdad began by the order of al-Faḍl b. Yaḥya al-Barmaki, the vizier of Harun al-Rashid (R. 170-193 AH). Because of the recency of the references that was used in the aforementioned studies and also the exclusiveness of paper manufacturing in China and Samarqand as well as the reliance of Baghdad on the imported paper from those lands until the sixth century AH, the present article shows that the birth of Baghdadi paper occurred no earlier than the time that Yaqut al-Hamavi speaks of it, which is the seventh century AH.

The confiscation of delinquent official’s properties for their punishment was started from the early Islamic era, certainly, during Umar reign. The benefits of that persuaded the caliphs to count on the confiscation as a temporary and sometime permanent income source and thereby they established institutions and even dewans to inquest about those properties. In the present paper, the financial reliance of Abbasid caliphate on this source and consequently, the role of confiscation of property in control of the wealth and power of elites have been surveyed.

Yemen, has continuously been a significant centre for importing and exporting hence its geographical location at the trade crossroads of the East and the West, particularly the bokhur (spice) road. Under Rasulids dominance (626-858A.H.), the commercial relationships between Yemen and different areas such as India, Egypt and Hijaz was developed and so the merchants carried the goods and products via sea routes from Yemen to Indian and Egyptian ports, and in return, importing different goods to Yemen. In addition, Yemen had also the commercial relationship with internal areas of Arabian Peninsula, especially Hijaz, by land and sea. The present article is an attempt to consider the causes of commercial development of Yemen in the Rasulids era. This study shows that in this period, Yemen was different from its prior time .It was due to the dominance of Mongols over the far East to Baghdad, that makes the commercial roads insecure and so the red sea became an alternative and safe route. It should be noticed that the role of Karemi merchants who had a disposal trade between Mediterranean sea and Indian Ocean coastlines to china via the Red sea was also developed the trade activities in Yemen.

The aim of this article is to study the legend of Ali b. Abi Talib (puh) during Iranian Medieval history in a wide range of fields from architecture to literature and folklore. The author used the intertextuality approach and on basis of Roland Barthes’s method, tries to clarify how the legend personality of Ali has been formed and re-produced through a cultural network during centuries.

In recent centuries, the relationship between Russia, as a great power, and a neighboring country has had a special place in Iran’s foreign policy. Despite the multi-faceted nature of relations between the two countries, the development of Russia’s expansion, military threat and interventions has always been a cause of Tehran’s concern. The current article is a translation and study of a secret document regarding fragments of the Russian military plan in Iran, which British intelligence agents obtained in 1909. The examination of this plan in the context of military designs attributed to Russia for both territorial expansion in Iran and endangering the interests of the British in India, reveals Russia’s strategy to advance toward the Persian Gulf in 1907 and the military goals of St. Petersburg investment in road-building projects in Iran as well. The findings also show that following the conclusion of Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907, the mentioned war plan, though primarily designed against the interests of Britain, in practice enforced against Iranian nationalists and the Central Powers in World War I.

Fazlur Rahman (d. 1988) can be regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the twentieth century. Rahman’s modern approach to the Qur’an is the base of his reform thoughts and in his Quranic studies, history has a particular place. Rahman’s approach to the Qur’an based on the history and has reflected in his understanding of the nature of Qur’anic revelation, his view on the method of Qur’anic interpretation as well as his perspective on the methodology of Qur’anic studies. In this article, the significance of Rahman historical view on those three fields and its results have been illustrated. In his exposition on the nature of revelation, Rahman has emphasized on the circumstances of Prophet’s era, proposing the “double movement” theory for Qu’anic exegesis in modern time and has defended of historical critic approach against literary analysis in Qur’anic studies.