JOURNAL OF IRANIAN ISLAMIC PERIOD HISTORY (JOURNAL OF FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES) (TABRIZ)
Year:2015 | Volume:5 | Issue:10|Papers Count:9

From the seventh century onwards, with the expansion of Sufism thoughts throughout the Islamic world and the close ties between Sufism and Shi' ism like some other religious and historical documents, Sufi approaches entered into Karbala’s Maqtal Negary. We can investigate this issue by studying the written texts and tracing the characteristics of sufism thoughts in them. By implementing analytical and descriptive methods and relying on library research, this study tries to find answer to the question Was Kashefi’s Ruzat Al-Shohada (10th century, A.H) as one of the most famous Maqtal of Karbala influenced by Sufi thoughts The findings of this study suggested that Ruzat Al-Shohada which was written in Persian language and comprised the virtues and difficulties undertaken by Ahl Al-Bayt (AS), particularly Imam Hussein (AS) was largely affected by Sufi discourse due to Vaez Kashefi’s inclination towards Naqshbandi orientation. In fact the features of sufi thought is evident in different topics referred to by the author This in turn had led to the inclusion of some distortions in the narration of Karbala incident.

Following the formation of the Evangelical missionaries in the west, the church missionary society chose Isfahan as their base in Iran, relying on the British influence on the political structure of Iran. Upon determining their missionary boundaries with the Presbyterians, they decided to expand their territories to Yazd, Kerman and Shiraz. Iran Yazd was far from the volatile center of the country and had relative peace to warrant the presence and maintenance of Zoroastrians, Jewish and Bahai minorities. In the absence of Christian fellowmen, the church missionary society seized the opportunity to attract minorities, specially the Zoroastrians. To avoid arousing Muslims’ religious sensitivities, they carried out their missionary activities under the guise of health and education services. Enjoying the Britain and the central government political supports, they were quite successful until the constitution events. They tried to attract new converts by implementing different means such as establishing hospitals and schools and distributing relief donations among the poor. The present research is an attempt to investigate the activities of this society in attracting new converts through health and education establishments.

Islamic conquests in Iran took place at the beginning of the reign of Yazdgerd III 632-651 A.D. occupying most of the parts in less than a decade revealed that the Sasanid government had lost its previous military and defensive power. The historical texts of the early Islamic centuries which were highly referred to by the contemporary historians proved this hypothesis as well. These texts mentioned about a turbulent period beginning with the death of Khosrow II (590-628 A.D.) during which several kings and queens reigned in a short while. However, these sources did not mention about the Sasanids political power as well as the limits of their geographical territory. It is necessary to note that these issues were clearly reflected in the coins of that era which were not referred to and somehow neglected. The numismatic evidence and its comparison with the written sources in the present work revealed that the kings of that era who were reigning for a short while and most often were governing several states at the same time, were not able to stabilize their political and military power due to the limitations in human and financial resources. When Yazgerd III became the king which was contemporary with the Muslims‟ conquests, the Sasanid government had lost its political authority and economic power long time ago and was at the state of decline and collapse.

The Arab conquest of Iran created a deep transformation. This event caused political, cultural and social restructuring of the country. This new situation led to the formation of several movements in Iran. Some of them denied the new conditions and tried to introduce themselves by relying on the elements of ancient Iranian identity, Among them were Zoroastrian Priests (Mobadan). This study tries to investigate the Zoroastrian priests’ plans andreaction to this new situation as well as their shares inpreservation and revival of Iranian heritage. By examining historical, geographical and literary sources we understood that the Zoroastrian priests did a lot in maintaining, revival and expansion of Zoroastrian religion, Persian language, historical consciousness, Iranian culture and traditions duringthe first centuries A.H. Although as protectors of Zoroastrian religion, they couldn' t prevent the supremacy of Islam in Iran, their efforts in the field of history and culture were successful and thus they played a key role in the continuity of Iranian heritage (Iranian identity) in Islamic period. This study has used explanation and interpretation as two means to answer the How and the Why questions about the Iranian heritage and identity in the Islamic era.

In the late years of Nasser Al-Din Shah's reign Mirza Hassan established a school with a new style in Yerevan and three years later in Tabriz Known as Roshdieh. In this school, education was based on the new approaches following phonetic principles New schools spread rapidly across Iran and replaced traditional Maktabs gradually Simultaneously a reform movement appeared in Russian Muslim regions later known as Jadidism One of the principles of this movement was the educational reform in Moslem schools. Ismail Gaspirali Established the first school of this kind in Crimea in 1884. The new schools spread in other Muslim areas in Russia and replaced the traditional Maktabs. The present article tries to compare and contrast the educational reforms carried out by Mirza Hassan Roshdieh in Iran and Ismail Gaspirali in Russia.

Although bandit crimes and activities have always been in the shadow of vagueness In fact, their activities have largely affected the civil and economical sections, the authority of the rulers and the safety of the society needing serious investigation. Moreover, during the reign of the Mongols, particularly in the late period of Ilkhanids, one witnesses a growing number of bandit groups and in fact banditry was very common in Iran of that time. On the other hand, There is scarcity of attention about the issue of banditry in the available historiographical texts of the middle Iran as well as Islamic history. There for, other literary and mystical sources need to be consulted to gain more information about bandits and their related social issues. In this regard, theSafwat al Safa biography, as one of the most important publications in the world of Sufism in the late Period of Ilkhanids reign, Presents information about the status and the internal organization of bandits largely neglected by the researchers.This paper investigates several statements mentioned inSafwat al Safā about banditry phenomenon and tries to analyze those statements to know more about the bandits’ life quality and activities.

Sheykh Awhadaddin Hamid bin Abu’l-Fahr Kirmani (561-635) is one of the most prominent poets and sufis of the 7th century who this homeland and went to Baghdad because of some political, social and economic crisis The downfall of the Seljuks and the conflicts among the princesses after the death of Togrul bin Mohammad in Kirman coincided with his childhood and adolescence periods. However, following This internal crisis Followed by attack of Goz led to an increasing internal crisis and finally led to the collapse of this Turk dynasty in Kirman. This political, social and economical crisis led to an intolerable life conditions. Therefore, many forced to leave their Homelands Awhadaddin Kirmani, who left his homeland at the age of 16 was among those people. There are several statements about Awhadaddin Kirmani’s parentage in his Managhebnameh and some other resources. The author of Managhebnameh, intentionally or unintentionally somehow has forged the parentage of this prominent Sufi, by to the family of Kirman Seljuks. In a same line, some resources without paying attention to this issue and by relying on groundless documents have tried to prove this issue. Two questions are posed this great poet and Sufi: First, why was he forced to immigrate from Kirman? Second is he really assigned to the Turk and Kirman Seljuks family? To find the reasons for the migration of this great Sufi from Kirman, the political, social and economic conditions of that era were critically investigated using the available resources. On the other hand, his Relationship with the Seljuks family which is a kind of groundless claim is rejected investigating the main sources.

One of the important subjects in the cultural history of Iran during the Naseri era that hasn' t been fully considered is the role and importance of Vulgar medicine in healthcare system. The health system in this era was fused fatalism accompanied with the lack and shortage of governmental care services. The people were also indifferent towards sanitary issues.In this situation the belief of people greatly affected the healthcare system and classified the system into three sub groups consisting of: Physicians, Magicians and charlatans, and lastly old females. The information source for the healthcare workers came from either their elders’ experience with diseases or the knowledge provided by vulgar medicine in terms of identifying and curing illnesses. Medicine of the Naseri era is also noteworthy because of the introduction of new Western medicine offering new methods of treatments which caused some controversies.The teaching of novel medicine in "Dar al-Funun" was a turning point in the history of medicine in Iran, but this didn't decrease the importance and attention that vulgar medicine received. Actually at the end of this era, vulgar medicine stood alongside novel medicine and was used cooperatively. This paper will try to fully explain the reasons why the people were so interested in vulgar medicine, and why it remained intact during the Naseri era while modern medicine had been introduced during that time.