Iranian Journal for the History of Islamic Civilization
Year:2012 | Volume:45 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:8

“ Hawza ilmiyya” refers to the centre of Shiites seminary that its name background and genesis, in studies on Shiite educational and scientific institutions, has been ignored. In addition, these studies have introduced the Shiite seminaries before creation of the term, as “ Hawza ilmiyya” . This study focuses on the emergence and the semantic evolution of the term of “ Hawza ilmiyya” . The findings of this study suggest that the term of Hawza ilmiyya emerged from within socio-political changes of constitutional period and at first, in its modern sense, was entitled the institution that was founded by Sheikh Abdul Karim Haeri in Qom. Also, this study shows that the new structure of Shiite seminaries, so-called "Hawza ilmiyya", is not applicable to the ancient Shiite scientific centers.

This article is going to criticize both theories of forcefully entry, and of kindly entry, of Islam into Qum. Three points will be proved through this article: a) Arab triumph in Qum was difficult and Qumian people resisted Muslims, but this does not mean that Islam entrance to Qum was by force and violence; b) in addition to knowledge and comprehension factor, there were social, economical and psychological matters that played a key role in conversion to Islam; c) a great reception of Islam does not necessarily require acceptance of Arab culture by Qumian people, and d) some cultural grounds and historical events caused the formation of Shi'a in Qum.

Access to primary sources is necessary for studying the history of Islamic civilization and sciences. Many of these sources have gone missing over time and no manuscript of them has remained. In some cases, we can reconstruct these works by pursuing the old excerpts of them more recent works. This study aims at methodological reconstruction of the Kitab al-Mazar by Sa‘ d bin ‘ Abdullah al-Ash‘ ari, which nearly a thousand years has passed since its disappearance. To do this, regarding his position as a prominent shi‘ a theologian and muhaddith, we first investigate the survival of Sa‘ d's works. We then attempt to distinguish the excerpts of Kitab al-Mazar from his other remaining qoutes in more recent works of other scholars. The final step will be to find a way for reconstructing the work by identifying its general structure, based on the current method of putting together and classifying traditions in his time.

The presence of European missionaries in Iran was the important issue in the history of the Safavid. One of the most important groups of missionaries was Carmelites who came to Iran to try to spread the Catholic faith in this country. They came to Iran during the rule of Shah Abbas I apparently to create an alliance between Iran and the Christian countries of Europe against the Ottoman and indeed to promote Catholicism. Carmelites who were always supported by the Safavid kings, could had a continuous presence in Iran by the end of the Safavid era and even after that. The Carmelites’ s Presence and activities in Iran, including the establishment of first printing-house in Isfahan, translation of Christian Texts, compilation of bilingual dictionaries, establishment of misionary certres and hospice had many political, cultural, social and religious consequences. These activities had more benefits for West and led to greater cognition by European governments of Iran. Because of their religious beliefs, Muslim Iranians had little interaction with Carmelites missionaries.

“ Euclid’ s Elements” begins by an introduction into definitions, Postulates and Common Notions; the Postulates are presented in the science of geometry by Euclid without any or explanations. However, regarding the significance of Postulates which is the fundamental to geometrical proving and solving geometrical theorems, some translators and interpreters of Euclid’ s Elements provide explanation for some of the Postulates and try to prove them. Qutb al-Din Shirazi and Faḍ l ibn Hā tam Neyrī zī are among the translators who believe that it is essential that some of the Postulates be explained and some others be proved. This article compares the methodologies of Qutb al-Din Shirazi and Faḍ l ibn Hā tam Neyrī zī , an older interpreter of Euclid’ s Elements.

In the battle of Tabuk, unlike other battles, the participation of Muslims was very weak and their procrastinations caused to be delayed in the preparation of the army and the move toward Tabuk. Some of the Companions expressed one’ s regrets for being unable to participate in this battle. In the Sura of Tawba, God exposes the intentions of these non-participants, expressing their real reasons for not participating. According to this Sura, even some groups of participants in practice attempted to sabotage and create fear among the Muslims. The lack of harmony of the Companions’ behaviors in this Battle could be known by a typology. This typology could be carefully identified in the Sura of Tawba. In this Sura eight kinds of behaviors were introduced, ranging from active participation to passive one. Describing the diversity of the Companions’ behaviors in this Battle, this article gives an explanation for it. It seems that the diversity of the Companions’ behaviors returned to their attitudes and social traditions that were in conflict with religious values.

Islam, Christianity and Judaism belong to the same family and are named semitic religions. Regarding to this similarity, it is very important to survey the situation of Christianity and the range of influence in the Arabian Peninsula in particular western part and Hedjaz contemporaneous the rise of Islam. This survey helps to more understanding of the events of early Islam, particularly interactions of Christians with the holy Prophet and of the Christology of holy Quran. The spread of Christianity and situation that in Hedjaz from north-west (Bosra), west (Abyssinia) and south-west (Najran) is the focus of this paper. It is showed that christianity has been strong presence in Hedjaz before and during the rise of Islam.