STUDIES ON KASHAN
Year:2020 | Volume:13 | Issue:1 (24)|Papers Count:7

The tomb of Imam Zadeh Haroon ibn Musa ibn Jaffar PBUH, known as the shrine of Panjeh Shah, is located in a neighborhood of the same name on Baba Afzal Street in Kashan. This tomb used to be part of the Panjeh Shah Neighborhood center. In addition to the tomb, the center of this neighborhood used to be consisted of the reservoir, caravanserai, oil mill, Agha-Shah Bath, passages and malls, mosque, and the old cemetery. The neighborhood center's complex was registered under the number of 5937 on the Iran national heritage list in 2001. The oldest date that can be seen on the construction of the tomb dates back to 956 A. H (1549 A. D), which is engraved on two pieces of altar tiles and shows the old history of this urban area. This urban center has suffered severe damage due to the construction of Baba Afzal Street and the changes caused by unbalanced urban development, and some of the old elements of the complex have been destroyed. Currently, the remaining sections are also in a messy condition. These changes have distorted the neighborhood center's role in today's urban area and made it difficult to understand its original condition. The purpose of this article is to retrieve the last original condition of this urban center before the interventions of recent decades, and the article seeks to answer the question of what plan and layout Panjeh Shah Neighborhood center complex had before the extensive changes resulting from the construction of the street. Awareness about this situation will increase our understanding of one of Kashan's historic neighborhood centers and prepare the grounds for additional studies on protecting this area's urban values and restoration. In this article, with a descriptive-historical method, urban clues and architectural elements, as well as written sources, are studied and analyzed and by comparing them with the remaining images, an attempt is made to retrieve and draw the abovementioned urban center's initial layout. Studies show that the original building of the tomb was formed inside the old cemetery. In the Safavid and Qajar periods, the neighborhood center's complex and surrounding architectural elements and urban elements were completed, and this situation remained until the beginning of the 1950s. After urban changes in the last century, the cemetery was gradually reduced to a small part near the tomb and parts of the neighborhood has also been destroyed or decayed.

The following article is dedicated to the cultural and mythical significance of the mountainous areas of Kashan, especially the mountain and area of Ardehar, and its main claim is on the neglected importance and history of this area in comparison with the area on the other side of Kashan, which leads to Isfahan and used to be called "Garm Qasan", due to the lack of attention from western tourists. It also tends to show that, studying this area and its attributed sacredness is necessary. Therefore, this article analyzes this subject with studying mythical elements, rituals, and the historical remains in some areas close to Ardehar such as Niyasar, Qalhar, and Barikarsab. Then, this article presents the assumption, that an approach toward "Farashokereti", "Pre-Mazdayasna" religions and its divinities of Anahita and Mitra. In the end, the consistency and recreation of the ancient local inhabitants of this area’ s views in the new religions and also the holiness of Ardehar mountain and its connection with Iranian mythology is analyzed.

In the second half of sixth century (A. H) and twelfth century (A. D), Zarrin-Fam pottery reached the pinnacle of its craft. In this era of pottery, Persian poems and epigraphy played an important role in Zarrin-Fam potteries; therefore, potters have decorated their works with poems and inscriptions alongside other decorative pictures. Poems and inscriptions, which have a close relationship with the artist’ s personal taste, and sense and the culture and, literature of its time, have an important role in Zarrin-Fam pottery’ s design, which is mostly neglected in archeological studies. Studying and analyzing these poems, which are based on the literature of its period, have literary and cultural importance, in addition to their beauty. This article studies eight cases of Zarrin-Fam potteries from Saljuk and Ilkhanate era, which are held in the Glassware and Ceramic Museum of Iran, in order to get a better understanding about the contents, poems, and epigraphs of these potteries. Two questions are presented in this study; one, is there a relationship between the content of these poems and epigraphs and the decoration of potteries, and two, what is the general content of these inscriptions. Answering these questions brings us one step closer to the objectives of this article, which are analyzing the relationship and consistency of these inscriptions with Zarrin-Fam pottery in middle-ages of Kashan, and categorizing the contents of these poems and epigraphs. This study uses a descriptive – analytical approach and written sources. The findings show, that inscriptions had a major role in the decoration of Zarrin-Fam pottery of Kashan; also, that epigraphs and poems on these potteries contain prayers for the owner, and are usually romantic in nature

Waqf is an Islamic tradition. It’ s sociological outcome and the welfare it provides, can prepare the grounds for a better life for future generations. Waqf has many functions in religious, cultural, sociological, economical, and legal aspects. Its most important function is eradicating poverty from the society, and adjusting and controlling the wealth. In other words, Waqf forms social justice. Analyzing aspects of Waqf and the components of discovered deeds of endowment, identifies roles of this tradition in the society. This study attempts to analyze the deed of endowment written by Haj Moez al-Din, also known as Khaje Malek, on the level of form and meaning, in order to find and demonstrate its various functions and aspects as a legal and physical document. This document is analyzed from cultural, social, religious, political, historical, and linguistic point of view. Khaje Malek was the son of Haj Ali, one of the famous nobles and benefactors of 11th century (A. H) in Taher-Abad. In fact, gaining information about the customs and traditions of each era (learning about Waqf, its way and goal, and the structure of deeds of endowment), historical facts and events, language and literature (without any changes or distortions), and the life of benefactors are some the most important benefits of analyzing the structure of deeds of endowment. These analyses can serve not only as a remembrance of the great endowments made by amazing benefactors, but also as a revitalizer of Waqf as a good tradition in the society.

Afzal al-Din Kashani is one of the great philosophers of Iran in the sixth and seventh centuries (A. H) who, just like Suhrawardi, created a philosophical system with connecting philosophy and intuition, which was not based only on abstract wisdom and pure philosophy, but also on "enlightened vigilance and wisdom” . It was precisely from such a system that a strong emphasis on "self-knowledge" and enlightenment about the nature of self as a human was created. The intellectual heritage and treatises of Baba Afzal are important and worthy of studying in many ways; Including: the extent of his knowledge and information in different fields of Islamic philosophy, Greek philosophy, literature, ethics, political philosophy, mystical teachings and even antient Iranian culture; Simple language, explicit and free from complex and abstract metaphors and concepts of the era, and the use of Persian words and equivalents instead of Arabic ones; Paying close attention to the right way of thinking and the fundamentals of wisdom and the full application of virtues and good morals in life. this article tries to analyze the three motifs of "vigilance, wisdom and knowledge" from Baba Afzal’ s point of view, based on his writings; and to show that these three terms, while being closely related to each other, are in complete contrast with elements such as negligence, obscurity, and death. The result of this research shows that in Kashani’ s work, "wisdom and virtue" are two sides of the same coin which lead to "truth".

In Sufi ways the idea of "closest path" has always received much attention; for instance, Najm al-Din Kobra’ s "Shottar path" and Ibn Arabi’ s Special-Mode path" have been respectively introduced by them as the "closest path to God” . Hossein Kharazmi and some other followers of Kebrooyeh, consider the main motifs of "Special-Mode path", also called "the path without mediator" and "Shottar path" to be the same. However, some researchers have not accepted this idea and consider "Shottar path" as a part of practical gnosis of Khorasan, but consider "Special-Mode path" as a part of theoretical gnosis of Ibn Arabi’ s ideology. This article attempts to review this issue using Abd al-Razzaq Kashani’ s Futowat-Name; because Kashani has had knowledge about practical gnosis as well as theoretical one, unlike some other mystics, and has followed the likes of Abd al-Samad Natanzi. He is a man of word and practice, and was called "the wisest of sages" by Ibn al-Futi. In his book, Kashani used the word "Futowat", meaning "the enlightenment of human nature" instead of "Shottar" and used "Special-Mode" in its connotative meaning. Findings show that this idea was transferred to Kharazmi and others by Gheysari, one of the famous students of Kashani. The concept of "Special-Mode" can be equivalent of "Waqfe" or "direct connection" in the ideology of Abd al-Jabbar Nafari. In the eye of this anonymous mystic, "Waqifs" have achieved "Varidi Qurb" through "the way of secrets". Later, Ibn Arabi describes "Waqfe" with the term "Special-Mode" as the closest way of connection between God and his servants in a stable way. This article attempts to say that "Ibn Arabi’ s Special-Mode" in the description of "Waqifs" and "Malamatiyyas" is in accord with "people of Futowat" in Kashani’ s ideology and "Shettar path" in Najm Kobra’ s ideology

After the holy Quran, Nahj al-Balagha is the most valuable source of guidance, which is repleted with the notions of Quran. Imam Ali PBUH has utilized Quran’ s verses, whether directly or indirectly, in his words such as Nahj al-Balagha, which is an anthology of Imam’ s words. Conceptual or deductive adaptation, is a way of quoting, which has an important role in interpreting Quran’ s verses and deciphering its sublime meaning. In his book Minhaj al-Bara’ a, Qutb Rawandi was able to pin point Nahj al-Balagha’ s adaptations of Quran, in cases of indirect quotations, with his great command on Quran. His great work shows that Imam Ali’ s PBUH words are derived from Quran, in both eloquence and meaning. This article uses a descriptive – analytical approach in an attempt to present Rawandi’ s comments.