JOURNAL OF ISLAMIC STUDIES
Year:2007 | Volume:- | Issue:76 (QUR'ANIC AND HADITH STUDIES)|Papers Count:7

The concept of efficiency is among the new key terms in such fields as politics, management, and economy. In this writing it is attempted to examine this concept in the traditions related from Nahj al-Balāgha and Imam ‘Alī (A.S.); so, the main inquiry of this research concerns this concept and the hypothesis is set forth as follows: despite their being modern and contemporary, such important concepts as efficiency and competence have been referred to by Imam ‘Alī (A.S.) in Nahj al-Balāgha both in particular and in general, as well as thematically. To prove this hypothesis, first, management and its features from the viewpoint of the Imam are examined; and then, it is tried to search for the concepts and the terms "efficiency and competence" in Nahj al-Balāgha. Following that, given the fact that many of the contemporary thinkers like S.M. Lipset have defined efficiency and competence as the real function of a government or the realization of a government's basic tasks by the ruling system, the government's basic tasks and the way they are optimized are touched upon and elucidated in Nahj al-Balāgha. In the closing part of the article, the features and approaches of the realization of efficiency from the viewpoint of the Imam are explained and, in the end, the hypothesis claimed in the research is proved through presenting the required evidence.

A study of Nahl al-Balāgha, from the viewpoint of the science of communication and its concepts and with respect to the fact that Islam is essentially a communicational entity, indicates that some parts of Imam Ali (A.S.)'s sermons and letters contain valuable teachings concerning communicational discourses and issues. In this writing, it is attempted to review some of these discourses and doctrines such as: causes for sending Divine messengers and their propagation missions; the Qur'an as a Divine medium and its features; desirable approach for circulation of information between people and the government; hearsay in the service of Umayyads' psychological warfare against Imam Ali (A.S.); and Imam Ali (A.S.)'s foretelling of some of the events and plights awaiting Muslim communities.

Allegorical interpretation (ta’wīl) has since long time ago been a focus of attention to some scholars including theologians, hadīth scholars, and interpreters in particular. The Holy Qur'an has also asserted some verses to be open to ta’wīl and regarded its application as a key to understanding the purpose of the Divine word. This guideline has prompted some interpreters – including Muhammad Tāhir Ibn-i ‘Āshūr, the author of Tafsīr al-Tahrīr wa al-Tanwīr–to explicate and clarify the content of some verses with the use of ta’wīl as a key.It is attempted, in this research, first to explain the concept of ta’wīl from the viewpoint of Inb-i ‘Āshūr and then to expose to the readers' judgment and understanding the way he has approached the ta’wīl of some equivocal verses and terms.

One of the exegetical methods of the Qur'an is the mystical exegesis. Muslim mystics have intuitively tried to extract and express certain allusions and subtleties underlying the apparent and literal meanings of the Holy Qur'an with reference to some traditions existing in this respect. Qushayrī has done so in his Latā’if al-Ishārāt fī Hqāyiq al-‘Ibārāt. This article is going to briefly introduce this interpreter and his exegetical method and explain the major points brought up in it. Finally, it is going to make a brief comparison of this tafsīr with the two before and after it.

Context is a general, comprehensive, exclusive, and basic concept in the structure of speech and its interpretation. Circumstances or occasions (maqāmāt) are viewed as one of the important factors in their development. This article aims at studying the way circumstances and occasions outside speech influence the development of context and speech by means of analyzing the applications made by the scholars, especially the interpreters. The results arrived at indicates that as the occasions within the speech are basically effective in achieving the speakers' purposes, so also the occasions outside the speech, i.e., the circumstances of time, space, addressee, and events, play a major role in the quality of context development. These discourses are known in tafsīr as Meccan and Medinese āyahs and sūras, occasions of Revelation, and address (khitāb).

Tradition is one of the significant sources of religious studies, acceptable by all Islamic sects. All of what today are at the disposal of Muslims are not sayings of the infallible Imams; rather, part of them are fabricated and forged traditions that the naïve Muslims and informed enemies have contributed to their creation. Of course, hadīth forgers have had various motives. One of their motives has been eliminating their political rivals from the Islamic community. Accordingly, the present article intends to deal with the traditions fabricated on Imam Hasan (A.S.)'s repeated marriages and divorces.

The first steps in Islamic studies in the West were taken in Spain in the Middle Ages. Such activities readily suffered stagnation during the Renaissance; however, once again in 18th century the Spanish scholars became especially interested in Islamic issues, with the difference that in this period such studies were approached with a non-religious motivation and with the purpose of reconstructing the history of the Middle Ages Spain. Thus, the history of the Spain's Islamic era was evaluated in a more realistic attitude. The present paper indicates, by giving some examples, that it was through these Islamic studies in 18th century Spain that the Christian West (Europe) happened to realize the legacy of Muslim Spain and pointed out to its impact on the culture and literature of Spain and Europe, and accordingly acknowledged the eminent scholarly and cultural role of the Muslims of Spain.