JOURNAL OF IMAMIYYAH STUDIES
Year:2019 | Volume:5 | Issue:9 |Papers Count:12

Today there is need to seriously transform politics in order to determine whether politics should be in the service of the human and his dignity, or the human should be in the service of politics, even if he is robbed of his identity and his body and soul are neglected for the sake of large-scale politics. Here lies a puzzle of achieving the world peace. When there is a concern for the human life, moral character, and dignity, and politics is considered as a human phenomenon and in the service of his dignity, we can then rely on the shared human truth so as to achieve a profound coexistence among people, where such coexistence does not arise from expediencies and arises, instead, from the human nature and moral values arising therefrom. Inspired by his Shiistic beliefs and relying on human values, science, and predominant conditions, Khwā ja Naṣ ī r tries to establish such a view of politics according to which it is an instrument for moral and epistemic transcendence of humans and a means by which world peace can be achieved.

The problem of religious science and its contrast to secular science is an unending debate. Ayatollah Javadi Amoli and Ayatollah Mesbah, two great figures of the Islamic seminary and two prominent scholars of contemporary Islamic civilization, have theorized about the nature and possibility of religious science and its contrast to secular science. The present paper is a comparative study of the views of these two scholars concerning criteria of religious and secular sciences. While they provide different definitions and criteria of religious science, they present the same definition and instance of secular science. Being secular or anti-religious is not an essential feature of any science. Instead, it is a feature ascribed to a science given its background, philosophy, practitioner, and goals. Ayatollah Javadi categorizes science, with its divine reality, into two types in terms of its practitioner. If the practitioner believes in elements of divine philosophy, then the science will be religious, and if the practitioner is atheist and anti-religious, then the science will be atheist or secular. Ayatollah Mesbah evaluates science as religious or anti-religious in terms of its disposition for value-based descriptions. The latter view considers a science as religious insofar as it does not conflict the religion at any stage from its foundations to its problems and effects. .

The Timurid Empire in the 15th century featured a brilliant period of the Islamic Civilization in Afghanistan, and much research has been done in this regard by Muslim and non-Muslim scholars of Islamic history and civilization, although they have ignored the place of Shiite scholars and artists. The main question of this research is as follows: what role did Shi’ as in Afghanistan have in the growth and flourishing of the Islamic Civilization in the Timurid era? The research draws upon an organized descriptive-analytic method in order to show the forgotten role of Shiite Afghans in the development and growth of the Islamic Civilization. Based on an analysis of historical and literary sources as well as religious doctrines underlying works of art in the Timurid era, the present research shows that Shiite scholars and artists in Afghanistan have played a remarkable role in the creation and development of the Timurid renaissanc.

The authenticity, validity, and origins of Shiite hadiths are essential and frequent issues in studies by Orientalists. In particular, they have studied “ taqī yya” (dissimulation) and “ ghuluww” (exaggeration) for a number of reasons, including a historical study of the early Shiite community with an emphasis on these two features in that period. Their research has resulted in reservations about the validity of Shiite hadiths, an emphasis on some Shiite hadiths being transmitted by allegedly unreliable people, reducing Shiism to taqī yya and ghuluww, and making the sacred place of the Shiite Imams seem unimportant or less important. Crucial objections can be raised against these studies, including the restriction of the ghuluww or exaggeration phenomenon to the Shi’ a, not taking into account the explicit and harsh reaction of the Shiite Imams against exaggerators, negligence of strategies offered by the Imams and Imā mī scholars in order to discover taqī yya-based or dissimulated hadiths, restriction of the dominant and universal stream of Shiism to taqī yya, failure to consider taqī yya in other Islamic sects, failure to take note of the method and practice of the companions of the Imams as well as Imā mī scholars of hadiths in the face of dissimulated hadiths, and failure to draw a distinction between dissimulated and tawrī ya-based hadiths (that is, those in which what is said is intended to mean what is not usually understood therefrom). In this paper, we try to analyze and evaluate significant views of Orientalists concerning ghuluww and taqī yya in the Imā mī heritage of hadiths.

In some remarks by Amī r al-Mu’ minī n ‘ Alī , there are references to the quality of God’ s existence, which is referred to in Islamic mysticism as the “ absolute reality of existence” and “ absolute truth” transcending any constraints and limits. Since books of mysticism are void of comprehensive discussions based on transmitted evidence and arguments arising from speeches and implications of the Imam’ s words concerning the Exalted God’ s “ Ṣ amadī (absolute) Monotheism, ” the present research considers the problem of the existential quality of the Exalted God from a monotheist standpoint in the mystical view of Imā m ‘ Alī with a documented and descriptive-analytic method. Given the findings of the research, we can say that God as the origin of being has a “ Ṣ amadī (absolute) existence” and is omnipresent such that there is no place or position or stage which is void of His presence, and His existential reality encompasses the whole being. God has “ constitutive togetherness” (al-ma’ ī yya al-qayyū mī yya) with every object and every person, and the whole being is constituted by Him.

Mohammed Abed al-Jabri, a well-known Moroccan philosopher, wrote numerous books concerning human sciences, through which he could secure a significant place for himself in the Arab and parts of the Western world. He believed that the Arab world is far from its early Golden Ages, and is deep in moral, cultural, and economic crises. Thus, having considered five heritages— Persian, Greek, Sufistic, pure Islamic, and pure Arabic— he concluded that all the underdevelopment of the Arab world is rooted in the thoughts represented by the Persian heritage (Ardashir), which have corrupted the Arab morality in the form of the doctrines of what he refers to as two “ fabricated” denominations: Shiism and Sufism. In this paper, we provide a brief account of al-Jabri’ s claims concerning Sufism— including the origination of Sufi asceticism in Manichaeistic aversion of this world, connection between Sufism and Shiism, and the origination of the Sufistic notion of wilā ya (guardianship) in the Shiite notion of Imamate, and the impact of the Shiite heritage on Sufi states and stages as well as Arab morality.

Imā m ‘ Alī is undoubtedly a great Islamic figure whose greatness is appreciated by both Shi’ as and Sunnis. Sanā ’ ī was a Muslim poet who did his best to present religious, moral, and mystical virtues and dignities of the Imam, which implies his firm belief in ‘ Alī . Sanā ’ ī was allegedly one of the first poets who deployed his poetry to promote religious beliefs. His poetry features the characteristics and virtues of ‘ Alī as they appear in Quranic verses, hadiths, and historical references. According to poems in Ḥ adī qat al-Ḥ aqī qa, ‘ Alī approximated God with worships, monotheism, jihad on the path of God, and the like. Because of having virtues such as generosity, courage, knowledge, and moderateness, and avoiding vices such as greed and rage both during and before his reign, he is introduced as the best moral role-model. Although Sanā ’ ī has praised ‘ Alī after praising the three caliphs, he stated that it is more obligatory to honor and respect ‘ Alī because of his kinship with the Prophet as well as other extraordinary and prominent characteristics of his. Sanā ’ ī has managed to create a tangible connection between the path of ‘ Alī and that of prophethood in such a way that he can be regarded as an archetypical role-model both in this world and on the day of resurrection for Muslims and other humans. Finally, Sanā ’ ī has characterized ‘ Alī as a religious leader, a mystical master, and a wonderful orator both for himself and for others.

The theory of critical discourse analysis is a new qualitative method of considering texts, which is concerned with how and why discourse is produced, instead of what it is. According to this theory, there is an interactive relationship between a text and its context. In this research, we draw upon a descriptive-analytic method based on Fairclough’ s theory to consider how ‘ Alī ’ s discourse interacted with Khawā rij’ s on three levels: description, interpretation, and explanation. In order to convince his audience, Imā m ‘ Alī delineates bitter consequences of rioting against the power of the ruler so as to prevent his companions from changing their ideology, and in the next step, he unearths the falsity of Khawā rij’ s worldview and tries to dissuade them from opposing the predominant ideology. This paper explains the contrast between the Imam’ s ideology and Khawarij’ s in his sermons, the Imam’ s discourse being affected by political and social events, and the impact of his discourse on that of Khawā rij.

Aḥ mad ibn Muḥ ammad ibn Ī sā al-Ash’ arī was a companion of Imā m al-Riḍ ā , Imā m al-Jawā d, and Imā m al-Hā dī , and a great Shiite transmitter of hadiths in the ninth century. His reliability is a matter of consensus among all Shiite jurists and scholars of rijal (biography of hadith transmitters). He transmitted different hadiths concerning originology (study of the originator or creator of the world). In this research, we have sought to study these hadiths, and thus, infer his theological views in originology. In this paper, we show that the world is incipient, rather than eternal, and it was created by God. Humans innately know God, and have admitted His Lordship in the World of Dharr. We enumerate some of God’ s positive and negative attributes, and make explicit that the only creator, provider, lord, owner, agent, and guide, and there is nothing like God neither in essence nor in attributes. God has restricted such beautiful names to Himself. Humans do have free will, but they do not have an independent and absolute power or ability. That is, their power lies within the limits of God’ s will and predestinations.

In Nahj al-Balā gha, Imā m ‘ Alī particularly considered knowledge of God and how it is acquired. In his view, it is impossible to grasp the core of God’ s essence and attributes. However, one might know God through knowledge by presence as well as knowledge by acquisition of His attributes, although such knowledge varies with different abilities and dispositions of people. Knowledge by presence is occasioned by one’ s innate nature or fiṭ ra, and knowledge by acquisition is facilitated by proofs such as arguments from motion, incipience, and fine-tuning as well as teleological and causal arguments. In the present paper, we overview and analyze statements by Amī r al-Mu’ minī n ‘ Alī concerning issues of theology, uncovering their ordinary logical forms. The Imam has presented arguments for the existence of God that help his audience to arrive at the conclusion just by understanding the premises. Such a method might reveal the crucial place of reason and innate understanding in knowledge of God in Imā m ‘ Alī ’ s words, and can pave the path for novel research about Nahj al-Balā gha. The research shows that arguments for God as presented in Nahj al-Balā gha are both cogent in their contents and firm in their logical forms.

Faḍ ā ’ il al-Ṣ aḥ ā ba wa Manā qibuhum wa Qawl Ba’ ḍ ihim fī Ba’ ḍ (Virtues of the Sahaba and their dignities and what they have said about each other) is a book attributed to Dā rquṭ nī , a prominent Sunni scholar of hadiths in the 10th century, which is apparently not available to us. A few years ago, a book was published in Saudi Arabia, which was claimed by its editors to be the 11th and the only available part of Dā rquṭ nī ’ s book. The importance of this small book of hadiths lies in the fact that it only includes virtues of the first two caliphs as expressed by Imā m ‘ Alī and his household. In this paper, we deploy a descriptive-analytic method drawing on what is acceptable and taken granted by both sides, and then study the chains of transmitters of the books and some of its hadiths and criticize its content to show that all hadiths in this section are unreliable in terms of criteria accepted by Sunni scholars of rijal, and only two of its hadiths fair a bit better in terms of reliability, although they conflict well-established evidence from hadiths and history.

During the reign of the Prophet of Islam, religious minorities, including Christians, Jews, and Magi, were deemed parts of the Islamic community, and their coexistence with Muslims was implied by Quranic orders, as in verses 8 and 9 of Sura al-Mumtaḥ ina, as well as the practice and hadiths of Infallible Shiite Imams, including Amī r al-Mu’ minī n ‘ Alī ’ s letter of Mā lik al-Ashtar in Nahj al-Balā gha, which is a reliable document featuring crucial orders and emphases, such as the observance of social justice as well as compassionate treatment of religious minorities by governmental agents. The Imam points out that religious minorities are obliged to fulfil their duties, such as jizya payments, and that they have rights such as political participation and economic activities in the Islamic society, so as to protect the integrity and development of the Islamic government. In this paper, we study texts of Nahj al-Balā gha to examine Imā m ‘ Alī ’ s emphases on the rights of religious minorities.