JOURNAL OF IMAMIYYAH STUDIES
Year:2023 | Volume:9 | Issue:17|Papers Count:12

The decade of 1958-1968 is one of the most important periods in Iraq's contemporary history, during which important events took place and led to the successive transfer of political power between parties and groups. The basic questions of this research are as follows: What was the position and role of Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsen Hakim as the head and leader of the Najaf seminary in the political developments of this decade? How are his achievements and legacy for the Iraqi Shia community and the Shia authority institution evaluated? The groups and parties active in the socio-political arena of Iraq in this period, despite all the differences in intellectual and ideological bases, were unanimous in confronting and suppressing the Shiites. In these years, Ayatollah Hakim, the most prominent scholar of Iraqi Shiites and the leader of Najaf seminary, appeared as an influential activist in the socio-political atmosphere. His most significant achievement was ending the Najaf seminary's half-century of inaction and silence regarding the socio-political developments of the Islamic world and preventing the political systems ruling Iraq from isolating the Shia community and the Shia authority. Relying on historical sources, the present research explores this issue with a descriptive and analytical approach.

The Fatimids were politically, religiously, and culturally one of the most important and powerful states in the Islamic world, especially in Shiism, which reached the peak of power by employing capable ministers. They did a lot of services in the field of expanding Ismaili Shia culture and religious rituals. However, they declined due to the poor performance of the ministers, including power-seeking, divisive actions, and turning away from religion. Using the descriptive and analytical method, this article first explains the origin of the ministry position in the structure of the Fatimid government and discusses the function of the Fatimid ministers. Then it introduces two types of ministries of enforcement and delegation in the Fatimid government. Next, the paper deals with the change in the organizational structure of the government, the seizure of power by the ministers, and its gradual transfer from the Fatimid caliphs to the ministers. After that, it explains the different roles of the ministers in stabilizing the Fatimid state, expanding their territory, organizing the administrative structure of their organizations, stabilizing and strengthening Ismailism, and bringing the Fatimid government to the peak of power and influence. Finally, their role in the collapse of this powerful government is revealed by explaining the factors of the decline of the government, such as the power struggle between the ministers, mismanagement against the local rebellions of internal tribes and foreign conflicts, politicization and the ministers' lack of adherence to the Ismailism

Retrieving the surrounding information of hadiths leads to a more accurate understanding of Imams' words. The lack of this peripheral information sometimes causes an understanding different from that of the people of the Imams' time. The current paper seeks to find a distinctive model for the reconstruction of the peripheral information and context. Examining the science of new geography and using the historical geography analysis method are the ways to achieve this recovery. In this research, the concepts of new geography are first introduced. Then, the method of geographical analysis is adapted to the science of hadith. For this purpose, a speech of Imams is analyzed as a cultural view, and categories and concepts are examined in four sections: cultural topics of hadith, cultural areas of hadith, perspective of cultural geography of hadith, and cultural ecology of hadith. Finally, with the method of qualitative analysis, the categories that are in the subset of each section are placed and introduced in the form of a tree under the conceptual diagram. This inference and answering the questions that are raised under each section causes the production and retrieval of information about hadiths and leads to the clarification of the exact meaning of Imams' words. This method considers the words of the Imams (AS) as historical propositions full of widely used peripheral points and avoids a simplistic view of hadiths.

Recognizing the first hadith sources has several narrative, bibliographic and historical benefits. The similarity between the chains of transmitters, the authors of the book Fehrest had to the primary sources, and the chains of transmitters of hadiths, the repetition of the narrators of the book in the hadith sources, and matching the topic of the hadiths with the title of the books are signifiers of obtaining the hadith from the written sources. In his book, al-Imamah and al-Tabserah men al-Heyrah, which is the oldest Shia source on the subject of occultation, ibn Babewayh narrated a total of 87 hadiths, 37 of which he received directly from Saad ibn Abdollah Ashari. The most probable sources used by ibn Babewayh are the books of al-Imamah and Basaer al-Darajat by Saad ibn Abdollah Ashari. He has also used other books as follows: Al-Imamah by Mohammad ibn Hosayn ibn Abi Khattab, Al-Imamah by Mohammad ibn Isa ibn Obayd, Al-Imamah by Abdollah ibn Moskan, Al-Imamah by ibn Abi Omayr, al-Malahem and Tafsir by Hasan ibn Fazzal, al-Ghaem and al-Malahem by Ali ibn Mahziyar, al-Malahem by Mohammad ibn Senan, al-Tafsir and al-Malahem by Hosayn ibn Said, the books of Mohammad ibn Ismail ibn Bazi and also the book of Ghasem ibn Mohammad

The norm is the method accepted by the majority of society, and deviation is avoidance of the method. Deviation or defamiliarization is a topic raised in formal criticism and is one of the contemporary literary theories. Contemporary linguists and theoreticians have introduced various types of deviation, of which semantic deviation is one of the most common, used to convey artistic messages to the audience. Sabahi Bidgoli wrote a composition in the mourning of Imam Hoseyn (AS) following Mohtasham Kashani, which shows his expertise in depicting and creating innovative scenes. One of the prominent features of this composition is the technical and artistic use of semantic deviation, literary arrays, fictional images, and rhetorical elements such as similes, metaphors, irony, and rhetorical techniques. In this research, while examining the semantic defamiliarization in the above-mentioned composition and expressing its beauty, we compare it with Mohtsham's and point out some similarities and differences between these two works.

Studying Christian theology and confrontation of ideas in the West and theorizing about issues such as the nature of revelation, how the Quran was revealed, and the method of understanding it, the new intellectual current tried to create harmony between religion and modernity, which sometimes caused some aspects of religion and the Quran to fade in modernity. Mahdi Bazargan and Abd al-Karim Sorush are among the representatives of this current who, despite the difference in their views, had common foundations in the tendency towards modernity. Examining some foundations of modernity such as liberalism, humanism, secularism, positivism, religious pluralism, rationalism, pragmatism, historicism, and contemporary and philosophical analysis in the thought of these two religious intellectuals, the present article studies the language and method of understanding the Quran. According to the results of the research, although the way these two religious intellectuals deal with the theoretical foundations of modernity has similarities and differences, it has had a similar effect on the roots and context of their theorizing. The methodology of understanding the Quran from the point of view of Mahdi Bazargan can be analyzed in the framework of the simple components of modernism, but Sorush's theological approach goes with postmodern logic and the movement of libertarian theology.

From the 7th to the 10th century AH, Islamic historiography flourished in the west of the Islamic world, and especially during the Mamluk era, Egypt witnessed tremendous cultural and educational transformations. Through the study of historical texts of interest to the thinkers of historiography, the migration of historians from the East who had valuable experiences, the transfer of educational centers from Baghdad to Cairo, and the conducted investigations, they established great growth and honor for Islamic world and created the second golden stage in Islamic culture and civilization. Therefore, the following question is raised: What are the characteristics and methods of historiography in the Mamluk period? This research, relying on the first-hand sources and conducting descriptive and analytical studies, aims to examine and analyze the following issues: how the history of historiography was formed and influenced in the western Islamic world, the entry of jurists into historiography, the use of types of historiographical sources, biography, summaries, sequels, and summaries on the growth and prosperity of historiography.

In all legal systems, the effort is to reduce crimes and improve the national security of society. However, legal systems have different views on what policies and strategies can be used to achieve this goal. In the legal system of Imami jurisprudence, the principles governing its criminal policy can play an important role in reducing crimes and stabilizing national security. Therefore, we seek to examine the principles governing the criminal policy of Imami jurisprudence in order to reduce crime and delinquency and stabilize national security. The findings of this research, conducted with the analytical-descriptive method, indicate that there is a significant relationship between components such as the development of education and training, preventive measures, attention to decriminalization, respect for privacy, and the restoration of the human dignity of criminals. If these principles are observed and institutionalized in the criminal laws, crimes will be reduced and the national security factor will be improved. .

Molla Sadra's approach to confronting the apparent meanings of the Quranic verses is different from that of the famous commentators and philosophers. When faced with such meanings of the Holy Quran, which are difficult to adhere to, they provide allegorical interpretations and distance themselves from the apparent meanings of the words. Most of these meanings are about describing God with attributes that make him similar to his servants. In addition, the apparent meanings of the verses related to resurrection have also been subjected to allegorical interpretation. However, Molla Sadra is one of the opponents of the allegorical approach and in his works, especially in Tafsir Quran Karim and Resaleh Moteshabehat al-Quran, he discussed the issue of allegorical interpretation while discussing the similar verses. By implicitly dividing interpretation into correct and incorrect, he considered the main approach of incorrect allegorical interpretation to be not adhering to the apparent meanings of words. In his opinion, the apparent meanings of verses and narrations should be accepted as they are, without any changes, at least until there is a sufficient reason and proper justification for it, which is not found in many issues such as the resurrection. Therefore it is possible to accept everything that is mentioned in the verses and hadiths in this regard, in its apparent meaning. However, Molla Sadra is also afraid of falling into superficialism and rejects it and mentions the correct allegorical interpretation or research. Thus, he is looking for a theory that can preserve the apparent meanings of words and does not contradict rational principles. He considered the theory of the spirit of meaning to have these two characteristics. This article explains Molla Sadra's approach to criticizing allegorical interpretation and his arguments. It also deals with how Molla Sadra criticizes the theory of metaphor and instead defends the theory of the spirit of meaning. .

All Islamic theologians agree that the unseen knowledge is inherent to God, but there are many differences of opinion regarding the unseen knowledge of human beings; both prophets and non-prophets. Most theologians have accepted the unseen knowledge of prophets, but there are many differences of opinion about the unseen knowledge of non-prophets. Some, like Mutazilites and Maturidis, believe that apart from God, only the prophets have the knowledge of the unseen. Asharis, Ismailis, and Ibn Taymiyyah from the Salafism believe that in addition to prophets, non-prophets can also have unseen knowledge. Imamiyya also considers the unseen knowledge of the prophets to be certain and regarding non-prophets, they believe that the saints, especially the infallible Imams (AS) also have the knowledge of the unseen. However, some of them consider the scope of this knowledge to be limited and some consider it to be absolute. In this research, we first examine the knowledge of the unseen referring to the Holy Quran, and then, as an example, mention the viewpoint of the thinkers of each Islamic denomination and analyze and evaluate their arguments. The findings show that the view of Islamic denominations other than Imamiyya is facing many problems, and on the other hand, the view of Imamiyya is provable by referring to strong narrative and intellectual reasons.

In the history of human thinking, no fundamental problem has forced mankind to think as much as the knowledge of God, which cannot grow except through His attributes. Answering how to use these attributes has been a serious request from thinkers of every age, especially philosophers and theologians. The view of Sheikh Mofid and Avicenna, as the most influential and stable views in the field of theology and philosophy, which caused profound intellectual changes after them, have special privileges among Islamic thinkers and in the theological-philosophical thought of Imamiyya. Modeling these two philosophical and theological views in the system of Shia thought, this article aims to examine them on an important issue regarding divine attributes, that is, "tawghifiyat of divine names and attributes". In this regard, although Sheikh Mofid believes in tawghifiyat, and Avicenna does not, both of them have stated that it is intellectually permissible. Therefore, taking into account the common bases inferred and extracted from the opinions of both thinkers and paying attention to the lack of fundamental differences between them in this regard, the article concluded the monotheistic value of Shiite thought as the basis of the two views and also as the comprehensive aspect between the Imami theology and Islamic philosophy.

The application of the narrations of Mahdism to Imam Mahdi (AS), the son of Imam Hasan Askari, which is referred to as personal Mahdism, is one of the controversial beliefs between Islamic denominations, especially Shia and Sunni. Some of the Sunnis, mainly the Wahhabis, by highlighting its sectarian aspect, have made great efforts in denying personal Mahdism historically, attributing this denial to all Sunnis, assigning the belief of personal Mahdism to Shia, and proving superstition in Shiism. This is despite the fact that the Sunnis have different approaches to the historical aspect of personal Mahdism i.e. the birth and occultation of the Imam, which are sometimes close to Imamiyya's approach. Using a descriptive, analytical, and critical method, this article seeks to collect and classify Sunni approaches to the historical aspect of personal Mahdism including the birth and absence of Imam Mahdi (AS). Then, it criticizes the approach of the opponents based on Sunni principles. The findings show that Sunni approaches to the historical issue of birth and occultation fall into four categories: "the approach of minimum supporters", "the approach of maximum trans-sectarian and sectarian supporters", "the approach of minimum opponents" and "the approach of maximum opponents". This typology, in addition to drawing a comprehensive picture of the Sunni intellectual system, can provide a suitable basis for changing personal Mahdism from a sectarian belief to an Islamic belief and criticize the approach of the opponents of the historical aspect of personal Mahdism based on Sunni principles and internal criticism.