JOURNAL OF IRAN HISTORY (JOURNAL OF HUMAN SCIENCES)
Year:2010 | Volume:- | Issue:63/5|Papers Count:8

Debates over the nature of the First Pahlavi government have started several decades ago with establishment of the government. However, researchers have not yet reached a general consensus about the definitive characteristics of the Pahlavi government. Therefore, this paper attempts to present a model of study, and through deliberating on one of the major policies of the government (the Nomadic policy), will try to describe the nature of the First Pahlavi State which is regarded, in this article, as Reza Shah era. The main research question is that, according to the First Pahlavi government’s plan for nomadic community, which component is more suitable to introduce the nature of this state? The research hypothesis is that, based on the government’s policy toward nomadic community, combined trait of the kind of "modern absolutist state" is more compatible with the nature of this state. In this paper, citing documents and evidences related to nomadic politics and using descriptive and analytical methods, compliance or non compliance of the components that have been used so far to describe the nature of Pahlavi State (such as Bonapartist state, huge, dilatory, absolutist, Modern and semi Modern) has been studied. The research’s findings indicate that the absolutist First Pahlavi State, compared with absolutist European governments, may not be acceptable, because the formation of absolutist governments in Europe has helped the formation of the modern state, but the First Pahlavi State did not so.

In the last decades, most scholars who studied the history of Iran in the Sasanian period, like some of the greatest historians in Islamic times who reflected the content of Xwday-Namag (the national history of ancient Iranians) in recording Sasanian history, have accepted that Sasan was the priest of Anahita Fire-Temple in Estaxr, Babak’s father and Ardasir’s grandfather who was the founder of Sasanian empire. Furthermore, Sapour’s Ka’be-ye Zardost inscription, in which Babak was called Ardasir’s father and Sapour’s grandfather, did not clearly mention that Sasan was Babak’s father and Ardasir’s grandfather, so some scholars have curiously and even fancifully tried to show the real identity of Sasan with their own ideas and conceptions. Therefore, by analyzing the structure and the written pattern of Sasanian’s inscriptions and with studying the most important historical accounts concerning the kin relationship between the first members of the Sasanian royal house, this research tries to answer this question, whether Sasan was a historical or a legendary character or even a god? This research reveals that Sasan was neither an ancient god nor a legendary character; in fact, he was a historical character-Babak’s father and Ardasir’s grandfather.

The presence of the Khorasanis in the establishment of the Abbasids led to the more vivid presence of them in the political and cultural positions of the Islamic world. The Khorasanis’ presence was more notable in the scientific circles of Baghdad. Their supreme position in the scientific circles of Baghdad was due to the suitable grounds and various motivations for their presence there. The Khorasanis educate in these centers. During their leadership of the scientific movements in Baghdad, they were highly received both by the scientific circles and the public. Using the descriptive-analytic approach in historical research and presupposing teaching and acquisition scales, this essay aims at answering the question concerning the position of the Khorasanis in Baghdad’s scientific circles during the 9th and 10th A. C which is known as the glorious epoch of cultural-scientific progress in the Islamic world. The findings of this essay will show that the Khorasanis had been both founders and leaders of the intellectual, scientific, and religious movements.

The immigration of Zaydi scholars to Iran in the middle of the third century AH/tenth century CE and the establishment of a short-lived Zaydi emirate in the Caspian provinces of Iran did significantly contribute to the flowering and subsequent enrichment of Zaydi traditions of religious scholarship across the vast swathes of land in Iran stretching from the centers of Zaydi community in northern Iran to major centers of urban life in Khurasan, which was to continue for centuries even after the demise of the Zaydi emirate in Tabaristan. In the course of the sixth and seventh centuries AH/ twelth and thirteenth centuries CE, these traditions of religious scholarship were to be transferred from Iran to Yemen, wherein they helped the spread and institutionalization of Zaydi scholarly discourse. This present study commits in the first place to outline the underpinning tenets of Zaydi scholarly tradition in Yemen, and then deals with the transmission of Zaydi traditions of religious scholarship from Iran to Yemen.

The governmental custom house in Iran is very long-standing and its generation goes back to the pre-Islamic and Islamic period. Each and every one of the Iranian governments inancient times owned customhouses, and devised regulations for this office in the course of economic exchanges with other nations. After the Qajar dynasty took office in Iran in the early nineteenth century, some major developments were made in the country's customs organization, because of the global changes and the increase in its political and economical relationships, as well as Iran's further involvement in the world's economic system. Some of these developments, which were basically made after the presence of the foreign forces in the matters related to the customs, include: the establishment of the Ministry of Customs, formation and publication of the customs’ constitutional regulations, the abrogation of the principles of the tenancy, and setting new customs tariffs. Although these developments led to the rejuvenation of the structure of the customhouses in Iran and to the increase in the income through the customs, they failed to form the needed economic and financial foundations for the country's development. Eventually, it was the foreign powers privileged in Iran which cherished the benefits of these developments. The approach of this study and its methods in gathering data are historical. The study thus employs archival documents and authoritative sources.

With the entrance of the Arab Moslems into Iran and the first-degree Sasani wealthies extinction, the peasants as local governors and village rulers (kadag-xwaday) undertake Iran’s public leadership. And because they did not have any hope for Sasani’s old system to come back, they decided to establish a relationship with Islamic forces. Also Arab Moslems, who at first had required the peasants to help them supervise country, made peace with the local ruler clique and established them in charge of the work they were doing in the Sasanid period. In this process, the peasants in the west and the east part of the Sasanid territory were different in terms of acceptance or non-acceptance of Islam and Arabic language. That was influenced by the time of conquests and geographical distance from the capital of Islamic caliphate. Entrance of Arab and Turks in the first and third century was the most significant element of the peasants’ decline in Iran. The approach of this stady and its methods in gathering data are historical.

Since the ancient times, the Iranians have regarded ‘fire’ as significant, sacred, and as having special functions. They believed that both their worldly life and their other-worldly fate are somehow affected by the function of fire. For them, fire is manifested in two opposing forms of material (as in religious rituals) and spiritual (presence in the world), has therefore organized the world. According to the teachings of Gatha, the functions of fire seem to emerge out of this ancient belief that there exists a close affinity between fire and truth (Esheh), because, Ordibehesht relies upon fires. Hence, fire might be considered a material and worldly symbol of truth (Esheh). Moreover, because of all its good traits, fire can be regarded as the symbol of the essential traits of Ahura Mazda and also the order which rules over the world. This article is an attempt to go through the function of fire in Persian myths. Using a descriptive-analytical method and relying upon the religious texts of ancient Persia, this research propounds that the function of fire is the bedrock of Persian Myths. One of the most significant findings of this research is the idea that the function of fire has two (material and spiritual) approaches.