Iranian Journal for the History of Islamic Civilization
Year:2021 | Volume:53 | Issue:2|Papers Count:12

The present study seeks to examine the Ottoman policies to maintain their dominance over Shū f, the causes of their policies, and its political and social consequences. Shū f had a strategically privileged position because of being located in the eastern Mediterranean region; therefore the Ottomans appointed subordinate tribes to Shū f, but in the case of any disobedience, they eliminate them by supporting their rivals. The ottoman first appointed Kaysi Druze faction of Ma'n dynasty and then they eliminated them by their rival, Yemeni Druze faction of Ma'n dynasty, in the next step they ousted all Druze tribe and supported the Maronites. Also in a disuniting program, they divided Mount Lebanon into northern and southern parts. These politics do not even consolidate Ottoman domination over Shū f but also led to 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war between the Druze and Maronites. Eventually, Shū f was occupied by France in 1287 AH / 1870 AD.

In this paper, we approach the problem of double biographical information for a single historical agent in the Islamic biographical works, by the case study of Mullā Abū ṭ ā lib Sulṭ ā nā bā dī . The result of a critical survey on his biography in the books Tabaqā t 'A'lā m al-Shi'a by Ā ghā Buzurg Tihrā nī and A'yan al-Shi'a by Sayyid Muḥ sin Amī n shows that his biographical information is presented mistakenly as he is considered two independent characters.

The financial bankruptcy of the Iranian government at the end of the reign of Moḥ ammad Shah Qajar (1808 – 1848 AD) is an undeniable fact, which its causes are still unclear. Most sources in the Nasserian era, as well as recent researches, have attributed this situation to the financial policies and activities of Ḥ ā jjī Mī rzā Ā qā sī , grand vizier of Moḥ ammad Shah. However, other structural and fundamental factors appear to have been involved in the formation of this crisis: besides the inherited financial problems, the unrest during the early years of the Moḥ ammad Shah's reign, the war in Herat, famine, and cholera also could be mentioned. The present study, based on official documents, examines the political and economic situation in Iran during this period and analyzes the essential factors related to this crisis. The result of the study shows that not even Ḥ ā jjī Mī rzā Ā qā sī 's financial policies were not responsible for the bankruptcy, but also his activities, at least in the short term, improved the national economy. The increasing unrest during the final years of Moḥ ammad Shah's reign, the central government's ineptitude in collecting taxes, the corrupted financial system, the coins transferring from the country, the increase in assignments of land (tū yū l) as a result of lack of liquidity, the reduce in treasury revenue and the fiscal imbalance were the situation at the end of Mī rzā Ā qā sī 's time.

The public space has been altered over the course of history. Many factors such as politics, economy, government, religion, etc., could impact the forms and functions of public space. The gradual evolution of public space could be understood as a consequence of urbanization development. However, it seems that through the history of urbanism in Iran, until the end of the Safavid era, the urban texture in public space has experienced major shifts during two historical periods: the early centuries of Islam and the Safavid era. In this paper, by adopting a historical method, the concept of public open space on a city-scale and its urban role have been theoretically studied. As a result of this study, we found that significant transformation in the forms and functions of public space, during the early centuries of Islam and the Safavid era, was under the influence of political and ideological transformation in Iranian society.

The Yazdgerdi calendar is a part of the Iranian heritage which was accepted by the conquering Muslims in the same Sassanid way. They applied it to manage bureaucratic and financial affairs. The calendar, after two and a half centuries, encountered some inaccuracies. Hence, it was necessary to perform a calendrical reform to make it proper for administrative purposes. About 120 years after this reform, Zoroastrian society also found the calendar problematic for religious purposes Nowruz, as well as the end of the Iranian great cycle, was shifted more than a month from its original time. The leadership of the Zoroastrian community, based in Fars and Baghdad, implemented also reform to the calendar in the year 375 Yazdgerdi, despite the opposition of some traditionalist clerics of the north and east of Iran. In this paper, we study the historical evidence of this calendrical reform and its consequences in Zoroastrian sources and the works of Islamic astronomers.

In the era of political unrest following the collapse of the Safavid government due to the opposition of Afghans and king Nadir to the infective role of prominent scholars, many of them were massacred or deported to neighboring countries but their educational and social links remained. The present study seeks to answer this question: What were the role and position of scholars in the afghan period and the Afsharid kingdom? It seems that the chaos of Iranian society had a dual effect on the scholar's class. On the one hand, it led to the weakness of their educational reputation and financial power, and on the other hand, it improved their active role as the participants in political-religious negotiations. The present study, adopting a historical method, profiting data collections in libraries, describes and categorizes the aspects of the social status of scholars, analyzes and interprets these features and their effects.

The Belt used to be a part of the formal and regular costumes in the various regions of the Islamic world. The Belt, in addition to the primary function of holding pants, has carried social implications in the different periods of history, according to its varieties of colors, materials, and decorations. Analyzing a wide range of historical, literary, and social sources, the paper draws the scheme of the belt in the structure and context of the world of Islam. A thick description method has been used for this purpose. The ways of belt fastening and its other functions in clothing, such as ornamental or magical, could be considered as evidence for the study of the social status of historical agents in Muslim societies. We also encounter a wide range of the words used to refer to the belts in the Islamic classical world, which testify to the various significations of belts according to social-cultural context.

After the fall of the Sassanid Empire and the conquest of Iran by Muslims; confrontations and communications between the Muslim Arabs and the Zoroastrian Iranians, who still believed in their ancient religion, notably increased. A significant consequence of this situation was a gradually mutual cultural familiarity; which had a vast political, social, cultural, and even scientific influence on the people's ordinary life. There is considerable information, in the Islamic sources, about how several Zoroastrian doctrines found their way into the Islamic texts, indirectly or even directly, as a result of the social relationship between Muslims and Zoroastrians. In this paper, we survey, based on several Islamic sources, the principal modes of the first acquaintance of Muslims with Zoroastrian doctrine and practice.

During the domination of the Bahri Mamluks, The Egyptians have experienced inflation and high prices for a long period. This situation was caused by natural and human factors. In this paper, we study the economic policies of the Bahri Mamluks and evaluate the efficiency of them. A survey of historical evidence shows that these policies were not organized, stable and provident. Hence, these policies, mostly temporary solutions, were often a matter of abuse and misapplication by the profiteering people or groups attached to the government. As a result of the lack of strategy and long-term vision, the domination of Bahri Mamluks collapsed and the power transferred to the Burji Mamluks.

In the tradition of calligraphy education, which is still alive, the students learn the twelve theoretical components as a basis for the practice. These components are sometimes considered wrongly as principles. A survey on historical sources about caligraphy shows that the concept of the principles in the sense of "twelve components" is recent: the interpretation of the principles has been altered over the course of history. The concept of principles had a general sense and a specific sense, by the way even its components were variant. From the 10 century AD onwards, the general sense of principles got fixed as Ibn Muqla's geometric principles; and after the middle of the 14 century AD, the specific sense, i. e. the comprehensive set of other components of calligraphy, emerged. During this century, ʿ Abdallā h Ṣ ayrafī presented its eight calligraphy components, but in Tuḥ fat al-moḥ ibbī n, the other treatise on the subject, the components were six. Finally, in the 16th century AD, the twelve components were introduced in the Adab al-mashq by Bā bā shā h Isfahā nī .

Most of the pharmacological works of the Islamic era have mentioned aromatic substances especially those that are considered as perfumes in the medieval Islamic texts. These works listed the medical properties of each aromatic substance, their various types, and their origins. These descriptions include more details than most of the independent perfumery monographs. Comparing the information about the principal aromatics (Musk, Ambergris, Aloeswood, and Camphor) in the pharmacological works and the perfumery monographs, considering the textual relation between them, can shed a light on the medieval Islamic perfumery tradition, while there is a lack of knowledge on the issue regarding the absence of comparative studies. On the other hand, the references of the pharmacological works are not mentioned, and it makes the comparative studies complicated.

In the history of Islamic civilization, we encounter a lack of information about women, because of the patriarchal social and political structure which degraded women. The historical sources of the Safavid era, due to some civil and religious restrictions, don't provide us with adequate information on women, and in our case, women in the family of Shia scholars. As a result, they picture them as illiterate and socially inactive. On the other hand, it is possible to find some evidence, in biographical books, which inform us of a pedagogical tradition for women in the family of Shia scholars. The remaining works of these women are also another significant evidence. Our aim with this paper was to survey women's role in pedagogy and knowledge production based on manuscripts and published historical and biographical sources.