Journal of History and Culture
Year:2019 | Volume:50 | Issue:2 (101)|Papers Count:6

The province of Sistan was the scene of perpetual turmoil following its conquest by Arabs, which lasted until the rise of the Safarids. This descriptive-analytical study seeks to explore the root causes of this turmoil and the incompetence of caliphs’ administration in this province. This study shows that Sistan's instability and decline was not merely provoked by activities of Khawā rij, as the most influential factor in this regard was Bedouin Arabs. Upon conquering this land, they settled in this province, engaging in acts of plundering and looting, which further engendered divisions, tragic conflicts and internecine tribal clashes. It also prepared the ground for the entrance of Khawā rij sect, which was known for its warmongering policies Zonbil and the rebellion of indigenous irregular forces against other sources of instability also contributed to the escalation of turmoil in Sistan. The caliphs’ policy to change this situation was unsuccessful as they narrowed down their focus on one of the above factors. Eventually, their recurring failures in politics resulted in the rise of Ayā rā n among the same native forces, which finally ended the caliphs’ rule and the tumult in Sistan.

Nezamiyeh schools, on the account of their special management style, have long played a crucial and lasting role in the evolution of the science management system in the Islamic civilization. Assuming that the evolution of Nezamiyeh management system has been influenced by the governing style of the Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk (murdered in 485 AH), the main question of this paper is concerned with the management style of Nezamiyeh schools under the rule of Khwaja and its impact on the management system of science in the world of Islam and Islamic civilization. The administrative foundation of Khwaja was based on restricting scientific activities of those schools to a particular Kalami religion (Ash'ari) and jurisprudential school (Shafi'i). The primary achievements and consequences of this managerial basis were respectively “ improvement and promotion of the structure and quality of educational system facilities” in the domain of external management system of science and “ the decline of science and suppression of creativity and innovation” in the domain of internal management system of science.

The Khurramian were the continuation of the Mazdakians in the Sassanid era who were the founder of movements against the Abbasid caliphate in the Islamic era. The Khurramian creed had an intriguing, eclectic, and mysterious nature. Their key beliefs reported in Islamic sources comprised of an invitation to elation and ecstasy, ritual reverence of wine, mystical and cryptic expression and resurrection. According to historical sources, Khurramian continued to live in Iran until the Seljuk era and some decades after Khayyam's death. The findings of this study suggest that the common themes reflecting fundamental beliefs of Khurramian are also among the central themes of Khayyam's quatrains. This paper, adopting a descriptive-analytical approach, and citing authentic historical accounts and authentic sources on Khayyam's quatrains, sets out to explore Khurrami’ s creed and its continuity by reflecting on some of its underlying beliefs in. Khayyam’ s quatrains.

Among Sayyid Qutb's views, his stance on civilization has received scant attention. This paper attempts to answer the question regarding his attitude towards civilized and non-civilized societies and the criticism levelled at his views. According to the findings of this study, Sayyid Qutb posits that a true civilized society is only achievable in the Islamic society. This Islamic society is characterized with certain characteristics such as the rule of God and monotheistic thoughts, the value of humanity, the centrality of family, and the establishment of a divine caliphate by humans. He argues that societies lacking these features are ignorant and noncivilized. This view is of paramount importance in terms of portraying an ideal and utopian society; however, serious criticisms have been levelled at it is, which are primarily concerned with its dual zero-sum attitude towards civilized and noncivilized society and its contribution to the spread of extremist ideas and movements.

The narrow vision of the Qur'an scholars and commentators, and the overemphasis on the "time" factor at the cost of "place" factor as the context of historical events, have stirred controversy over the spatial characteristics of historical events in the Holy Quran. A case in point is Midian of Shu'ayb the location and geographical coordinates of which have been the subject of dispute by scholars and commentators. Accordingly, some sources and interpretations have contended that Midian of Shu'ayb was an urban area on the east coast of the Red Sea while others have introduced it as a vast area that stretches from the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula to areas in the southeast of the Sinai Peninsula. The purpose of this paper is to underline the necessity of exploiting spatial information in analyzing and interpreting the historical events of the Holy Quran through the analysis of written sources and documents as well as geographical maps, atlases and satellite imagery. The results reveal that exploiting the views of scholars in underscoring the importance of the structural link between history and geography and relying on the crucial position of research can provide a more accurate analysis and interpretation of the historical events in the Holy Quran.

The issue of punishing law breakers with the aim of hampering the spread of moral turpitudes and maintaining security has always been central to divine religions and human laws. By comparing the legal tradition of Islam and modern social defense, this study sets out to examine the degree of correspondence between the principles and practices of these two approaches in dealing with criminals. Moreover, after discussing the basics of the modern social defense system, this paper compares it with the legal tradition of the Messenger of God in Medina. The findings suggest that while it is not possible to draw a complete analogy between the measures of the Prophet (pbuh) and the modern social defense approach, there are instances of this approach in Prophet’ s tradition including security measures, emphasis on human dignity, rehabilitation and social acceptance of criminals that overlap with the principles and practices of modern social defense. It is also exemplified in strategies adopted by Prophet (pbuh) aimed at facilitating the return of the opponents to the society such as forgiving fadiah, accepting the mediation of others, and exploiting the potentials of the offenders instead of punishment.