ماهنامه معرفت
سال بیستم شماره 10 (پیاپی 169، دی 1390)

Man is the Most High God’s creature upon whom God has bestowed abounding material and spiritual favours. Creature's thanksgiving to the Beneficent Creator is a minimal duty of the worthy servants of God. Material favours often manifest. It is thankful servants who are grateful to the Most High God and thank Him for these favours, and spiritual favours are more important and more valuable than transient material ones. We often tend to be indifferent and unable to thank God for the abounding favours He bestows on us confessing to being unable to thank divine favours by the Fourteen Infallibles is a good example for us to follow.

If globalization means viewing the world as a whole and all people are members of one human society, then Islamic globalization means observing the world as a single entity and being God's servants the people are members of one big community. This view of man and world helps to crystalize the constituents of Islamic globalization which is the subject of inquiry of the present paper which uses an analytical-deductive method. It briefly explains the relationship between Islam and globalization from western scholar's viewpoint and then, pointing to the theoretical principals of the western type of globalization, it points out to the advantages of Islamic globalization represented in a number of constituents, including idealism, monotheism-centredness, emphasis on innate nature, justice seeking, ijtihad–orientation, tendency to knowledge, belief in one global government, invitation-centredness and tendency to jihad.

Molla Sadra is not only an immensely erudite philosopher but also a political thinker, although accepting his political theosophy depends on postulates which the author refers to as "principles". The present paper tries to pinpoint the origin of the mistake committed by a number of thinkers who deny his political theosophy. Using an analytical method, the author expounds the methodological and substantive principles adopted by Molla Sadra in order to to explain his political theosophy. The research findings show that, due to particular conditions governing Molla Sadra's time, stagnancy rather than decline in political thought was a distinctive feature of his time. Mulla Sadra is political thinker with different characteristics whose political thought, principles and way of expressing political theories were unlike those of other political thinkers. This difference makes the acquaintance with his political thought impossible without understanding and accepting his methodological and substantive principles.

The reasons behind the change in political systems is fundamentally important in political philosophy. Many political philosophers have expressed their views on this subject. One of them is Plato, the prominent philosopher of ancient Greece, who believes that due to unique and peculiar reasons political systems undergo revolution and changes and the revolution of every political system seeks to achieve its own particular goals. According to Plato, the revolutions that go into gradual decline will be in a worse and more inappropriate condition than that of the past. Plato's theory of revolution is not devoid of criticism. The most important criticism raised against this theory is the negative attitude he has towards revolution. The method used in this research is descriptive- analytical.

St. Thomas Aquinas is one of the theologians who has made a major contribution to political system-making. The most important aspect of his efforts is the valuable observations left by him on legal issues. One of the most important of these issues is the "types of law and investigating ruler's jurisdiction”. Among the main questions arise are: that What is the nature of law? What are the types of law? What is the position of each law and what is its relations with other laws? Thomas Aquinas initially divides law into four types (eternal law, natural law, human law, and divine law) and investigates the relations of some of these laws with each other, the jurisdiction of human legislator in legislation and the effect of law on restricting the scope of political power. A close investigation of this subject according to Aquinas's political thought can lead to a more precise understanding of the political theology of medieval Christianity and the influence which such Muslim philosophers as Farabi and Avicenna had on Aquinas.

Among the most important issues in international relations is adherence to international treaties. A review of the Islamic viewpoint of this subject and exposing the scale of Islamic government’s adherence to these treaties can be taken as a framework for the diplomacy apparatus of the country. The Islamic view on this issue is based on the Quranic verses, traditions of the Infallibles and fiqhi evidence. Therefore, the most important finding of this research is that Islam considers adherence to treaties as one of the principles of the foreign relations of Islamic government as a necessity and regards concluding an agreement by Islamic government with other countries as something permissible. Instances of not keeping to agreement are presented as exceptional cases.One of these exceptional cases is "breaking the promise" by one of the sides of the treaty which is not unusual in international law. Another case is "fear of treason" of the one side of the treaty. In this case not only evidence should be regarding the treason should be offered but also the other side should be informed about the invalidation. Another case is the opposition between adherence to international treaties and Islamic interests and ideals. If this case, occurs the principle of "what is important and what is more important" should be observed and it is the legal custodian of society who decides between the two

The present paper seeks to shed light on three important political and cultural trends during the period from 1320 (to and 1332 ('AH'-solar) in order to specify their features and compare the performance of these trends. The research which uses analytical-descriptive method is based on historical documents and records.Below is an account of these political trends and their distinctive features:1. The traditional movement; its main features are: oligarchy, interaction with superpowers and making use of the rivalries between them to preserve the relative independence of the country, relative cooperation with religious scholars and despotic policy.2. The nationalist movement; its main features are: collaboration with Great Britain's interests (except for one case), having instrumental and occasional relations with religious scholars and groups, and showing bitter hostility to Fadaiiyan-e-Islam, an Islamic group who devoted their lives for safeguarding Islam.3. The religious movement; its main features are: high social influence, abiding by the commands of religious guardian and supreme religious authorities, struggling for applying Islam's rules and offering a new discourse to the political arena of the country.

The present paper investigates the scale of attention given to the constituents of the values of the Islamic Republic derived from Imam Khomeini's (May his soul be sanctified) thought reflected in the speeches of three Presidents (Hashemi, Khatami, and Ahmadinezhad). To this end, 48 documents of their speeches, messages, and interviews were selected and stratified random sampling was used in this inquiry. The documents were studied on the basis of content analysis and special attention was given to the constituents of the values of the Islamic Republic derived from Imam Khomeini's thought. The constituents of the values of Islamic Republic with which this paper is concerned are: political values, foreign policy values, social values, cultural values and economic values, each of which has sub-divisions and certain features. The research findings show that the attention given to the values of Islamic Revolution by each of these presidents was different in level. so that the positions taken by the presidents of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1368 ('AH'- solar, 1989) onward reveals the development in their value approach represented in a sort of negation and criticism of each other.

Political Zionism is a radical Jewish movement that developed among the Jewish through a historical process. The author states that the founder of this political trend is an Austrain named Theodor Herzl. This trend came to existence as a result of the problems that the Jews had brought to themselves over many years. Providing an account about the character of its founder and his Zionist ideas, the present paper gives a clear idea about this movement. Using an analytical-descriptive method, the author sheds light on Herzl's thought and concludes that such factors such like ignoring Jewish doctrines, support of some Jewish thinkers and great powers prepared the ground for the starting of Zionist movement under Herzl’s leadership.