فصلنامه تاریخ اسلام
پیاپی 30 (تابستان 1386)

The public domain is a prerequisite for political action. On the one hand, as their common world this realm connects human beings and on the other hand, separates them at the same time. It is in fact the sphere in which political action takes place. The unity of human beings is realized only through the public domain with a collection of political institutions. Membership in the public domain is not based on ethnic, religious or racial grounds rather as Islam and Imam ‘Ali’s conduct both demonstrate it is only based on human criterions. The evaluation of Imam ‘Ali’s political stances and thought in the context of the theory of public and private domains leads us to the highly exalted nature of this great man’s thought. Aside from the absolute concepts and definitions of this theory, this evaluation shows the vitality of Imam ‘Ali’s thought and also of the pure Islamic approach towards man, and the adoption of various political, social, cultural and economic positions vis-a-vis different issues in the Muslim community of that period.

There is no known society in the world in which there is not some kind of a religion. In many societies religion is a basic and fundamental component of culture and plays a major role in man’s social life and the formulation and establishment of acceptable norms in those communities. Religion is a mixture of beliefs and practices. Religious ceremonies and rituals shape a large part of our social actions and behaviors. Variety, prevalence, vitality, and overall and eternal influence are among peculiarities of religious ceremonies and rituals in our culture in this country.The rituals of Imam Husayn’s ‘Ashura’ are one of the greatest and most magnificent religious ceremonies in our society. After more than a thousand years these rituals are still performed here in a vivid and lively manner lifting up our social life every year and reinforcing a great deal of good traditions and conventions and molding a great number of desirable norms in our individual and social actions and conducts. Since the survival and continuity of any element in the cultural organization of any social system depends on the functions that it performs in that system, some social functions of ‘Ashura’ rituals that have caused its duration in the cultural system of our country comprise the subject of this article.

Studying the first Islamic conquests without knowing the personalities who led these conquests will not be complete. One such personality is Muthanna ibn Harithah who entered history with the beginning of Islamic conquests and with the study of whose actions many ambiguous points about early Islamic conquests are clarified. Muthanna who has not been dealt with fully by early Islamic historiographers has often been the subject of dual and contradictory stances in Muslim historical sources. One reason for the great attention paid to Sawad and Persia by the Muslim leaders in Medina was the vast and accurate information passed on to them by Muthanna. Potential psychological capacities and historical records in relations between the Arabs and the Persians would give the Arabs the incentive to embark on purposeful actions aimed at satisfying their short and long term objectives and constantly provoked Muthanna to think about invading Iraq and Sawad. Although the cooperation between Muthanna and Muslim forces was mixed with a certain amount of individual and tribal self-interest, it had an enormous effect on the Muslim conquest of the East. Through understanding the chaotic condition of the Sasanian Empire and the necessity of the formation of an alliance with the Muslim Arabs who possessed a new logical and powerful ideology Muthanna joined forces with Medina with the following important the facilitation of Islamic conquests especially east of the Islamic Caliphate; the timely understanding of the disintegration of the Sassanid Empire and seizing the opportunity to take over that Empire; clever utilization of the existing opportunities and capacities to achieve his dreams and objectives; belittling individual and ethnic interests and highlighting and strengthening the national morale and Islamic spirits of the Muslims instead.

The greater part of Spain, or Andalusia, was part of the Muslim World for 800 years. The prosperity and spread of Islamic culture and civilization in Spain had turned this land into one of the most brilliant scientific centers of the world that shone brightly all over Europe. Contrary to some other Islamic regions such as Maghrib al-Aghsa, or the Distant West, Andalusia was not inclined to isolate itself from the central parts of the Muslim World. After the reinforcement of their rule, the rulers of Andalusia did their best to join their culture and civilization with the scientific traditions of the Muslim East the result of which was the spread of knowledge and science in Spain, in particular since the 4th century A.H. onward. This paper deals with a number of scientific progresses and activities of Spanish Muslims in astronomy, mathematics, botany and medicine shedding light on their share in the advancement and spread of these sciences throughout the Muslim World and elsewhere.

Organizing rebellions and armed struggles against Arab governors in North Africa since its conquest by Muslim forces had been motivated by different sets of causes one of which was rooted in economic grounds. Part of what will be discussed here under economic roots is related to psychological motives and factors and the other part goes back to social causes. Psychological factors included the anger of North African natives at increasing immigration of greedy Arabs to the newly conquered land and the way the new masters treated them. On the other hand, social causes included factors such as the expansion of urban life and the rise in seeking booties which in turn often resulted from poverty itself.

Possessing the same ethnic and historical roots, Iranians and Indians have held relations with each other since ancient times. Towards the beginning of the 10th century A.H. and along with the rising power of Safavids in Persia, the successors of Timur the Lame with aid from the Safavid kings took over most of India. Throughout the larger part of their reigns, these two dynasties maintained close friendly relations with each other and had mutual influence on developments in one another’s domains.This paper deals with the depth and expanse of these relations in the political, cultural and economic areas.

Like other authentic documents, papyruses are comprised of direct unbiased information about day to day activities of ancient Egyptians such as: administrative affairs, legal affairs, personal correspondence, etc. most of the papyrus-based documents of early Islamic period have been obtained from cities and villages in Upper and Middle Egypt their date going back to 8th to 11th centuries AD. This work takes up the importance and place of papyrus in registering the history of social, economic and political developments of Egypt in the early Islamic period and their use by historians in the correction of historical reports and the rectification of contradictory ones. Major works by prominent papyrus expert have also been reviewed in this paper.