فصلنامه شیعه شناسی
پیاپی 52 (زمستان 1394)

Evolutions and changes emerging in Arab Middle East and Northern Africa in recent three years may be analyzed from different aspects. Inside those changes, traditional Salafism was transformed and turned into New-Salafism. The present article investigates parameters and elements of Neo-Salafi discourse and considers “Shiite transformation” as the main aspect of that discourse and – with a futuristic and pathologist approach – analyzes its consequences in creating disagreements in Islamic world and weakening Muslims. The theoretical evolutions of Neo-Salafism in the arena of political action has consequences such as the victory of intra-religious others over foreign others and Shi’a-phobia, bipolarization of Islamic nation, weakening the regional governments and preparing the ground for the presence of trans-regional powers, distorting the international look at Islamic world, placing Islam in the agenda of global powers, geo-politic change of power in Middle East; increasing the power and the role of Zionist regime, and – altogether – preparing the ground for weakening of Islamic world. It also neutralizes the energy freed from Islamic Awakening that could revitalize the real power of the Islamic world.

The period from Saljuqid government up to Teymurid government is among the illustrious eras of wooden crafts in Iran. The wooden works remaining from that period, in addition to their high artistic value, enjoy – due to the inscriptions with religious and doctrinal themes – a special status in identifying the religious beliefs of the people of that period. This fact necessitates a precise and broad investigation of those works. The present study aims primarily at introducing those wooden works belonging to the period from Saljuqid rule up to the beginning of Teymurid period, the works on which special Shiite mottos including invocations and litanies have been carved. In view of the studies and investigations by the authors, they concluded that those periods using Shiite mottos on wooden works along with other usages formed a beautiful and desirable tradition that shows deep beliefs and sincere affection of the makers of those works to Ahl al-Bayt.

In spite of historical influence of clergymen in Iran and the society’s obedience to them, public obedience to them has been decreased in recent decades. What is the reason for this? Theoretically, we may refer to three groups of major reasons: reasons relating to structural evolutions, reasons emphasizing evolutions in clerics, and reasons focusing on the addressees of clergymen. In the present article, the emphasis is on the reasons pertaining to the addressees of the clergies, and the type of their piety is referred to as the reason effective on decreasing their obedience to clergies. Therefore, three kinds of piety influencing people’s obedience to clergies were identified. They are as follows: direct piety, piety with no need to clergies, and uncommitted piety. Having explained and theoretically expanded the mechanism of effect of these types of piety on people’s relations to clergies, three hypotheses resulted from the discussion were analyzed. The results of the research, conducted in the form of a survey, showed that the more people’s belief in clergies’ roles and duties (their functional necessity) and some religious rites is decreased, the more their needs are fulfilled by persons other than clergymen; and the more they are uncommitted to religious laws, the less their obedience to clergies would be.

Various factors have been effective in the process of diffusion of Shiism in certain areas of Kurdistan in recent centuries. Among them, we may refer to the role of kings and rulers and the position of some certain areas of Kurdistan among some clans of Kurdistan (such as Ahl Ḥaqq, Sārelī, Shabak, Bajīrān and Alawī) and the influence of extremist Shiites on them. In this process, however, the role of migration of certain clans form Kurdistan to Shiite areas and Kurds’ widespread following Sufi beliefs and thoughts have special status in the growth of Shiite beliefs and, accordingly, Shiism. Here, we attempt to analyze the effect of the variables of migration and Sufism’s widespread dominance on the growth of Shiism in Kurdistan.
Common manifestations of Sufi orders and Shiism in Kurdistan were one of the effective factors of the leaning of Kurd clans to accepting Shiism in recent centuries. The Kurd clans’ migration is an undeniable factor in the growth of Shiism among groups of them. Emigrant clans, influenced by the new environment, changed their culture, language, clothing, customs, rites and religious leanings. Here, we try to trace the effect of this factor on the growth of Shiism in Kurdistan and analyze its various angles.

The present research aims at investigating religious approach of Nader Shah (1148-1160 AH) and its effect on Shiism and Shiite scholars. Thus, the main problem in this study is the reason and the manner of Nader Shah’s interactions with the Shiites and Shiite scholars. Safawids (907-1135 AH), with their official support for Shiism, caused the Shiism to grow and spread out. However, Afghans’ invasion into Isfahan and their struggle with Shiites weakened the religious institute. After seizing the power, Nader Shah Afshar did not officially support Shiism; rather, he belittled it as a minor sect and gave priority to political and military issues. Factors such as Shiite scholars’ ineffective presence in the structure of government and marginalizing them, lowering the position and duties of the religious authorities, restricting the educational activities of the Shiite scholars, confiscating the religious endowments and severe restriction of financial resources of the Shiite scholars, and their migration to nearby lands are signs of minimum interaction of Nader Shah with the Shiites and Shiite scholars.

The most prominent manifestation of human’s high spirituality and transcendental identity can be found in hidden layers of sacred Islamic art in building mosques. It seems that mosques built in the golden era of spiritual, financial and political power of the Shiites in Iran enjoyed a special spiritual identity. With the establishment of Safawid government in early tenth century AH and proclaiming the Twelver Shiism as the official religion in Iran, this country regained its political and national identity after centuries, and Shiism gradually penetrated in Iranians’ soul. This made Iranian artists create artistic works full of Shiite spirit and identity. The architecture of the mosques, as the manifestation of such beliefs, enjoyed special delicacy in design that reached its zenith in Safawid and Qajar Periods. In Qajar Period, a new method in architecture was created and the architects of the period followed the architects of the Safawid period. In the present study, we have tried to compare the architecture of the Safawid and Qajar periods to investigate the principles, foundations, and patterns of the old architecture in Iran and the innovations of those periods, although it seems that the architecture of Qajar period did not enjoyed the necessary strength for creating a new architecture. Therefore, in the present study, two masterpieces of Islamic, and especially Shiite, architecture – Imam Mosque in Isfahan and Shahid Mutahhari Mosque in Tehran – have been comparatively studied by recognizing the sacred principles governing the design of Shiite mosques. Based on the results of this study, we can find the difference and the perfection of the period between Safawid and Qajar governments in factors such as design, atmosphere, inscriptions and colors used in decorations on walls and minarets.

Traditional houses were built according to the religious beliefs of their inhabitants, and traditional architects would consider – as far as possible – the principles, rules and methods of building houses stated in Quranic verses and hadiths. Thus, his work would be based on those models and religious spirit would always be apparent in traditional houses. The present article is seeking to answer the following question: “What are the patters of Shiite identity in traditional houses?”
The related hypothesis was as follows: “Based on the Quranic verses and hadiths, patterns of Shiite identity in housing are found – directly and indirectly – and can be used in designing modern houses.” The research method was descriptive-analytical and historical, and methods of gathering data included using library resources and filed study. The results showed that patterns of Shiite identity are classified, according to verses and hadiths, into two groups: skeletal dimension (form) and conceptual dimension (content). The patterns of art, morality, nature, light, color and transparency fall under the category of skeletal dimension; and patterns of geometry and proportions, hierarchy, sanctum, empty space and flexibility fall under the category of conceptual dimension.
In this regard, it is worth noting that in view of the Islamic-Iranian identity and spread of Shiism in our country, the Shiite patterns in designing today’s houses must be considered by architects.