مجله تاریخ و تمدن اسلامی
پیاپی 25 (بهار و تابستان 1396)

Al-Masālik wa al-Mamālik by al-Bakri is a geographical work that was composed in the western part of the Muslim world in the 5th /11th century. The author describes the entire known world of his time including the eastern territories of Muslim Caliphate and particularly Iran. So, his book, unlike the works of many of his North African and Andalusian contemporaries, has found public favor. It seems that the popularity of al-Bakri’s work was due to his full description of the world or his geographical information of his own region which he was acquainted with. This arose some questions: how did he collect the material of his book when never personally travelled to many of the regions that he describes and also from what kind of sources did he obtain them? The present paper is a comparative study which shows that the main weakness of the al-Bakri’s book, the section regarding with Iran, is he only relied on the works of earlier geographers and contributed no information based on his personal observation.

One of the most common forms of pottery in the Islamic world is the so-called “Albarello” potteries which offer a huge variety in terms of decoration and techniques. It seems there is no specific study on the form, preparation technique, and decoration of this pottery form so far. This research aimed to investigate and identify this pottery form and its decoration properties in Muslim world from Iran to the north of Africa. Based on the study performed, Albarello potteries can be classified under two groups: the potteries with a cylindrical and slightly concave (vase-shaped) body and those with a convex body. Cylindrical concave potteries are utilized for keeping dry drugs such as spices and ointment, and convex potteries are used for storing liquid drugs. The production of these potteries has been widespread in Iran since the 4th century AH. The expansion of pottery techniques in the middle of Seljuqs dynasty has had a direct relationship with the mass production of these potteries (Luster pottery) in Iran and western regions of the Islamic world such as Syria, Egypt, and Spain.

The fate of Sultan Jalal al-din khawrazmshah is a controversial event in Islamic Persian history. A narration of the fate of Jalal al-din that is accepted by some of the modern historian refers to the murder of Jalal al-din khawrazmshah by a Kurd. But it seems that this narration need to be criticized. In fact there are some probable narrations on fate of Jalal al-din. So this article tries to answers these questions: can we historically accept the fate of Jalal al-din khawrazmshah? Which narration is historically reliable? It seems that the source of Nasawi’s report and also the other possibilities are ignored by the researchers.

The story of Gog and Magog and their final and dreadful exodos has a prominent aspect in the Islamic religious traditions. Thus, Muslim geographers and historians sought to locate their whereabouts, which according to religious narratives are to be found somewhere in this world. Meanwhile, the variable of historical situation and circumstances played a significant role in locating the whereabouts of the Gog and Magog. Using a historical analytical method and through a reexamination of the sources which related to before and after the Mongol invasion, the present paper studies the impact of the Mongol invasion on the Muslim perception of the Gog and Magog's geographic location. Although most of the sources consider probable that the whereabouts of the Gog and Magog was in the lands of the Mongolian tribes, increasing the geographic knowledge of the Muslims after Mongol invasion led them to distinguish between the two realms. Hence, the land of the Gog and Magog was located in lands far and beyond the lands of the Mongols.

For understanding the Orient, the journals of travels were the important sources for Europeans. The number of those journals had steadily increased from the eighteenth century in which there is a report of the visit of Constantine Francois de Chassebœuf Volney to Egypt And Syria (1785-1783). In his journal, particularly the Egyptian section, he is mainly aware of the various aspects of the land, including Egyptian rulers, the climate, business, people's lives, and so on. While the information of his journal had an impact on the Napoleon campaign, the researchers such as Edward Saeed emphasized strongly on it. This article gives a review on the Egyptian part of Volney travel journal and prove that the information of that had affected the Napoleon invasion of Egypt.

Patricia Crone’s views as a revisionist have profoundly influenced on Islamic studies, particularly on historical investigations of early Islam. Crone, influenced by the former critical studies, questioned the validity of traditional Islamic sources and sought to find the most important historical factors such as the collecting of Qur’an, Muhammad's life and the association of Islam with other religions based on non-Islamic tradition. Reviewing Crone’s sources and methods and inspecting her loyalty to the methods of critical study as well as the results of adopting this approach, shows that her reconstruction of the history of early Islam is based on sources and claims that their accuracy, originality and authenticity cannot be proven and therefore her views are historically in doubt.

The present paper is a review and critique on Javad Tabatabai’s theory, “Decline of Iran”, via the classification system of theories based on Saussure’s binary oppositions. The system of classification is based on three binary oppositions that are nation and state, internal factors and external factors as well as the subjective and objective approach. By using the descriptive-analytic methodology, the paper shows that Tabatabai’s theory is a subjective- internal- nation-based. Although the theory emphasized on the internal factors but in fact the reason of decline of Iran seems to be related to the Seljuqs Turks and Mongols invasions. These are the reasons for ruling of prejudice that caused the losing of balance between reason and religion as well as the decline of rationality. The failure of his theory is its subjective approach and denial of objective approach in analyzing the subject. Although Tabatabai’s theory is a serious conceptual theory, there are some inner contradictions, putting emphasize on external factors with an objective approach as well as neglecting of social realities; so, it is not able to explain Iran historical backwardness.