نشریه احسن الحدیث
پیاپی 2 (پاییز و زمستان 1395)

One of the research issues gained much attention in the West, unfortunately among Iranian scholars has not been considered properly, is the introduction of those valuable and technical works and books which are worthy of being studied by researchers. Actually this, on the one hand, urges researchers to organize innovative researches, and, on the other, leads to the acquaintance of young researches with the most important and accurate studies written in their field. Among the works recently published in the area of Oriental studies on Islamic works may be mentioned of the book “Orientalists and 'Ibn ‘Abbās”, which would be briefly introduced and reviewed here in this short paper.

The verses78 & 79 of the Quranic chapter al-'Anbīyā' are perhaps the most important arguments through which the issue of Prophets’ 'Ijtihād is to be argued and approved. Shiite and Sunni exegetes have had various and different opinions on the issue. The present work is intended to report and analyze the commentaries and to probe the approval or rejection of the theory of Ijtihād in the Holy Quran. The ideas of prominent Shiite and Sunni exegetes and scholars including Bayḍāwī, Najm al-Dīn Rāzī, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, ‘Abūsu'ūd Efindī, ‘Ālūsī, Shāfi'ī, Juwaynī, 'Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, Naẓẓām, Zamakhsharī, Jubbā'ī, 'Ibn Bābiwayh Qumī, 'Ibn 'Īsā, Balkhī, Imam Ṣādiq (A.S.) and Ṭabrisī are presented and investigated here in this paper. Religious Jurists, Mutazilite and Shia scholars’ viewpoints, 'Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā'ī’s theory, as well as, Mukhtiahs and Muṣawwibas’s opinions on the issue of the Quranic basis for 'Ijtihād are the most important topics discussed here.

The term “'ilm” and its synonymies are of the most used and frequent Quranic vocabulary. The word, like many other Quranic words, has different meanings in different idiomatic combinations and situations. Among all, the two Quranic ones of “'Allaẓīn 'Ūtu al-'Ilm” and “'Ulu al-'Ilm” as well as another synonymous combination of “'Ulu al-'Albāb”, despite of some similarities between them, have significant differences in functions, features and examples, making them distinct from each other. The present paper, regarding important Shiite and Sunni exegeses and applying a descriptive-analytical method, studies and analyzes the differences between these three Quranic combinations. The findings argue that the true examples of the compositions of “’Allaẓīn 'Ūtu al-'Ilm” and “'Ulu al-'Ilm” are the Infallibles (pbuth), but the true examples of “'Ulu al-'Albāb” are Shiite thinkers who follow and imitate “’Allaẓīn 'Ūtu al-'Ilm” and “'Ulu al-'Ilm” fully in their life in order to be closely aligned and part of the two former groups’ position.

This paper is a Persian translation of the treatise The God That Never Was by Sheikh Ahmed Deedat which, in a documented and detailed way, denies and rejects the Christian doctrine of simulation of Jesus Christ (PBUH) to the Almighty God. He criticizes the claim of a priest who used two arguments to prove his idea: “Jesus shares His (God’s) nature”, and “he is in every way like the Father (God)”. Ahmed Deedat applies the biblical contexts to reject the priest’s evidences. In his regard, this belief contradicts the Muslims’ beliefs and the Holy Quran’s verses about the Messiah (PBUH) and is considered as Shirk (polytheism). He brings clear evidences showing that this divine messenger, like other apostles, is no more than a human and can never be called the partner or the son of God.

Infallibility ('iṣmah) is one of the most important features which plays an essential role in order to testifies Prophets’ sayings. It is a Divine Blessing bestowed to qualified persons who pass the stages of guidance and prove their qualification in each step. According to the Quran, prophets did their best in tracing the stages of guidance. The Quran introduces Moses (PBUH) as a sincere and devoted prophet who reached the stage of qurb (nearest position) to Almighty God. Although some Quranic verses seem to contradict his infallibility and charge him of committing sins, a deep study of the verses retailing the story of Moses (PBUH) argues that at the age of revelation, the Quran used to bring the general words of “zdanb” and “ẓulm” as meaning of “doing something in a position else of its own” and “outcomes of actions”. Afterwards they were applied as meaning of sin and violation of the truth.