فصلنامه تاریخ اسلام
پیاپی 23 (پاییز 1384)

The forgotten University of Jundi Shapur had played a very significant and valuable role in pre-Islamic Iran, particularly during the Sassanian period. Numerous documents testify to the brilliance of this advanced Sassanid scientific center in philosophy, medicine, astronomy and various other fields. When Muslims entered Iran, the activities of this secientific center slowed down for a relatively long period of time. After power passed to the Abbasid hands, Ctesiphon regained some of its past prosperity, Baghdad was chosen as the new capital of the Muslim World, and hence Jundi Shapur once again found its lost importance under the Iranian viziers of the early Abbasid period. Since then until the middle of the 3rd century A.H. prominent families administered this scientific center next to Iranian scientists. Medicine in particular, following more Muslim attention to it, found new importance at the Jundi Shapur University. Subsequently, over long periods of time, Jundi Shapur, as a major scientific monument of the Sassanian period, was only rivaled by the great scientific center of Alexandria in Eqypt.

The role of Kufah in the political developments of the Muslim World and its ups and downs throughout are very important in history. Knowing how Kufah came to be established and its social conditions in a turbulent period of Islamic history (17 A.H. - end of Hasan ibn Ali's khilafah) is of great help in understanding the prevalent political-social conditions in the city during the transfer of power from Hasan ibn Ali (pbuh) to Mu'awiyah. This paper deals with the developments of early Islamic history in Kufah with an emphasis on the period of Hasan ibn Ali's khilafah.

The rise of different sects among Muslims and the formation of their creeds have been the effect of various religious and non religious factors. One religious belief that has been of particular importance in the creed of numerous Muslim sects, especially of the Shi'i ones, has been Mahdawiyah, or the belief in Mahdi. In its shi'i from, the belief in Mahdi has been closely intertwined with the issue of Ghaybah (Occultation) and Raj'ah (Return)' becoming a pretext for a number of leaders and followers of Muslim sects to base their sreed upon. One such sect is the Waghifiyah. Believing in Mahdi's Ghayban and Raj'ah is a major principle of the various Waghifi creeds. In its general sense, Waghifi creeds have a long history in Islam. Numerous Islamic sects have resorted to the belief in Mahdi to uphold the principle of Waghf (ending the imamah with a prticular imam). In its particular sence, however, the Waghifiyah refers to those who upheld the belief that the Shi'ah imamah ended with the 7th imam assuming him to be the promised Mahdi and thus restricting the phenomena of Ghaybah and Raj'ah to him as well. This paper while discussing the Waghifiyah and their beliefs, also deals with the reasons and factors for their appearnce.

At the peak of the spread of intellectual and political movements in early Islamic history, particularly during the period when power was being transferred form the Umayyads to the Abbasids, an influential sect, often known as the Khrijites, managed to muster support for its ideas in a number of peripheral territories at distant corners of the Muslim World. One such place was North Africa where Arab and non-Arab Kharijites succeeded to win over part of the Berber population and establish several states after going through the three stages of missionary work, organizing temporary rebellions, and finally widening the extent of such rebellions.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal is the founder and leader of the Hanbali school of law and the Ahl-al-Hadith who at the peak of the Abbasid and Mu'tazili scholars' power achieved prominence by defending the principle of the Eternity of the Ghur'an and his steadfastness in the event known as al-Mihnah. The importance of ibn Hanblal lies in the fact that despite all his resistance vis-a-vis the Abbasid rule, he came to be known as a defender of autocratic rulers. While reviewing ibn Hanbal's life, the paper before you takes up the political-religious conditions of his time and discusses his ideological-political record in dealing with the issues of his time.

In this paper the writer intends to reviwe the Ottoman statesmen's approach to the reforms issue and its necessity. In line with this intention, a number of questions such as "Under what circumstances the Ottoman Empire chose to go on the reform path as a solution to its problems? Which ideas and developments influenced the reforms issue? What was the Ottoman sultans' understanding of the reform path when the issue was brought up?" are raised. The role of foreign elements, and especially of the Westerners, in the reforms is aslo an important question for which the writer tries to find the right answers. Time-wise the paper encompasses the period between the Tulip Time (1718-1730) to the beginning of the Tanzimat (Reorganization) Age (1839).

The presence of the Prophet (pbuh) and Muslims in Medina transformed the economic outlook of the city. Since ancient times, because of enjoying a certain extent of agriculture and being located on the trade route between Arabia's north and south, Medina had a distinct economy from the rest of the Peninsula. With the arrival of the Muslim Emigrants and the Prophet's guidelines, the economy of the city went through great transformation. On the one hand,, Medina saw an agricultural revolution as a result of its geographical postition, underground water resources, and new factors such as allocating unclaimed Lands to the Emigrants. Certain rules were adopted for irrigation and depending on the climate diverse crops were cultivated and harvested. On the other hand, because of the existence of local markets and efforts by some Emigrants, trade also flourished adding to the overall economic prosperity of the city. Besides agriculture and trade, numerous crafts and industries prospered in the city as well. Various coins such as Dinar and Dirham, and Persian and Roman coins; plus different weights and measures were also in common use in the city during this period.