فصلنامه شیعه شناسی
پیاپی 79 (پاییز 1401)

The desirable art from the viewpoint of the Islamic thought is – indeed – the definition of ‘art’ from the viewpoint of Islam and specifying its features and goals; and this requires proposing the general concepts related to the Islamic thought for specifying the nature of art in the form of thought. Accordingly, the doctrinal principles of Islam, with the pivotal role of monotheism, along with the Islamic teachings (including doctrines, moralities and laws) specify the general framework of this art. The worldview based on the worldly and otherworldly life, or the intelligible and corporeal worlds, specify the intellectual atmosphere of the artistic works. Goals such as specifying the features of Islamic desirable art with an emphasis on the opinions of the Shiite thinkers as well as considering three aspects of artistic work (i.e. the artistic work, the addressee, and the artist) are pursued here. The present study was conducted in a descriptive-analytical form to explain the features of the desirable art under the qualitative titles. The findings of the study consider the desirable art as a responsible, finalist, idealist, universal, far-reaching, effective and useful one, emphasizing the deep relationship between religion and art. Paying attention to the virtual art as a growing approach and accessing the art as a public and common experience are also important achievements of this study.

The jurists have various statuses and can perform various functions, among which legal reasoning is the main one. For their status of legal reasoning – which is nothing except understanding religious laws and proofs – they also have a good command of Arabic literature, principles of jurisprudence, jurisprudence, dirāya, and rijāl sciences. However, in the path of inferring laws, they need others’ information and have to refer to ‘public convention’ or ‘experts’ or solve the problems with their ‘conventional status’. In answering the question of ‘how much do the jurists use their own conventional status in legal reasoning?’, we may conclude, through a descriptive-analysis method, that the jurists have to recognize the rational conventions and foundations for knowing the apparent meanings of the Legislator’s addresses and being informed of the Legislator’s contemporary convention; and they must insert those opinion and procedure in legal reasoning. They use their conventional status in all those cases, not their jurisprudential expertise. If groups of particular and general convention are formed, showing the conventional opinions and foundations, it will be possible for the jurists to refer to them in all conventional affairs effective in understanding the Legislator’s purpose, not giving opinions instead of the convention.

One of the important Shiite characters in the early Islamic period was Oways Qarani whose character and characteristics have been discussed in many of the historical, Sufi, mystical, literary and moral texts of the Persian language. The present writing aims at explaining the reflection of Oways’s character in various Persian texts and the attitude of the writers and poets towards him. This study uses a descriptive-analytical method and has a look at Oways’s life and character to answer the following questions: “Why has Oways Qarani’s name been mentioned more?” “Which of his characteristics has been focus of attention?” and “In which type of the Persian texts has his name been mentioned more?” The findings of the research show that considering some of the traditions attributed to the Prophet regarding Qways Qarani’s status as well as his asceticism and his worships, the moral, mystical and literary texts have paid much attention to his character and, with their description, have introduced him as a role-model in the eyes of the believers and somehow as owning miraculous powers and as a myth of asceticism and piety. Among the literary texts, the Sufi and educational ones – in proportion to their subject matter – have dealt with his character more. In their eulogies and odes, the poets have also referred to Oways Qarani’s asceticism, assimilating sometimes the eulogized person to him.

Madā‘inī, one of the historians of the 3rd century AH, was a prolific writer in social, cultural and especially historical fields. His scientific command of the events in the Islamic history caused him to have the most number of writings compared to his contemporaries. Just the titles of those books have been mentioned in lists of sources. Among the subjects compiled by Madā‘inī are his historical writings about the Shiite Imams, some of which complete the works of the previous historians and some others are among his own innovations. This study is based on the historical data in older sources and analyzes and describes monographs compiled by Madā‘inī regarding the biography of the Shiite Imam. This study is seeking to answer the question on the role of Madā‘inī’s written heritage regarding the lives of the Shiite Imams and its effect on the next writings in that regard. Without paying attention to his own religious views, he has compiled extensive historical accounts with special issues regarding the Shiite Imams, especially Imam Ali and some other of the Shiite Imams, which shows his broad views about those great personages.

Hafiz’s art is not restricted to his couplets in ghazal (romantic songs) or formal and spiritual depictions. Rather, those beautiful images are accompanied, in high harmony, by sublime semantic or spiritual concepts. The present study uses a semantic approach, or even esoteric hermeneutics, to discuss Hafiz’s religious and esoteric path, and to scrutinize the last couplet of the ghazal number 296 in his collection of ghazals (Ghani-Qazvini copy), to explore this issue and analyze and interpret its various dimensions. The finding of this study is that, in the couplet “O Hafiz! If you step in the path of the [Prophet’s] dynasty/ the endeavors of the sheriff of Najaf will accompany you”, Hafiz both refers – briefly and emphatically – to his personal and Shiite wayfaring, and restates the conditions for such a wayfaring, referring to its immediate and future results and benefits. Here, we investigate and analyze the importance of honesty and honest steps taken in the path of the Prophet’s Household, which are emphasized in the Quranic verses and traditions as well as the teachings of the mystics, and are associated with the concept of Shiism as well as the supportive, protective and guiding roles of Imam Ali in Hafiz’s honest wayfaring.

Among the events that occurred in the Iranian society simultaneous with the formation of the Safawid government was the emergence of the idea of the “Shiite governance”. At that time, Shiism was the most important theme in formation of the Iranian identity whose pictorial manifestation can be seen in the artistic depiction of the illustrations of that era. This study aims at analysis of how the transformations and evolutions in the themes of the Shiite identity and turning some of them into the symbols and motifs in pictorial account of Mirza Ali’s work entitled ‘Saving Ship’. The research method was based on the descriptive-analytical nature and the method of gathering library data. This study is seeking to find an answer to the following question: “How is the course of evolution in the Shiite themes and their turning into symbols and motifs in the depiction of the ‘Shi‘a ship’ and what is its relationship with the epic elements in the literary text of Shahnama”? The results of this study suggest that in the aforementioned era, the Shiism was considered as the most important theme forming and consolidating the Iranians’ collective identity, and this factor was manifested in the literature and art, especially in depiction of the pictorial books in that era in the form of motifs and symbols, leading to legitimating the Safawid government. This legitimation through old paradigmatic references and establishing links between the elements of epic and religious texts in evident and hidden artistic forms led to proving and consolidating the doctrines and messages of the motif, its special social purposes and religious discourse.