حمید طالب

The set of special social situations of Western culture in the modern times deepened the gap between the religious and non-religious affairs and introduced a new definition of religion. In response to these social situations, Western theorists, as opposed to secularism, specifically portrayed Christianity as a religion, calling this particular process of separation secularization. But as a result of the social transformations of the present age, post-secular theories have sought to link the religious and non-religious affairs by transcending secular ideas. To examine the process of such developments, this article describes the evolution of religious awareness and knowledge using various theories.
Finally, after a critical analysis of these developments, in order to establish a link between religion and non-religion in the present age, a revision of rationality has been proposed as a solution.

Western observers usually intend special meaning for “Islamism” according to which development of Islamist movements is interpreted as a serious threat to secular governments. According to this interpretation, “Islamist” is used to refer to extremist movements, groups and individuals which subscribe to religious values and ideals to serve a larger political agenda aimed at violently spreading or imposing special reading of Islamic law, either locally, regionally or internationally. This conception of Islamism is used by the author to investigate the phenomenon at three levels in France: Islamist organizations, Islamism and society and the relations between Islamism and government.

The main task of Al-Mustafa University to educate people from different nations necessitates true understanding of cultures as well as background of the civilizations associated with different societies. This understanding is impossible to achieve without a theory and illustration of kind and level of suitable approach. A critical review of theories and studies of international arena indicate the influence of western meta-theoretical discussions and specially hegemony of secularism even in Islamic world. On the other hand, relevant literature in Islamic world and Iran is mainly concerned with political approaches. In this situation one can ask: “What is the appropriate model for studies of religion, culture and civilization?” This article is a prologue to articulate this model. The claim here is that this suitable pattern of studies should be defined in two macro-levels: (1) referring to Islamic ideas and setting general goals and (2) considering a model to study religion, culture and civilization in modern world. The relationship between these two levels shapes the appropriate model of study (hypothesis). This article is based on practical wisdom and Ilm al-Kalam (Islamic theology) which explains the concepts and theoretical basis of this model (method).

After the changes in Arabic countries in 2011, conflict between Islamist and secular demands over how the government is understandable? In this regard there are two major approaches: (1) in principle, in the "essence of Islam", dual religion and state, secular and religious, makes no sense and this "meaningless categories" entered by imitating Arab elites from the concept of secularism of West. (2) Secularization is rooted in the "global developments of modernism" and is inevitable in the grassroots level of Arabic countries. In this paper, after the investigating the concept of secularism in Western and Arabic countries, up those two views about Islamism and secularism have been investigated, by using meta-analysis. Then, using public polls from Arabic countries associated with good governance (religious or secular), is offered practical criterion for judgment in connection with this dual. Under these criteria, is presented a new definition of Islamism. In this view, the success or failure of any of the Islamist or secular governments in governance is considered as a benchmark to analyze the dual.

Cognition of Existence and Being has long been the main and everlasting concern of man. Mythological Ontology is an example of man's endeavors in this field, which has had an immanent effect on the emergence and development of his thoughts and actions. By the virtue of some uncontestable principles in mythology, the spiritualization of universe and secularization of heaven are attempted in order to formulate an ontological system. The conformity and identity of universe and heaven, presence and expression of gods as the Holiness factors and the world's reality, liveliness of the world, human relation with other beings, lack of clear distinction between subjective (mind) and objective (universe), existence of inheretn relation between man and universe by partnership of them in the numinous, living according to gods behavioral patterns and recreation of gods actions by repeating them in rituals are amongst the fundamentals of mythological ontology and it's supposed behaviors. In that regard, man and universe have divine provenances and are places of presence and manifestation of the Holy (the numinous). In Mythology, they are sacred and thus have reality. Reality is the sacred and the profane is the non-existence

Europe as a single integrated policy was formed after the Cold War and based on cultural plurality. Over the years of the formation of the Union of Europe, the Cause of cohesion of countries with different cultures, different languages and different ethnic groups were making the comments. On the other hand, Muslims in Europe are culturally and ethnically fragmented and they are immigrants from different countries of Asia and Africa. Despite this plurality in Islamic and Western culture, the question of the compatibility of Islam with the West's secular culture was made because of: (1) the activities of Muslim extremist groups, mainly after September eleventh and (2) The difference in lifestyle and Muslim religious symbols. This question is caused substantiality view to these two cultures (Muslim and secular). According to this view, each of these cultures thought as an integrated entity to another but in fact is not. In this article first it is argued that cultural standardization policy, especially in France, where laicism is ruled causing the secular culture to be raised as the factor of West culture Cohesion, And therefore the Islamic culture was thought as an incompatible element. Comparing between unifying cultural policy and Islamic extremist makes it clear that the common to both is the separation of religion and culture. This common point is the factor of creating tension between Western and Islamic culture and the formation of essentialist views about the Islamic culture and Western culture. In last Section both context and circumstances of this essentialist view, especially with emphasis on the role of media in shaping identity representations will be considered.

Akhbārīsm was a conservative thought in Shīi jurisprudence (fīqh) from the 17th century to the 19th century in Iran, Iraq and India. There are mainly two explanations for the shaping of this movement: (1) Akhbārī attitudes transfer and affect through transferring ideas and thoughts based on the assumption of some fixed principles and criteria and explicit abstract frameworks for Akhbārīsm. (2) The authority of conservative (Sunnī) rulers was the most important factor for the extension of this thought. In this article the two approaches and shortcomings of each will be considered in the works of orientalists Joun Cole and Robert Gleave. Then, emphasizing on Scriptualism as common character of Akhbārīsm and neo-Akhbārīsm, identity as a concepts in social psychology will be used to introduce a third view on shaping and extension of Scriptualism. In this new approach, modern thought will introduce as totally other for religious ideas and the idea of distinction is used for highlighting the identity. This approach will argue to be the best explanation in formation and expansion of Scriptualism.

Shiite communities of South Asia, with a population of about 60 million people constitute the second group of Shiites after Iranian in the Muslim world. After the Islamic Revolution of Iran, published books in English in relation to Shiites of different parts of the world including Shiite communities of South Asia are significantly increased. But has not been published any books in Persian in the field of introducing of this works. In this paper, the most important books and articles about Shiites of Indian subcontinent into English have been divided and introduced. There are some issues among the most important works such as: the role of political powers in shaping the Shiite communities, giving Identity to the mourning rituals, and religious reform and its impact on the region's Shiites identity.

The dominant attitude toward religion was based on the assumption that there is clear distinction between religions and their followers, beliefs, identity and community. Another approach is to review that is meant specifically according to Believers of a religious pluralistic society and Based on that, the boundaries of religious identity are not completely separate and distinct. In such a context religious identity is formed on the basis of the relationship between Believers. As a result of this attitude, attention to identity, and cognitive powers of individuals and social circumstances is necessary and it is appropriate to replace investigating the importance of Believers narratives in a particular area instead of emphasis on the teaching abstraction religious. In this article these two different perspectives, are distinguished, and the applications and implications of each are paid attention. Then to highlight the meaningful way of regional study of religion, the interaction between Islam and Hinduism in pluralistic cultural and religious communities of India and the formation of religious identities on the basis of this interaction is taken into consideration. This issue will be discussed at the end that how dose highlight the particular religious identity in these context of eclectically? Also the common ground for interaction and religious evaluation in this position will be offered.

Theoretical studies of social movements and specially of recent events in Arab countries are investigated mainly by concerning causes and grounds of formation, outcomes and the events after these movements; but the issue of common identity of these social movements is rarely considered directly. In this article it is argued that in order to explain common identity of the participants, looking at these events’ differences and similarities, of which I will try to make sense in theoretical frameworks, is necessary. But it is important to consider different phases of these movements (formation, development and outcome) in order for the dynamic nature of this concept to be explained. I will try to represent this dynamic in theoretical frameworks and Arab public opinions and accordingly the concept of “otherness” will be emphasized as determinative factor to specify this identity as Islamic.