عبدالرحیم قنوات

Since the publication of the book Samak Ayar -written by Faramarz son of KhodadadArjani and edited by Parviz Natal Khanleri- which is one of the oldest examples of folk storytelling in the history of Persian literature, the name of the main hero of this story, everywhere- From the cover of the book to the title and text of its Arabic and English translation and many articles published about it in various languages-Samak, has been recorded.The problem is that this famous name is not correct and there has been a big slip about its word and meaning.In this article, by introducing logical doubts, scrutinizing the historical inconsistencies and examining those reports of the text of the book in which the name of the hero of the story and its meaning have been discussed, this famous reading of the word Samak has been criticized and an effort has been made to the correct reading of this name and its meaning should be clarified.The result of this research reveals that the Persian literature about the name of the hero of the story Samak Ayyar has fallen into error from the very beginning. So it is time to compensate for it now.

The main question in this article concerns the possibility of obtaining accurate or close-to-reality information about the number of troops and casualties of the two armies as well as the captives in the event of 'Āshūrā based on the analysis of historical reports. In addition, the military arrangement of the troops is also discussed. In this article, the historical reports are analyzed to clarify the details and avoid common exaggerations in reporting this event. The outcome of this work would offer more reasonable and reliable numbers. For example, for the first time, some information is offered about the number of the Kūfa troops, which was largely absent in previous studies. It should be noted that the bulk of information reported in other works (in the literature), far from an independent piece of work, is part of a more detailed work – ranging from one to several volumes - which are not readily accessible. In this article, however, the data and commentaries have been gathered in a single article with a focused title and size.

Nowruz, one of the ancient, central and glorious Iranian holidays that was even practiced in the Islamic era, is reflected in the works of famous authors so that they have composed specific books called Nowruznameh. This article, using a descriptive-analytical method, attempted to study the genesis, development, language, structure, content, dispersion and other issues pertained to these works up to the 9th century A.H. The main question concerns the contributing factors and drives of writing Nowruznameh as well as the expansion and appeal of such works. The results suggest that the composition of Nowruznameh began in the second century A.H. but it reached its zenith in the third and fourth centuries A.H. Nowruznamehs have a fluent and simple language and the most frequently discussed topics in these works include the rituals and traditions of Iranian kings in observing Nowruz, the development of a calendar based on Iranian Nowruz, the resolution of the inconsistency in the time of collecting taxes, and tolls, the rationales behind Iranian festivals, Nowruz poems, and customs, the consequences of Nowruz being designated to a certain day of the week, and discussion of the jurisprudential rules of Nowruz.The primary motivation of Nowruznameh authors was their literary interests and tendencies, and their efforts to sustain and revive Iranian culture and civilization in the Arab-Islamic era on the other. Of the seventeen Nowruznamehs whose names have been recorded in various sources, only five works are available

There are several reports in the form of first and second-hand accounts from Mollasara incident which led to the collapse of the Jangal Movement. This incident has been mainly recounted by two types of narrators: those reporting it by considering the events prior to and concurrent with it and others who have analyzed it in terms of its consequences or have only taken concomitant events into account. The narratives of both these groups, accompanied by some sort of leniency or superficiality, have caused ambiguity in the identification of the perpetrators, persons or factions, of the incident. The present study thus aims to examine the reports of Mollasara incident and the assassination of Haydar Khan Amo-oghli. The results of this descriptive-analytical examination show that although each report has its own defects, the incident could have been a function of deliberate or unwanted participation of various factions associated with the Jangal Movement. It appears that the offenders of Mollasara incident had something to do with the murder of Haydar Khan Amo-oghli and that the role of the agents of the British government is more noticeable than others.

The Holy Quran, as the basic scripture of the Islam, contains a host of references to the events and persons at the early days of Islam. Informed by these references, this holy scripture is sometimes considered as a historiographical work, with some scholars even speaking of the historiographical style of the Qur'an, which has also been the subject of several books and articles. This paper delves into this issue, and by distinguishing the two concepts of "historical text" and "historical document", seeks to answer the question, "Can Qur'an be considered as a historical work?" and "What implications can it have for the studies of the early Islam’s history?" The results of this article reveal that although the Qur'an cannot be exactly categorized as a historical book, it offers an account of the historical events during the era of prophet Muhammad (pbuh), which makes it into a unique primary document.

In harmony with Nishapur's agriculture and trade throughout the 3rd to 6th centuries AH, its industries enjoyed considerable prosperity. For knowing the number, quality, and development of these industries, we can benefit from the two categories of works: literary sources and archaeological discoveries of historical sites of Nishapur. The information obtained from each of these two categories, individually, will only clarify the limited angles of the city's industries, and a separate piece of them will render the research about this issue fruitless and incomplete. But, with integrating the data obtained from both, a significant part of the information gap of each one is eliminated. After the introduction of Nishapur’s important industries in this period, this paper attempts, with using descriptive-analytical methods and combining both information, to study boom and recession of them in Nishapur. Results indicated that knitting, pottery, metalworking and glassblowing were, respectively, the most important industries of Nishapur in this period. The third to sixth centuries, especially the second half of the sixth century, respectively, were the peak of the industrial boom and the relative decline of the city.

The conflict between the people of pen and sword (officials and military men) intensely prevailed throughout the Timurid period, including during the rule of Sultan Husayn Bayqara (ruled 837-911 AH). In this dispute, the Sultan himself and Mir Alisher Nava’i, who were both military commanders, took steps in weakening the viziership institution with their own actions. In his works, Mullā Ḥusayn Wā‘iẓ Kāshifī, one of the Iranian elites of this period, tried to revive the status of viziership and the officials (dīvāniān) class. To this end, stating the merits of viziership and the dangers with which the Turk commanders threatened the country, he indirectly warned the Sultan against getting too near to the military commanders and reinforcing them. Against the movement of expanding Turkish literature that was pursued by Nava’i, Kāshifī
tried to take steps toward reinforcing Persian language and literature by writing all his own books in Persian. Also, in his book, Makhzan al-Inshā’, he undertook to equalize the ranks of the officials and military men, which was unprecedented up to that time.