فهرست مطالب عبدالله متولی

 Newspapers played an irreplaceable role in changing the approach of Iranian society during the Qajar era. In the process leading to the formation of the Constitutional Movement within Iran, several newspapers were published. Some of them, regardless of their political stance, pursued a pathological approach to the general issues of society. The Tarbiat newspaper was one of the most important and stable of these newspapers. For nearly nine years, it sought to root out the elements and factors of societal stagnation, offering practical solutions to exit from those unpleasant conditions. The identification of the factors of societal backwardness and the proposed models of the newspaper for structural reform in the society of the Qajars formed the main issue of this article. Therefore, the present research seeks to answer this fundamental question: What are the main factors of the backward of Iranian society in the Qajar period from the perspective of the Tarbiat newspaper? And what models does the newspaper propose to get out of this situation? The results of the study show that the newspaper’s emphasis is more on cultural weaknesses and inability to expand up-to-date knowledge. Accordingly, the newspaper’s proposed system is more focused on increasing the scientific capacity of society and also the radical treatment of this disorder. Of course, from this perspective, the reform of the educational and training system is considered as the main priorities. In addition to this, the reform process will be fruitless without considering the reconstruction of the moral system of society

Sultanabad was constructed in 1849 by a military commander, Yusuf Khan Gorji, at the time of Fath Ali Shah Qajar. The city was organized based on a military model with the aim of establishing security in Farahan region and routes between the east and west parts of the country. Over time, Sultanabad became an important city in various economic and commercial dimensions. Agricultural products and the carpet industry elevated its status. Therefore, the merchants of Sultanabad achieved a prominent position and played an effective role in the development of the city. This article aims to investigate the impact of Sultanabad’s merchants on the social and cultural developments of the city from the Persian Constitution till the end of the First Pahlavi period.

Method and Research Design: 

Archival records and library resources were studied and analyzed using historical method in a descriptive and analytical way.

The results show that in addition to the immediate role of the merchants in the economic dynamism of the region, they played an effective role in various cultural areas and the established educational centers and religious places. They also interacted with some influential people, including clergies, and solved some of the social and economic problems of the residents.

Freemasonry, which began its political activities with the efforts of the British government in the 17th century, gradually spread its ideals globally among Western and Eastern civilizations. In line with the initial conditions of the early Qajar era, the wave of this movement also affected the reign of Fathali Shah Qajar and from that time on, Iranians became familiar with this movement in various ways. This familiarity created new awareness and motivations among the upper classes and Iranian diplomats, who turned the lodges into a center for introducing new programs and ideals to Iranian society. Antiquity as a Masonic-Western ideal sought to replace itself in the world by fading and sidelining the religious culture of nations. The aim of this paper is to answer the question of whether Freemasons and their organizations played a role in the ancient tendencies of Iranians and confronting religious thought from the constitutional period to Pahlavi. The result of the research shows that Freemasonry revived and nurtured the ancient thoughts of Iranians, which had existed in the minds of Iranians for centuries, in the 18th century, and promoted it to an ideological thought with a plan to confront religious thought. Masonic teachings caused them to highlight the history of ancient Iran and praise this period, and to attribute the backwardness of Iranians to the Arab invasion and the prevalence of religious thought.

The Safavid era in the history of Iran, following the advent of Islam, holds a significant place in terms of politics and religion due to the establishment of political unity within Iran's borders and the embrace of the Shiite faith. This period was characterized by the Safavid rulers' confrontations with internal dissidents and diverse foreign adversaries. While historical sources from the Safavid era depict these confrontations and conflicts, they are not always faithful representations of reality. Instead, they often reflect the historians' interpretation of events, blending historical content with literary expression. The present study, conducted through a comprehensive review of relevant sources from the Safavid era, aims to explore the intertwined nature of history and poetry, and how these two elements have shaped historical narratives during this period. By delving into the use of poetry within historical texts, the research seeks to understand the role of poetic expression in conveying historical events and stories. The research findings reveal that the extensive incorporation of poetry in historical texts of the Safavid era can be attributed to several factors, including its heightened appeal and influence, the influence of the historiographical tradition from the Mongol era and earlier periods, and the educational backgrounds of the historians of this time, who were steeped in literary traditions before transitioning to historical authorship.

This research aims to analyze the speech acts of Quranic references in the book of Kholdbarin based on the speech act theory and answer this question: Based on this theory, how And what was the frequency of each speech act?Background of the research: Although valuable works have been done on the historiography of the Safavid period; But it seems that the topic of analysis of speech acts in the Qur'anic citations of the sources of the Safavid period has not been mentioned with emphasis on the book of Khaldbarin.

This research is based on a descriptive-analytical method and uses quantitative and qualitative data.

The most frequent speech act of Quranic references in the book of Kholdbarin is related to assertive acts with 34 cases out of 41 cases with 82.92 percent. Directive acts with 7 cases, in other words, with 17.07 percent are in the second place of the most frequent references and finally no cases of commissive, expressive and declarative acts were seen.

When assertive acts have the highest frequency in the text, it indicates that the author intends to transfer facts and information to the reader transparently and directly and this type of speech act is very common in historical and news texts.

During the Qajar period, Iran was deprived of having an organized, coherent, professional, and experienced army, while the country was struggling with serious territorial and extraterritorial dangers for many years and every now and then faced foreign aggression or internal rebellion and chaos. In that situation, the central and main core of the Qajar army was formed by tribal and local warriors. The said army consisted of dozens of regiments, each of which belonged to a specific province or state. The duty of the armed forces was clear at the time of foreign attack, but the question is, what duty or duties did the military units in question have during the time of peace and tranquility and what was their mission? To answer this question, in this article, some of the missions of the peace period of one of the Qajar army forces called Fouj-e-Kamareh (Kamareh Regiment) was investigated. Like other regiments, the aforementioned regiment was recruited with very limited training mainly in two types of missions: the mission of border guarding and the suppression of riots and internal disturbances. Of course, learning and practicing military skills were also one of the occupations of these military units during the peace periods. To find the answer to the question of this descriptive-analytical research, written documents and sources were used. The findings of the research show that the formation of the Kamareh regiment, like other military elements of the Qajar period, was influenced by the needs of the time and had an independent military command that was chosen by the king or some princes. After Herat War and some border conflicts in Sistan, this regiment had an effective presence in the suppression of rebellions in Delfan, Bakhtiari, Azerbaijan and Fars regions for many years.

In every society, according to human necessity and need, centers have been established for rest and leisure. In Iran, too, coffeehouses were built for this purpose from the Safavid era. This place became part of the urban fabric as a public place from then on. The nature of public space requires that people of different occupations and tastes come together in it. Gradually, the relationships between these people became stronger as a result of frequent visits, and they not only influenced each other’s personalities and ways of thinking, but also influenced the course of cultural developments in society. Of course, the presence of desirable people had constructive effects and consequently the presence of undesirable people had adverse effects on the type of behavior and etiquette of the people. Considering that coffeehouses were part of the influential public places in the Qajar era, this paper intends to examine some of the negative functions of coffeehouses by relying on sources and using descriptive-analytical method. Therefore, the main question of the paper is as follows. What negative functions can be attributed to coffeehouses in the Qajar era? The research data shows that coffeehouses were popular and attractive among different social classes in the Qajar era. Therefore, along with their positive functions, they were also a place for various social crimes. Social conflicts, drunkenness, gambling, sodomy and addiction were among the most important abnormalities that occurred in this place. In fact, the presence of undesirable people made coffeehouses a suitable place for all kinds of crimes and behaviors that challenged the moral rules of society.

Holding the joyful rituals has a deep connection with different human societies. Iranian society has not been far from these traditions during its historical development. Following the development and continuance of the Safavid government (1135-907 A. H), an appropriate ground was provided towards re-creating and repeating different types of joyous rituals. It seems that these joyous rituals can be separated into two "traditional" and "religious" formats. Traditional festivities such as Nowruz, as a historical symbol, were an integral part of the court and the public rituals of the society; while a significant range of these rituals had an inseparable relation with the religious approaches of the government and society. The purpose of this article is to investigate and introduce some rituals related to the religious festivals such as Eid al- Azha, Ghadir e- Khom and Birth of Imams (PBUT) through the descriptive and analytical method and relying on library sources.

Sultan Abad, Iraq, is the old name of the city of Arak, which was built at the time of Fathali Shah Qajar in (1231 AH ) by his warlord Yusuf Khan Gurji. The philosophy behind the building of the city was the creation of a military center and the construction of a garrison for the security of the region. As time went by, business and economic activity flourished in the area. Relying on various documents related to that period, this descriptive-analytical research investigates the economic and commercial conditions of this region, especially handmade carpet industry and trade. The purpose of this research is to explain how exports and complaints from foreign merchants and foreign companies in Sultan Abad to the relevant ministries and the National Assembly had an effect on the foreign trade of this province, namely carpets. The findings of this research show that the attention of the central government and foreign companies along with the participation of local merchants made Arak one of the main centers of carpet production in the mentioned period. On the other hand, the First World War, followed by political, economic and logistical destabilization, slowed the development of Iraq.

In 333 AH, the government of Buyids overthrow Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate and seized the power in this city and the Abbasid Caliphate as Amir al-Amra. They were Iranian government and Shiites.This made the type of their relations with the Abbasid caliphate of special importance.It seems that maintaining the rule and political structure was a top priority for the Buyid government, so their relations with the Abbasid caliphate were completely affected by this demand.However, the Buyid dynasty’s relations with the caliphate can be divided into divergent and hegemonic relations. During the study of the type of relations, we come across many cases that show the efforts of the Buyid government to preserve the rituals of Iranian culture.The main question of the research is what kind of relations the Buyid government had with the Abbasid Caliphate and what methods they applied to preserve Iranian culture and civilization.

Soltanabad (present name: Arak), located in the heart of mid-western of Iran is which in the past called Eragh-e Ajam (=Iraq of Persia). Soon after the beginning of WWI Soltanabad became a cross-road of foreign forces.  This article reports the impact of the presence of these forces in the region and its consequences for Soltanabad.

Archival documents and library resources were consulted to collect data for analysis.

Presence of foreign forces disrupted normal life of the region.  The demand for local agricultural products, insecurity of roads, and drought led to food shortage and sharp rise in prices, resulted in with wide-spread famine. Also, cities like Tehran, Qom and Isfahan which imported agricultural products from the region also came under pressure.

In this paper, we approach the problem of double biographical information for a single historical agent in the Islamic biographical works, by the case study of Mullā Abūṭālib Sulṭānābādī. The result of a critical survey on his biography in the books Tabaqāt 'A'lām al-Shi'a by Āghā Buzurg Tihrānī and A'yan al-Shi'a by Sayyid Muḥsin Amīn shows that his biographical information is presented mistakenly as he is considered two independent characters.

The newspaper is one of the most effective tools in critically examining the conditions of society. In Iran, the Qajar era, in spite of the emergence of political and social barriers, few newspapers reflected on the critical and suggestive issues that led to the transformation of various social arenas.This process of transformation was more serious in the days leading up to the constitution.Tarbiat was one of the few newspapers that could survive a long time because of the overwhelming conservative spirit. According to Mohammad Hossein Foroughi, editor-in-chief of the newspaper, the root of all the turmoil and backwardness of the Qajar era was to go back to ignorance.

Iran is among the countries that has been the destination of many travelers especially in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Therfore the aim of this study to investigating the Health and Medical Status of the Qajar Period from the Point of View of Travel Writers.

This is a review through access to reliable sources in the form of an article descriptive Health and Medical Status of the Qajar Period from the Point of View of Travel Writers Using the appropriate keywords including "Qajar", "Travel Writers", "Health" and electronic search in SIDs, Google scholar, Pubmed and hand search in credible sources of library information, and focused on the research goal of the study of health and medical status during the Qajar period.

In general, the angle of view of internal observers and foreign travelers in relation to health (prevention and treatment of diseases, public health) in Qajar is influenced by traditional religious beliefs and in most current travel logs the medicine and public health status in terms of drinking water, Bathing, treating illnesses, the health status of passages and personal health of Iranians during the Qajar period was not appropriate.

The travelers who wrote their memoirs on the trip to Iran during the Qajar period provided a clear picture of the social situation, administrative organization, traditions and traditions of the Iranian people of that time. These travelogues are one of the most important historical and anthropological sources that provide us with useful information about Iranian culture and history of that period.

Castles were solid structures used in various ways in historical periods, depending on the circumstances. The course of the Iranian history also shows that castles have been used by residents for a variety of reasons. Extensive invasions of Iran and the need to have durable defensive structures provided the background for the construction of new buildings or the restoration of existing defenses. The Safavid era was no exception. Therefore, the construction of new castles and the restoration of old fortifications were taken seriously by Safavid government officials. Given the abundance of castles and their various uses in the Safavid era, this article seeks to examine some of the most important functions of castles. The main question of this research concerns the significance and the variety of the castles in the Safavid era. The results show that during this period castles were considered by the government as an efficient defensive tool at the borders.  In addition, castles were used as a safe place to protect valuables and keep prisoners. Furthermore, in cases of desirable security, castles were rulers' residences.

Traditional celebrations and recreational activities are considered part of the Iranian historical identity. Ancient and medieval Persian sources have documented various types of these celebrations, suggesting the social commitment to such rituals. Apart from social identity, these tendencies could also bring dynamism and refreshment into the society. With the passage of time, despite many adversities imposed on social foundations, some of these ceremonies were redefined and retrieved as the national heritage. Of course, other forms of joyful ceremonies that were matched with new religious thought were added to the national heritage, as well. On the other hand, Iranian governments and rulers of the time also supported and promoted some of these rituals in accordance with their personal morale as well as political and religious attitudes, thereby contributing to their survival and continuity. In the Safavid era, the Iranian society was not different as a relative political stability and security allowed the continuity of these traditions. The present study intends to introduce the patterns and types of these celebrations. Thus, the main question of this research is: what were the forms of joyful ceremonies during the Safavid? Research data show that despite the fact that the Safavid period, at one time and other, was engaged in some civil or external wars, the social texture had a deep link with promising and recreational approaches and hence; there were various types of celebrations and ceremonies based on social traditions.

The geography of the Caspian Sea and its coasts have long attracted the attention of the enemies of Iran, particularly its northern neighbor, Russia, for its strategic position. From the late Safavid era, along with the emergence of Peter the Great in Russia, full domination on the Caspian Sea and its coasts was seriously included in the Russia’s military plan. Therefore, in order to reach their goals, they attacked the islands and coasts of Iran at different times and under different pretexts. However, despite the seizure of parts of Iran's territory, they could not survive long periods on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, and were forced to evacuate these regions. This paper intends, with a descriptive-analytic approach, to answer the question that: what are the causes of the instability of Russians military presence in the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the considered time interval? The findings of the research indicate that a combination of internal and external factors along with the unique geographical, climatic, and social features of this area caused the southern sides of the Caspian Sea to act as a solid fortress against invaders, and even if they could access to it, they would not have the ability to stay in the long run

Safavids, according to their political and religious approaches, found out that it is necessary to have relation with the regional and extra-regional countries after establishment and consolidation of the government. They assigned different missions to their governmental agents in order to make connection with the extra-regional friends and to convey their political and military messages under war and peace. The agents continued to do their duties in the other countries in the figures of envoy, ambassador or Ilchi. They should have particular and considerable specifications to achieve their purposes and to do the assigned missions, favorably. The agent's characteristic and his outward appearance should be properly evaluated according to the destination and the mission type. The various conformation framework of diplomatic body should be pondered because of the variety and abundance of the envoys dispatched to different parts of the world in the long kingdom age of Safavids. The present paper attempts to assess the important factors that have been considered in selecting and dispatching the envoys. Moreover, comparative statistics are presented about the envoys of Safavids. Herein, the main question is concerned with the feature of envoys or ambassadors and the plan of their mission. Although the organizational structures were not constructed for the political relations in this era, the findings demonstrate that the envoys should have specific characteristics corresponding to their mission; moreover, they should observe the determined principles in the process of accomplishing the mission. It seems that they confronted to many difficulties in this matter.

Although the history of Catholic Christianity propagation in Islamic era of Iran returns to the Ilkhanid period, it was at first in the Safavid era when organized form of Catholic missions began with the actions of a sect of Christian mystics attributed to St. Augustine. Starting of these efforts had not been an outcome of peaceful endeavours, but rather the upshot of Portugueses' military rushes to the Persian Gulf and their occupation of Hormuz Island. The purpose of this research is to answer that what the consequences of the Augustinians' actions during the Safavid era have been. It has been tried to examine the subject based on original and genuine sources and descriptive and analytical method. The findings of the study show that Augustinians, in the face of Iranians' strong solidarity in their religious beliefs, practically failed to promote Christianity and were forced to leave Iran forever.

The Transoxiana area in the northeastern part of Khorasan was part of the realm of the Islamic world, which its inhabitants gradually embraced Islam in the first century AH. Subsequently, religious approaches influenced most of the political developments in the region so that politicians and religious service providers considered themselves responsible for religious practices. In the thirteenth century, political structures titled as Khan Neshin used to rule on this land and they used to strive to control the political and religious affairs at the same time. Another part of the community’s religious functions was under the control of the clerical class.
This article seeks to investigate the type of religious governance practiced by the Khans of the Transoxiana region before being occupied by the Russians. Accordingly, the main question of the forthcoming article is “What was the religious situation of the political and demographic structures of Transoxiana before the invasion of Russia?”
The results of the research show that all elements of power and formal structures followed the implementation of religious teachings in the executive mechanisms of the society. Additionally, religious leaders who did not have official position, as a complementary force, tried to preserve and maintain the religious traditions of the community.

Undoubtedly, one of the main challenges facing the Safavids since the beginning of their rule in Iran was how to deal with Uzbeks as one of their stubborn enemies in the northeast regions. Those who had territorial and religious claims against the Safavids, during the expansion and consolidation of the power of Shah Ismail I in Iran, created for him a great deal of concern in the Khorasan region. Eventually, the first Safavid king, who also had common claims against the destructive power of Uzbeks, had to solidly and seriously prevent them from moving forward into Khorasan. The battle of Marv served the intentions of Shah Ismail, but another battle called Gijduvon, which took place along the Amu Darya not long after the battle of Marv, ended in the defeat of Shah Ismail's troops. The present study, with a descriptive-analytical approach, seeks to answer this question that how this failure affected the political geography of Transoxiana and the internal relations of power in Iran. The results of this study indicate that the Gijduvon battle ended the continuation of the Timurid rule in the Transoxiana region in addition to putting an end to the wishes of Shah Ismail I for propagating the power of the Safavids on the other side of Amu Darya. Moreover, this battle revealed the disturbances in the credo centered system in the power structure of the Safavids.

The main purpose of this paper is to understand the main components in the formation of procedures and mechanisms of the judicial system of the Transoxiana area before the domination of the Russians. The area was mostly under the rule of three tribal rulers in Bukhara, Khoqand and Khiva. The Menghit's Government (1199-1339 AH) in Bukhara was more important than others in terms of regional influence. For this reason, this tribal ruling is at the center of this study. Accordingly, it has been tried to investigate the legal characteristics of the Transoxiana area in order to answer the question that which patterns and procedures have been followed by the Bukhara tribal ruling during the Menghit's Government? The findings show that the ruler's authority along with the two elements of tradition and religion were the most prominent patterns of governing the judicial structure of the society in Transoxiana. At the same time, judicial systems in the urban regions followed relatively different structures than the judicial structures of the migratory groups.

The reign of Naser al-Din Shah brought upon political and social reformations in Iran. The changes that happened in the structure of the postal system was one of such reformations. The use of stamps in Iran brought upon fundamental improvements in the postal system and became a crucial factor in speeding up the administrative procedures of the post office.At first, stamps represented postal fare and had an economic rule. But at the end of Naser al-Din Shah’s reign, other functions were associated with stamps: political and social functions, as well as cultural functions.
This paper aims to answer the question of what the functions of stamps were in the postal systems of Qajar and Pahlavi eras, and also to investigate the developments made in the formal and conceptual framework of stamps in the mentioned eras.The findings show us that during the developments that occurred in Iran’s postal system, stamps played various roles and also were produced in various shapes and forms; and despite the problems and obstacles that faced the postal system, the trend of printing and publishing stamps kept on growing.

If we accept that any interpretation of the Islamic heritage of thought is based on a framework of ideas and concepts, which is the title of historical reason, then the continuation of the structure of this historical reason leads to the ineffectiveness of Muslim historical narratives in response to the problems of contemporary society. Accordingly, how the epistemic breakdown of the ideas of the historical intellect was considered difficult in Islam, the article sought to answer it. It considers the article of narration and foundationalism as a theoretical framework that allows for such a break from the notions of historical reason in Islam; the theoretical sketches that can be called "paradigmatic ideas in the critique of historical reason in Islam". Based on this paradigmatic conception of the foundations, while recognizing the metaphysical notions and the dichotomies that encircle the historical wisdom of Muslim historians, it provides historians with an alternative perspective on reading Islamic heritage. It also provides recognition of the structures of the historical intellect in Islam in the context of redefining the logic of historical thinking in Islam and modern narrative schemes. Relying on these new designs, Muslim historians can find a new reading of the Islamic tradition and thus find an answer to the daunting issues.