دکتر علی اکبر علیخانی

The primary function of the humanities and social sciences is to understand and address societal issues and problems, a task that is increasingly complex and specialized through interdisciplinary studies and fields. Even when disciplinary expertise fails to comprehend and resolve these problems, interdisciplinary approaches assume this role with enhanced capabilities, employing multidimensional and multilevel methodologies and epistemologies. The premise of this paper is that, in contemporary Iran, there are no acceptable theories or theorists in the field of interdisciplinary studies that meet international standards. This paper aims to explore the reasons behind the lack of prominent and internationally recognized theories and theorists in Iran today, particularly within the interdisciplinary domains of the humanities and social sciences. The factors contributing to this issue are manifold and exist at various levels; this article seeks to understand some of the main and general causes. The central question is: What are the challenges and obstacles to interdisciplinary theorizing in the field of humanities and social sciences in Iran? The article identifies and discusses six general challenges and barriers to Iranian theorizing in these fields, particularly in interdisciplinary studies: populism, politicisation, binary opposition, Westoxification, Pseudo-traditionalization, and bewilderment. This research simultaneously employs both phenomenological and foundational research methods.

Usually, sociopolitical changes in the Middle East are the result of the factual or erroneous thinking of thinkers and experts. Among the characteristics of thought in a specific meaning is that it has "normative and prescriptive" approaches and seeks to "solve issues and problems" or "progress" societies. One of the ways to understand the causes of problems and issues in the Middle East countries, including Iran, is to recognize the difficulties and problems of thinking. The problems of thinking in Middle East countries are multifaceted and complex. The issue and purpose of this article is to understand the difficulties and problems of thinking in Middle East countries. The main question of the article is that thoughts and thinking in Iran and similar Middle Eastern countries have what difficulties and problems related to thinkers. The article first explains the specific meaning of thought and thinking and its types and applications. Then three categories of difficulties and problems of thinking in Middle Eastern countries with an emphasis on Iran are discussed. The findings of the research reveals that political thinking in these countries suffer from three categories of problems and damages: First problems caused by the eclectic structure of thoughts, second, the problems directed to the type of attitude towards sociopolitical phenomena, and the problems arising from the cultural foundations of Middle Eastern societies

"Religion", "nationality" and nationalism are permanent issues of human societies with positive and negative consequences. The old history of religion and nationality in Iran, as one of the oldest countries, paved the way for the entry of nationalist ideas in the 19th century. Today, the intertwining of religion, nationality and nationalism in Iran has turned it into a multifaceted and complicated phenomenon. The main issue of this article is to understand the nature of Iranian nationalism and its relationship with religion in contemporary Iran, and it will review its historical course. The main purpose of the article is to explain the components and the relationship between Islam and nationalism in contemporary Iran.First, a theoretical discussion about "religion" and "nationalism" is discussed and the network of concepts, elements and components of each is explained. Then, the ratio of religion and nationalism in Iran today is examined on a spectrum in the form of three main currents and nine sub-currents, from the most interaction to the most confrontation. The three main currents are: the confrontation of Islam with nationalism, the interaction of Islam and nationalism, and the confrontation of nationalism with Islam. In the following, we have explained the sequence and different periods of the relationship between religion and nationalism in the field of Iranian politics and society over the last century, which has been explained in the form of five periods and six pseudo-models since the beginning of the arrival of nationalism in Iran until today. One of the results of the article discussed at the end is that although Iranian nationalism emerged under the influence of global nationalism, it was different from Western and Arab examples. Iranian nationalism is a unique phenomenon to itself in the causes of its emergence, in its nature, and in its effects and consequences.First, a theoretical discussion about "religion" and "nationalism" is discussed and the network of concepts, elements and components of each were explained. Then, the ratio of religion and nationalism in Iran today is examined on a spectrum in the form of three main currents and nine sub-currents from the most interaction to the most confrontation. The three main currents are: the confrontation of Islam with nationalism, the interaction of Islam and nationalism, and the confrontation of nationalism with Islam. In the following, we have explained the sequence and different periods of the relationship between religion and nationalism in the field of Iranian politics and society over the last century, which has been explained in the form of five periods and six pseudo-models since the beginning of the arrival of nationalism in Iran until today.

Umar al-Tilmisani was the third leader of the Muslim Brotherhood to play a major role in the movement's transition to democracy. The purpose of this article is to explain the most important sociopolitical views of Tlemcen, and to show the extent of his influence on the Muslim Brotherhood movement in bringing this movement into the democratic process. The importance of Tilmisani's work becomes even clearer because the Muslim Brotherhood and the first leader of the movement considered it illegitimate to enter the democratic process. The method used in this research was "qualitative content analysis". Research results show that Tilmisani first explained the theoretical foundations and justifications in the field, then took basic and structural measures for this transition in the movement, and then tried to respond to the challenges and opposition within the Muslim Brotherhood and its external opponents. The findings of article are organized in two main sections. In the first part, Tilmisani’s socio-political views, which are the basis and source of his movements and actions, are clarified. The second part of the article deals with his actions in the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which is a democratic re-reading of this movement and his practical actions in bringing the Muslim Brotherhood into party competitions, and interacting and talking with the opponents and opponents of this movement. Another important thought and action of Tilmisani was the desecration of the Islamic government and rulers, which provides a basis for criticizing them.

One of the metods to identify and analyze political thougths is to categorize them. The fluidity of thought and the transition from different and sometimes contradictory periods and stages make it difficult to classify them. Numerous categories of political thougths in the last two hundred years have been presented in Iran, all of which have based on micro-criteria in their category. Therefore, the problem of the article is to know the macro-intellectual geography of thougths and their relationship with each other. The main question of the article is what more complete model can be provided for the categorization of political thougths that makes it possible to understand the micro and macro dimensions of them in a long period of time. This article, considering the research method of "Grounded theory", first has a brief look at the categories made so far and states the criteria and patterns of these categories. The achievement of the article is to provide a model of "cluster categorization" to identify political ideas. This model uses three levels of external analysis, internal analysis, and proportionality, and rooted political thougths in terms of flow, discourse, and paradigm. At the level of external analysis, it sees thougths in the macro-intellectual geography of a society or civilization.

The Islamic world, especially the Middle East, is one of the hot spots of conflicts in the world. There are various reasons for conflict in the region. One of the most important reasons of these conflicts derives from the multiplicity of Muslim approaches to Islam and theoretical contexts. We have to take it into our consideration that the epistemological origins of violence in the Muslim world largely trace back to the different interpretations of Muslim scholars from original Islam. These interpretations have shaped several scholarly and epistemic domains through the past millenniums. There are six approaches or areas of study and knowledge in the Islamic world, some of which can lead to violence or have violent interpretations, and others are peaceful and tolerant. The purpose of this article is to analyze multiple scholarly and epistemic approaches to Islam, and to point out the areas of violence or peace in each of them.

Wisdom and political wisdom are concepts with roots in Iranian-Islamic knowledge and civilization. The present paper aims to explain the essence of wisdom and political wisdom in Quran and Hadith, so that one can explain the application of Islamic political wisdom in today's world politics. Thus, we first explain the meaning of wisdom and its politicality and then we clarify it based on Quran verses. Then, in order to achieve a more objective and practical sense of this concept, we will first explore wisdom and political wisdom in interpretations and then in the Hadiths. This meaning shows that political wisdom is a practical and functional process which result in the best and most proper decisions and actions in every situation for political and government fields. One of the findings of the present article is the presentation of sources of wisdom from viewpoint of Quran and Hadith. The results show that "revelation", "reason" and "self-actualization" are the three main sources of wisdom; The first source, that is revelation, is related to Islam and divine religions, while the other two are ultra-religious and all human beings can reach wisdom through them.

Political hikmah is an Iranian-Islamic concept and although at times it has been taken as synonymous with political philosophy, it is different from both political philosophy and political thought. The present article aims to explain political hikmah in ancient Iran. This is done in three stages. First, the meaning of hikmah and political hikmah is dealt with. Then, it is briefly discussed that hikmah and political hikmah originate from ancient Iran. Finally, some principles of political hikmah are examined. Ancient Iranians tried to rely on these principles in a macro intellectual and philosophical system in order to assign governmental positions to those who deserved them, direct the government toward justice and prevent rulers from committing injustice. These principles were as follows: dividing the universe into the world and heaven, the theory of philosopher-ruler, divine charisma, imperial splendor, and rejection of the theory of dominion. Some of the discussions in this article draw on Suhrawardi, the great philosopher and founder of the philosophical school of illumination, as he has presented this philosophy appropriately and his own philosophical school is based on the hikmah of ancient Iran. Keywords: hikmah, political hikmah, ancient Iran, Suhrawardi

One of fields in the so-called Islamic political studies is the reasonable and argumental deates about the sociopolitical issues of Islam which is called political philosophy. What is the meaning of political philosophy and similar terms, and how can they be combined with Islam? Political philosophy or the philosophy of politics is a specific type of systematic thinking, thought, debate and argumentation about political concepts, issues and phenomena. Now if we add the adjective “Islamic” to each of these, they will be more complicated and gain new definitions. Even the juxtaposition of Islam and these concepts needs explanation, justification and prove. In this article, what we have provided as political philosophy and similar terms summarily includes three main terms, six mediating terms and twelve lateral terms. We have defined each of these concepts specifically so we have talked about a conceptual network of Islamic political philosophy. Of course, we have used the term "Islamic political philosophy" by which we mean this conceptual network. Therefore the aim of the article has been to provide a perspective of the term political philosophy and its related words, and provide a more clarified definition of the conceptual network of Islamic political philosophy, and define each of terms in this conceptual network. Before dealing with the main aim, it was necessary to deal with common definition of political philosophy and the possibility of Islamic political philosophy and its related notes.

This article assumes that Islamic political philosophy exists, so it responds to the main question of what does Islamic political philosophy mean, and what expressions, interpretations and schools have taken shape under this concept. The nature and meaning of Islamic political philosophy have been analyzed by a variety of opinions, viewpoints and schools, some of which are close or similar to others. Some of them have dealt with one dimension of Islamic philosophy. The purpose of this article is not to approve or critique these expressions and viewpoints. It is rather to discover and classify them and to understand what is the substance and boundaries of Islamic political philosophy. The expressions and interpretations of Islamic political philosophy belong to contemporary researchers, and the schools of Islamic political philosophy belong to the scholars of the early or medieval period.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the political views of Imam Hadi (AS) Due to the extreme conditions and political atmosphere of Imam Hadi (AS)، He did not have an opportunity to provide political views during his leadership In this paper، some of his views are discussed and analyzed from a political perspective. His first major approach to politics and government Including the Imam in the world and collaborating with oppressive regimes mentioned and then cast also features elite politics is discussed. The position of the duties which they are found. What is the political thought of Imam Hadi (AS) completed the actors and political elites gained the respect of his piety Frank and honest with people، tolerance، respect for meritocracy and bed preparation for criticizing the ruling elite politics necessary to know Informed and unbiased people must obey the rulers، the spirit of counsel and good knowledge and understanding of the state of affairs in their own craft.

There are two major interpretations of Islam that represent two opposite ends of the spectrum. At the one end of the spectrum، there is a completely peaceful interpretation of Islam، and at the other end، a violent image is presented of Islam. On this basis، the non-peaceful interpretation of Islam، some groups carry out explosions and killings، restore to terror، or prescribe violence. Since each of these interpretations has profound consequences، it is of great importance to determine which one is correct. The peacefulness of Islam، which can be inferred from the analysis of Qur’anic verses and Prophet’s Sunnah، is presumed as evident in the present article. The main question of this article is whether Islam is a religion of peace and the Qur’an does allow Muslims to start any war or violence، whether the Prophet’s wars were merely fought in self-defense، and what are the roots of non-peaceful interpretations of Islam? From the author''s viewpoint، which will later be presented as a theory، these non-peaceful interpretations of Islam are rooted in the pre-Islamic jahiliyyah (ignorance)، which returned to the Islamic society after the death of the Prophet، and was institutionalized in Islamic culture and civilization in the framework of the Umayyads and Abbasids’ desire for power and superiority.

This article aims at expounding Imam Hadi’s political views. Due to the extremely difficult conditions and extraordinary political situation during Imam Hadi’s period, he found no opportunity for expressing his political views during his Imamate. This paper seeks to elaborate on some of his views from a political perspective. First, it touches on Imam’s general view about politics and government, including the way he looks at such things like authority, this world and cooperation with tyrannies or governments in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power. Then, it deals with the main features of politicians and political elite, and it goes on to deal with the status of people and their duties in the light of Imam’s view. What has been gathered from Imam’s political thought indicates that it is necessary for politicians and political elite to have such characteristics like observing divine piety, truthfulness and sincerity in their conduct towards people, forbearance, giving special attention to meritocracy and creation an atmosphere for critics.In contrast, people should preserve to knowingly obey the rulers, not fanatically, and to have a spirit of goodwill and advice, benevolence, and good knowledge of the things.

This research's question is about Islam's strategies to contribute and facilitate relations with the non-Muslims. By Islam, we mean the Quran and Sunna, and in some cases we have referred to Imam Ali's approach. Pragmatic strategies are the ones which are objective and practical and play a significant role in facilitating the relations between Muslim and non-Muslims and can lift the impediments. These strategies are discussed under three categories centering around negotiations and dialog, agreement, and implementation.

Fouad Zakariyya, an Arab contemporary philosopher, pays attention to the existing intellectual and political problems and challenges faced by the Muslim World from a scientific and philosophical perspective. Zakariyya’s ideal is to reduce the presence of religion in the political realm, but since he regards it as unlikely to occur, he tries to present a dynamic, rational and updated narrative of Islam. In this way, he seeks, by relying on traditions –not acting directly accordingly- to offer updated solutions, replacing extremism and violence with flexibility and interaction with the world. In his outlooks, Zakariyya pays further attention to the realities of Muslim societies and the international system rather than to doctrinal and ideological discussions.

This article attempts to address the question as to what are the capabilities and opportunities of Iranian-Islamic theorization on International Relations? Answering this question, the study will initially pinpoint the existing capabilities and opportunities in order to clarify the purpose of theorizing.The capabilities of the theorization are divided into two categories: first, the historical perspective of theoretical capabilities and second, the current and practical perspective of theoretical capabilities. The historical perspective considers: I. Ancient Iranian teachings on relations among nations; II. Historical experiences of the Iranian and Islamic civilizations; III. Rich source of Persian literature.While the current and practical perspective includes: I. The possibility of reciting the Quran, traditions and hadiths of Shiia Imams; II. The possibility of accessing the required knowledge and expertise; III. The geopolitics of Iran.As long as the opportunities of Iranian-Islamic theorization on IR are concerned, they mostly depend on circumstances, and they accordingly change over period of time. However, the available opportunities could be divided into three categories as follow: first, the transitional international circumstances; second, the possibility of projecting new perspectives and schools of thought; and third, the discourse of Islamic RevolutionOverall, the Iranian-Islamic theorization on IR could be realized by considering three first, perceiving the international issues and realities; second, responding to the policies and actions of other international actors in order to pursue and safeguard the interests; and third, active action and confrontation to the changing trends and structures of International system.

As the most perfect and the last divine religion, with around one a half billion followers in about fifty countries in the world, Islam must have provided Muslims with instructions and principles, or there must be rules and principles in Islamic texts, which Muslims can put to use in their interactions with other nations. This article aims to infer and present the Islamic fundaments and principles of conduct and interaction in the international system from the Quran, Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, and conduct of Imam Ali. First, each fundament is discussed briefly, and then the principles deriving from the corresponding fundament are presented, without any explanation. By fundaments we mean the unchangeable Islamic teachings and ideas which constitute the infrastructures of Muslims’ belief and thought; and by principles, we mean the major grand strategies which are inferred from fundament and can be put into practice in different eras. Although these principles may be fixed in each era, they can be interpreted and modified in different eras depending on the sociopolitical circumstances of each epoch.

Human history is punctuated with sweet and bitter experiences, and hostility, violence, and bloodshed are among the most prominent bitter experiences. “Ethics” and ethical principles are major rules which may somehow control such atrocities and the wrath which underlies them. All religions, in general, and Islam, in particular, have promoted ethics and it has been stipulated that Prophet Mohammad (S) has been assigned to prophethood in order to complete the best ethical principles. The main question of this article is, “what ethical rules and principles have been determined by Islam in the situation of political hostility for different parties, specifically Muslims?” Islam, here, means a collection of Quran, Sunna and the practices of Imam Ali (AS). Hostility has been discussed here in two general levels of politics. First, is the internal level or the domestic politics and second, is the external level or the international politics. Hostility in internal level means hostility in a country among political parties or groups or between parties and groups, on one side, and incumbent politicians and statesmen, on the other side, and among the statesmen governing various sections of the state or the collection of all the above mentioned. By the external level of hostility we mean hostility among independent political entities or between these entities on one side and international organizations, on the other side. Hostility is categorized into two classes of “cold hostility” and “violent hostility” in any one of the above-mentioned levels. In cold hostility, there is no bloody conflict and dispute involving the use of firearms and physical violence while it happens in violent hostility. “Dissidents” are, naturally different from “enemies” and they are not alike. This paper focuses on the ethics of hostility. Every discussion here also includes dissent and dissidents and they have been differentiated from animosity and enemies.

This paper focuses on the best ways of improving the Iranian higher education and research system. Common related problems are covered in discussion of methods and approaches. These methods are discussed in three parts. Firstly, common methods and mechanisms including attitudes and cultural approaches, policymaking, infrastructures, laws and trends, and manpower, in pre-university education are deliberated. The second part, dedicated to higher education, discusses educational policy making and planning. The third part of this paper explores the mechanisms of research. Here, issues relating to research policies and infrastructures, laws, and trends have been analyzed. Although the paper is not the result of a field study, every effort has been made to take advantage of field studies. The author has paid more attention to the field of humanities, though most discussions also apply to areas other than humanities. The conclusion lists major problems with the Iranian higher education and research system while proposing the best methods for improvement of the current situation from a viewpoint different to the viewpoint put forward in the body of the paper.

Tayyib Tizini is among the prominent contemporary Arab thinkers who seek to find a way for countering the widespread decline in the Arab World, adapting Islamic teachings with certain Marxist discussions. Describing various aspects of Tizini’s thinking and challenges to the Muslim World in his viewpoint, this paper focuses on the new awakening and enlightenment movement in the Arab World containing Tizini’s political-social solutions. Though the proposal has taken shape on the basis of an adequate understanding of Islamic teachings and the conditions of the Arab World, it seems partly utopian and idealistic. The reason is that it is not methodological and ultimately decides in favors of the political and economic dominance of Marxism.