mohsen massumi

Mohiyals are a branch of Brahmins who are divided into seven clans. One of the Mohyal clans is the Dett, who are famous among the Shiites because of the popular stories about the presence of their ancestors in the Karbala. This clan of Brahmins believe that one of their ancestors, named Sidh Datt Rai ir Rahib, participated in the Battle of Karbala with with seven of his sons. Rahib returned to Punjab after seven of his sons were killed during the uprising. From that time until now, the descendants of Rahib, in order to honor her and also the mourning of Imam Hussain, mourn together with the Shiites during the days of Muharram. Therefore, this group of Brahmins have been known as Hosseini Brahmins since the 19th century. In this article, the accuracy of this claim of the Hosseini Brahmins and the compatibility of the narratives in their history with the sources of Islamic history have been examined. Also, the reasons for the greater popularity of these Brahmins from the 19th century onwards have been investigated

Although Iran has never been formally colonized, the anti-colonial ideology was disseminated there. The root of Iranian anti-colonial thoughts, often, has been studied in the context of the history of the relations between Iran and European powers such as Britain and Russia. The current research suggests a new opinion and assumes that Iranian used the experience of British colonial in India to form and propagate the anti-colonial discourse. Since the second half of 19th century, a variety of texts concerning British rule in India has written in Persian. A content analysis of these works and the social conditions in which they were embedded indicate that the anti-colonial discourse in Iran was because of fear of loss of national and religious identity and so, they tried to use the British colonial adventures in India for publicizing the anti-colonial ideology.

After the arrival of Islam to Iran, Zoroastrians converted to Islam with different political, social, religious and economic motivations. This research intends to study the effect of Zoroastrian economic motives in converting to Islam by using descriptive-analytical method and benefitting from historical sources. This is a topic that has not been much paid attention by the researchers. The result of this study shows that in the first century AH, in addition to political, social and religious motivations, Zoroastrians converted to Islam due to various economic motives, such as sharing booties (G̲h̲anīmat), receiving a pension from the Court of Atta (Dīwān-iʿaṭāʾ), attainment of government positions, exemption from paying per capita tax (Djizya), and reduction of tribute (Kharāj).

The Lodi dynasty (855-932 AH/1451-1526 AD) and Sur dynasty (947-963 AH/1540-1556) ruled Delhi and parts of the Indian subcontinent in the 9/10 centuries AH (15/16 centuries AD). India, like other eras, was very religiously diverse during the reigns of these dynasties, and it was not easy for the Afghan sultans to govern it. Moreover, the Muslims of India belonged to various religious groups and sects, and these groups sometimes challenged the authority of the Lodi and Sur rulers. These rulers also had to treat with the Hindus, who constituted the majority of the Hindus, in a way that would not cause them widespread dissatisfaction and revolt. The present paper intends to examine the religious policy of the Lodi and Sur sultans in a descriptive and analytical manner and to answer the question of what policy the Afghan rulers adopted towards the Sunni Muslims, Shiites, Sufis, Mahdavia and Hindus. According to the findings of this study, the policy of the Afghan rulers towards different religious groups was more dependent on the political interests and ethnic interests of the kings and the ruling class than on the religion of these groups. In this way, the supporters of the government benefited from the tolerance of the kings regardless of their religion, however the opponents were persecuted

After the eighth century AD., following the Arab conquest of Iran and the decline of local stability, some the Iranians rose against the Arab rulers. According to some scholars, the purpose of the leaders was to achieve Iranian independence and restore the Zoroastrian religion. If these uprisings were nationally motivated and patriotic, how would the clerics, who were the custodians of the Zoroastrian religion and Iranian culture and customs in the absence of the Shah, react to these uprisings? This study shows that the Iranian movements had more social and economic aspects; their founders and participants were mostly the followers of Zoroastrian sects such as Beh Afridiyeh and Khorramdini (Nomzdakian). They sometimes had eclectic beliefs that their clerics considered heretical and dangerous for the Zoroastrian community. The clerics considered these beliefs as heresy, which destroys Zoroastrian unity and cohesion, so they didn't support and even opposed these movements.

There are various views on the way of advent of Islam in Iran and the way of Iranians confronting with the conquerors, the why and how of their tendency toward Islam and its reflection on the national identity of Iranians. Dr. Zarrinkub, an intellectual and nationalist historian and Motahhari, a religionist scholar, have investigated this issue. Regardless of the intellectual development of Dr. Zarrinkub during the decades after writing the book “Two Centuries of Silence”, if this very book is considered as the basis, it could be deemed that Zarrinkub has considered invasion of Iran by Arabs as an aggressive action and their change of religion as a compulsory issue while he has evaluated Islam as the element effective on the exaltation of Iranian culture as he has regarded an Islamic- Iranian identity for the Iranian.  Nevertheless, Motahhari, in his book named “Mutual Service of Islam and Iran”, with the denial of opposition between national identity and Islamism, has regarded the entrance of Muslims toward Iran as a liberal movement, the tendency of the Iranian toward Islam as a willing action and Islam as the savor for the Iranian community

When British came to the India in the 19th century, Muslim has been faced with West and their accomplishments as well. Sultan Jahan Begum, the last Begum of Bhopal, was one of the most significant and influential Muslim who had a well-connected and close relationship with British in this time. she not only considered the education of Muslim women necessary, but also attached more importance to their education than men, and believed that if women were properly educated, the family and, consequently, society would prosper. Therefore, she spent an important part of her life in educating Indian Muslim girls and women. In this research, Which is compiled in the library method, after a brief introduction to Sultan Jahan Begum, her activities on the education of Muslim girls and women are described. Findings declare that Sultan jahan begum has taken various practical and theoretical measures to advance her educational aims

The purpose of writing this article is to study the Mugals school of painting with the formation of the work of Hamza-namah, in the creation of which Iranian artists had an important role. In this research, we seek to: What are the effective factors in the formation of the Mugals school of painting? The structure of this school of art is derived from which schools? What effect has Iranian painting had on this school? As a finding of this research, it can be stated that the presence of Iranian artists in the second period of Homayoun Mughl’s reign(962-963AH/1553-1554AD) in India caused the influence of Iranian art on Indian art and the core of Mugals school of painting emerged in which subsequently the attitude And there are significant approaches that need to be explored and pondered. . Moghal’s coincidence with the Safavids led to babur to become acquainted with artists such as Behzad, and the Behzad Art School was welcomed at the Moghal court before Iranian artists immigrated to India It should be noted at first, this school was derived from schools such as Herat and Tabriz, but later an eclectic method consisting of Iranian, Indian and European elements emerged, Which later influenced Indian and Iranian painting. But what is known as the Mughal School of Painting was influenced by Iranian painting and schools of painting were established in the Indian states. The presence of these artists, their cooperation and efforts with the Mughal court, created a huge illustrated version such as Hamza-nama and this great work can be considered the beginning of the formation of this school and known as one of the best examples of painting in the Moghal school and the Islamic book designing of India. The existence of some plant, animal and celestial elements has created realistic or, conversely, imaginative scenes that have been very similarly depicted in Safavid schools of painting. One of the important features of Hamza-nama paintings is the abundance of characters in each scene, the painter of which, unlike the usual paintings of the era, completely defines the different moods of the characters. Iranian artists have taken every step in this school None of this was based on coincide and they have used Iranian painting using the method of colors. The story of Hamza-nama is one of the prolific Iranian folk epics in the biography of Amir Hamza, the Prophet’s (pbuh) uncle and his battles, and a mythological description and legend of his heroism and bravery in the face of infidelity, evil and sin, which was admired by the Moghal kings. Various sources have numbered one thousand two hundred and two thousand and four hundred of these paintings, of which one hundred fifty two are left, which were curated by Mir seyyd Ali-e Tabrizi(D.975AH/ 1566AD) and Abdul samad Shirazi(969AH,1560AD). After Hamza-nama, other large illustrated versions such as Babar-nama, Akbar-nama and large Albumes such as Golshan and Golestan were formed, which are very important in their place.Finally, as a result, it should be said that the interests and desires of the Mugals sultans on the other hand, and the lack of a suitable bed and space for painting in parts of the Safavid court on the other hand caused many artists to migrate to the Mugals court. This migration became the main factor in the formation of the Mugals school of painting, and according to that, the meaning and concept of space in the art of painting changed according to the Mugals.The method of this research is descriptive-analytical and with a historical approach, it seeks to re-read the important factor in creating the Gurkanian school of painting and the first valuable work in it. Scientific data has been collected in a library style among historical and artistic works in Islamic civilization.

J. K. Choksy evaluated the relationship between Zoroastrians and Muslims in Conflict and Cooperation; Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society. In this paper, we tried to critically review Choksy's book and clarify its position in Islamic and Iranian studies. It seems that his work suffers from major weaknesses in terms of historical insight and methodology because he is primarily a scholar of religions, not a historian. However, his work is admirable for using Zoroastrian resources, its evaluating end of time literature and overviewing the mutual influences of Zoroastrian and Islamic texts from each other in writing the life conducts of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Zoroaster. Nevertheless, Choksy's sympathy for Zoroastrians, low proficiency in Arabic, weakness of historical methodology and recognition of resources as well as of his sometimes false historical views and analyses are of the most important shortcomings of Conflict and Cooperation.

The formation of Shiite Navab Awadeh rule in north India in the twelfth century AD has led to the spread of Shi'ism in the area. Spending a lot of money and expenses, Nawab promotee and encouraged Hindus to participate in the rituals of Muharram, and as a result, the Shiite culture and customs, especially the ritual of mourning of Imam Hossein become a general culture and expanded in the vast area of the North India and gradually Sunni Muslims and Hindus also participated in the ceremony. Their participation gradually took it under the effect of local customs and traditions. This article aims to survey the reasons and motives of Hindus participation in Muharram ceremony and its consequences from the formation of Shiite Nawab Awadeh rule up to British domination in this area.

Islam in South East Asia Since the beginning has been mystical and moderate. Striking feature of the Muslims of the region in different periods of history and in contemporary times has been lack of prejudice towards people of other faiths and local beliefs and peaceful coexistence with them. Indeed, Islam in South East Asia has always been peaceful and smiling face. From the late 18th and early 19th centuries Wahhabi ideas were introduced to South East Asia Muslim. From this period, many scholars of the region have traveled to Mecca, Medina and Cairo to complete their education and in these educational centers became familiar with the Wahhabi Ulema. In the 20th century and after the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and creation of the training centers in South East Asia, Wahhabi influence on Muslims in the region increased. Wahhabi activities in this period in South East Asia have caused some Muslim to extremism and intolerance towards followers of other religions and faiths. In this article we will study how the arrival of Wahhabism in South East Asia and the share of Wahhabism in Muslim tendency for intolerance and extremism will be studied.

Islamic Historiography in its formal form and style started from the time that a combined culture and civilization inspired by the religious teachings and instructions and using the experiences of other nations and civilizations, had been created in the Islamic territories under the leadership of Arab Caliphs. Compiling the general history of the world and specially the history of Islam had been accompanied by the development of Shuubiyya movement from one side and by the numerous effects of the pre-Islamic Iranian culture and civilization in all the aspects of the social and political life of the Muslims from the other side. So the Muslim historians who were originally Iranians and had chosen the Arabic language as their written language and also the non-Iranians who had been attracted by the pre-Islamic Iranian culture and civilization, had been influenced greatly by the ancient Iran and numerated the virtues and advantages of the Iranian ancient kings in their works. Paying attention to the different aspects of Ancient Iranian culture and history and expressing its glory and greatness and sometimes regretting the ancient Iranian history in the works of these historians have been sometimes considerable and prominent. This article is going to have a survey on the archaism in the works of the historians whose authors were Iranian Arabs or had extreme inclination towards the pre-Islamic Iranian civilization and culture.

Various theories have been brought up about the way of capturing Iran by Muslim Arabs and the fall of Sassanid Empire. The issue of how and why Arabs could deprive the great Sassanid Empire, and so they could dominate Iran in those times during almost one century is important, but the subject of the present study is the role of Iranians in the victory over Iran and their degree of cooperation with conquerors. Iranians cooperated with Arabs due to such motives as preserving properties, spirits and status, fearing and under compulsion. The Iranians ' cooperation with Arabs includes receiving news, reporting, receiving, military cooperation and so on. The era which is discussed in the present study begins with the first victories in the time of Abu- bakr, and continues until Yazdgerd death and the end of the first century A.H.

Deccan was under the control of six Muslim ruling dynasties, i.e. the Bahmanîds and their successors from the second half of the eight century to the end of the eleventh century (A.H.). Most of the ruling class, the aristocrats and courtiers in that period were Muslims. But the state particularly villages and small towns were dominated practicing Hindus and they still form the majority in Deccan. Consequently, the Muslims minority had no way but to employ the experienced and capable natives to rule over the Hindus and administer the military and governmental organizations of that vast territory. Moreover, they employed Hindus in large numbers for their military and governmental organizations. Giving Hindus more religious freedom, Muslim dynasties paved the way for their further effective cooperation. The main reliance of the Muslim kings in military affairs was on Maratha tribes and a number of big Maratha families with forces serving them. The financial organizations of these dynasties were mainly controlled by the Brahmans. In addition, the Hindus had a great influence on political issues and the court hence; some of them achieved the highest ranks such as ministerial position (pîshwâ). This article aims at reviewing the role and share of the Hindus in administrating the bodies of the Deccan Muslim governments in three areas of military, finance and politics.