پژوهشنامه تاریخ تشیع
پیاپی 1 (بهار 1396)

One of the well-known Persian history sources on the field of biography of Shiite Imams is Nāsikh al-tawārikh. Written in the period of Qajar dynasty this book is a general history but with Shiite view on twelve Imam lives, contrary to the elaborating Umayyad and Abbasid biography which was a common trend. In this paper, we try to assess the sources of Nāsikh al-tawārikh regarding the biography of the seventh Shia Imam, Musa al-Kadhim (as). To examine the authors’ general orientation and the method they adopt to select narratives, this research would present the shiite overall view points about Imams at the time of Qajar dynasty.

Abasalt Abd al-Salam Ibn Salih (16- 236 A.H) is a well known Hadith narrator at the time of Imam Reza and Imam Javad ( A.S). This research seeks to explore various aspects of Abasalt’s life and personality. It is ranging from investigation on his communication with Imam Reza to his ideology especially the issue of disagreements over his true belief in Islam from among Sunni and Shiite Ulama. The research also studies on the dispute over the location of his grave. Based on authenticated sources this research finds that in his early days Abasalt used to follow Sunni school of thought, however, later on he converted to Imamieh Shiite and became one of Imam Reza's certain companions.

One of the functions of the Shiite scholars in society which is derived from the Islamic teachings has been helping the needy to overcome their hardships. Establishing charity organizations Sheikh Bahai (953-1030/1031 A.H.) is among those great scholars who was in constant serving the needy, poor, homeless and orphans. Regardless his scholastic, religious and administrative career the present study deals with Sheikh’s social behavior in terms of interaction with the destitute. One of the findings of the present study is that Sheikh Bahai made effective efforts to improve the well-being of poor people to relieve them from hardships. Moreover his presence in the royal court and his cooperation with the Safavid kings did not diminish his concerns towards the poor. Rather he tried to shelter the destitute from king’s tyranny.

Shi'ite Imams regarding the context and conditions, in their various ways including sermons, lectures and letters, transmitted Islamic concepts and teachings. Until the age of Imam Kazem (as), there was a direct and immediate link between the Imams and the Shiites to a certain extent. But with the caliphate’s increasing political pressures on Shiites and because of the dispersion of followers of the Imams (as) in different regions, the presence of the Shiites and their oral conversation with Imams were replaced with their correspondence and letter writing. Since the age of Imam Kazem (as), letter writing was one of the main means of transmitting religious concepts and teachings. The main question of the present research is what are the features of content, structure and literature of the letters of Imams (as) addressed to the Shiites from the period of Imam Kazem (as) until the beginning of the Major Occultation? The reflection on these texts, which, on the eve of the time of the Minor Occultation, was the only written means of the Imams to maintain contact with the Shiites, they indicated that Imams were careful about each other not to harm the audience, and therefore the use of arrays such as metaphor and figurative expression was commonplace in such writings. In terms of the content, those letters also contain authentic Islamic teachings, especially those of general and special imamate, occultation, religious sentences, and condemnation of the ghulāt.

Collecting a large number of Hadith books to provide Bihar al-Anvar, Majilisi. dedicated first five chapters to introduce, review and criticize the sources. The bibliography is based on two axes: the recognition of real writers and the authenticity of the documents in terms of narrators. At the former attempt Majlisi carefully examines the narratives as well as the style and content of the book's writing in order to judge the writer. He would genuinely find the common mistakes on bibliography and tries to reinterpret some ill assumptions. In terms of authenticity of narrations, Majlisi is more concerned about the writers of the books than is about the narrators.

Hajj Hossein Tabatabai Boroujerdi (1212/1254 A.H - 1340 Solar C.) was one of the greatest Iranian Shiite scholars (Ulama) as well as World’s, notably in the last fifteen years of his life. Regarding the period of constitutional revolution in Iran, this research would focus on Ayatollah Broujerdi’s attitude on civil law and some relevant concepts such as freedom, rules and civil rights in the idea of constitution advocates. Taking descriptive-analytical method based on library resources, documents and field studies this research is to answer these questions: Did Ayatullah believe in the right of people to contribute to the politics? And did he acknowledge the fundamental components of the civil law at Constitutional revolution era?