پژوهشنامه تاریخ تشیع
سال سوم شماره 3 (پیاپی 5، پاییز 1398)

Although Shiite research was the subject of research in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the west, developed a lot after changes in Islamic world and familiarity with the capacity of Shia Islam, especially after the Islamic revolution in Iran. In the first encountering of westerners with Shia Islam in crusades, Fatimids and Ismailis were introduced as representatives of Shia Islam and westerners to a large extent, under the influence of Islamic world formal spaces, considered the Shia Islam as an innovative school. The question is, what was the process of Shiite studies in the west? In this article, the evolution of westerners’ familiarity with Shia Islam and their researches in this case will be considered by using the descriptive-analytical method. Despite the gradual growth of this type of studies, there are still a few works about the Imami Shiite.

Between the years of 1266-1380/1229-1340 SH, one of the most important periods in history was the Shiite religious authority institution. In this period, the Shiite religious authority institution by passing from the previous plurality was concentrated in one authority as the total or comprehensive authority institution and most of the other mujtahids were considered as agents of this complete authority. The complete authority was usually in a privileged position in terms of knowledge, religion, and general acceptability, as well as the authority and speech influence and, was practically considered the head of the Shiite clergy organization. However, after the death of the complete authority, the mechanism of his succession was usually controversial. In the present study, the framework and manner of the succession system in the complete authority institution has been considered. After the death of the complete authority, according to what mechanism his successor was chosen? According to the research findings, although there were usually specific criteria for choosing the most suitable successor for the complete authority, a single and fixed approach was not adopted and this issue was the most important factor in the disruptions that occurred in complete authority institution in this period.

Ashura as a holy time and Karbala as a holy place is one of the most central Shiite beliefs and plays a prominent role in Shia Islam. New approaches such as phenomenology provide a new image of this common Shiite belief for the contemporary man. Mircea Eliade by a phenomenological approach in the subject of religions believes that most of the beliefs and rituals of religions are based on the creation and renovation of creation. Although Ashura rituals are reconstructions of Karbala’s tragic incident, their comparison with other nations’ rituals and renovation celebrations indicates that they have a similar concept, function, and structure. Accordingly, Ashura incident can be interpreted as the Shiite renovation ritual. Besides, Ashura beliefs and rituals extend beyond a region. Until now, such questions have led to silence or traditional answers. However, the amount of persuasiveness of traditional answers to such questions is by itself questioned. At least some part of the society welcomes new and scientific approaches. This article tries to reread Ashura rituals and beliefs through a new and non-religious approach. The goal is answering this question: Is it possible to present a comprehensible image of Ashura for non-Shiites by rereading and interaction to other similar cultures in renovation rituals?

Before compilation and writing the Prophet life by Ibn-Hisham (dead 206 or 213 H), some of Shiites or attributed to Shiite narrators during the two first Hijri centuries were less known and their narrations have been forgotten. Thus, the writer in this article tries to search in old sources to report their important narrations which are mostly related to incidents of the beginning of Islam and the virtues of the Prophet family. Findings of this study indicate that historians and Akhbārīs have reckoned some of these unknown narrators as Shiites or inclined to Shiite. This article has been written according to the descriptive method and has tried to investigate and cite old Arabic sources which are trusted by the Sunnies by maintaining scientific impartiality, and only in necessary cases, it has been cited to other narrative sources.

The beginning of the Umayyad dynasty caliphate and changing of the caliphate into monarchy is one of the most sensitive periods affecting political thought after Islam. In those days, Shiite Imams tried to preserve and revive Islamic thought against the Umayyad deviations according to their divine duty. One of the deviations that reached its peak during the time of Imam Sajjad (As) was the distortion of prophecy and leadership, and Imam Sajjad (As) resisted against the intellectual-political deviations of the Umayyad society in a special way. In this article, the activity of Imam Sajjad (As) is considered based on Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya. Among them, by content analysis, the issue of prophecy has been considered as one of the political-doctrinal dimensions in Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya to indicate his strategy to preserve the concept and status of prophecy. Imam Sajjad (As) by considering the political and social situations of his time, expressed religious beliefs and principles of religion, especially prophecy and revelation and its connection with the Imamate through prayer.

Imams’ seerah ‌, as the best lifestyle, have been welcomed in recent decades especially due to the need of religious government, and consequently, institutions and centers have been dedicated to this purpose. Despite the growing acceptance of religious rituals as manifestations of piety, Seerah and Seerah research still does not have an acceptable status for some reasons. In researches, theory-based innovations and proportionate to the issues, needs of the time are less visible and are often far from the up-to-date scientific literature. Why Seerah / Seerah research is less effective in the individual and social life of Iran Shiite community, especially the new generation? This article tries to consider the subject and think of a solution through a critical analytical method. The hypothesis is that the main cause of Seerah research inefficiency is being behind the rapid changes of today’s world or their inadequacy with stability avoidance, and the way to get rid of this situation is to know more about time and its needs, and finally to provide proportionate answers. Although, seerah, its nature and even its significance have been the subject of many types of research, it has been less considered from this point of view.