مجله تاریخ و تمدن اسلامی
پیاپی 43 (تابستان 1402)

Arabesque (stylized plant and geometric motifs) is sometimes considered as a feature of Islamic art and one of the innovations of Islamic civilization; On the other hand, some art historians, in addition to the characteristics of the Islamic period, have pointed out its pre-Islamic sources, especially the Sassanid and Byzantine sources and the transfer of previous cultural traditions. In this research, in addition to these two sources, Nabatean culture as a rich treasure of ancient pictorial themes has been included as another source in the field of Islamic arabesque plant motifs. The main question of this research is what were the motifs and plant motifs in Nabatean works and based on the similarities between Nabatean and Islamic motifs, to what extent can Nabatean motifs be considered as a source for Islamic arabesque? In this research, with an approach based on cultural history and various evidences, especially material artifacts and reports of archaeologists and obvious cultural similarities, we have shown that the Nabataean motifs can also be counted among the descendants of Arabesque, and on this basis, and considering the multitude of descendants The history of arabesque, the essentialist and mystical views of traditionalists in limiting the scope of interpretation of these motifs to Islamic art, are subjected to a serious revision.

The Idea of Uthmaniyya and its development in all Islamic norms and sciences,  including history, led to the formation of the Uthmaniyya school of historiography. Later, Ibn Taymiyya introduced his views to the Islamic community by presenting his views on events such as “Imam Ali's reign”. Using the descriptive-analytical method and with a comparative approach, this research seeks to achieve a deeper understanding of their tendencies by examining the differences and similarities between the historiography of Uthmaniyya and Ibn Taymiyya. The results of the studies indicated that the Uthman historians tried to present an unrealistic Image of the confrontation between Imam Ali and Mua’wiya for their audience by distorting some reports. In the meantime, Ibn Taymiyya also in many cases was agree with Uthman historians, and in some cases such as the role of Imam Ali(PBUM) in the sedition of Uthman, adopted an approach that contradicts their historical foundations

ZaydÊ thought and government appeared in Gīlān and Ṭabaristān from the third century AH. Although this phenomenon became the origin of fundamental changes in the Islamic world, it did not last long and soon external and internal challenges surrounded it and caused its weakness and decline. Few researches have been studied the causes of this decline. There are some ambiguities and lack of comprehensiveness regarding those causes, which justifies the necessity of conducting a new research. This article seeks to explain the factors of the decline of religion and the Zaidian government in northern Iran. It seems that in addition to the causes presented in the previous researches, discriminatory behavior of the ZaydÊ rulers and imams; division and competition between the people of Gīlān and Daylamān, divergence of the new generations of Alavids from Islam and its customs; and regaining of power by Bāvandiya and their support for Twelvers, preaching of Twelver scholars, the lethal challenge of the Ismāʿīliyya devotees with the Zaydis; the emergence of the Muṭarrifiyya sect in Yemen, and the desire of the Zaydis of northern Iran to migrate to Yemen in order to counter it, could be  added to the list of reasons for decline

Writing Manaqib works has been one of the Hadith compilation styles. A deepening of the Shia-Sufism link, the growth of Shia societies, the absence of Imamate in Islam, and the development of a Mahdaviyya environment, transformed the Manaqib writing. This transformation led to the growth of intellectual Sunni sect with the tendency to Shiism. This transformation was also noted in the works of Sunni authors. This study reveals how semantic developments and the role of religious, political, and social factors contribute to the question “Were the Shia thinking concepts in the Persian Sunni Manaqib works of the 14-16th centuries transformed to the benefit of Shia? This study used a historical method based on sources and the literature to suggest that in the Manaqib works of this era, there was a rising tendency to holy literature. Also, such concepts as ‘Itrat and qurbat, tavalla and tabarra and shafa’a expanded

Timår/Tamerlane (r. 771-807/1370-1405) in the third stage of his attacks, the seven-year attack, in 803/1400-1 marched to Syria (Sham). In this article, the grounds and causes of Timur's campaign to the Syria are investigated. In Timår's expansionist and religious policies, attacking the lands of Syria and Egypt was not a priority. He tried many times through letter writing and diplomacy to attract the opinion of the Mamluks to establish peaceful relations. But the reaction of the Mamluks to Timur's proposals was far from tact and diplomatic manners. The grand strategy of the Mamluks in facing Timur was neither peace nor war, while Timår was seeking to establish political and economic relations and to accept maximum support from the Mamluks. Not only the Mamluks did not accept Timår's correspondence, but also killed his emissaries and repeatedly refused Timår's request for the release of one of his generals. It was in this situation that Timår attacked Syria and started killing and destroying its cities, especially the two main cities there, Aleppo and Damascus.

During the nineteenth century, due to factors such as the domination of Western colonialists in the East and the gradual improvement of relations, the presence of Christian missionaries in Iran and the Islamic world became more widespread. Meanwhile, the church sent a female missionary named Mary Rebecca Stuart Bird (1859–1914) as part of a medical mission, paving the way for relatively new phenomena in the process of missionary activity, which can be called women's missionary work. What makes this concept even more meaningful is not only the emphasis on the role of women missionaries, but also the focus on the propagation of Christianity among women. Accordingly, the present article tries to examine Mary Bird's book entitled Persian Women and Their Creed and of course the use of other sources and research to explain this female missionary and for the basic research questions, namely the nature of her mission, her approach to Islam, His methods and propaganda tools to find a suitable answer. According to the research findings, the type of approach to Islam, the skillful use of different angles in propaganda, the use of medical needs and social problems of women are very important in advancing the ideal goal of Mary Bird, trying to Christianize Iran.