فصلنامه تاریخ فرهنگ و تمدن اسلامی
پیاپی 51 (تابستان 1402)

In the land of Yazd, the tendency towards the Shia denomination and Ahl al-Bayt's love has a long history, which goes back to the early centuries of Hejira. So far, the researches that have been done about the background of Shi'ism in Yazd have mostly been based on historical resources and texts. But what can be considered as a new perspective, and of course, it has been rarely taken care of, is paying attention to the inscriptions, which can reflect this issue with the least bias and intervention. The inscription reveals many cultural issues of its formation period, including beliefs and values, as a medium. Therefore, in this research, an attempt has been made to identify and typify the Shia content used in the pre-Safavid inscriptions of Yazd, to discuss the cultural manifestations of Shia denomination in them, and to achieve eight types of Shia themes, while the Shia religion, as the official and state religion was not recognized in Iran. In this article, the research method is descriptive-analytical, and a combination of library method and field research was considered in data collection.

A clear realizing of all aspects of Islamic culture in all its dimensions causes the objectification of desirable Islamic civilization. In the current research, the problem is that, what capacity does the congregational prayer with its requirements have in the way of building a desirable Islamic civilization? The necessity of this issue is related to the importance of a precise understanding of Islamic culture, and on the other hand, it is connected to the necessity of civilization in the Islamic society. Based on the findings of this research, which was carried out with analytical-comparative method, it is proved that the  essentials of congregational prayers convey the factors of prosperity and survival of civilization in the dimension of government and the nation, and also the prohibitions  of those factors bring the decline of civilization in the same two dimensions. Consequently, in Islamic culture, the precious tradition of congregational prayer is known as a civilizing exercise, and its high value is also connected to the great significance of civilization. Also, not only the normative requirements, but also the normative preferences in Islamic culture, must be analyzed in civilization.

With the spread of Islam in Hejaz, the naming patterns of the ignorant Arabs changed and Islamic names replaced them. This process, which commenced with the actions of the holy Prophet (S.A), continued during the era of the Rashidin Caliphs and created a different Islamic model until the end of the Umayyad period. In the current research, the study of Muslims’ naming patterns in Hijaz from the holy prophet’s mission to the end of the Umayyad period is done in a descriptive-analytical way and using statistics. The results of the research show that in the first generation of Muslims, the names that were reminiscent of idolatry or had an unpleasant meaning quickly disappeared, and on the other hand, the names that showed monotheism became the dominant names in the second generation, although this change in the naming pattern of women it was done later. Also, the existing sectarianism among Muslims and the Umayyad policies against Shiism influenced the naming of Muslims and created a clear competition between the names of Shiite imams and the names of the three caliphs.

As the first Shiite city-state of Iran, the Ash'aris were in charge of the administration of governance in the geography of Qom until the 4th century of Hijri, and with logical interactions with the natives of this region, they were able to create a favorable and common social atmosphere. Based on the examination of historical sources and the generalization of the important events of this period with the patterns known in political science, it is possible to calculate the approaches of civilization in the life of this dynasty. Since one of the prerequisites for the establishment of civilizations is the formation of governments, this city-state took initial steps in the continuation of its government, which is considered in the true sense of trying to lay the groundwork for the creation of a civilization. Therefore, in order to create a civilization, one of the requirements for the civilization of this city state is to try to change the social life of the region towards urbanization, to form an orderly social and political structure, to promote laws based on the contracts of the covenants, to formalize the Shia religion, to interact politically with the government, and tolerate religiously with other religions, establishing schools and promoting science. Although this city government went out of the limelight after Al-Buye came to power and also in political actions, but it was a precursor to Islamic civilization that reached its flowering in the fourth century.

Soft war, which is based on intellectual and cultural approaches, attempts to dominate the target societies in this way. On the other hand, architecture is the context of culture and includes life, which can be known as one of the targets of cultural invasion; therefore, it plays a significant role in confronting the cultural war. How the culture war affects Iranian-Islamic architecture in the recent century is the main question of this article that has been attempted to answer this question by using analytical-explanatory, interpretative-historical and case study methods. According to the results of the research, the influences of the culture war in Iranian architecture have three periods: the Nasrid period, which is the beginning of the decline of Iranian-Islamic architecture, and physical changes, which have become the basis for changing the content. During the Pahlavi period, cultural invasions continuously targeted and transformed the content and body of Iranian architecture, and after the Islamic revolution, cultural invasions sought to change what society likes in order to achieve cultural hegemony by changing the architectural content.

With the beginning of the Safavid government, a special effort was made to promote various rites of the Shia denomination. Paying attention to the graves of the religious leaders, including the shrines of Imamzadgan, which were scattered in different regions of the country, is a clear manifestation of this effort. As, the Safavid rulers took several deeds to promote the pilgrimage of the mentioned shrines. Based on this, the current research is attempting to find an answer to the question, what was the position of Imamzadegan shrines in the Safavid era? In response to the mentioned question, the result that is obtained is that: due to the activities carried out in various fields such as construction and repair of buildings, the creation of coherent organizations such as schools and cemeteries, gradually the pilgrimage and social status of these shrines grew significantly. So, after the shrines of the infallible imams, they were considered the most important places of pilgrimage. Due to the great importance of shrines of Imamzadegan in the religious and daily life of people in the society, it is doubly necessary to know the contexts and factors of their formation, especially in the Safavid period. The present research, using the descriptive-analytical research method as well as the way of library data from authentic historical sources, after describing and classifying the various aspects of the position of Imamzadegan Shrine, analyzes and interprets these characteristics and its various effects.

"Chegins" referred to a group of cannibal executioners in the court of the Safavid kings who attacked the victim like wild animals and ate him alive on the order of the king. The importance of the issue is that some researchers have considered these heinous acts to be caused by sectarian motives. The present research examines the validity and inaccuracy of these historical reports with a descriptive-analytical approach, using a library method based on historical study, and discusses the motivation of this action. The findings of the research indicate that the commission of this act was recorded at least several times during the period of the Safavid kings. Since the opinion of the Qazlbasans towards the Safavid Shah at the beginning of the Safavid period was so exaggerated that they considered him to be the embodiment of God, therefore, during the period of Shah Esmail I, the recorded cannibalism was considered to be a proof of the loyalty of the Qazlbasans to the master and the king. But during the period of Shah Abbas I, cannibalism was a political act and far from sectarian motives. It seems that the commission of such acts is the result of personal and political biased thoughts of some Safavid kings, as well as the motivations of this act were also analyzed as a foolish behavior combined with the ignorance of a group of Safavid supporters. Of course, new research approaches regarding the political-religious tendencies of Qazlbashan during the Safavid period can be obtained for the researcher by reflecting on the religious rituals of Qazlbashan and also the motivation of the Safavid kings in ordering this action.