The Status of Theological Hadiths in Razavi Culture: A Study Through the Lens of Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Social Capital

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor of the Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Faculty of theology and Islamic Studies, Allameh Tabataba`i University, Tehran, Iran: ashtari.tafreshi@atu.ac.ir

Abstract
The Imami society of Razavi’s era was dynamic and had all political, social and religious capacities. The semantic and didactic centrality of Imam Reza (PBUH) led to the formation of a special model of worldview, beliefs, behaviors and actions in this society, which can be called Razavi culture. In a number of hadiths of Imam Reza (PBUH), which are available in the hadith collections of Imams, from Al-Tawheed by Sheikh Sadouq to Musnad al-Reza (PBUH), theological topics can be studied under the headings of principles of Imamiyyah. Based on a library and descriptive-citation method, benefiting from the historical analysis of the period of Imam Reza (PBUH) and using the concepts of Bourdieu’s capital theory, which defines the cultural demarcations within each society under the title of “social field”, this research has shown that the theological hadiths of Imam Reza (PBUH) are part of the main frameworks of the social field of the Imamiyyah, which are used to build or stabilize the different aspects of the Shiite religious principles such as monotheism, prophet hood and Imamate; by explaining the concepts of faith, beliefs and religious foundations of Shiism, these hadiths cause differentiation, a reformist attempt to explain, or an approach of rejection against deviant beliefs, as well as confrontation with hostile approaches of other religions, when the process have the ability to be analytically matched with the concept of social fields in Bourdieu’s capital theory. The social field of Imamiyyah in the Razavi era contributed to the consolidation of Shia belief as a dynamic belief-practice religion against the denial efforts of every competing social field, including Islamic and non-Islamic, and it was a part of the history of the survival of Imamiyyah culture.

Keywords


The Holy Quran.
Azarnush, A., & Zaryab Khoei, A. (1403 Sh./2024). Ibn Muqaffaʿ, Abū Muḥammad. In Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī [The Great Islamic Encyclopedia]. Tehran: Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia. [In Persian]
Baghdadi, ʿAbd al-Qahir ibn Tahir. (n.d.). Al-Farq bayn al-firaq [The difference between the sects] (T. ʿAbd al-Raʾuf Saʿd, Ed.). Cairo: Bulaq. [In Arabic]
Barakat, M. (n.d.). Musnad al-Riḍā (a.s.). Mīrāth-i Ḥadīthī-yi Shīʿa [Shiite Hadith Heritage], 9, 53–77. [In Persian]
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste (R. Nice, Trans.). London: Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice (R. Nice, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J.-C. (1997). Reproduction in education, society and culture (R. Nice, Trans.). London: Sage Publications.
Chauviré, C., & Fontaine, O. (1385 Sh./2006). Vāzhegān-i Bourdieu [Bourdieus vocabulary] (M. Kotobi, Trans.). Tehran: Ney. [In Persian]
Darvishpour, A., & Amiri, M. (1400 Sh./2021). Tabyīn-i ravish-shināsānah-yi bīkārgīrī-yi badīhiyyāt-i manṭiqī dar istidlāl-hā-yi kalāmī-yi Imām Ṣādiq (a.s.) [A methodological explanation of the use of logical axioms in the theological arguments of Imam Ṣādiq (a.s.)]. Ilāhiyyāt-i Qurʾānī [Quranic Theology], 9(16), 111–129. [In Persian]
Fakuhi, N. (1385 Sh./2006). Pierre Bourdieu: Pursamān-i dānish va rawshangarī [Pierre Bourdieu: The problematic of knowledge and enlightenment]. ʿUlūm-i Ijtimāʿī, Dānishgāh-i Firdawsī-yi Mashhad [Social Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad], 5, 141–161. [In Persian]
Habibi, ʿA. H. (1363 Sh./1984). Tārīkh-i Afghānistān baʿd az Islām [The history of Afghanistan after Islam]. Tehran: Afsun. [In Persian]
Haji Khalifeh, M. ibn ʿA. (1384 Sh./2005). Tarjumah-yi Taqwīm al-tawārīkh [Translation of Taqwīm al-tawārīkh] (Anonymous Trans.; H. Mohaddes, Ed.). Tehran: Miras-e Maktub. [In Persian]
Hakimian, A. (1368 Sh./1989). ʿAlaviyān-i Ṭabaristān [The Alavids of Tabaristan]. Tehran: Nashr-e Elham. [In Persian]
Hamadani, H. ibn Faḍl Allah, & Juhani, H. Sulayman. (n.d.). Al-Ṣulayḥiyyūn [The Sulayhids]. Damascus: Dar al-Mukhtar lil-Tibaʿah wa al-Nashr. [In Arabic]
Ibn al-Athir, ʿA. ibn M. (1385 AH). Al-Kāmil fī al-tārīkh [The complete history]. Beirut: Dar Sader. [In Arabic]
Ibn Babawayh, M. ibn ʿA. (1398 AH). Al-Tawḥīd [Monotheism] (S. H. Hosseini Tehrani, Ed.). Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islami. [In Arabic]
Javadi, A. (1398 Sh./2019). Ijtimāʿiyyāt dar Musnad al-Imām al-Riḍā (a.s.) [Social issues in Musnad al-Imam al-Riḍā (a.s.)] [Masters thesis, Hakim Sabzevari University]. [In Persian]
Javadi, A., & Ashtari Tafreshi, A. (1403 Sh./2024). Bāztāb-i taḥavvulāt-i farhang-i Īrānī-Islāmī dar dādah-hā-yi tārīkh-i ijtimāʿī: Muṭāliʿah-yi mawrdī-yi aḥādīth-i Musnad al-Riḍā (a.s.) [The reflection of Iranian-Islamic cultural developments in social-historical data: A case study of the hadiths of Musnad al-Riḍā (a.s.)]. Muṭāliʿāt-i Tārīkhī-yi Qurʾān va Ḥadīth [Historical Studies of the Quran and Hadith], 30(78), 13–33. [In Persian]
Jenkins, R. (1385 Sh./2006). Pierre Bourdieu (L. Javāfshānī & H. Chavoshian, Trans.). Tehran: Ney. [In Persian]
Juwayni, ʿAṭā-Malik. (1358 Sh./1979). Tārīkh-i Jahāngushā-yi Juwaynī [The history of the world conqueror] (M. Qazvini, Ed.). Tehran: Donyaye Ketab. [In Persian]
Khakpour, H., Akbari, M., & Nouri, I. (1402 Sh./2023). Taḥlīl-i rawīkarḍ-i irtibāṭāt-i Imām Riḍā (a.s.) bā sarān-i firqah-yi Wāqifiyyah: Bā ulgūgīrī az ravish-i taḥlīl-i guftumān-i rivāyī-yi PADM [An analysis of Imam Riḍās communicative approach toward the leaders of the Wāqifiyyah sect based on the PADM narrative discourse analysis method]. Farhang-i Razavi, 11(1/44), 117–143. [In Persian]
Kulayni, M. ibn Yaʿqub. (1388 AH). Al-Kāfī (A. A. Ghaffari, Ed.). Tehran: Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyyah. [In Arabic]
Lewis, B. (1389 Sh./2010). ʿAbbāsiyān [The Abbasids] (A. Ashtari Tafreshi, Trans.). Nāmah-yi Tārīkh-Pazhūhān [Journal of Historians], 24, 152–180. [In Persian]
Malcolm, J. (1380 Sh./2001). Tārīkh-i kāmil-i Īrān [The complete history of Persia] (I. ibn M. A. Hayrat, Trans.; M. Qominejad, Ed.; A. A. Abdollahi, Comp.). Tehran: Afsun. [In Persian]
Masʿudi, ʿA. ibn H. (1979). Murūj al-dhahab wa maʿādin al-jawhar [Meadows of gold and mines of gems] (C. Pellat, Ed.). Beirut: Dar al-Maʿarif. [In Arabic]
Nashar, ʿA. S. (1977). Nashʾat al-fikr al-falsafī fī al-Islām [The emergence of philosophical thought in Islam]. Cairo: Dar al-Maʿarif. [In Arabic]
Nizami, A. ibn ʿU. (1364 Sh./1985). Chahār maqālah [Four discourses] (M. Qazvini, Ed.). Tehran: Eshraqi. [In Persian]
Nawbakhti, H. ibn M. (1404 AH). Firaq al-Shīʿah [Shiite sects]. Beirut: Dar al-Adwaʾ. [In Arabic]
Qomi, H. ibn M. (1385 Sh./2006). Tārīkh-i Qom [The history of Qom] (H. ibn ʿA. Qomi, Trans.). Qom: Ayatollah Marashi Najafi Library. [In Persian]
Qotbi, S., Rahnama, A., Rahbari-Pak, N., & Najafi, H. (1395 Sh./2016). Taḥlīl-i ravish-hā-yi āmūzishī-yi Imām Riḍā (a.s.) bā takyah bar Musnad al-Imām al-Riḍā (a.s.) [An analysis of Imam Riḍās educational methods based on Musnad al-Imam al-Riḍā (a.s.)]. Farhang-i Razavi, 16, 47–70. [In Persian]
Rabbani Golpayegani, A. (1385 Sh./2006). Darāmadī bih Shīʿah-shināsī [An introduction to Shiite studies]. Qom: World Center for Islamic Sciences. [In Persian]
Saeedi Mehr, M. (1377 Sh./1998). Āmūzish-i kalām-i Islāmī [Teaching Islamic theology]. Qom: Taha. [In Persian]
Safari Forushani, N. (1378 Sh./1999). Firqah-hā-yi Shīʿī [Shiite sects]. Mashhad: Astan Quds Razavi. [In Persian]
Shabankarehi, M. ibn ʿA. (1381 Sh./2002). Majmaʿ al-ansāb [The compendium of genealogies]. Tehran: Amir Kabir. [In Persian]
Ashtari Tafreshi, A., & Goodini, M. (1402 Sh./2023). Taḥlīl-i padīdah-yi gustarish-i madāris dar Dimashq va Ḥalab bā taʾkīd bar dawrah-yi Zangiyān: Bar mabnā-yi naẓariyyah-yi sarmāyah-yi Bourdieu [An analysis of the spread of madrasas in Damascus and Aleppo with emphasis on the Zangid period: Based on Bourdieus theory of capital]. ʿIlm va Tamaddun dar Islām [Science and Civilization in Islam], 4(15), 33–55. [In Persian]
Attardi Khabushani, A. (1413 AH/1993). Musnad al-Riḍā (a.s.). Beirut: Dar al-Safwah. [In Arabic]
Tārīkh-i Sīstān [The history of Sistan]. (1366 Sh./1987). M. T. Bahar (Ed.). Tehran: Padideh-ye Khavar. [In Persian]
Tzanakis, M. (2011). Bourdieus social reproduction thesis and the role of cultural capital in educational attainment: A critical review of key empirical studies. Educate, 11(1), 76–90.
Van Ess, J. (1397 Sh./2018). Kalām va jāmiʿah dar sadah-hā-yi duvvum va sivvum-i hijrī [Theology and society in the second and third centuries AH] (F. Banki & A. A. Heidari, Trans.; S. M. R. Beheshti, Ed.; Vol. 1). Qom: University of Religions and Denominations. [In Persian]