The Influence of Imam Reza’s (as) Justice-Centered Conduct on the Emergence of the Tahirid Civilizational Governance Model in Khorasan during the Reigns of Tahir and His Son Abdallah (205–230 AH)

Baghestani Kozegar, Mohammad

doi:10.22034/farzv.2024.462134.2003

The Influence of Imam Reza’s (as) Justice-Centered Conduct on the Emergence of the Tahirid Civilizational Governance Model in Khorasan during the Reigns of Tahir and His Son Abdallah (205–230 AH)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Mohammad Baghestani kozegar

. Assistant Professor, Institute of Islamic Sciences and Culture, Institute of Civilized Islam, Department of Islamic Art and Civilization, Mashhad, Iran: m.baghestani@isca.ac.ir

https://doi.org/10.22034/farzv.2024.462134.2003

Abstract

The compilation of the justice-oriented code of conduct of Ṭāhir b. Husain, the founder of the Tahirid state of Khorasan (205-251 AH/820-865 AD), is known as one of the oldest governance codes of conduct (marāmnāma) in post-Islamic Iran, which has been the subject of various researches from different perspectives. One of the aspects of interest about this code of conduct is the origin of the justice-centered ideas that Ṭāhir b. Husain has arranged in the aforementioned text. One viewpoint has tried to consider it, based on intra-textual and extra-textual evidence, as a continuation to the practice of writing letters of admonition (andarznāma) in the Sassanid era, which was established under the Islamic appearence at the beginning of the formation of the first semi-independent Iranian state in Khorasan; and another viewpoint, based on the both groups of the same evidence, considers this code of conduct to be an adaptation of the famous letter of Imam Ali (A.S.) to Mālik Ashtar. In this study, a third perspective is provided from a critical examination of these two perspectives, which considers the writing of this code of conduct and the formation of Tahirid civilizational governance during the reign of Ṭāhir and his son ‘Abdullāh (205-230 AH/820-844 AD) to be influenced by the justice-oriented sīra (mode of life) of Imam Riḍā (A.S.) during his crown princeship (wilāyat ‘ahdī) (201-203 AH/816-818 AD) in Khorasan. With this assumption and due to the historical nature of the subject, the descriptive-analytical method has also been used as the method of processing this article. The intensification of the Shī‘ī cultural atmosphere, the strengthening of justice-promotion as an important norm in governance through the construction of distinct dichotomies in the governance procedure of the institution of Imamate and the institution of Caliphate in the life of Imam Riḍā (A.S.) had a direct impact on the revival of the idea of justice-demanding among government officials, which has manifested in the form of writing a code of conduct for a just governance procedure (during the reign of Ṭāhir) and civilizational governance (with two components of justice-orientation and knowledge-promotion) during the reign of his son (‘Abdullāh), is dealt with in this research.

Keywords

Justice-oriented Sīra of Imam Riḍā (A.S.)

Abbasid Ma&rsquo

mūn

Justice

Khorasan

Tahirids

Civilizational Governance

The Holy Qur’an.

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