Journal of Razavi Culture

Abstract In today’s complex, multidimensional world, the need for profound, multifaceted, and layered thinking is more critical than ever. This study aims to elucidate the significance of networked thinking as a pivotal tool for individual and societal growth, grounded in an analysis of the teachings and intellectual traditions of Imam Reza (AS) in promoting a culture of authentic thinking. By examining the concept of thinking and its various forms in contemporary scientific literature, as well as its semantic foundations in Imam Reza’s (AS) tradition, this article concludes that:  1. The core of his teachings lies in institutionalizing Quranic thought—a framework that transcends conventional analytical reasoning (e.g., analytical, critical, logical, systemic, creative, and future-oriented thinking) without contradicting it.  2. This Quran-anchored authentic thinking elevates beyond such reasoning, positioning itself in the human heart, where intellect and spirituality unite at their highest levels. Imam Reza (AS) emphasizes the systematic connection between the heart, language, and thought, asserting that the heart is the primary locus of reflection and reasoning, from which all human actions and speech emanate.  Strategies to cultivate this thinking include: remembrance of the Divine, self-examination, purifying the heart from impurities, contemplation of divine verses and creation, patience in adversity, encouraging inquiry, openness to truth, avoiding intellectual rigidity, reflecting on mortality, understanding the philosophy of divine commandments, and mindful silence. These practices form an overarching umbrella for other thinking paradigms—such as logical, critical, strategic, systemic, creative, and meaning-oriented thinking—by infusing thought with boundless spiritual depth and liberating it from worldly, materialistic constraints.  

Abstract National unity, meaning the alignment and coordination of the components of a political and social system, as the most important factor of national authority, the foundation of development and progress, and reducing internal and external threats, is of great importance for all countries. This matter is of double importance for the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is faced with the large number of efforts of the Arrogant Front to undermine its national unity. For national unity, they list several factors such as: land and territory, language, government, race and ethnicity, traditions and customs, intellectual heritage, myths and heroes, and the like, and there is a consensus about their role in strengthening national unity. But what is less mentioned is the role of religion and religious teachings in national unity; Some people even consider religion against national unity. This is despite the fact that religious beliefs have a much more important role in the stability of national unity than other factors. Considering the important role of religion and religious teachings in shaping the national unity of Iranians, it is appropriate to examine the role of Imam Reza’s teachings in this regard. The findings of this research, which is organized in a descriptive and analytical way, shows that Imam’s emigration to Iran, advice for unity and avoiding differences, justice, protection of human dignity, theoretical and practical confrontation with discrimination, moral characteristics and his respect for other sects have played an inspiring role in shaping and strengthening the national unity of Iranians in alignment with Islamic teachings and Islamic unity.

Abstract   Holy Shrines, as spiritual destinations for pilgrimages and excursions on urban and extra-urban scales, are considered an Iranian Islamic model in the manifestation of Iranian Islamic identity. From the perspective of Iranian Islamic identity, it is emphasized to utilize the existing areas of cities in promoting the cultural, social and economic dimensions of that city. Imamzadehs can be one of these valuable areas, an attraction for pilgrims and religious tourists, which in turn, with the arrival of religious tourists, emphasizes social homogeneity and strengthens the social identity of the city. The purpose of this article is to explain the importance of pilgrimage and Holy Shrines as an Iranian Islamic model of religious tourism in promoting Iranian Islamic identity for religious cities and to study practical solutions to strengthen this approach. This research is of a qualitative type that is carried out by describing and analyzing the content of texts and logical reasoning and documentary and library study methods. Such an approach will require planning to introduce, provide the services, facilities, and equipment needed, especially residential complexes, and design and develop the Imamzadehs in a contextual manner. In the cultural and social dimension, attracting individuals and groups of the community in a single space and instilling a religious and spiritual feeling, it is considered a sustainable cultural symbol and an unparalleled platform for displaying social identity. This contributes to the cultural and social stability of cities and provides a means to strengthen the psychological, social, and cultural security of the community. The Iranian-Islamic identity of pilgrimage settlements can be studied based on Imamzadehs as the beating heart of cities and villages. The holy shrines of Imamzadehs, while continuing sustainable life through the pilgrimage ritual, become the center of religious rituals and traditions, especially celebrations, feasts, and mourning on special occasions. In the physical dimension, Imamzadehs are located in key and structural points of cities and villages. In this regard, the connection and connection of the Imamzadeh spaces with the components and elements around them, especially the network of main and secondary passages and routes, mosques, markets and surrounding neighborhoods, is of considerable importance in the urban design of the aforementioned settlements.

Abstract   In the mysterious world of language, critical discourse analysis opens a new window to discover the hidden layers of the text. This new approach, beyond examining the linguistic structure and aesthetics, seeks to decipher the relations of power and ideology in the text. Based on this, Norman Fairclough’s theory of critical discourse analysis, which is introduced in three levels of description, interpretation, and explanation, is one of the most efficient methods for examining texts and discovering meaning at the level of text and metatext. Suleiman al-Salman is a powerful Palestinian poet who lives in Syria and wrote an ode titled “Salas al-Dahab” under the influence of traveling to Iran and visiting Imam Reza (a.s.) in praise and praise of Imam Hammam. In a way, this poem reflects the pains of a poet who has always witnessed the sufferings of the Palestinian people following the occupation of his homeland by the Zionist occupation regime. Therefore, his poem is considered a political-social work. The current research is trying to apply Norman Fairclough’s theory of critical discourse analysis to the above-mentioned ode “Salaz al-Dahab” and explore the ideas and discourses hidden in it by relying on the descriptive-analytical method. The results of this research indicate that the poet emphasizes the position and dignity of Imamate and Wilayat in the guidance and prosperity of the Muslim community by using words such as “Al-Imam”, “Al-Wali”, “Al-Reza”, “Nur” at the level of description with an array of repetition. has done At the level of interpretation and considering the situational context of the mentioned ode, including the time and place conditions and the political-social and cultural conditions of the Palestinian and Syrian society, the author aims to create a discourse based on the resistance and stability of the Palestinian and Syrian people. At the level of explanation, the poet has created a critical discourse based on the betrayal of the normalization of relations and the compromise of some Arab rulers with the Zionist occupation regime by stating the most important reason for the martyrdom of the Imam (a.s.) which was the compromise of some community leaders with the oppressive rulers.

Abstract The existence of divine proof at all times and its continuation until the Day of Resurrection is one of the tenets of Shia belief, even among the branch sects; Hence, even the Waqifites (Waaqefiyyah) and the opponents of Imam Reza’s (p. b. u. h) imamate came through this principle in rejecting him and denied his Imamate. However, during the narration that is analyzed in the following article, Hazrat Reza, peace be upon him, answered the deniers of his Imamate. The imamate of Imam Reza (p. b. u. h) was doubted once after the martyrdom of his noble father, and it led to the formation of waaqefiyah, and once again, the fact that he did not have children at an advanced age caused doubts among some of his followers. so that some of them converted to waaqefiya; Despite this, there was a definite belief in the continuity of divine proofs in the beliefs of the Shiites, to such an extent that even the Waqifites had no choice but to adapt their deviant beliefs to this original belief in order to achieve their goals. This article, while re-reading Ibn Bashar’s narration, explains Ibn Qiyama’s conversation with the Imam of the Waaqefiyyah group, with a verbal and ruling approach, explaining the Imamate after him. The issue of the earth not being empty of imams from a theological point of view, on the one hand, and the issue of the absence of two speaking imams at the same time from a ruling point of view, on the other hand, are two important and fundamental points in this article; that Ibn Qiyamai Waaqefi in his conversation with Imam Reza (p. b. u. h) acknowledges both of the mentioned issues. Due to the lack of specific background in this field, The innovation of this article is in this aspect, which makes it clear in an interdisciplinary way with a theological and ruling point of view, and in a descriptive and analytical method, while examining and analyzing the content of the mentioned hadith, and analyzing the various affairs of the Imamate, that the dignity of Wilayat is the only dignity that The title of Hojjat, meaning intermediary in divine grace, is continuous and manifests in only one person from the divine saints at any time and cannot be assigned to two people at the same time.

Abstract Non-Iranian and Iranian travel writers have given different reports of the martyrdom event and then the burial of the body of the 8th Imam of Shiites in the land of Khorasan, in the year 203 AH, until the Qajar era. In this research, the reports of classical geographers and domestic and foreign travel writers about the martyrdom and burial of Imam Reza (peace be upon him) from the 3rd century to the end of the 13th century are discussed. The research community is 40 travelogues. Of these, thirty travelogues are non-Iranian and ten Iranian travelogues have also been examined. The research method in this research is quantitative and qualitative with a descriptive approach based on events taken from travelogues and geography books. This research aims to find the answer to how the event of martyrdom and the place of burial of Hazrat Reza, peace be upon her, are described in the travelogues of Europeans and Iranians? The findings of this research indicate that religious reports about the martyrdom and burial of Imam Reza (peace be upon her) were mentioned in a small or incomplete form by geographers and travel writers until the end of the 11th century. In the reports of the early centuries after the martyrdom, they did not mention the name of the murderer or the perpetrator of the martyrdom in their travelogues for any possible reason. After that, in the 12th and 13th centuries of the lunar calendar, with the integration of religious and Shiite institutions after the Safavids, in the Qajar era, due to the frequent presence of travel writers to the threshold of Al-Quds and their attention to reflection and criticism of the event and burial, reporting on the event of martyrdom. It has reached its peak in travelogues.

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.

Abstract The principle of proportionality between crime and punishment, as one of the manifestations of criminal justice, has consistently attracted the attention of scholars in fiqh and law. It is considered a key criterion of justice and recognized as a legal, rational, and religious principle as old as human civilization. Its significance in realizing justice is so profound that legal scholars view adherence to this principle as a true embodiment of criminal justice and acknowledge its acceptance across all criminal law systems. Proportionality between crime and punishment is also among the governing principles of Islamic penal sanctions and can be viewed as a result of God’s legislative justice. The foundation of this study, conducted through a descriptive-analytical method, focuses on a narration from Imam al-Ridā (A) that may be regarded as one of the bases of criminal justice within the framework of proportionality. In this narration, the Imam explains the reasoning behind the prescribed punishments for two ḥadd crimes: theft and non-muḥṣan fornication. His explanation reveals different forms of proportionality between offense and punishment, grounding this narration as a jurisprudential foundation for the principle of proportionality.