Imam Ali ΄s Studies

Abstract Today, various approaches and branches of discourse analysis are remarkably effective in unraveling the two-way connection between language and society, and they try to examine the author's ideology behind the texts and their hidden layers. One of the most famous theories in the field of discourse analysis is Norman Fairclough's critical approach, which has an efficient ability to reinterpret fundamental religious concepts and reveal hidden dimensions of meaning in sacred texts. This approach tries to express the relationship between the internal and external criteria of the text, and to examine the power that governs the society in which the text was formed, with three levels of description, interpretation, and explanation. Accordingly, the present study seeks to analyze the verses revealed in the honor of Imam Ali (AS) in the Holy Quran using a descriptive-analytical method and using Fairclough's theory. The main goal of the research is to uncover the hidden power relations and ideological foundations of the Imamate discourse through systematic analysis. The research findings show that the Imamate discourse is a divine, unified, and hegemonic discourse that is formed in structural opposition to competing discourses, such as tribalism, hypocrisy.

Abstract With the passing of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), despite the appointment of Imam Ali (AS) to succeed him, especially at Ghadir, and despite the merits of the Commander of the Faithful (AS), the Muslims made a hasty and incorrect decision to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr as the first Caliph. Abu Bakr and his supporters, especially Umar, were demanding allegiance from the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.), considering his special position. Immediately after the allegiance given to Abu Bakr in Saqifa, they tried to obtain allegiance from Imam Ali (a.s.) in any way possible. The question raised here is what was the reaction of the Commander of the Faithful (A.S.) to this request? Did he accept their request and immediately pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr, or did he consider himself worthy of succession based on what had happened in the past and therefore refused to pledge allegiance? If the Imam refused to pledge allegiance, was this refusal permanent or was his refusal temporary? Examining the issue using historical and narrative sources and using a descriptive-analytical method shows that although the Commander of the Faithful (AS) initially refused to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr due to his objection to his election and considered himself the only one worthy of ruling, he eventually swore allegiance to him in order to safeguard the interests of the nascent Islamic society.

Abstract The issue of the inclusivity of divine guidance with respect to the jinn constitutes one of the less-examined topics in Islamic theology (kalām). By presenting the jinn as accountable beings (mukallafūn) and addressees of revelation, the Qur’an demonstrates that the divine guidance programme is not confined to human beings; rather, the jinn, like humans, are charged with faith in and obedience to the divine proof (ḥujjah). The central research question of this study is how the guidance of the jinn has continued after the seal of prophethood and who serves as their religious authority. Employing a descriptive-analytical method and a comparative approach, and drawing upon Qur’anic verses and narrations, this article demonstrates that the arguments establishing the necessity of an infallible Imam for human beings are equally applicable to the jinn. Divine wisdom and the final revealed law require that no accountable being be left without a divine proof. The narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt explicitly affirm that the Prophet of Islam was sent to both jinn and humankind, and that after him the divine successor assumes responsibility for the guidance of both communities. On this basis, the Alawi Imamate over the jinn forms an integral part of the comprehensive system of divine guidance and the continuation of the Prophet’s mission for all accountable beings. An examination of this reality clarifies the boundary between divine Imamate and non-designated caliphates, for those caliphates that lack divine appointment and fail to encompass the guidance of both jinn and humankind cannot be regarded as the continuation of the Prophet’s universal mission.

Abstract Morphological deviation—the conscious departure from morphological norms—has the potential to function as a discursive strategy serving the stabilization of meaning and the reinforcement of the speaker's authority. Despite previous research on deviation in Nahj al-Balāgha, the counter-discursive analysis of these devices in the Letters has remained neglected. Integrating the counter-discourse approach with morphological deviation, this study employs a descriptive-analytical method based on qualitative content analysis to examine all fifty-three Letters of Nahj al-Balāgha. The findings indicate that morphological deviations occur in four major domains: deviation from present to past tense (115 cases), through violating the maxim of quality, generates counter-discourses of certainty, urgency, inevitability, and transhistoricity in political commands and descriptions of the Hereafter and death. Deviation from active to passive voice (126 cases), through the omission of the subject, activates counter-discourses of magnification, predestination, generalization, degradation, threat, passivity, and victimhood portrayal. Deviation in derived forms (4 cases) adds implications of gradualness, exaggeration, and participation to the discourse, while deviation in derivation (53 cases) and infinitives (1 case) renders concepts more objective, enduring, and transhistorical. Through these strategies, Imam ʿAlī (AS) establishes the monotheistic discourse as a stable and unalterable principle within the order of existence, elevating the Letters from administrative correspondence to a transhistorical text.