Imam Ali ΄s Studies

Abstract Abstract
One of the best ways of understanding religion is to determine the role and status of reason in religiousknowledgeregarding faith, morality, theology, and law. This issue has been posed in religiousstudies for attraction and persuasion of younger generation. In our survey of Imam Ali’s speeches and sayings, as the true commentatorof the religion, we encounter propositions in which reason is divided into types; theoretical reason and practical reason. Accordingly, reason in sense of “perception and understanding” can both understand the generalities and recognize the goodness as well as the badness of human beings’ behaviors and actions.In Alavi doctrine, not only has the credibility of reason been approved alongside narration but also there are plenty of philosophical, rhetorical, moral, and theological explications in Imam Ali’s speech which illustrate how different levels of reason lead to our perception and admission of religionin all its moral, theological,and jurisprudential aspects. The primary role of reason is perception of truism and approved facts. Next is the role it plays in discerning discrepancies in religious beliefs, perceivingthe underlying causes and philosophy of decrees, the strength and the articulation of moral codes and their agreement with human norms and commonalities, the solidarity,  unity and consensus of majority of intellectuals, and admission of accredited opinions.

Abstract Abstract
As literary texts have different layers, they are open to various political, social and cultural interpretations and readings. The main purpose of orators is to persuade their audience.Thus, orators must be familiar with intra-textual factors (residing inside language) and situational factors (residing outside language), such as social, political, and cultural factors, in order to be able to employ them for their audience persuasion. Imam Ali’s “Blaming the People of Basra” is one of his beautiful and impressive orations which was conducted after Jamal battle in Basra Mosque. This oration is replete with reprimanding people of Basrafor breaking their promise when they hypocritically rebelled and obeyed some unaware elites. In this article, after introducing the influential features of this oration, its textual and situational contexts are analyzed. One of the major findings is showing the literary aesthetics of this oration regarding its content analysis, and affirmation of the existing harmony between the oration’s discourse and its cultural, social, and political situations beyond its surface.

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There are various narrative books on Imam Ali’s accounts about women. However, in some of these accounts, women character and identity are undermined and blamed. Some of these accounts in Nahjolbalgheh and elsewhere reflect women as intellectually deformed and incomplete, mean, unfaithful, and vulnerable to sins, etc. All these have led to multiple disagreements among scholars and commentators of Nahjolbalgheh. Apart from inauthenticityof the sources and documentation of the majority of these accounts, ifsound principles and basics in understanding Islamic sayings and accounts are not employed, suchaccounts are in controversy with the norms and criteriaofthe sublime Quran, tradition, reason, the status of the Innocent Imams, and the historical events. What is accepted and approved in Islamic perspectives and Alavi life-style and manners is the equity of men and women in creation and personal dimensions, yet, at the same time, this is not incongruent with the nature of female gender andthe differences related to it.

Abstract Some Western scholars of Shiite studies believe thatthe chief principle of justice in Twelver Shia Islam or Imamiyyah is rooted in Mo’tazalediscourse while this principle has its roots in Imam Ali’s (AS) theoretical and practical instructions. Justice in Imam Ali’s view has an epistemological status which initiates from Allah’s justice attribute; then it streams in cosmology; and after all it is represented in the position of the perfect man who is Allah’s Caliph in all aspects of his social life. As a result, Imamate principle itself is formed on the basis of justice principle. In this regard, the epistemology of the goodness of justice and badness of cruelty and injustice originates in Islamic ontology of justice. Additionally, emphasis on the historical dominance of the right against the void is caused by Imamiyyah’sjustice-oriented epistemology and ontology; consequently, the principle of Imamiyyahis based on the principle of justice and vice versa. Nevertheless, the theory of Justice in Mo’tazalediscourse has only got an epistemological status. The author of this article makes attempts to concentrate on the First Shiite Imam’s instructionsand simultaneously explores the roots of the justice principle. This is the original locus of reason which forms the foundation of justice in Imam Ali’s theoretical and practical instructions. Consequently, the orientalists’ claims on considering the basis of justice in Imamiyyahas being rooted in Mo’tazale discourse is rejected

Abstract The great event of Ghadir has always had its own reasons and evidence to be proven. One of its documentation is the construction of a building as a mosque for its memorial. This article examines Ghadir Mosque features in the existing narratives and textual and visual documents. Firstly, the geographical location of GhadirKhom, the reasons why this location was chosen for announcing the successor of the messenger Mohammad (pbuh), its various names and its surrounding villages are studied. Then the features of Ghadir Mosque throughouthistory and the particular attention which Imams and jurists have paid to theworth and significance of praying in this place are studied.Today, this area is deserted and Wahhabi groups make attempts to erase it from the memories in a way that they destroyed the mosque after 13 centuries; a mosque which had been constructed by the command of the messenger Mohammad (pbuh) in the memorial of that historical event.Nonetheless, GhadirKhom had once witnessed one of the most important Islamic events which can never been erased from Muslim minds and this mosque is the representation of that great Islamic historical event. This research also shows how Shiiteshave long beenoppressed and indeed it’s a document approving this fact. On the basis of narrations remained from leaders and intellectuals as well as historical books and pictures, the research attempts to familiarize readers with this sacred place

Abstract Critical discourse analysis as an interdisciplinarysocial science approach takes languagebeyond its linguistic forms and studies literary authors’ideological background as affected by their dominant cultural and social conditions. Since the power ruling a society directs its discourse; this approach illustrates how association of literary works with the dominant power in a society can be represented in three layers, including description, interpretation, and explanation. Without any doubts, Nahjolbalgheh orations contain diverse topics by which Imam Ali (AS), quite eloquently andexpressively, guided the community to prosperityand felicity while considering the dominant political and cultural milieu of that age.This research is descriptive-analytic in nature and is formed on the basis of Norman Fairclough’s model of Critical Discourse Analysis to study the linguistic interaction of Imam Ali’s orations within the suffocating conditions provoked by Kufipeople actions. This paper is the explanation of the psychological discourse and aesthetics of these orations. It also confirms the influence of the dominant political situation onKufis’particular behaviors and Imam Ali’s mutual influence on them.

Abstract Imam Ali’s newly established government faced anuproarcaused by a group named Nakesin during its early ages when its foundations were still being strengthened. This group pledged allegiance to Imam Ali freely, but then they left Medina with the excuse of going for Omrehpilgrimage, yet indeed they had the intention to conspire against Imam by forming a new front and challenging his government. It was the adventures of this group which sparkedthe flames of Jamal Battle, made Imam lose control of Basra, and paved the way for the first civil war in Islam.This article, through utilizing a descriptive-analytic method, makes attempt to respond to this fundamental question that what kind of logic dominated Jamal companions’ behavior during the decline of Basra. The findings of this article demonstrated that in contrast to their claim for execution of justice and taking revenge for Osman Murder, Nakesin resorted to deceit and seduction, hypocrisy, perfidy, treachery, rancor, discrimination, and oppression to take control of a city which previously had sworn allegiance to the ruling of Imam Ali (AS) and consequently they made it the basement of their rebellion and insurrection against Imam.