Isfahan School And The Construction Of Shia Status In Iran

Why does the Shia ulama group in Iran have such a powerful power that the ulama group does not have in other Islamic countries?The core purpose of this thesis is to try to answer this question through the study of the Isfahan school and its construction of the Shia status in Iran.In 1501/1502,after the establishment of the Safavid dynasty in Iran,the rulers declared the twelve Imams as the state religion However,in the middle and early stage of Iran's Safavid dynasty,The Iranian Shia ulama group did not gain absolute control over the religious field,which was largely due to the Safavid dynasty rulers themselves were Safavid Sufi leaders,they also had a high status in the religious field.Therefore,in the early and middle period of Safavid dynasty,although Shia was already the state religion,the competition for the control of religion was still quite fierce.Under this background,The Isfahan School with Mir Damad?Sheikh Bahai?Mulla Sadra and other Shia religious scholars as the core came into being.Mir Damad and Sheikh Bahai consolidated the position of the Shia ulama with their contributions to the field of teaching and law,and Sheikh Bahai consolidated the relationship between the monarchy and the church through his contribution to the construction of the capital city Isfahan,thus making the previously tense relationship between the monarchy and the church more harmonious.Mulla Sadra focused on the theoretical and theoretical construction of Shia.He combined Sufism theory of "perfect man" with Shia "Imams' doctrine of infallibility",and then advocated the establishment of a pure Islamic country of "Ummah" type in the early Islamic Medina commune.Mulla Sadra's thought and theory subtly transferred the worship of Sufi elders to the worship of the core Imam of Shia,thus allowing Shia to truly stand firm in the Safavid regime and take root in the people's thoughts.By the time Shia became fully entrenched in Iranian society,the major problem facing the Shia ulama group in the religious sphere was the constraint of the Sufi order.Medieval Iran(Its territory was much larger than Iran's geography today)is the base of Sufi,gathered in the various Sufi order,the elders worship Sufi order is a Shia imams cult.In this situation,the post-Isfahan school,with Muhammad Baqir Majlis?as the core,came into being.They vigorously opposed Sufism,advocated the elimination of Sufi order,and even strongly opposed the ideology of Mulla Sadra,which had previously combined Sufism.Through the powerful operation of the post-Isfahan school,the Sufism were completely defeated and eliminated from the stage of Iranian history,thus completely wiping out their religious rivals in Iran.After the Shia ulama group in Iran completely mastered the religious control,the hierarchy system was gradually improved in the Period of The Qajar dynasty,which made the prestige and influence of religious scholars with high religious rank increase among the people,and the power of the ulama group became more stronger.Mulla Sadra's teachings continued to have a profound influence on religious scholars of the Qajar period,who began to further seek their voice in the national political field.The ulama Group was actively involved in several major political and diplomatic events of the Qajar period,and to a large extent forced the royal authority to compromise.The rivalry between Iran's Shia ulama group and the monarchy culminated in the Pahlavi dynasty,which eventually led to the Islamic revolution led by the religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini whose Vilayat Faq?h was a distant response to the teachings of Mulla Sadra.This article aimed to Isfahan school's development history and its position on Iran's Shia construction do integrity.Specifically,on the one hand,this article adopts the research methods of sociology of knowledge,inspects each historical period Isfahan school faction the social and historical background of the rise of religious scholars,and cause their religious individuality experience of construction of ideology and social factors.On the other hand,this paper discusses the construction ideas and contents of the scholars from various aspects of Shia,such as the debate between Usuli school and Akhbari school,Sufism,Shia doctrine and pedagogy,and analyzes its significance and influence.In particular,this paper takes Mulla Sadra as an important research object,analyzes his ideological connotation,investigates his academic context,and discusses the reasons and influence of his ideology to continue to this day.In particular,this paper regards the relationship between kingship and clerical power as a basic clue,and holds that the Isfahan school and its subsequent development are closely related to the status construction of Shia Iran for hundreds of years,or can be regarded as a specific response to this relationship.Therefore,this paper holds that Isfahan School scholars made their due contributions to the adjustment and practice of Shia ideology by their own knowledge accomplishment and academic enthusiasm during the important period of Shia development.On the one hand,they made their own contributions to the Shia doctrine.The teaching method and other contents are constantly adjusted in the direction conducive to the control of ulama group to adapt to the realistic environment in various historical periods;On the other hand,with the stability of the position of the ulama group,they deepened their involvement in national politics and finally defeated the secular monarchy.In other words,the outbreak of the Islamic revolution is the final result of the construction of the position of The Shia in Iran by the Isfahan school.In short,the Isfahan School,as the most important school in Iran in the past 400 years,has exerted a profound influence on the Iranian Shia and Iranian history.