۱.
Unlike animals, which do not question the what and why of life, the question of life's meaning has always been relevant for humans and has been among the most significant concerns of both humanistic and divine schools of thought. In recent times, positive psychology has attempted to introduce itself as responsible for giving meaning to human life by focusing on key elements such as purposefulness, faith, hope, satisfaction, happiness, and flourishing. On the other hand, Islamic teachings, particularly the illuminating instructions of Imam Reḍa (AS), have also introduced the most important pillars that give life meaning, such as freedom, contentment, faith, servitude, purposefulness, knowledge, the pure life ( ḥayāṭ al-ṭayyibah ), happiness, pleasure, and so forth, thereby outlining a clear path for progress and attainment of life's purpose. The research question is: what is the relationship between the elements introduced in positive psychology and the teachings of Imam Reḍa, and what are their commonalities and differences? This article, with a descriptive-analytical approach, revisits and compares the meaning of life from the perspective of positive psychology and the teachings of Imam Reḍa, demonstrating their points of convergence and divergence. The two perspectives share elements such as the necessity of seeking meaning, faith, purposefulness, contentment, hopefulness, value-centricity, and positive confrontation with tribulations, etc. At the same time, they differ in some foundations, such as reliance on humanism and empiricism, the introduction of the ultimate end, and the determination of the status of faith.
۲.
The knowledge of God and His attributes has always occupied the minds of humans. Throughout history, many individuals have resorted to anthropomorphism and corporealization to understand God and His attributes. They often imagined God in their minds as a physical being, either resembling their forefathers or a human-like figure with commendable or extraordinary characteristics. With the advent of Islam and its relentless struggle against polytheism, many polytheistic ideas were pushed to the margins; however, significant discussions emerged concerning the attributes of God and their interpretation, marking the onset of the first religious disputes among Muslims. A group of Muslims, later known as Mushabbiha (anthropomorphists) and Mujassima (corporealists), argued for the attribution of human and corporeal traits to God, based on the apparent meanings of certain Qurʾanic verses and Hadiths, particularly those classified as Israelite traditions ( Isrāʾīliyyāt ). This research, structured descriptively and analytically, explores the background of this theological movement and the role of Imam al-Rida in combating it. The findings of this study indicate that this movement has deep historical roots, reaching its peak during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods. Following the conduct of the Ahl al-Bayt, Imam al-Rida not only repelled the accusations of corporealization and anthropomorphism directed at the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt by their opponents, but also engaged in a thorough battle against this deviant ideology by explaining the correct meaning of the reported attributes ( al-ṣifāt al-khabariyya ), providing a systematic interpretation of the verses concerning divine attributes, clarifying the Hadiths that could be construed as supporting anthropomorphism, and taking a firm stance against the proponents of these ideas.
۳.
Using bibliometric techniques, this study maps three decades of scholarship on pilgrimage and religious tourism in Iran. A systematic search of the Noormags, ISC, and GANJ databases yielded 696 scholarly outputs—454 journal articles and 242 theses—which were screened through explicit inclusion / exclusion criteria and analyzed quantitatively. Results reveal an exponential rise in publications from the mid-2000s, with pronounced surges in 2012 and 2015 that coincide with national pilgrimage-development programs and the launch of academic degrees in religious tourism. Bradford’s analysis identified ten core journals—led by Miqat-e Hajj, Farhang-e Razavi, and Hajj and Ziarah Research Journal—that together account for nearly one-quarter of all articles. Among 817 contributing authors, only seven have published more than five papers, reflecting a highly fragmented author landscape dominated by geography and sociology scholars. Co-authorship networks are weak and largely confined to supervisor–student collaborations. Geographically, Tehran Province (38 %) and Khorasan-e Razavi (24 %) are the principal knowledge hubs, underscoring the research pull of major pilgrimage cities and flagship universities. Disciplinary profiling shows that over 90 % of studies cluster in five fields—geographical sciences, management, Islamic theology, social sciences, and communication studies. Despite this concentration, the absence of a comprehensive scientific map and the scarcity of inter-institutional partnerships highlight the need for integrated citation databases and stronger collaborative frameworks to advance interdisciplinary research on pilgrimage in Iran.
۴.
Pilgrimage is one of the concepts that has found new instances in the modern era. Tombs of artistic figures, war memorials, and distinctive media scenes are among the pilgrimage sites of the new age. In this article, using a descriptive-analytical method, the semantic evolution of the concept of pilgrimage in the modern era has been examined with regard to the concept of holiness and the theological foundations of this period. According to the findings of this research, regarding the concept of pilgrimage in the modern era compared to the pre-modern, what has occurred is not specification or expansion, but a semantic change. Accordingly, in traditional theology, holiness was an intra-religious matter formed solely through a relationship with God. However, in the modern era, holiness has become not a discoverable concept, but rather a constructive and extra-religious concept that requires no type of religious affiliation. This conceptual evolution of pilgrimage stems from some of the foundations of modern theology, including the emphasis on the interiority of God, extreme rationalism, individualism, religious experience, and humanism.
۵.
This article offers a phenomenological analysis of pilgrimage (ziyārah) in Iranian Islam, arguing that its defining feature is a threshold character that sustains the dynamic theological tension between divine immanence (tašbīh) and transcendence (tanzīh). Moving beyond the singular axis mundi of Mecca, the study examines the proliferation of sacred shrines in Iran as multiple sacred centers. It first establishes the theological and mystical foundations of sacred space by exploring debates on God’s attributes and key concepts in the thought of Ibn ‘Arabī (the barzakh) and Mullā Ṣadrā (gradational unity of existence). It then employs the frameworks of Mircea Eliade (mythic time) and Henry Corbin (the imaginal world, malakūt, and subtle time) to analyze the pilgrim’s spatiotemporal experience. The article identifies a central paradox: the multiplication of sacred sites, while fulfilling a desire for proximity to the divine, risks dissolving the sacred-profane distinction essential to hierophany. It resolves this paradox by introducing the concept of the threshold. This is demonstrated both in the liminal architecture of Iranian shrines (e.g., the vestibule or ḥashtī) and in the theological function of these sites as mediators (tawassul) that facilitate nearness to God while rigorously preserving His transcendence. Ultimately, pilgrimage is presented not as a final arrival but as a liminal practice of perpetual approach, embodying the enduring interplay of presence and absence.
۶.
The present article analyzes and reviews 60 taʿziyeh plays related to Imam Riḍā (AS) and his family, compiled in a descriptive-analytical index. A large portion of these plays was available to the researcher in manuscript form and is examined here for the first time. The plays under review cover a wide range of subjects, from the life and martyrdom of Imam Kāẓim (AS) to the martyrdom of Imam Riḍā (AS) and his descendants, and even post-martyrdom miracles. This report analyzes the narrative structure, characterology, frequency of character appearances, poets and sources, as well as recurring patterns in these plays. The findings show that Ghulāmʿalī Nādʿalīzādeh (Nādī Dāmghānī) with 30 plays (50%) is the most prolific poet, Imam Riḍā (AS) appearing in 39 plays (65%) is the most frequent character, and Maʾmūn with 22 plays (36.4%) is the main antagonist of this collection.
