The Reaction of the Early Shiite Imams to the Cultural Policies of the Umayyads Based on Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of "Symbolic Power"

Subject Areas : Epistemological and methodological researcher of historical research

mohammad hosein Taghipour ¹ , mohammadnabi Salim ² , Ahmad Asharfi ³

1 - Islamic Azad University, Shahrood Branch
2 - assistant professor,department of history,Islamic azad university. shahrood branch
3 - Islamic Azad University, Shahrood Branch

Received: 2025-04-10 Accepted : 2025-06-08 Published : 2025-06-21

Keywords: Symbolic Power, Constitutionalism, Mu'awiya, Imam Ali (AS), Bourdieu,

Abstract :

This study, using a descriptive-analytical method and based on the analysis of historical texts and narrative sources, investigates the core question: How were Mu'awiya’s cultural policies against Imam Ali (AS) and Imam Hasan (AS) implemented through symbolic mechanisms of power, and how did the Alawite discourse respond to this domination? To answer this, the theory of symbolic power by Pierre Bourdieu is adopted as the conceptual framework. Bourdieu perceives power not merely in physical coercion but within soft and cultural mechanisms—where language, pulpit, narration, and hadith become tools of domination, unconsciously accepted by the audience. This article reveals that Mu'awiya, through fabricating hadiths, institutionalizing cursing, and engineering the minds of Syrians, established a discourse of symbolic power. In response, Imam Ali (AS) and later Imam Hasan (AS) organized a form of cultural resistance through linguistic, ethical, and narrative actions, aiming to preserve the symbolic capital of Ahl al-Bayt and to reconstruct their religious legitimacy.

References:

ابن ابی‌الحدید، ع. (۱۳۷۸). شرح نهج‌البلاغه (ج. ۴). قم: مکتبه آیت‌الله مرعشی.
ابن‌اعثم کوفی، ا. ب. ا. (۱۴۱۱ق). الفتوح. بیروت: دارالکتب العلمیه.
ابن شهرآشوب، م. ب. ع. (۱۴۲۱ق). مناقب آل ابی‌طالب. قم: مؤسسة العلامة.
ابن‌مزاحم، ن. ب. م. (۱۳۷۰). وقعة صفین. تهران: انتشارات سروش.
الامامه و السیاسه، منسوب به ابن قتیبه. (۱۴۱۰ق). بیروت: دارالکتب العلمیه.
ذهبی، م. ب. ا. (۱۴۱۰ق). سیر اعلام النبلاء. بیروت: مؤسسه الرساله.
سروش، ع. (۱۳۷۴). فربه‌تر از ایدئولوژی. تهران: مؤسسه فرهنگی صراط.
طبری، م. ب. ج. (۱۴۰۹ق). تاریخ الامم و الملوک. بیروت: دارالتراث.
یعقوبی، ا. ب. ا. (۱۳۶۲). تاریخ یعقوبی (م. آیتی، مترجم). تهران: انتشارات علمی و فرهنگی.

🔵 منابع لاتین:
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1990). The Logic of Practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and Symbolic Power (G. Raymond & M. Adamson, Trans.. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1993). Sociology in Question. London: Sage Publications.
Hawting, G. R. (2000). The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate AD 661–750. London: Routledge.
)Madelung, W. 1997 The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early( Caliphate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press