Document Type : .

Authors

• Khosro Khonsari ¹
• Ali Bigdeli ²
• Sina Foroozesh ³

¹ Ph.D. Student of History, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

² professor of history, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

³ Associated Professor of History, Science and Research branch, Islamic Azad University, tehran, Iran

Abstract

In the chapter V of his book "Iran", William Haas has studied the moods of Iranians. On the other hand, the book "Ḵolqiāt-e Mā Irāniān" or "Our Characters, Iranians" by Mohammad Ali Jamālzādeh is considered to be one of the most important Persian works on the topic of the temperaments of Iranians. The present article examines the issue that Haas' views about Iranians' characteristics are reliable to a large extent. Based on this, the basic question of the current research is to what extent Haas' views on Iranians' temperaments can be compared with Jamālzādeh's views. From this point of view, the research method is of a comparative type, which seeks to find the differences and similarities of these views in the category of temperaments of Iranians. As such, six components have been extracted from the chapter V of Haas' book and used as a basis for comparing the temperaments of Iranians. The findings of this research show that Iranians' moods based on Haas' opinions can be adapted to Jamālzādeh's views in many cases.


 


 

 
 

Keywords

• comparative study
• temperaments and moods of Iranians
• William Haas
• Mohammad Ali Jamālzādeh
• "Iran"
• "Ḵolqiāt-e Mā Irāniān" or "Our Characters
• Iranians"

Extended abstract

A comparative study of the views of William Haas and Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh in the field of Iranian’s Characteristics

In his work "Iran" which was published in New York in 1946, William Haas discussed various aspects of Iran's history and culture and in the chapter V of the book titled "Persian Psychology", he analyzed the temperaments of Iranians. In this chapter of the book, he is not satisfied with only mentioning the spiritual characteristics of Iranian people, and tries to explain their causes and roots. On the other hand, the book "Ḵolqiāt-e Mā Irāniān" or "Our Characters, Iranians" by Mohammad Ali Jamālzādeh, which was published in Tehran in 1966, is considered one of the most important and perhaps one of the first Persian works on temperament studies of Iranian people, and for this reason, it has gained a special place among experts in this field.

In this article, along with the research on the chapter V of the mentioned book, the views of Haas and Jamālzādeh regarding the temperaments of Iranians have been examined on the basis of a comparative study. Concerning the importance of this research; since the mood of Iranians has been analyzed less in a historical context, therefore, by the present study, an attempt has been made to answer the ambiguities of this field. On the other hand, with regards to the necessity of conducting the present research; can be mentioned to introduce the personality and works of William Haas, to the researchers.

Concerning the research background; so far no research has been observed on this topic and therefore it seems that the present research can be considered the first in this field. The only works that are somewhat related to the present study is the translation of chapter V of the book "Iran" by Haas, which is specific to the temperaments of Iranians. It is worth mentioning that chapter V of "Iran" was translated into Persian twice, in 1956 and 1970.

Regarding the problem of this article; it is worth mentioning that there are viewpoints about the temperaments of Iranians in the book "Iran" by Haas, that ensuring the correctness of these opinions requires comparative study with reliable sources. Therefore, the book "Ḵolqiāt-e Mā Irāniān" by Mohammad Ali Jamālzādeh, which is one of the leading works in this field, can be considered as a suitable source for this comparison, so the present study compares the temperaments of Iranians, based on the views of the two authors. The research problem is how much the components proposed by Haas can be seen in the book "Ḵolqiāt-e Mā Irāniān". In other words, is to what extent Haas was able to provide a correct analysis of the mood of Iranian people in the chapter V of "Iran".

Based on this, the main question of this research is how comparable is Haas' views on the temperaments of Iranians with Jamalzadeh's views? In fact, the basic question of this article is to find the similarities and differences of Haas and Jamalzadeh's opinions on the temperaments of Iranians.

According to Haas' meticulousness and accuracy, as well as his almost profound knowledge of Iranian society, Haas' views on Iranians' temperaments can be considered correct and acceptable and largely confirmed by some reliable sources. Also, it seems that there are many commonalities in the opinions of these two authors, and by conducting this research, we tried to prove this hypothesis. From this viewpoints, the hypothesis of the present research is: "There are significant similarities between the views of Haas and Jamālzādeh, and in many cases they are close to each other."

The purpose of posing this question is to describe a comparison between the views of Haas and Jamālzādeh in the field of Iranians' personalities. In fact, the temperaments of Iranians is compared with the opinions of Jamālzādeh based on the components proposed by Haas, and this is a way of testing Haas' theory about Iranians' attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of the present research is a descriptive attempt to show the similarities and differences between the views of Haas and Jamālzādeh in the field of Iranian people's temperaments.

Regarding the research method, this article attempted to answer the above questions with a comparative method and for this reason, the research method is of a comparative type that seeks to find the similarities and differences between the views, in the category of Iranians' attitudes. This research aims to analyze Haas' views and based on this, six components (including: changes in the behavior of Iranians throughout history, compliments and politeness, taqiyyah, spirit of adaptability, humor, and the causes and roots of some behaviors of Iranians) have been extracted from the chapter V of his book, which has been used as a basis for comparing the temperaments of the Iranian people.

The findings of this research show that the temperaments of Iranians based on Haas' opinions can be adapted to Jamālzādeh's views in many cases, and among the six components extracted from "Iran" by Haas, in the four components of "compliments and politeness", "taqiyyah", "humor" and "the spirit of adaptability of Iranians", the views of Haas and Jamālzādeh are very similar, and in the two components "change of temperaments throughout history" and "the causes and roots of Iranians' behaviors" are somewhat different. Therefore, the hypothesis of the research is confirmed and the views of Haas and Jamālzādeh regarding the temperaments of Iranians are largely similar to each other. In this way, even though Haas was not Iranian and looked at Iran and Iranians from a different cultural background, his views have many similarities with an Iranian writer such as Jamālzādeh. This adaptation is mostly due to Haas' thorough knowledge of Iranian society, and hence, Haas' opinions about the temperaments of Iranians can be cited. In general, this conclusion is reached that according to Haas' realism regarding the land and people of Iran, it is appropriate for Iranian researchers to pay attention to his works and research on them.

Keywords: comparative study, temperaments and moods of Iranians, William Haas, Mohammad Ali Jamālzādeh, "Iran", "Ḵolqiāt-e Mā Irāniān" or "Our Characters, Iranians".