"modern-day descendant of Middle Persian is New Persian. The changes between late Middle and Early New Persian were very gradual, and in the 10th-11th centuries, Middle Persian texts were still intelligible to speakers of Early New Persian. However, there are definite differences that had taken place already by the 10th century: ""Pahlavi Middle Persian"" is the language of quite a large body of literature which details the traditions and prescriptions of Zoroastrianism, which was the state religion of Sasanian Iran (224 to c. 650) before the Muslim conquest of Persia. The earliest texts in Zoroastrian Middle Persian were probably written"
"era and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. From 247 BC to 224 AD, Persia was ruled by the Parthian Empire, which supplanted the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, and then by the Sassanian Empire, which ruled up until the mid-7th century. The Persian Empire in the Sasanian era was interrupted by the Arab conquest of Persia in 651 AD, establishing the even larger Islamic caliphate, and later by the Mongol invasion. The main religion of ancient Persia was the native Zoroastrianism, but after the seventh century, it was slowly replaced by Islam which achieved a majority in"
"Islam in Iran The Islamic conquest of Persia (637–651) led to the end of the Sasanian Empire and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia. However, the achievements of the previous Persian civilizations were not lost, but were to a great extent absorbed by the new Islamic polity. Islam has been the official religion of Iran since then, except for a short duration after the Mongol raids and establishment of Ilkhanate. Iran became an Islamic republic after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Before the Islamic conquest, the Persians had been mainly Zoroastrian; however, there were also large and"
"material evidence. Their religion was polytheistic and the chief god of their pantheon was Ahura Mazda, who was recognized as the creator of the world. They had a three-tiered division of the cosmos into the earth, the atmosphere and the heaven above. Dualism was strongly emphasized and human nature was considered essentially good. The chief ritual of the ancient Iranians was the yazna, in which the deities were praised and the mind-altering drug hauma was consumed. This ritual was performed by a highly trained priestly class. Fire was worshiped as the deity Atar. Politician and religion under the Persian Empires"
"significant infrastructure developments. Later, in Darius the Great's rule, the territories were integrated, a bureaucracy was developed, nobility were assigned military positions, tax collection was carefully organized, and spies were used to ensure the loyalty of regional officials. The primary religion of Persia at this time was Zoroastrianism, developed by the philosopher Zoroaster. It introduced an early form of monotheism to the area. The religion banned animal sacrifice and the use of intoxicants in rituals; and introduced the concept of spiritual salvation through personal moral action, an end time, and both general and Particular judgment with a heaven or hell."
"a state of decay, the time was ripe for a new and vital faith. The rulers of the Second Persian empire (226–640) also followed a policy of religious toleration to begin with, though later they gave Christians the same status as a subject race. However, these rulers also encouraged the revival of the ancient Persian dualistic faith of Zoroastrianism and established it as the state religion, with the result that the Christians were increasingly subjected to repressive measures. Nevertheless, it was not until Christianity became the state religion in the West (380) that enmity toward Rome was focused on the"
"remained the official religion of Persia until the defeat of the Sassanian ruler Yazdegerd III—over a thousand years after its founding—by Muslim Arabs. In what is today southern Iran, the Persians emerged to challenge Median supremacy on the Iranian plateau. By 550 BC, the Persians had replaced Median rule with their own dominion and even began to expand past previous Median imperial borders. Both Gandhara and Kamboja Mahajanapadas of the Buddhist texts soon fell a prey to the Achaemenian Dynasty during the reign of Achaemenid, Cyrus the Great (558–530 BC), or in the first year of Darius I, marking the"
"of religious buildings according to ""آمارنامه اماکن مذهبی"" which has been gathered in 2003. Islam in Iran The Islamic conquest of Persia (637–651) led to the end of the Sasanian Empire and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia. However, the achievements of the previous Persian civilizations were not lost, but were to a great extent absorbed by the new Islamic polity. Islam has been the official religion of Iran since then, except for a short duration after the Mongol raids and establishment of Ilkhanate. Iran became an Islamic republic after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Before the"
"as the Proto-Iranic religion and the subsequent Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism were the dominant religions in Iran, particularly during the Median, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian eras. This changed after the fall of the Sasanian Empire by the centuries-long Islamization that followed the Muslim Conquest of Iran. Iran was predominantly Sunni until the conversion of the country (as well as the people of what is today the neighboring Republic of Azerbaijan) to Shia Islam by the order of the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century. Today, Twelver Shia Islam is the official state religion, to which about 90% to 95% of the"
"of Persia were of mixed ancestry (Kurdish and Azerbaijani, which included intermarriages with Georgian, Circassian, and Pontic Greek dignitaries). Through intermarriage and other political considerations, the Safavids spoke Persian and Turkish, and some of the Shahs composed poems in their native Turkish language. Concurrently, the Shahs themselves also supported Persian literature, poetry and art projects including the grand Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp. The Safavid dynasty ruled parts of Greater Iran for more than two centuries. and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim"
"Arabs. With the death of Yazdegerd III, who was treacherously slain in 651 after being defeated in battle, the Sassanid line came to an end and the Zoroastrian faith, which had been the state religion for more than a thousand years, was deposed, and Islam took its place as the national religion of Persia. In the following centuries, Zoroastrians faced much religious discrimination and persecution, harassments, as well as being identified as najis (polluted) and impure to Muslims, making them unfit to live alongside Muslims, and therefore forcing them to evacuate from cities and face major sanctions in all spheres"
"the foundation of the Safavid Persian state, the new Turkmen Shahs gradually rid themselves of their tribal and sectarian origins in their bid to build a unified Iranian state. Twelver Shiism was proclaimed state religion, with a special role for the Safavi Shahs as descendants of alleged Ali and the Imams. Their supposed ancestry is not accepted by most shia Muslims today. This state religion developed into a very different system to the Alevi faith of their Kizilbash troops. Arab Twelver theologians were recruited from Jabal Amil in Lebanon and from Bahrain, and most Iranians were forcibly converted to Twelver"
"which was established as the state religion. Other religions appear to have been largely tolerated, although this claim has been debated. Sassanid emperors consciously sought to resuscitate Persian traditions and to obliterate Greek cultural influence. The active army of the Sassanid Empire originated from Ardashir I, the first ""shahanshah"" of the empire. Ardashir restored the Achaemenid military organizations, retained the Parthian cavalry model, and employed new types of armour and siege warfare techniques. The relationship between priests and warriors was important, because the concept of Ērānshahr had been revived by the priests. Without this relationship, the Sassanid Empire would not"
"of that period, major part of Mesopotamia was controlled by the Sassanian Empire (Persia). Official Persian religion was Zoroastrianism, while Christianity was occasionally tolerated or persecuted, depending on the current religious or political climate. Attitudes of Persian rulers towards their Christian subjects was affected mainly by current political relations with the Byzantine Empire, seen by Persians as the rivaling power with considerable and worrying influence on Christian communities within Persian borders. Since Byzantine government generally favored Eastern Orthodoxy over other Christian denominations, local communities of Eastern Orthodox Christians within the Persian borders were often treated with suspicion by Persian authorities,"
"just 4 days later. The following supplementary laws were ratified by his son and successor Shah Muhammad ‘Ali on Sha’ban 29, A.H. 1325 (October 7, 1907) Article 1 and 2 of the laws, established Islam as the official religion of Persia/Iran, and specified that all laws of the nation must be approved by a committee of Shi'a clerics. Later, these two articles were mainly ignored by the Pahlavis, which sometimes resulted in anger and uprising of clerics and religious masses: (See: Pahlavis and non-Islamic policies) Articles 3-7 under the General Dispositions discuss the logistics of borders, flag specifications and Tehran"
"their homeland. Cyrus the Great assisted in the restoration of the sacred places of various cities. It was during the Achaemenid period that Zoroastrianism reached South-Western Iran, where it came to be accepted by the rulers and through them became a defining element of Persian culture. The religion was not only accompanied by a formalization of the concepts and divinities of the traditional Iranian pantheon but also introduced several novel ideas, including that of free will. Under the patronage of the Achaemenid kings, and by the 5th century BC as the ""de facto"" religion of the state, Zoroastrianism reached all"
"sanctioned and legally enforced version"" of (Nicene) Christianity. The Sassanid Empire in Persia was Zoroastrian, again with one officially sanctioned and legally enforced version of Zoroastrianism. On the Indian subcontinent, Vaisnava kingdoms (devotees of Vishnu and his incarnations) fought with Savia kingdoms (devotees of Shiva) for territorial control. In China, Buddhist rulers fought Taoist rulers for political ascendancy. ""Thus every religion was a `religion of the sword.`"" Critics also suggest that the early combination of religion and state in Muslim society may have been a product of its creation in the stateless world of Arab society where Muslims needed a"
"was imposed upon Zoroastrians, and the official language of Persia became Arabic instead of the local Persian. In 741, the Umayyads officially decreed that non-Muslims be excluded from governmental positions. The Iranian Muslims at this time started a new tradition, which made Islam appear as a partly Iranian religion. They pointed out that an Iranian, Salaman-I-Farsi had a great influence on Muhammad, the prophet. Another myth was created that Husayn, the son of the fourth Caliph had married a Sassanian princess, named Shahr-Banu, the Lady of the Land, whose son became the fourth Muslim Imam (and started the Shia branch"
"being reminded of life prior to the revolution. Nevertheless, Faravahar icons were not removed. As a result, the Faravahar icon became a national symbol amongst the people, and it became somewhat tolerated by the government as opposed to the Lion and Sun. The Faravahar is the most worn pendant amongst Iranians and has become a national symbol, rather than a religious icon because it has been absconded with by non-Zoroastrians, although its Zoroastrian roots should not be ignored. It's the symbol of the state religion of the Persian Empire: Zoroastrianism. Nowadays, it is a common symbol of both the modern"
"of the Safavid dynasty, Shi'ism became the official state religion and its adoption imposed upon the majority of the Iranian population. According to Bernard Lewis: ""Iran was indeed Islamized, but it was not Arabized. Persians remained Persians. And after an interval of silence, Iran reemerged as a separate, different and distinctive element within Islam, eventually adding a new element even to Islam itself. Culturally, politically, and most remarkable of all even religiously, the Iranian contribution to this new Islamic civilization is of immense importance. The work of Iranians can be seen in every field of cultural endeavor, including Arabic poetry,"
"Iranian religions Iranian religions are religions which originated in Greater Iran. The beliefs, activities, and cultural events of the ancient Iranians in ancient Iran are complex matters. The ancient Iranians made references to a combination of several Aryans and non-Aryan tribes. Aryans, or ancient Iranians, worshiped natural elements such as the sun, sunlight and thunder, but they eventually shifted their attention mostly to a single god, whilst acknowledging others. The Iranian ancient prophet, Zoroaster, reformed Iranian religious beliefs to a form of Henotheism. The Gathas, hymns of Zoroaster's Avesta, brought monotheistic ideas to Persia, while through the Yashts and Yasna,"
"leaders, and the eventual resolution of controversies regarding plural marriage, and accession by Utah to statehood, the apparent temporal aspects of LDS theodemocracy receded markedly. During the Achaemenid Empire, Zoroastrianism was the state religion and included formalized worship. The Persian kings were known to be pious Zoroastrians and also ruled with a Zoroastrian form of law called ""asha"". However, Cyrus the Great, who founded the empire, avoided imposing the Zoroastrian faith on the inhabitants of conquered territory. Cyrus's kindness towards Jews has been cited as sparking Zoroastrian influence on Judaism. Under the Seleucids, Zoroastrianism became autonomous. During the Sassanid period,"
"Greeks, Parthians, Romans, Sasanian Empire, Byzantine Empire, Arabs, Seljuk Empire, Mongols, Ottoman Empire, the successive Safavid, Afsharid, and Qajar dynasties of Iran, and the Russians. Religion in ancient Armenia was historically related to a set of beliefs that, in Persia, led to the emergence of Zoroastrianism. It particularly focused on the worship of Mithra and also included a pantheon of gods such as Aramazd, Vahagn, Anahit, and Astghik. The country used the solar Armenian calendar, which consisted of 12 months. Christianity spread into the country as early as AD 40. Tiridates III of Armenia (238–314) made Christianity the state religion"
"scattered abroad because of persecution, some found refuge at Edessa. The missionary movement in the East began which gradually spread throughout Mesopotamia and Persia and by AD 280. While the rulers of the Second Persian empire (226-640) also followed a policy of religious toleration to begin with, they later gave Christians the same status as a subject race. These rulers encouraged the revival of the ancient Persian dualistic faith of Zoroastrianism and established it as the state religion, with the result that the Christians were increasingly subjected to repressive measures. Nevertheless, it was not until Christianity became the state religion"
"the 10th century. The Safavid Empire was the first Persian Empire established after the Arab conquest of Persia by Shah Ismail I. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavid Persians established control over parts of Greater Persia/Iran and reasserted the Persian identity of the region, becoming the first native Persian dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a unified Persian state. Literature, art and architecture flourished in the Safavid era once again, and it is often cited as the ""rebirth of the Persian Empire"". Safavids also announced Shia Islam as the official religion in the empire versus the Sunni Islam"
"Muslim conquest of Persia The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, led to the end of the Sasanian Empire of Persia in 651 and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion. The rise of Muslims coincided with an unprecedented political, social, economic, and military weakness in Persia. Once a major world power, the Sasanian Empire had exhausted its human and material resources after decades of warfare against the Byzantine Empire. The internal political situation quickly deteriorated after the execution of King Khosrow II in 628 AD. Subsequently, ten new claimants were enthroned within the"
"to a coalition force of southern Medes and Persians, with the collaboration of Adiabene. The Sassanid empire began. The new ruler assumed the title of ""Shah of Shahs"" and vigorously began defending the state religion, Zoroastrianism. The next generation saw ""an imperial revival of the Zoroastrian faith among the Sassanids that eventually brought about brutal persecution of Christians in the Persian empire."" ""It is impossible to estimate the numbers [of Christians in the Persian empire by this time] but we know that they formed a substantial minority of the population and on the whole were well educated and famous for"
"Persia in olden days, and also stands for Islam, which is the religion of both Iran and Iraq. The colors red, green and white are found in the flags of both countries. Background: The date the insignia was originally approved is not contained in the Institute of Heraldry files. Correspondence dated 13 May 1944 indicates the insignia drawing may be declassified. The unclassified drawing was approved on 29 August 1944. Persian Gulf Command The Persian Gulf Command was a United States Army service command established in December 1943 to assure the supply of U.S. lend-lease war material to the Soviet"
"Persian Empire since between the 1st and 4th centuries A.D. During the late 17th and again in the 19th centuries, Iran was quite open to foreign influence, including Western Christian missionaries who founded schools, hospitals, and who proselytized Eastern Christians as well as Muslims. These groups, among them French Jesuit Roman Catholics, British Anglicans, and American Assemblies of God had some small successes and the current presence in Iran of these denominations is due to their influence. Conservatives consider these groups to be ""western innovations"" and are not fully trusted. This sentiment is often shared even by the native Christian"
"is the Sunni branch of Islam, most Kukherdis are following the Hanafi way of فقه Fiqh Sunni. (Persia had a mix of sects and religions but predominantly sunni until the rule of the Safavid dynasty after Shah Ismael who adopted the Shiate as the official religion of their empire. The local Kukherd's dialect is known as Larestani لارستاني which spreads in Fars province between the two regions of Larestan and Hormozgan. Laristani is independent of Persian. Nonetheless, Laristanin and these other related languages are closest to Persian by being members of the Southwest Iranian languages. There's a folk belief that"
"the Safavid Empire was also the revival of Iran as an economic stronghold between East and West, the establishment of an efficient state and bureaucracy, its architectural innovations and its patronage for fine arts. One of his first actions, was the proclamation of the Twelver sect of Shia Islam to be the official religion of his newly-formed state, which had major consequences for the ensuing history of Iran. Furthermore, this drastic act also gave him a political benefit of separating the growing Safavid state from its strong Sunni neighbors—the Ottoman Empire to the west and the Uzbek confederation to the"
"Dumuzid, and some later kings came to be viewed as divine soon after their reigns, like Sargon the Great of Akkad. One of the first rulers to be proclaimed a god during his actual reign was Gudea of Lagash, followed by some later kings of Ur, such as Shulgi. Often, the state religion was integral to the power base of the reigning government, such as in Egypt, where Pharaohs were often thought of as embodiments of the god Horus. Zoroastrianism was the state religion of the Sassanid dynasty which lasted until 651, when Persia was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate."
"were Sunni Muslims, though today Iran is known as a stronghold of the Shi'a Muslim faith, recognizing Islam as their religion and the prophet's son in law, Ali as an enduring symbol of justice. According to Amoretti in Cambridge History of Islam, the Arab conquerors brought with them a new religion and a new language, but they did not use force to spread it. While giving freedom of choice, however, the Arab conquerors designated privileges for those who converted. During the Rashidun Caliphate, the official language of Persia (including Mesopotamia) remained Middle Persian (Pahlavi), just as the official languages of"