Examining the religion of Zoroastrianism during the period of transition (from the arrival of Islam to Iran until the extinction of the Abbasids)

Master's Thesis in Non-Abrahamic Religions

Abstract

In general, the true believers of religions consider their beliefs to be the complete and clear manifestation of truth and truth, and they try to support their religious beliefs with all their heart and soul. Meanwhile, the clergy of each religion have a more important role as the guardians and agents of religion.

The Zoroastrian clergy, who have been specifically studied by us, have tried to preserve the Zoroastrian religion in different historical periods. His efforts in preserving the Zoroastrian religion in the Islamic era, especially the early Islamic centuries, have been very logical and far from any war and conflict. Before the Arab invasion, during the Sassanid era, they benefited from the special support of the government, and therefore they had a special influence among the people, and with the pressure they exerted on the people due to religious strictness, it caused a kind of indifference to religion and dissatisfaction with the religious people. After the Arab attack, in the beginning, they had no support base from the Islamic Caliphate and no special helpers from among the people. But little by little, religious people were able to communicate with the caliphs' court and prevent the destruction of the fire temples. Also, the Zoroastrians who were still committed to Zoroastrian religion, although they were not happy with the religious strictness of the religious people, they had no choice but to refer to them in religious matters. They also tried to prove their rightness through debate and dialogue.

Key words: Din Yar, Mugh, Athron, Atash, Apostasy, Azar Farn Baghofrokhzadan, Dinkord

1: Introduction

With the fall of the Sassanid dynasty, life in Iran changed in a different way and the times showed a different side. Zoroastrian clergymen lost their political authority forever. Until now, in the guise of religious and political authority, they used to interfere with affairs and had special influence in the entire government system. Even the king himself must have approval from Mr. Mobad; However, from the two wings of the Sasanian leadership, only the wing of religion remained and the wing of politics had disappeared, and the religious were under the command of Muslims. It was not known whether anything of Zoroastrian sanctity and religion would remain or not?

In the very first years of the invasion, the Arabs were able to control most of the regions of Iran and despite the fact that Iran was considered a part of the territory of the Islamic world, it was not considered as an Islamic society with Islamic culture[1]. In fact, the early Islamic centuries of Iran became the battlefield of the two civilizations of Iran and Islam, where these two cultures evaluated each other and finally tried to find common religious-cultural grounds after the end of the first two or three centuries and build their lives on it. Although it is not possible to determine the exact and real time for great religious and cultural events in history, it seems that it was in the first few centuries of Islam that the culture of Iranians was transferred to a combination of Iranian and Islamic culture. In other words, the early Islamic centuries can be referred to as the period of transition from the ancient Iranian-Zoroastrian civilization to the dynamic Iranian-Islamic civilization. The main problem of the transition period is the problem of changing the religion and culture of Zoroastrians to Islam.

Iran did not become Islamic unified, but Islam progressed rapidly every day and gradually revealed its truth. Most Iranian Muslims did not believe by the force of the sword, but by the power of reason. Iranian zeal and civilization did not allow anyone to lose his faith due to the sharpness of the sword and accept the humiliation of this world and the hereafter. Although the sword of the thazis was sharp, it was not very effective against the iron faith of the Iranians. On the contrary, the tendency of Iranians towards Islam was mainly due to enthusiasm and rational reasoning. What encouraged most Iranians to accept the new religion was the similarities between their own religion and the new religion, and of course they were not reluctant to get rid of the pressure of the clerical class and the strict religious laws of Zoroastrianism. Therefore, they put on the new clothes of truth and truth in the spring of Islamic freedom. Of course, direct pressure from the Muslim rulers and poverty threatened the Zoroastrian society and religious people, and because of this, the religious people were greatly affected [2]. Some believers pretended to accept Islam to avoid paying Jizya.. Or in areas such as Sawad and Khorasan, the peasants were the first to change their religion in order to maintain their economic and social status.

It was here that religious people had to do essential work as protectors of religious and national interests and showed their central role. Due to the great support of the Sasanians, the Zoroastrian clergy had not been able to learn the ways and customs of Binyazi and independence from political power. This caused them to not be able to seriously support their religion and culture in the first two centuries of Islam, therefore, the available sources contain very little information about the reactions of the religious people with the invading Arabs, as well as their social status. However, after the extinction of the Sassanid dynasty, the majesty and power of Mobadan decreased greatly; But again, since a large number of Iranians followed the Zoroastrian religion until the end of the third century, Mobdan had considerable power and their spiritual influence was not lacking, especially Mobdan Mobad, who was the real head of the Zoroastrian Iranians, and although his power and prestige decreased as Iranians accepted Islam, at the end of the third century, he was respected and possessed spiritual and religious authority and was in charge of resolving religious issues and problems. We know for sure that until the 4th century of Hijri, a large group of Iranians followed the religion of Ahura Mazda and there were many fire temples in cities and villages. Most of the works were written in Pahlavi, and Mobdan and Hirbdan were still respected and even made their way to the court of the caliphs. From the end of the 4th century onwards, prejudice, strictness and violence against the people of other religions intensified and the religion of the Mazdaists gradually fell from prosperity and became almost abandoned [3].

The truth is that the religion of Zoroastrianism never fell and it still survives due to the courage and persistence of successive generations. The decrease of followers of this religion with the passage of time does not belong to Zoroastrian religion. This is the general fate of all religious groups that are under the command of those who follow other religions and consider the spread of their religion to be a religious duty. [4]

1-2: Diniyar

Generally, clerics, experts, and scholars in the theology and customs of each religion are nicknamed with the specific title of that religion. For example, in Christianity, a priest, or in Judaism, a rabbi, or in Islam, sometimes they say Hojjat al-Islam. This is a title in the Zoroastrian religion, which refers to the general scholars of Zoroastrian religion, regardless of any scientific rank or social status. Because in our research, we refer to the scientific levels of Zoroastrian scholars, and from the order, rejection, hirbad, and mobad. We remind you, therefore, using the word Mobad for this treatise is not accurate and scientific, and we tried to find a more general word that can be applied to the general scientific level of Zoroastrian sages. For most Iranians, the word "chaplaincy" is reminiscent of the Islamic clergy, so we refrained from using it. While the functions of Zoroastrian clerics are different from Islamic clerics, we did not want to use this unwanted term to bring the mind of the audience closer to the functions of Islamic clerics. The word "Danadin" probably refers more to the scientific rank of individuals and does not indicate the aspect of their religious and cultural activities at the community level, so we have abandoned the use of this word. It seems that the word Diniyar can express the goals of this research, because it is indicative of people who have tried in any way to be helpers of Zoroastrian religion, and necessarily the helpers should also be Danadins. Of course, many people have tried to help the Zoroastrian religion, but the investigation of all of them is beyond the scope of this treatise, and we have only dealt with the religious people who, in the eyes of the public, are part of the religious affairs.

It should be said that inevitably and to avoid the tiresome repetition of the word religious in the treatise, we have sometimes used the word religious or spiritual, but it is clear that we meant the same religion.

1-3: Statement of the subject and purpose of the research

In the Sassanid era, whenever the Zoroastrian clergy faced a great threat and a strong opponent (such as Mani and Mazdak), they mainly appealed to the government and the emperor to defend the Zoroastrian religious system and the interests of its leaders. However, with the removal of the support of the Sassanid Empire, the clergy, which no longer had the means of repression, to face the numerous religious sects - which were mainly rooted in the Sassanid era - as well as to face the powerful Islam, recreated its religious and ritual foundations and tried to ensure the survival of the Zoroastrian nation in the new conditions by reviving, inventing and reforming some rules and laws.