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Persecution of Zoroastrians refers to the religious persecution inflicted upon Zoroastrians after the Islamic invasion of Iran (Persia). Persecution is pivotal to Zoroastrians' sense of identity, and as the Jewish communities cannot be understood without an appreciation of the reality of anti-Semitism, so too the Zoroastrian experience of exclusion must be taken into account.[1]

Persecutions in Iran

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Until the Arab invasion, Persia (modern-day Iran) was a politically independent state, spanning from the Aegean Sea to the Indus River[2] and dominated by a Zoroastrian majority.[2][3][4] Zoroastrianism was the state religion of three pre-Islamic Persian empires,[5] the last being the Sassanian empire that passed a decree in 224 CE.[3][6] Unlike the Greeks, who under the command of Alexander had conquered Iran centuries earlier, the Arabs set out to destroy Zoroastrianism[7] and replace it with Islam.[6] The Arab invasion brought abrutly to an end the religious domination of Zoroastrianism in Iran and intituted Islam as the official religion of the state.[8] When asked by Yazdezard, about the reasons for the unwarranted Arab aggression against Persians, an Arab soldier replied, "Allah commanded us, by the mouth of His Prophet, to extend the dominon of Islam over all nations." [9]

After the Muslim conquest of Persia, Zoroastrians were given dhimmi status and subjected to persecutions; discrimination and harassment began in the form of sparse violence and forced conversions.[2][10] Zoroastrians were made to pay an extra tax called Jizya, failing which they were either killed, enslaved or imprisoned. Those paying Jizya were subjected to insults and humiliation by the tax collectors.[11][12] Zoroastrians who were captured as slaves in wars were given their freedom if they converted to Islam.[11][13]

Zoroastrian places of worship were desecrated, fire temples were destroyed and mosques built in their place. Many fire temples, with their four axial arch openings, were usually turned into mosques simply by setting a mihrab (prayer niche) on the place of the arch nearest to qibla (the direction of Mecca). Zoroastrian temples converted into mosques in such a manner could be found in Bukhara, as well as in and near Istakhr and other Iranian cities.[14] Urban cities where Arab governors made their quarters were most vulnerable to such religious persecution, great fire temples were turned into mosques, and the citizens were forced to conform or flee.[15] Many libraries were burnt and much cultural heritage was lost.[16]

Gradually there were increased number of laws regulating Zoroastrian behavior, limiting their ability to participate in society, and make life difficult for the Zoroastrians in the hope that they would convert to Islam.[16] Any political, military, or economic resistance by Zoroastrians was unfeasible or violently suppressed by the Muslim government.[13][17][18]

Over time, persecution of Zoroastrians became more common and widespread, and the number of believers decreased significantly. Many converted, some superficially, to escape the systematic abuse and discrimination by the law of the land.[11] Once a Zoroastrian family converted to Islam, the children had to go to Muslim religion school and learn Arabic and the teachings of the Quran and these children lost their Zoroastrian identity.[11] Those who had converted just for the convenience could not revert back to Zoroastrianism because the penalty for renouncing Islam was death.[13] These factors continued to contribute to increasing rates of conversion from Zoroastrianism to Islam.[19] An Iranian scholar commented, “Why so many had to die or suffer? Because one side was determined to impose his religion upon the other who could not understand."[20]

642 CE to 10th Century

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In the 7th century A.D. Persia succumber to the invading Arabs, who established Islam as the state religion in place of Zoroastrianism.[21] In the following centuries, Zoroastrians faced much religious discrimination and persecution, including forced conversions, harassments, as well as being identified as najis and impure to Muslims, making them unfit to live alongside Muslims therefore forcing them to evacuate from cities and face major sanctions in all spheres of life. Zoroastrians have been subject to public humiliation through dress regulations, to being labeled as najis (polluting) and to exclusion in the fields of society, education and work.[1]

The Caliphs (642-661 CE)

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Under the first four Caliphs, the direct descendants of the prophet Mohammed, Iran remained predominantly Zoroastrian. Zoroastrians were awarded the status of People of the Book or dhimmi status by the Caliph Umar, although some practices contrary to Islam were prohibited.[16][22] Before this took place, however, thousands of Zoroastrian priests were executed, hundreds of temples destroyed, and religious texts burnt, and the use of the ancient Avestan as well as Persian languages was prohibited.[23] Umar did not take the jizya from the "Magian infidels" (Zoroastrians) until he heard a testimony that Muhammad had taken the jizya from the Magians of Hajar.[24]

When the Persian capital of Ctesiphon in province of Khvârvarân (today known as Iraq) fell to the Muslims during the Islamic conquest of Persia in 637 under the military command of Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas during the caliphate of Umar, the palaces and their archives were burned. According to an account in Tarikh al-Tabari by Al-Tabari, the Arab Commander Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas wrote to Caliph Umar ibn al-Khatta-b about what should be done with the books at Ctesiphon. Umar wrote back: "If the books contradict the Qur'an, they are blasphemous. On the other hand, if they are in agreement, they are not needed, as for us Koran is sufficient."[25] Thus, the huge library was destroyed and the books, the product of the generations of Persian scientists and scholars were thrown into fire or the Euphrates.[26] Nearly 40,000 captured Persian noblemen were taken as slaves and sold in Arabia.[27] The Arabs called the Persians 'Ajam' meaning mute. The first voice of protest came from Firooz, an enslaved Persian artisan, who assassinated Umar.[28]

Muslim chronicles state that, in the Battle of Ullais seeing no opening, no weakening of the Persian resistance, the Arab commander in chief Khalid ibn al-Walid, tired, angry, and frustrated prayed to Allah: "O Lord! If You give us victory, I shall see that no enemy warrior is left alive until their river runs with their blood!". After the battle, Khalid ibn al-Walid ordered all the prisoners of war be decapitated.[29] In the river Khaseef the blood was still not flowing, as Khalid had pledged, until on the advice of Qa'qa ibn Amr one of the commanders of the Muslim army, Khalid ordered the dam on the river to be opened. The river then flowed with blood, and it became known as the River of Blood.[30] When the city of Estakhr in the south, a Zoroastrian religious center,[31][32] put up stiff resistance against the Arab invaders, 40,000 residents were slaughtered or hanged.[33]

The Umayyads (661-750 CE)

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The Umayyads who ruled from Syria followed the Caliphs. The persecution increased in the 700s, during the reign of the late Umayyad Caliphs, whose dynastic predecessors had conquered most of the last Zoroastrian state by 652.[34][35] Jizya tax was imposed upon Zoroastrians, and the official language of Iran became Arabic instead of the local Persian.[36] While Muslim Iranians readily learned the new language, the Zoroastrians hated it, and avoided it as the language of Muslims, and thus were left out of all government positions.[13] In 741, the Umayyads officially decreed that non-Muslims be excluded from governmental positions.[37]

The Iranian Muslims at this time started a new tradition, which made Islam appear as a partly Iranian religion. Islamic invaders attempted to distort the teaching of Zardusht by presenting Zoroastrianism as polytheistic cult thus facilitating the annihilation of the Iranian culture and its peoples. They pointed out that an Iranian Zoroastrian, Salaman-I-Farsi had a great influence on Mohammed, 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 Shia Imam (and started the Shia branch of Islam).[38] The Iranian Muslims thus believed that Shia Islam was derived from Sassanian Royalty.[13][38] These two beliefs made it easier for Zoroastrians to convert. An instance of religious oppression is recorded when an Arab governor appointed a commissioner to supervise the destruction of fire temples throughout Iran, regardless of treaty obligations.[39] One of the Umayyad Caliphs was quoted saying, "milk the Persians and once their milk dries, suck their blood".[40]

Yazid-ibn-Mohalleb, a general under the Umayyads, was appointed the head of a great army to lead the Mazandaran expedition.[41] On the way to Mazandaran, the general ordered captives to be hanged at the two sides of the road so that the victorious Arab army pass through. Upon arrival, he massacred 12,000 civilians and took 6,000 as slaves.[41][42] The attack on Tabarestan (present-day Mazandaran) failed, but he established his control in Gorgan.[41] By the orders of Yazid-ibn-Mohalleb so many Persians were beheaded in Gorgan that their blood mixed with water would energize the millstone to produce as much as one day meal for him, as he had vowed.[42][43] Extent of his brutality represented itself by running watermills by people's blood for 3 days and he fed his army with the bread made from that very bloody flour.[41] But, Tabarestan remained invincible until the majority of Zoroastrians migrated towards India and the rest converted to Islam gradually.[41]

The Abbasids (752 - 804 CE)

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The Umayyads were followed by the Abbasid dynasty which came to power with the help of Iranian Muslims. The persecution of Zoroastrians increased significantly under the Abbasids, temples and sacred-fire shrines were destroyed.[44] Also during Abbasid rule, the status of Zoroastrians in Persian lands was reduced from zimmi (or dhimmi, people who were protected by the state and generally considered 'People of the Book') to 'kafirs' (non-believers).[44][45] As a result, Zoroastrians were not granted the same rights and status as Jews and Christians.[45] Iranian Moslems were welcomed to the court, but not Zoroastrians.[13] Zoroastrians were denied access to bathhouses on the grounds that their bodies were polluting.[45]

Hardly any Zoroastrian family was able to avoid conversion to Islam when employed by the Abbasids.[46] Because of their harshness towards unbelievers, and due to their lavish patronage of Persian Muslims, the Abbasids proved to be deadly foes of Zoroastrianism.[47] According to Dawlatshah, Abdollah-ibn-Tahir, Governor of Khorasan for the Abbasid caliphs,[48] banned publication in Persian and by his order all the Zoroastrians were forced to bring their religious books to be thrown in the fire.[26][46] As a result many literary works written in Pahlavi script disappeared.[46]

The Saffarids (869-903 CE)

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The Abbasids were followed by the Saffarids. Zoroastrians lived under the leadership of their High Priest, since they had no king. In Iraq, the political center of the Sassanian state, Zoroastrian institutions were viewed as appendages of the royal government and family, and suffered much destruction and confiscation.[45] Closely associated with the power structures of the Persian Empire, Zoroastrian clergy quickly declined after it was deprived of the state support.[49][50] During the Saffarid reign the Zoroastrians, for the first time became a minority in Iran.

10th to 20th Century

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Migration to India

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At the beginning of the 10th century a small group of Zoroastrians living around the town of Nyshapour and Fort of Sanjan in the province of (greater) Khorasan, decided that Iran was no longer safe for Zoroastrians and their religion,[51] and decided to emigrate to India. They traveled to the island of Hormazd in the Persian Gulf, and after 3 years' preparation set sail for India. They landed on a small island called Diu of the coast of Gujarat in the year 936 CE. There they lived for about 20 years in great difficulty. They learned the local language and presented their case to Jadi Rana, the Hindu king of that region.[52] Jadi Rana in return for some promises of behavior, allowed them to settle in his kingdom. The refugees accepted the conditions and founded the settlement of Sanjan (Gujarat), which is said to have been named after the city of their origin (Sanjan, near Merv, in present-day Turkmenistan),[51] that they had left behind in Iran nearly 30 years ago. They consecrated their first Atash Behram fire within five years of coming to Sanjan (Gujarat).

This attracted other Zoroastrians from Iran and also some Zoroastrians who had individually come over the years and settled in various parts of western India. This first group was followed by a second group, also from Greater Khorasan, within five years of the first, and this time having religious implements with them (the alat). In addition to these Khorasanis or Kohistanis - mountain folk, as the two initial groups are said to have been initially called [53] - at least one other group is said to have come overland from Sari (in present-day Mazandaran, Iran).[54] After that, there were several smaller migrations from different parts of Iran into the same region of India, with each wave bringing with them their own ways of performance of Zoroastrian ceremonies and rituals.

This was the start of the Parsis in India. They have since lived in peace with the Hindus, the their relationship with Hindus is full of accord and amity.[55] The community still exists in western India, and it currently contains the largest concentration of Zoroastrians in the world.[56] "Parsi legends regarding their ancestors' migration to India depict a beleaguered band of religious refugees escaping the harsh rule of fanatical Muslim invaders in order to preserve their ancient faith." [57][58] The epic poem Qissa-i-Sanjan (Story of Sanjan) is an account of the early years of Zoroastrian settlers on the Indian subcontinent. It is only in recent times that Parsis have become aware of the extent of the oppression that their co-religionists in Iran had to endure.[1]

Further information: [[:Parsis of India]]

Mongol Invasion

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Seljuk Turks

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The Safavids (1501-1720 CE)

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Zoroastrians had difficult time during the Safavid period and faced repeated persecution and forced conversion.[59] It is useful to add that Persian Zoroastrians were also branded as impure, in addition to being infidels.[60] As earlier in the century, so this period also witnessed sporadic campaigns for the conversion of Armenians and Zoroastrians, focusing blame for economic and other ills on these and other minorities whose involvement in the spice export, for example, was well know.[61] The accounts in Mino Khirad, written during the Savafid period, demonstrate that the Zoroastrians were subjected to harassment by the Shi'ite majority, their places of worship were under the threat of being destroyed.[62]

In the early 16th century the great Safavid king, Shah Abbas settled a number of Zoroastrians in a suburd of his new capital, Isfahan. Europeans who visited his court left accounts of the 'gabars', as they were called by Muslims, which agree on the poverty and simplicity of thier lives.[63] Al-Majlisi persuaded Shah Husayn (1688-1728 CE) to decree the forcible conversion of Zoroastrians.[64] By 1707, when Le Bruyn visited Isfahan, the Zoroastrians were no longer practising their religion freely. He notes that the most deprived Zoroastrians had been brought to Isfahan, and had been forced to become Muslim three years earlier.[65]

Qajar Dynasty (1796-1925 CE)

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A Zoroastrian family in Qajar Iran, circa 1910

A Zarthusti astrologer named Mulla Gushtasp predicted the fall of the Zand dynasty to the Qajar army in Kerman. Because of Gushtasp's forecast, the Zarthustis of Kerman were spared by the conquering army of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar. Despite the aforementioned favorable incident, the Zoroastrians during the Qajar dynasty remained in agony and their population continued to decline. Even during the rule of Agha Mohammad Khan, the founder of the dynasty many Zoroastrians were killed and some were taken as captives to Azarbaijan.[66]

Zoroastrians regard the Qajar period as one of their worst.[67] The community was regarded as outcast, impure and untouchable. The murder of Zoroastrians was not punished.[68] They were threatened with forced conversions ands their religious sanctuaries were regularly desecrated.[68] Harassments and persecution were the norms of daily life.[69] At times, Zoroastrian girls were kidnapped and forcefully converted and married to Moslems and brought to town in fanfare.[70] Various methods were used to proselytize the minorities.

Many foreign visitors to Iran of the time have commented on their pitiful situation.[67][68] According to Edward Browne, the wall of Zoroastrian houses had to be lower than that of the Moslems and prohibited from marking their houses with distinctive signs.[71] Zoroastrians were forbidden from erecting new houses and repairing old ones.[72][68] According to a law, if any member of family converted to Islam, he/she was entitled to all inheritance.[70][72][68]

Zoroastrians were subjected to public discrimination through dress regulations[67][68] - not allowed to wear new or white clothes,[68] and compelled by enactments to wear the dull yellow raiment already alluded to as a distinguishing badge.[72][68] They were not pertmitted to wear eyeglasses,[67] socks, to wind their turbans tightly and neatly.[73] During the rainy days they were not allowed carry umbrellas[67] or to appear in public, because the water that had run down through their bodies and cloths could pollute the Moslems. Forbidden from riding horses[72][68][71] and only allowed to ride mules or donkeys,[67][68] upon facing a Moslem they had to dismount.[73]

The Zoroastrians and their food was considered impure[67][68] and many public places refused to serve them. They were forbidden from taking up lucrative occupations.[68] On top of all the misery the Zoroastrians had to pay a heavy religious tax known as Jizya.[67] Due to corruption of the tax officials, at times twice and even three times the official figure would be collected, because every intermediary had to receive his share. If the families could not afford paying the Jizya, their children were beaten and even tortured and their religious books were thrown in fire. That is how the term “the bookless” came about. Under the woeful conditions, some had to convert and there were those who declared themselves Moslems, picked up Islamic names, but in secret continued Zoroastrian practices. Today the latter group among the Zoroastrians is known as Jaddid. In response to persecution and segregation policies, the Zoroastrians community became closed, introverted, and static.[67]

Zoroastrian massacres did not cease during the Qajar rule. The last two are recorded at the villages surrounding the city of Boarzjan and Turkabad near Yazd. Today, the village of Maul Seyyed Aul near Borazjan, among the local people is known as “killing site” (Ghatl-Gauh),[66] and Zoroastrian surnames of Turk, Turki, Turkian and Turkabadi reflect lineage to the survivors of Turkabad. In the 1850s, Comte de Gobineau, the French Ambassador to Iran wrote: "Only 6000 of them are left and just a miracle may save them from extinction. These are the descendants of the people who one day ruled the world."[74]

Due to the extent of oppression, and destitution, many Zoroastrians ventured to the hazardous journey to India. Those who could not afford the voyage aboard the ships, risked their lives by crossing the hostile desert on donkeys or even on foot.[26] In India, they were recognized for Sedreh and Kushti and were sheltered by their Parsi brethren. There, they formed the second major Indian Zoroastrian community known as the Iranis.

Emissaries to Iran

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When the news of their plight reached the Parsis, who by this time had become quite prosperous, Parsi funds were set up to help the Iranian Zoroastrians and emissaries were dispatched to Iran.[26] A Parsi philanthropist, Maneckji Limji Hataria, was sent to help them. He found only 7000 Zoroastrians in Kerman, Yazd and Tehran (now the capital of Iran). Using his influence with the British government he managed to get some of the repression against Zoroastrians removed. Jizya was paid by the Zoroastrian minority until 1882,[75] when it was removed by pressure on the Qajar government from the Persian Zoroastrian Amelioration Fund.[76]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Hinnells 1996, p. 303
  2. ^ a b c Spencer 2005, p. 168
  3. ^ a b Khanbaghi 2006, p. 6
  4. ^ Khanbaghi 2006, p. 15
  5. ^ Sanasarian 2000, p. 48
  6. ^ a b Stepaniants 2002, p. 1
  7. ^ Nigosian 1993, p. 42
  8. ^ Khanbaghi 2006, p. 17
  9. ^ Karaka 1884, p. 15
  10. ^ Stepaniants 2002, p. 163
  11. ^ a b c d Boyce 2001, p. 148
  12. ^ Lambton 1981, p. 205
  13. ^ a b c d e f "History of Zoroastrians in Islamic Iran". FEZANA Religious Education. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  14. ^ Hillenbrand
  15. ^ Boyce 2001, p. 147
  16. ^ a b c "Under Persian rule". BBC. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
  17. ^ Boyce 2001, p. 153
  18. ^ Farrokh 2007, pp. 273–275
  19. ^ Choksy 1987, pp. 28–30
  20. ^ Shojaeddin Shaffa, p. 443
  21. ^ Bleeker & Widengren 1971, p. 212
  22. ^ Gordon 2005, p. 28
  23. ^ Browne 1893, p. 123
  24. ^ Compendium of Muslim Texts - Volume 4, Book 53, Number 384
  25. ^ Zeidan, pp. 42–47
  26. ^ a b c d Dr. Rustom Kevala. "Religion After the Fall of the Sassanians". ZAMWI. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  27. ^ Farrokh 2007, p. 270
  28. ^ Gordon 2005, p. 30
  29. ^ al-Tabari, p. 561-562
  30. ^ Akram 1970, pp. 254–262
  31. ^ Boyce 1975, pp. 95–99
  32. ^ "Estakr, a Zoroastrian religious centre". Encyclopedia Iranica. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  33. ^ Ibn Balkhi 1934, pp. 116–135
  34. ^ Hinnells 1996, p. 3
  35. ^ Boyce 2001, p. 145
  36. ^ Spuler 1994, p. 41
  37. ^ Khanbaghi 2006, p. 19
  38. ^ a b Boyce 2001, p. 151
  39. ^ Boyce 2001, p. 150
  40. ^ al-Tabari, p. 171, quoting Soleiman ibn-e Abdolmaleck
  41. ^ a b c d e "Tabarestan Remains Invincible". Iranian History. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  42. ^ a b Dr. Daryush Jahanian. "The History of Zoroastrians After Arab Invasion". European Centre for Zoroastrian Studies. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  43. ^ Ibn Esfandiar 1941, p. 120
  44. ^ a b Stepaniants 2002, p. 166
  45. ^ a b c d Berkey 2003, p. 100
  46. ^ a b c Khanbaghi 2006, p. 29
  47. ^ Boyce 2001, p. 152
  48. ^ "Abdollah ibn Tahir". Encyclopedia Iranica. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  49. ^ Lewis 1984, p. 17
  50. ^ Stillman 1979, p. 27
  51. ^ a b Hodivala 1920, p. 88
  52. ^ Bala 2007, p. 88
  53. ^ Vimadalal 1979, p. 2
  54. ^ Paymaster 1954
  55. ^ Encyclopaedia Of Political Parties, Volumes 33-50(p.21) By Om Prakash Ralhan]
  56. ^ Writer 1989, p. 130
  57. ^ Maneck 1997, p. 15
  58. ^ Paymaster 1954, pp. 2–3
  59. ^ Price 2005, p. 73
  60. ^ Abisaab 2004, p. 104
  61. ^ Newman 2006, p. 106
  62. ^ Khanbaghi 2006, p. 100
  63. ^ Bleeker & Widengren 1971, p. 213
  64. ^ Lapidus 2002, p. 243
  65. ^ Khanbaghi 2006, p. 101
  66. ^ a b Shahmardan, p. 125
  67. ^ a b c d e f g h i Price 2005, p. 111
  68. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Selbie 1914, p. 150
  69. ^ Browne 1893, p. 371
  70. ^ a b Browne 1893, p. 372
  71. ^ a b Lambton 1981, p. 207
  72. ^ a b c d Karaka 1884, p. 78
  73. ^ a b Browne 1893, p. 370
  74. ^ Comte de Gobineau 1869
  75. ^ Sanasarian 2000, p. 49
  76. ^ "The Zoroastrians who remained in Persia (modern Iran) after the Arab–Muslim conquest (7th century CE) had a long history as outcasts. Although they purchased some toleration by paying the jizya (poll tax), not abolished until 1882, they were treated as an inferior race, had to wear distinctive garb, and were not allowed to ride horses or bear arms." Gabars, Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 29 May 2007.

Bibliography

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Zoroastrians Category:Zoroastrianism Category:Forced migration Category:Anti-Zoroastrianism

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