Seljuk Studies

The historical darkness of Zoroastrian society in the Seljuk period

Document Type : Research Articles

Author

Hamidreza Dalvand

Associated professor of Faculty of Linguistics, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies Tehran. Iran

Abstract
Although Zoroastrian society lost its authority in Iran after Islam, it was able to maintain its organization and adjust it according to the conditions of the time and historical events. The 3rd and 4th centuries of Yazdgirdi/Hijri are the times of glory and re-shining of religious organizations of Zoroastrian society. Because in this period, their existence was accepted as an official religion under the title of People of the Book (Ahl-e kitab) in the Islamic society, and in the light of that, they were able to re-edit and reproduce the intellectual heritage of their ancestors.The fifth century, which is the beginning of the formation of large and comprehensive governments in Iran, is expected to the Zoroastrian society flourish and find a better position in the shadow of the security and prosperity of the general economy. But what we are witnessing with amazement is the emergence of a dark historical period of four hundred years. This speech looks at the historical events of the Zoroastrians until the fifth century, in order to find an answer for the causes of the mentioned historical phenomenon.
.

Keywords

Zoroastrian tradition in the Islamic Period
Zoroastrians
Seljukieds
historical darkness of Zoroastrian society
References:
Abī Dulaf (1960), al-Risālat al-S̱ānīya li Abī Dulaf Masʿar ibn al-Muhalhil al- Ḫazraǧī, edited by Biṭrus Būlġākūf and Anis Ḫālidūf, Moscow: Dār al-Našr li Ādāb al-Šarqīyyah.
Āmūzgār, Žālih; Tafażżulī, Aḥmad (1380/2001-2002AD), Usṭūrah-yi Zindigī-yi Zardušt, Tehran: Čašmah.
Asfizārī, Muʿīn al-Dīn Muḥammad Zamǧī (1961), Ruvżāt al-Ǧannāt fī Uvṣāf-i Madīnat-i Hirāt, edited by Muḥammad Isḥāq, Calcutta: Zarpā.
Barbaro, Giosafat (1349/1970-1971AD), Travelogues of Venetians in Iran, translated into Persian by Manūčihr Amīrī, Tehran: Ḫvārazmī.
Blair, Sheila (1394/2015-2016AD), The Monumental Inscriptions from Early Islamic Iran [and Transoxiana], translated into Persian by Mahdī Gulčīn ʿĀrifī, Tehran: Farhang u Hunar.
Bundahiš (1369/1990-1991AD), compiled by Faranbaġ-i Dādagī, translated into Persian by Mihrdād Bahār, Tehran: Tūs.
Christensen, Arthur Emanuel (1382/2003-2004AD), L'Iran sous les Sassanides, translated into Persian by Rašīd Yāsamī, edited by Riżā Bāġ Bīdī, Tehran: Amīr Kabīr.
Dālvand, Ḥamīd Riżā (1396/2017), “Legacy of Šiz in Zoroastrian Traditions under Islamic Reign”, Historical Perspective & Historiography (HPH), 27(104), pp. 71-88 [In Persian].
Dālvand, Ḥamīd Riżā (1397/2018), “Zoroastrian Community of Fars Province and Its Fate at the Beginning of the Fifth Century Hegira”, Research Journal of Iran Local Histories, 6(12), pp. 25-46 [In Persian].
Dālvand, Ḥamīd Riżā (1399/2020-2021AD), Tārīḫ u Sunnat-i Zarduštī, Tehran: Pažūhišgāh-i ʿUlūm-i Insānī u Muṭāliʿāt-i Farhangī.
Dārāb (1922), Ravāyāt-i Dārāb-i Hurmazdyār, edited by Unvala, 2 vols, Mumbai/Bombay.
Frye, Richard Nelson (1348/1969-1970AD), Bukhara: The Medieval Achievement, translated into Persian by Muḥammad Maḥmūdī, Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarǧumah u Našr-i Kitāb.
Gabriel, Alfons (1381/2002-2003AD), Aus dem Einsamkeiten Irans, translated into Persian by Parvīz-i Raǧabī, Tehran: Asāṭīr.
Ǧaʿfarī, Ǧaʿfar ibn Muḥammad (1338/1959-1960AD), Tārīḫ-i Yazd, edited by Īraǧ Afšār, Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarǧumah u Našr-i Kitāb.
Ġanīmatī (1382/2003AD), “Kūh-i Ḫvāvǧah. Muhimtarīn Parastišgāh-i Zarduštīyan-i Sīstān”, interview with Ġanīmatī, Kitāb Māh-i Tārīḫ u Ǧuġrāfīyā, no. 66-67.
Ǧayhānī (1368/1989-1990AD), Aškāl al-ʿĀlam, translated by ʿAbd al-Salām Kātib, with introduction and annotations by Fīrūz Manṣūrī, Tehran: Širkat-i Bih Našr.
Geldner K. (1896), Avesta, Stuttgart.
Ḫvābnāmah, Manuscript Preserved in Yigānagī Library of Tehran.
Haft Kišvar yā Ṣuvar al-Aqālīm (1353/1974-1975AD), edited by Manūčihr-i Sutūdah, Tehran: Bunyād-i Farhang-i Īrān.
Ḫvāǧah Niżām al-Mulk (1347/1968-1969AD), Sīyāsat Nāmah, edited by Hubert Darke, Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarǧumah u Našr-i Kitāb.
Ḥākim Nīšābūrī, Abū ʿAbdullāh (1375/1996-1997AD), Tārīḫ-i Nīšābūr, translated into Persian by Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn Ḫalīfah-yi Nīšābūrī, edited by Muḥammad Riżā Šafīʿī-yi Kadkanī, Tehran: Āgah.
Ibn Faqīh Hamadānī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (1885), Muḫtaṣar Kitāb al-Buldān, edited by Jan de Goeje, Leiden: Brill.
Ibn Funduq, ʿAlī ibn Zayd (1317/1938-1939AD), Tārīḫ-i Bayhaq, edited by Aḥmad Bahmanyār, 2nd edition, Tehran: Kitābfurūšī-i Furūġī.
Ibn Ḥavqal, Abūl-Qāsim Muḥammad (1345/1966-1967AD), Ṣūrat al-Arż, translated into Persian by Ǧaʿfar-i Šiʿār, Tehran: Bunyād-i Farhang-i Īrān.
Ibn Ḫurdādbih, ʿUbaydullāh (1889), al-Masālik va al-Mamālik, edited by Jan de Goeje, Leiden: Brill.
Ibn Nadīm (1352/1973-1974AD), al-Fihrist, translated into Persian by Muḥammad Riżā Taǧaddud, Tehran: Čāpḫānah-yi Bānk-i Bāzargānī-yi Īrān.
Iṣṭaḫrī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad (1340/1961-1962AD), Masālik u Mamālik, edited by Īraǧ Afšār, Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarǧumah u Našr-i Kitāb.
Iṣṭaḫrī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad (1967), Kitāb-i Masālik va al-Mamālik, edited by Jan de Goeje, Leiden: Brill.
Jackson, A. V. Williams (1352/1973-1974AD), Persia, Past and Present, translated into Persian by Manūčihr Amīrī and Firiydūn Badrah-yi, Tehran: Ḫvārazmī.
Karīmān, Ḥusayn (1354/1975-1976AD), Riy-i Bāstān, 2 vols, Tehran: Dānišgāh-i Millī-yi Īrān.
Kātib (1357/1978-1979AD), Tārīḫ-i Ǧadīd-i Yazd, edited by Īraǧ Afšār, Tehran: Amīr Kabīr.
Maḥmūd ibn ʿUs̱mān (1943), Firduvs al-Muršidīyyah fī Asrār al-Ṣamadiyyah, edited by Fritz Meier, Istanbul: Maṭbaʿa-yi Maʿārif.
Maqdisī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (1361/1982-1983AD), Aḥsan al-Taqāsīm fī Maʿrifat al-Aqālīm, translated into Persian by ʿAlī Naqī Munzavī, 2 vols, Tehran: Širkat-i Muʿallifān u Mutarǧimān-i Īrān.
Marco Polo (1892), the travels of Marco Polo, New York.
Masʿūdī, ʿAlī ibn Ḥusayn (1344/1965-1966AD), Murūǧ al-Ẕahab va Maʿādin al-Ǧavhar, translated into Persian by Abū al-Qāsim-i Pāyandah, 2 vols, Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarǧumah u Našr-i Kitāb.
ر(1349/1970-1971AD), al-Tanbīh va al-Išrāf, translated into Persian by Abū al-Qāsim-i Pāyandah, Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarǧumah u Našr-i Kitāb.
Muṣṭafavī, Muḥammad Taqī (1333/1954-1955AD), Banā-yi Tārīḫī-yi Buqʿah-yi Bībī Šahrbānū dar Riy, Tehran: Idārah-yi Bāstānšināsī.
Mustuvfī, Ḥamdullāh (1336/1957-1958AD), Nuzhat al-Qulūb, edited by Muḥammad Dabīr-Sīyāqī, Tehran: Ṭahūrī.
Mustuvfī-yi Bāfqī (1390/2011-2012AD), Muḫtaṣar-i Mufīd, Tehran: Bunyād-i Muvqūfāt-i Duktur Maḥmūd Afšār.
Naršaḫī (1351/1972-1973AD), Tārīḫ-i Buḫārā, edited and annotated by Mudarris-i Rażavī, Tehran: Bunyād-i Farhang-i Īrān.
Qarīb, Badr al-Zamān (1386/2007-2008AD), Muṭāliʿāt-i Suġdī, Tehran: Ṭahūrī.
Qazvīnī, Zakarīya Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd (1960), Ās̱ār al-Bilād va Aḫbār al-ʿIbād, Beirut: Dār Ṣādir li al-Našr va al-Ṭibāʿat.
Qumī, Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad (1361/1982-1983AD), Tārīḫ-i Qum, translated into Persian Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī Qumī, edited by Sayyid Ǧalāl al-Din Ṭihrānī, Tehran: Tūs.
Šahmardān, Rašīd (1336/1957-1958AD), Parastišgāh-i Zartuštīyān, Tehran.
Šahmardān, Rašīd (1360/1981-1982AD), Tārīḫ-i Zartuštīyān pas az Sāsānīyān, Tehran: Čāpḫānah-yi Rāstī.
Šahristāni (1335/1956-1957AD), al-Milal va al-Niḥal, translated into Persian by Afżal al-Dīn Ṣadr-i Turkah-yi Iṣfahānī, edited by Muḥammad Riżā Ǧalālī-yi Nāʿīnī, Tehran: Čāpḫānah-yi Tābān.
Samarqandī, Duvlatšāh (1385/2006-2007AD), Taẕkirat al-Šuʿarā, edited by Fāṭimah ʿAlāqah, Tehran: Pažūhišgāh-i ʿUlūm-i Insānī u Muṭāliʿāt-i Farhangī.
Schwarz, Paul (1969), Iran im mittelalternach den arabischen geographen, Hildesheim: Olms.
Šīrāzī, Ǧunayd (1328/1949-1950AD), Šadd al-Izār fī Ḥaṭṭ al-Avzār ʿan Zavvār al-Mazār, edited by Muḥammad Qazvīnī and ʿAbbās Iqbāl, Tehran: Čāpḫānah-yi Maǧlis.
Sykes, Sir Percy Molesworth (1343/1964-1965AD), A History of Persia, translated into Persian by Muḥammad Taqī Faḫr Gīlānī, Tehran: ʿAlī Akbar ʿIlmī.
Ṭabarī (1889), Tārīḫ al-Rusul va al-Mulūk, edited by Jan de Goeje, Leiden: Brill.
Tafażżulī, Aḥmad (1376/1997-1998AD), Tārīḫ-i Adabīyyāt-i Īrān-i Pīš az Islām, edited by Žālih Āmūzgār, Tehran: Suḫan.
Tārīḫ-i Sīstān (1314/1935-1936AD), edited by Malik al-Šuʿarā-yi Bahār, Tehran: Ḫāvar.
Unvala, J. M. (1940), Collection of Colophons of Manuscripts bearing on Zoroastrianism in some library of Europe, Bombay.
Yaʿqūbī, Aḥmad ibn Abī-Vāżiḥ (1347/1968-1969AD), al-Buldān, translated into Persian by Muḥammad Ibrāhīm Āyatī, Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarǧumah u Našr-i Kitāb.
Yāqūt-i Ḥamavī (1866), Muʿǧam al-Buldān, edited by Heinrich Ferdinand Wüstenfeld, Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus.
Zarātuštnāmah (1338/1959-1960AD), written by Kiykāvūs ibn Kiyḫusruv-i Rāzī, additions by Zartušt Bahrām Paždū, edited by Fredrick Rosenberg, with re-edition and index by Muḥammad Dabīr-Sīyāqī, Tehran.
Zarkūb-i Šīrāzī, Abu al-ʿAbbās (1350/1971-1972AD), Šīrāznāmah, edited by Ismāʿīl Vāʿiẓ Ǧavādī, Tehran: Bunyād-i Farhang.

  • Receive Date 23 October 2023
  • Revise Date 31 January 2024
  • Accept Date 10 February 2024

Home

Guide for Authors

Submit Manuscript

Reviewers

Contact Us