At the core of Shiite belief and history is a basic contradiction. Around 636 they defeated the Sasanids and captured Ctesiphon, the capital. Their center of rule was in Azerbaijan, the northwestern province, which had seldom played an important role in earlier Iranian history. It was a long process by which Islam, though long rejected, was gradually accepted by the majority of the population.On the other hand, Iranians have maintained certain pre-Islamic traditions, including their language and culture, and adapted them with Islamic codes. Shiite Islam gives a special place to its clerics and demands blind obedience to their rulings on religious law. President Mohammad Khatami, who served two terms between 1997 and 2005, emphasized popular sovereignty over the clerical authority of the supreme leader. Many Shiite traditions—which heavily influence practices and policies in Iran today—emerged during that early schism. Urban populations had been falling because of famine, epidemics, and migration to more prosperous areas. Shiites believe in the need for divine authority in this world. Shiite philosophers began debating ideas about Islamic democracy. The Shahnama, an epic poem that recounts the tales of the mythical pre-Achaemenid rules of Iran as well as the historical shahs,was completed Firdausi around 1000. As a result, most Sunni Muslims are today organized, like Europeans, on the basis of the nation-state, and many have chosen a relatively secular national framework. The Sunni world is thus dominated by nationalist republics and by conservative monarchies. The distinction was often unclear, since their emphasis was on emotional religious experience rather than legal structures and definitions. Ali’s son Hussein and his followers decided to fight against harsh governance, knowing that they were likely to be massacred. Iran's constitution recognizes Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism (Persia's main pre-Islamic faith) as protected belief systems. The Islamization of Iran occurred as a result of the Muslim conquest of Persia in 633–654 CE. (2.3) Shiʿism in Iran since the Safavids. Why were there so many Chinese fans in the bleachers at this year's FIFA World Cup, when the Chinese team wasn’t even on the field? The world’s most comprehensive website on Iran, “The Primer” brings together 50 experts—Western and Iranian—in concise chapters on politics, economy, military, foreign policy, and the nuclear program. Through centuries of foreign assimilation, Iran also retained its distinct cultural identity. The Safavid empire fought the Ottomans frequently with mixed success. Safavid power and culture flourished in the early seventeenth century under Shah Abbas I. Isfahan, the capital, became a magnificent showplace. Eliot, Herman Hesse, and The Beatles. Timur, known in English as Tamerlane, swept away these petty dynasties in his merciless conquest of Iran in the 1390s. His martyrdom also defines contemporary Shiite beliefs. He established a separate Mongol state, subordinate to that of the Great Khan in Mongolia, to be ruled by his descendants. Motivated at least in part by religion, the Arabs embarked on conquests after Muhammad’s death. Eastern Iran, which had flourished in the earlier Islamic centuries, never fully recovered economically or regained political importance. The prophet Muhammad proclaimed the religion of Islam in a series of revelations (which came to be called the Qur’an) that came to him between 611 and his death in 632. You know this. Iran is the major Shi'ite country in the Muslim world. Shiite Islam is not just the religion of state, but also forms the framework for a theocracy. Facebook. Shiites believed that the Prophet should have been succeeded by the relatives or descendants most familiar with his thinking and practices. The Muslim conquest of Persia led to the end of the Sasanian Empire and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Iran. The core factor that unites all Islamists, both Iranian and non-Iranian, is the belief that Islam should govern the boundaries of all aspects of life—political, economic, social and cultural. The balance between religion and republicanism shifted from the late 1990s during the reform era. The initial split between Islam’s two main branches followed the Prophet Mohammed’s death in 632 AD. A short history of 20th century Iran, including the Iran-Iraq war and the political climate that spilled into the 21st century. In the absence of the Mahdi, Twelver Shiites believe that clerics trained in seminaries can substitute for his authority on some issues. Iranians are celebrating their 39th Revolution Day, marking the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini from exile. Before the Islamic conquest, Iran was under the rule of the Sasanids, and suffered from a great deal of injustice, corruption and oppression. Zoroastrianism was the official religion of Iran until the Islamic conquest. The Buyids retained the Sunni caliphate because the twelfth of the recognized imams, or divinely appointed leaders descended from Ali, had disappeared with a successor a half century earlier. Iran is today the world’s only clerically-ruled government. Twelver Shiite-majority countries include Bahrain, Iraq and Azerbaijan, along with Iran (though Azerbaijanis are mostly secular in outlook). The Iran-Iraq War also drew large numbers of women into the work force for the first time, so that practical developments often offset patriarchal law-making, and unexpectedly gave women a prominent place in Iranian society. The last Sasanid shah died a fugitive in eastern Iran in 651. By the end of the century the country was weak and in debt to foreign creditors. The Savior is a descendant of the Prophet whose expected return to rule the world will restore justice, peace, and true religion. Green is associated with the descendants of the Prophet and is considered the color of Islam. The grand alliance that led to the 1979 revolution abandoned the traditional clerical quietism, adopting a diverse ideological interpretation of Islam. Islamic Militias Loyal To Iran In Eastern Syria Aim Ground-To-Ground Missile Launchers At Areas Under U.S. Control. FACT: Although Sunnis make up a commanding majority (85% to 90%) of the world’s Muslim population, they are a minority in Shi’a dominated Iran. Twelver Shiites, the branch to which most Iranians belong, hold that the twelfth imam, or divinely-appointed successor of the Prophet, disappeared as a child in 874 AD and will one day become visible again in this world to restore it to justice as the Mahdi, or the promised one. Islam merupakan agama rasmi di Iran. Sunni community leaders, … ISLAM IN IRAN . It is written in the Arabic script and has a substantial admixture of Arabic loan words. From around 1000 on the independent Iranian dynasties rapidly gave way to new dynasties of Turkic origin. or followers of Ali.Ali did become the fourth caliph for five years, but was murdered in 661 AD. Google+ “Biden” admin is aiding and abetting these Hitlerian savages. Most Iranians converted to Islam over a period of three centuries. Arab governors sent by the caliphs ruled Iran. Iran converted almost entirely to Shi’ism during the Safavid period. Over time, Shiites have tried to answer this power vacuum in their faith in several contradictory ways. An able general, who dispensed with the fiction of Safavid rule and himself took the throne as Nadir Shah, rebuilt an ephemeral empire and conquered as far east as Delhi. This article discusses the history of Iran from 640 ce to the present. History of Iran. The 1979 revolution unseated the last dynasty to rule Iran from the Peacock Throne. Iran has influence in the Arab world, but its theocratic form of rule has limited appeal. Only 10 percent of the world’s Muslims belong to the Shiite branch of Islam; most of the rest are Sunnis. They developed into dynastic manufacturing and cultural centers. But the disappearance of the Twelfth Imam in the ninth century left the community rudderless. It has largely been rejected by Iraqi and Lebanese Shiites. It was triggered by a dispute over leadership of Islam. Elements within the clergy promptly moved to exclude their former left-wing, nationalist, and intellectual allies from any positions of power in the new regime, and a return to conservative social values was enforced. ©2021 Asia Society | Privacy Statement | Accessibility | About AsiaSociety.org | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap | Contact. And their rallying cry was. The major Iranian dynasties were the Tahirids, the Saffarids, the Samanids,and the Buyids. The principlists attacked both the wealthy upper echelon of clergymen as fat cats preying on the people, and the Khatami liberals as traitors to the ideals of the Islamic Republic. Shiite is the short form of. As such, religion and politics are inseparable. The nexus between Islam and Iran is a complex one. Yet the populist character of Iran’s revolution also led to the establishment of many new provincial schools and resulted in impressive advances in female literacy. But they believed it was better to die fighting for justice than to live with injustice—a concept that today defines Shiite beliefs. Read on to learn about the "fourth teaching.". Iranian aristocrats lived on rural estates and held their wealth ain land and treasure. Sufism, or Islamic mysticism, began to develop into organized brotherhoods, some of which had political ambitions Some Sufi brotherhoods were Sunni, other Shi’ite. Lively debates center on issues such as the nature of a just government, women’s rights in Islam, economic justice and the extent of limits on personal liberty. But the trained clergymen only solved half the problem posed by the absence of the Imam, since no one alleged that they had the prerogative actually to rule, as the Imam did. The Sunni faithful do not owe blind obedience to their sheikhs. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps was founded as a sort of Shiite national guard to defend theocratic rule. Latest News. Under Khomeini-ism, only clerical rule in accordance with Shiite law can create just government in the absence of the Prophet and the imams. Iran is a theocracy that mixes religion and state more thoroughly than any other country in the world. Islamists believe God sent Islam to be implemented, hence the creation of sharia (Islamic) law. So clerics in Shiism are powerful in interpreting God’s word for their followers. A new capital was built at Baghdad on the outskirts of the old capitals of Selucia and Ctesiphon. Before the Islamic conquest, the … The Pakistani government is effectively secular, but individuals in their communities are fairly serious about Islam. Iranians, unlike many of their neighbors, hold on very strongly to their pre-Islamic roots and achievements; sentiments of … The Iranian Revolution of 1979 placed Shi'a clergy in positions of political power; the Supreme Leader of Iran is a Shi'a ayatollah, or Islamic scholar and judge. The starting point for debates in Iran is not secular law and civil rights, but the tradition of Muslim jurisprudence and practice called the Sharia. Iran is an Islamic state where close to 98% of the population identifies as being Muslim. The Buyid adhered to the Shi’ite form of Islam, which reveres Muhammad’s son-in-law and cousin Ali and his descendants as the divinely appointed leaders of the Islamic community, despite their chronic inability to gain and hold political power. Shiites recite elegiac poetry, tearfully tell the tales of Hussein and his family and companions, and march in processions with banners. This was called the Ilkhan empire, from the title of the rule. But the Islamic Republic he founded in 1979 represented a unique blend, since the supreme cleric or leader presided over a government formed by parliamentary and presidential elections that implied popular sovereignty. The Akkoyunlu state centered in Azerbaijan was one of the most hereditary leaders of a Sufi order known as the Safaviyya, but they later grew fearful of their popularity with the Turkic tribes. Instead, they uneasily co-existed with lay monarchs, who exercised authority on a customary, common-law, not an Islamic-law, basis. Isma’ildeclared Shi’ite Islam the religion of his new state, even though the Safaviyya had at one time been Sunni like most of the Iranian population. However, administrative and economic problems, combined with rivalries between Turks and Iranians, undermined the empire. Asia Society takes no institutional position on policy issues and has no affiliation with any government. THE CONCEPT OF MAHDI IN SUNNI ISLAM. It may sound incredible, but China’s formal education system—the oldest in the world—was established nearly two millennia ago. He lived in Mecca in western Arabia,and the earliest Mulims or believers in Islam, were Arabs. Iran is a regional player, but the monolithic Shiite crescent feared by some Sunnis has not materialized. Ahmadinejad often invoked the Twelfth Imam and predicted that he would soon return. (2.1) The advent of Islam in Iran. The devastations of the Mongols are proverbial, but Iran was already in a deep state of economic and demographic decline before they arrived. This era also saw international competition between the Safavids and the Sunni Ottoman Empire. They too employed the symbols of Islam to prove legitimacy. According to government estimates, Sunnis make up between 7% and 10% of Iran’s population. The new Umayyad Dynasty then assumed leadership of the young Islamic empire. A must-read! This seems likely to play out with potentially momentous consequences in coming years. Khomeini transferred this religious power to Iran’s new theocracy after the revolution. And the faithful are obliged to give blind obedience to cleric’s religious rulings. Turkey and Iran: Parallel Islam imperialist ambitions for the Middle East BEHIND THE LINES: Neither Ankara nor Tehran want a strong Iraq, or a strong Syria. The starting point for debates in Iran is not secular law and civil rights, but the tradition of Muslim jurisprudence and practice called the Sharia. One Year of COVID: Politics of Vaccination, Explainer: Issues in Vienna Nuclear Talks, Dual Nationals and Foreigners Held in Iran, Poll: Americans, Iranians Support 2015 Nuclear Deal, Israeli Sabotage of Iran’s Nuclear Program, What Iran Has to Reverse on Its Nuclear Program. North Korea: Looking Beyond the Stereotypes, China's Education System: The Oldest in the World, Discussion Series: Teaching Truth to Power, Addressing Racism Through Global Competence, Asia Society Museum: The Asia Arts & Museum Network. Iran is at the heart of radical Islam “A collection of laws is not enough to reform society,” Islamic Republic of Iran’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini wrote in his book some decades ago. Education. Sunni Islam returned to rule when Ghazan converted. Student Jerry Tian gives us his perspective. In contrast, the group that later evolved into the Sunnis believed that the early Muslim community had the right to select elders from the noble tribe of Mecca, even if they had no blood ties to the Prophet. As such, religion and politics are inseparable. For the history of the region before the 7th century, see ancient Iran. But Iran rapidly fell apart again after his death in 1747. Learn about the political and social changes under Iran's Safavid Dynasty by examining the Book of Kings. And it seems inappropriate for minorities in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The shahs were perceived as squanderers of the national wealth. Hussein was killed in the battle of Karbala. 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