Rajib-da,
You are right. Sassanians werer Zoroastrians.
Umesh
Rajib Das <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Rajib Das <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Very interesting, Umesh!
I always thought the Muslim Arabs attacked Persians
and their army of 30,000 defeated a much larger
(300,000) army of the Sassanians in the battle of
Qadisiya.
I thought the Sassanians at that time were
Zorastrians.
Come to think of it - the Arabs truly had their lands
for themselves only for about the first 100 years of
Islam. For the most part, their land was a playground
for many different players starting with the Greeks
and the Persians, then the Mongols, then the Turks and
then the Brits and now the Americans.
--- umesh sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
> Rajen-da,
>
> Glad you like it. Last night I was given a book on
> Iran's religions by themother of my classmate who
> had
> converted to Bahai faith which originated in Iran in
> 19th century. She is of Jewish origins but brought
> up
> in a secular household and had been a muslim before
> she became Bahai. My classmate's husband is an
> Iranian refugee who fled with hs elder brother and
> mother when he was six -in 1984-across the border on
> horseback -for 12 hours-sitting behind a smuggler
> -into Turkey where they stayed for one year as
> refugees and then got permission to come to Canada.
> Hismother died ten years later.
>
> I learnt that Zoroasterians had an uneven
> relationship
> with Christians who came in later in 42 Ad/CE .
>
> Some Kings and nobles had been quite strict and even
> killed thousands of them but most were tolerant and
> Christianity slowly became a major religion in Iran
> --till the advent of the Arab muslim warriors who
> drove away Buddhists, and others --but allowed Jews
> and Christians to remain. Those Zoroasterians who
> did
> not convert had to flee to India. Crhistians became
> high officials under the muslim rule but
> proletyzation
> was banned and they had tobe extra tax -dhimmi -as
> in
> Indian Muslim rule - the Zazia tax.
>
> Later many Christians were forced to convert to
> Islam
> else leave lucrative posts. Later Mongols kicked the
> Muslims in 1200 CE/AD killing the Khalifa of Baghdad
> (like that of Suddam Hussein perhaps) and
> Christians
> came back inpowerful posts and some got the earlier
> converts to Islam -killed in large numbers. Butthen
> in
> 1400 Ce or so the Mongol's king Khan became a muslim
> and Musims were back in power-and retribution by
> Tamoorlane . So the game went on.
>
> British govt in 1880s forced Iranian govt to give
> preferential treatment to those muslims who
> convetred
> to Christinaity. The lwas were changed to : those
> who
> became Christians would be given all the property of
> their relatives!! That law was in in place in 1930s.
>
> Amazing how the religious game was played by the
> imperial powers then. What about the Anglican Church
> now?
>
> The book is called " Spirituality in the Land of the
> Noble: How Iran shaped the World's religions" by
> Richard C. Foltz , 2004 , OneWorld Publications,
> Oxford, England
>
> --- Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
>
> > Thanks
> > Umesh
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: umesh sharma
> > To: [email protected]
> > Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 7:11 PM
> > Subject: [Assam] NYTimes: Zoroastrians Keep the
> > Faith, and Keep Dwindling
> >
> >
> > Zoroastrians Keep the Faith, and Keep Dwindling
> > By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
> >
> >
> >
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/06/us/06faith.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5087%0A&en=8004858826643eaf&ex=1157774400
> >
> > Published: September 6, 2006
> > BURR RIDGE, Ill. - In his day job, Kersey H.
> Antia
> > is a psychologist who specializes in panic
> > disorders. In his private life, Mr. Antia dons a
> > long white robe, slips a veil over his face and
> goes
> > to work as a Zoroastrian priest, performing
> rituals
> > passed down through a patrilineal chain of priests
> > stretching back to ancient Persia.
> >
> > After a service for the dead in which priests
> fed
> > sticks of sandalwood and pinches of frankincense
> > into a blazing urn, Mr. Antia surveyed the
> > Zoroastrian faithful of the Midwest - about 80
> > people in saris, suits and blue jeans.
> > "We were once at least 40, 50 million - can you
> > imagine?" said Mr. Antia, senior priest at the
> fire
> > temple here in suburban Chicago. "At one point we
> > had reached the pinnacle of glory of the Persian
> > Empire and had a beautiful religious philosophy
> that
> > governed the Persian kings.
> > "Where are we now? Completely wiped out," he
> said.
> > "It pains me to say, in 100 years we won't have
> many
> > Zoroastrians."
> > There is a palpable panic among Zoroastrians
> today
> > - not only in the United States, but also around
> the
> > world - that they are fighting the extinction of
> > their faith, a monotheistic religion that most
> > scholars say is at least 3,000 years old.
> > Zoroastrianism predates Christianity and Islam,
> > and many historians say it influenced those faiths
> > and cross-fertilized Judaism as well, with its
> > doctrines of one God, a dualistic universe of good
> > and evil and a final day of judgment.
> > While Zoroastrians once dominated an area
> > stretching from what is now Rome and Greece to
> India
> > and Russia, their global population has dwindled
> to
> > 190,000 at most, and perhaps as few as 124,000,
> > according to a survey in 2004 by Fezana Journal,
> > published quarterly by the Federation of
> Zoroastrian
> > Associations of North America. The number is
> > imprecise because of wildly diverging counts in
> > Iran, once known as Persia - the incubator of the
> > faith.
> > "Survival has become a community obsession,"
> said
> > Dina McIntyre, an Indian-American lawyer in
> > Chesapeake, Va., who has written and lectured
> widely
> > on her religion.
> > The Zoroastrians' mobility and adaptability has
> > contributed to their demographic crisis. They
> > assimilate and intermarry, virtually disappearing
> > into their adopted cultures. And since the faith
> > encourages opportunities for women, many
> Zoroastrian
> > women are working professionals who, like many
> other
> > professional women, have few children or none.
> > Despite their shrinking numbers, Zoroastrians -
> > who follow the Prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster in
> > Greek) - are divided over whether to accept
> > intermarried families and converts and what
> defines
> > a Zoroastrian. An effort to create a global
> > organizing body fell apart two years ago after
> some
> > priests accused the organizers of embracing "fake
> > converts" and diluting traditions.
> > "They feel that the religion is not universal
> and
> > is ethnic in nature, and that it should be kept
> > within the tribe," said Jehan Bagli, a retired
> > chemist in Toronto who is a priest, or mobed, and
> > president of the North American Mobed Council,
> which
> > includes about 100 priests. "This is a tendency
> that
> > to me sometimes appears suicidal. And they are
> > prepared to make that sacrifice."
> > In South Africa, the last Zoroastrian priest
> > recently died, and there is no one left to
> officiate
> > at ceremonies, said Rohinton Rivetna, a
> Zoroastrian
> > leader in Chicago who, with his wife, Roshan, was
> a
> > principal mover behind the failed effort to
> organize
> > a global body. But they have not given up.
> > "We have to be working together if we are going
> to
> > survive," Mr. Rivetna said.
> > Although the collective picture is bleak, most
> > individual Zoroastrians appear to be thriving.
> They
> > are well-educated and well-traveled professionals,
> > earning incomes that place them in the middle and
> > upper classes of the countries where they or their
> > families settled after leaving their homelands in
> > Iran and India. About 11,000 Zoroastrians live in
> > the United States, 6,000 in Canada, 5,000 in
> > England, 2,700 in Australia and 2,200 in the
> Persian
>
=== message truncated ===
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Ed.M. - International Education Policy
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