Islam was brought to Iran via Arab-Islamic conquest in 650 AD and has played a shifting, anomalous role in this nation-state ever since. The ideas of nationalism, secularism, religion, and revolution are unique in this Muslim country.
The Islamization of Iran occurred as a result of the Muslim conquest of Persia in 633–654 AD. It was a long process by which Islam, though initially rejected, eventually spread among the population on the Iranian Plateau.
Zoroastrianism was the state religion of three Persian dynasties, until the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century A.D. Zoroastrian refugees, called Parsis, escaped Muslim persecution in Iran by emigrating to India.
The Medes are credited with founding Iran as a nation and empire, and established the first Iranian empire, the largest of its day until Cyrus the Great established a unified empire of the Medes and Persians, leading to the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC).
Following the imposition of the jizyah, many Zoroastrians chose to convert to Islam. The rate of conversions accelerated after the Abbasid caliphs moved their capital to Baghdad, leaving the administration of Persia to governors who destroyed ateshkadehs (fire temples) or converted them into mosques.
The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म, lit.
Ancient Iranian religion or Iranian paganism, refers to the ancient beliefs and practices of the Iranian peoples before the rise of Zoroastrianism. The religion closest to it was the Historical Vedic religion (ancient Hinduism) that was practiced in the ancient Indian subcontinent.
Muslims conquered Iran in the time of Umar (637) and conquered it after several great battles.
The constitution of Iran limits the number of recognized non-Islamic religions to three – Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians – and the laws of the Islamic Republic forbid atheism and conversion by Muslims to another religion.
Through their actions, the Safavids reunified Iran as an independent state in 1501 and established Twelver Shi'ism as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam.
Frustration with a repressive and religiously rooted regime and a critical and negative view of Islam, are some of the reasons given as to why Muslim Iranians choose to convert to Christianity. At the same time, the movement is growing as a result of a targeted missionary activity by Christian organizations abroad.
Zoroastrianism (1500-1200BC) is considered the first Middle Eastern religion expressing all of these previous concepts, although some of its adherents believe in the duality of God. According to these adherents there is a good God (Ahura Mazda) and an evil one (Angra Mainyu).
The first converts to Islam at the time of Muhammad were: Khadija bint Khuwaylid - First person to convert and first free female convert.
Zoroastrians are the oldest remaining religious community on the Iranian Plateau. Prior to the Muslim conquest of Iran, Zoroastrianism was the primary religion of Sassanid Iran.
Until the 16th century, Persia was mostly Sunni. At the turn of that century, the Safavid dynasty conquered much of what is now Iran and made Shiism the official religion. The conversion was accompanied by a massive crackdown on Sunnis, so that over time much of the population became Shia.
Iran has passed a law banning the free, state-subsidized distribution of contraceptives in a bid to boost its population growth -- but the move has raised fears of catastrophic repercussions.
Tattoo artists are regularly arrested in Iran and sentenced to fines, lashes or even imprisonment. While there is no specific law against tattoos and they are not strictly forbidden in Shia Islam, the authorities strongly reject them as a western phenomenon harmful to Iranian values.
The Islamic Republic of Iran was founded after the 1979 overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty by the Islamic Revolution, and its legal code is based on Islamic law or sharia, although many aspects of civil law have been retained, and it is integrated into a civil law legal system.
Islam was brought to Iran via Arab-Islamic conquest in 650 AD and has played a shifting, anomalous role in this nation-state ever since. The ideas of nationalism, secularism, religion, and revolution are unique in this Muslim country.
Wearing hijab became obligatory for all Iranian women from April 1983. Since then, all women have been legally obliged to wear hijab in public, even non-Muslims and foreigners visiting Iran.
In 2021, 209 Christians converted to Hinduism, while 32 Muslims converted to Hinduism.
For most of history, the tract of land now called Iran was known as Persia. It wasn't until 1935 that it adopted its present name.
According to the Ali Reza Eshraghi, religious pressure and inadequate governing from the Iranian government have made Iranian people less religious. Some Iranian feminists have also been noted as being irreligious and atheistic.
Of course, Jesus was a Jew. He was born of a Jewish mother, in Galilee, a Jewish part of the world. All of his friends, associates, colleagues, disciples, all of them were Jews. He regularly worshipped in Jewish communal worship, what we call synagogues.