“It is not possible to underestimate how Zoroastrianism changed the Persian world and its sense of its own community. If the world and human history could be understood as an epic struggle between good and evil, a struggle whose ultimate trajectory is the establishment of good throughout the universe and the defeat of evil, then one’s own role, as an enlightened people, in the world becomes vastly different. This political role in the world was put together by Cyrus, called The Great.”
“Cyrus freed the Hebrews with the specific intent that they reintroduce the proper worship of Yahweh in the Temple at Jerusalem. The Hebrews, however, took several Zoroastrian ideas with them; alhtough these religious ideas simmered and brewed as unorthodox ideas among common people, they would eventually resurface with a vengeance in Christianity.”
Extremely interesting civilization - the Persian empire!..
Question: If a great culture such as that of the Zoroastrians can affect Judaism and Christianity, are there any direct or indirect signs of its tenents in Islam as well?
Zorastrians aren't a culture. They are followers of a religion like christianity, islam or judaism. They are still around. Parsis in India and southeast Pakistan are Zoroastrians. They fled persecution in their home land in present day Iran after the arrival of islamic hordes.
Mats, that is apparent :) However, I was hoping to get an answer as to whether there are tenants of this "religion" if you will, that have had an impact on Islam.
sweetpie i dont think zoroastrian practices or their culture or religion had any influence on Islam. culturally one may say that the muslims living with zoroastrians or parsis as they are called, might have adopted some of their practices, "culturally" and not "religiously", just as muslims in pakistan and india act like hindus and sikhs in celebrating their marriage celebrations etc. But that influence is totally due to cultural mingling and involves no religious influence.
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*Originally posted by Haris Zuberi: *
sweetpie i dont think zoroastrian practices or their culture or religion had any influence on Islam.
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Some questions you may clear up for me:
Where did the concept of the Bridge of Sirat come from?
How many prayers do Zoroastrians have in a day?
Isn't it strange that the major compilers of Islamic Hadith literature are Persians and not Arabs?
Why are Heaven/Hell accounts from Islamic History so similar to accounts from Zoroastrian sacred literature?
Why are common Islamic terms used in Indo-Pak derived from Persian and not Arabic?.. like Namaz or Roza etc.
Where did the concept of the Bridge of Sirat come from?
How many prayers do Zoroastrians have in a day?
Isn't it strange that the major compilers of Islamic Hadith literature are Persians and not Arabs?
Why are Heaven/Hell accounts from Islamic History so similar to accounts from Zoroastrian sacred literature?
Why are common Islamic terms used in Indo-Pak derived from Persian and not Arabic?.. like Namaz or Roza etc.
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And you think Muslims assimilated these things and words into their religion? Give me break...These guys were run off by Mongols...Hadn't it been for Muslims protecting them, they would surely have perished...
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*Originally posted by Lajawab: *
And you think Muslims assimilated these things and words into their religion? Give me break...These guys were run off by Mongols...Hadn't it been for Muslims protecting them, they would surely have perished...
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stop responding for the sake of responding and just try and read something once in a while .. it will help you tremendously in at least being able to approach the answers to the questions I posted.
So you believe that Islam assimilated some traits of Zoroastrianism...OK...The Hidus believe that Hajr-e-Aswad is their Shiv lingam...Are we supposed to believe that? Where's your proof of all of this?
i am trying to find a book with translation of Sair- Ul-Okul which is an anthology of ancient arabic poetry which reveal lot of things.
The most important of these Bedouin achievements, however, was the conquest of Mecca by the tribe of the Quraysh around 500 AD. Mecca had already become a religious center of Arabic culture as its name suggests—one possible derivation of the name, “Mecca,” is the word, “makorba,” or “temple.” The religion of the pre-Islamic Arabs was a mixture of Bedouin polytheism, Judaism, and a little bit of Christianity. The pre-Islamic Arabs worshipped three goddesses, al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat, who were all daughters of one god, Allah—this one god was probably derived from the monotheistic religions of Judaism and Christianity. Mecca was the center of this religion with its Ka’ba, or “Cube,” which served as the temple for the religion
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*Originally posted by Lajawab: *
So you believe that Islam assimilated some traits of Zoroastrianism...OK...The Hidus believe that Hajr-e-Aswad is their Shiv lingam...Are we supposed to believe that? Where's your proof of all of this?
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instead of wasting your time on these obviously flawed parallels, why don't you do some homework and try to answer at least the first question?