I r a n i n Wo r l d H i s t o r y
44
Sogdian art has left some of the most significant artifacts of the
Sasanian era, including metalwork, textiles, and particularly painting.
Indoor murals from the homes of wealthy Sogdian merchants in
Panjikent (just across the border of Tajikistan from Samarkand) are
some of the oldest and most vivid examples of
the Iranian painting
tradition and shed much light on the culture of the period. The themes
illustrated are often recognizably Iranian, including scenes related
to stories in the
Book of Kings
and Iranian mythology, but they also
show a range of influences from East and West. Chinese motifs can be
detected, and one Panjikent painting shows the mythological founders
of Rome, Romulus and Remus, suckling at the belly of a she-wolf.
This sixth-century painting of a Sogdian goddess, probably Anahita or
Nanai, decorates part of a wall at Panjikent, Tajikistan. Sogdian traders were
the principal actors along the Silk Road; many became quite wealthy and
commissioned magnificent murals to decorate the walls inside their mansions.
The head of the goddess is ringed by a halo, symbolizing divine blessing
(kvaraneh)
—an artistic element that was borrowed into Christian, Buddhist,
and Muslim art. The Sogdian murals from Panjikent and nearby Afrasiab in
Uzbekistan are some of the earliest examples of the Iranian painting tradition;
most, however, are in poor condition.
Photo by author
C h a p t e r 4
The Iranization of Islam
(651–1027)
A
bo’l-Qasem Ferdowsi, author of the Persian national epic known
as the
Book of Kings
, perfectly epitomizes the conundrum of
Iranian identity. A Muslim born and raised, this tenth-century
poet considered the Arab conquest to be the tragic ending to Iran’s long
and glorious history:
But
for the Persians I will weep, and for
The House of Sasan ruined by this war:
Alas for their great crown and throne, for all
The royal splendor destined now to fall,
To be fragmented by the Arabs’ might;
The stars decree for us defeat and flight.
1
The sudden emergence of the Arabs as a major geopolitical force
beginning in the mid-seventh century is one of the great surprises of
world history and continues to be a subject for discussion and debate
among historians. This phenomenon is usually associated with the rise
of
Islam as a new world religion, but the standard view owes something
to back-projection. The earliest documented information about Islam
dates to decades after its foundation, and the narrative of Islam’s first
century is based on that constructed by Muslim historians—who were
hardly impartial observers—two centuries or more after the fact.
Islamic civilization did not appear all at once; it took shape over
several centuries. Many peoples contributed to its development, and
among these the Iranians were foremost. Their role is not surprising
considering the criteria on which the notion of “civilization” is typically
defined: urbanization, political institutions, scientific achievements, lit-
erature, and the arts. The Arabs had little of this of their own to build
on, whereas Iranians had some twelve centuries or more to draw from.
Islam (which means “submission” in Arabic)
is usually thought of
as an Arab innovation, and in some respects it was. But the Qur’anic
I r a n i n Wo r l d H i s t o r y
46
text on which it is based incorporates many pre-existing ideas, Iranian
as well as Semitic. Iranians had long lived and traded along the coasts
of the Arabian peninsula, so Iranian culture was not unfamiliar to the
Arabs. A Persian companion of the Prophet Muhammad, Salman,
intro-
duced trench warfare, which was a turning point in the early Muslim
community’s struggle against their enemies from Mecca—in later
Sufi tradition “Salman Farsi” is even said to have been Muhammad’s
spiritual guide. A story describing a miraculous night journey (
mi’raj
)
during which the Prophet visits heaven and hell became widely accepted
by Muslims, even though it does not appear in the Qur’an. Its original
source would seem to be the Zoroastrian
Book of Righteous Viraz
; the
Muslim version would later inspire Dante’s
Divine Comedy
.
During the first decades of the Arab conquests,
Islam was con-
sidered to be merely an aspect of Arab identity, “the Arabs’ religion”
(
al-din al-‘arab
). In order to become a “Muslim” (literally, “one who
submits”), a non-Arab had to have an Arab patron who would pro-
vide him with membership in an Arab clan. The Arabs often resisted
this patronage, since increasing a clan’s membership meant distributing
booty and other benefits more widely. At the same time, these very ben-
efits motivated many non-Arabs to seek entrance into the Arab-Islamic
community, the
umma
.
Muhammad died in 632, the same year the
eight-year-old
Yazdegerd III acceded to the Sasanian throne in Iran. Muhammad’s
military career was limited to Arabia, but by 636 his followers began
their conquest of the Sasanian Empire, which they absorbed entirely
within a decade. This remarkable feat continues to amaze students of
history, just as it still baffles and saddens many Iranians themselves.
How could a people living on the very margins of civilization, who
had never been more than raiders harassing the borders of the great
empires, make such short work of the age-old Iranian state?
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