Nativist Prophets Of Early Islamic Iran Rural Revolt And Local Zoroastrianism, The

By Patricia Crone

Book Description

Patricia Crone explores the profound spiritual currents that shaped Iran's religious landscape across two millennia in this illuminating examination of faith, resistance, and cultural persistence. When Arab Muslim forces penetrated the Iranian countryside, they encountered not passive acceptance but a complex web of indigenous beliefs that would spark revolts and reshape the region's spiritual identity.

This scholarly investigation reveals how mountain communities in Iran maintained distinctive religious ideas that proved remarkably resilient, surviving conquest and adapting within new Islamic frameworks. Crone traces how these enduring spiritual concepts occasionally erupted into widespread movements with transformative consequences for the entire country, including the eventual rise of the Safavids who established Shi'ism as Iran's dominant faith.

The work sheds fresh light on pre-Islamic Iranian spirituality, particularly Zoroastrian traditions, while demonstrating how local religious communities responded to foreign conquest through both resistance and adaptation. Rather than simply disappearing under Islamic rule, Iranian spiritual beliefs found ways to persist both alongside and within the new religious order.

For readers interested in understanding how spiritual traditions survive cultural upheaval and political transformation, this study offers valuable insights into the dynamic relationship between indigenous faith practices and imposed religious systems. Crone's analysis reveals the complex ways that deeply rooted spiritual beliefs can endure, evolve, and ultimately influence the very forces that seek to replace them.