The Impact of Zoroastrian Cultural-Religious Services on the Development of Iranian-Islamic Civilization

No civilization is created in a void. Every civilization has its own heritage and has a substantial relationship with it. In essence, what is left from a past plays a decisive role in shaping the future. The golden age of Islamic civilization must also be understood in terms of this principle and in the field of its prior culture and civilization. The golden civilization of Islam, which emerged during the Abbasid caliphate, was clearly associated with its neighboring societies. Meanwhile, the Iranian civilization of the Sassanid era plays a central role in the formation of Islamic civilization. Zoroastrian aristocracy has always been the cultural elite of the flag bearers of science and knowledge in the history of Iranian civilization. In the Sassanid era, the power of this elite force reaches its peak.
Due to global events such as the closure of scientific schools in the Eastern Roman Empire, the Iranian world in the Sassanid era led by Zoroastrian elites increasingly became the center of scientific discussions of the civilized world. In this study, via a library research, it is sought to express how Zoroastrians were able to survive after Islam, as a cultural force, and become a source of many services to the Islamic world by transferring the tradition of knowledge in the Sassanid era. The results of the research show that the dissolution of the Sassanid system took the cultural achievements of the Zoroastrians out of the hands of the priests and hence the scientific achievements of the past became a basis for new developments. In the meantime, more than any other field of knowledge, they were able to benefit from Zoroastrian heritage: firstly, in the field of medical knowledge, which is linked to the rich tradition of Jundishapur, and secondly philosophy and wisdom, a clear example of which can be seen in Sohrevardi’s works.

Research objectives:

1. A study of the fields of knowledge in pre-Islamic Zoroastrian Iran. 2. A study of the cultural services of Zoroastrian thought in Iran in the Islamic period.

Research questions:

1. What fields of knowledge were transferred from pre-Islamic Iran to post-Islamic Iran? 2. What are the cultural influences of the Zoroastrian principals in the Islamic period?