The Interaction between Islam and Iran Comparative Study on the Viewpoints Presented by Dr. Zarrinkub and Motahhari

There are various views on the way of advent of Islam in Iran and the way of Iranians confronting with the conquerors, the why and how of their tendency toward Islam and its reflection on the national identity of Iranians. Dr. Zarrinkub, an intellectual and nationalist historian and Motahhari, a religionist scholar, have investigated this issue. Regardless of the intellectual development of Dr. Zarrinkub during the decades after writing the book “Two Centuries of Silence”, if this very book is considered as the basis, it could be deemed that Zarrinkub has considered invasion of Iran by Arabs as an aggressive action and their change of religion as a compulsory issue while he has evaluated Islam as the element effective on the exaltation of Iranian culture as he has regarded an Islamic- Iranian identity for the Iranian.  Nevertheless, Motahhari, in his book named “Mutual Service of Islam and Iran”, with the denial of opposition between national identity and Islamism, has regarded the entrance of Muslims toward Iran as a liberal movement, the tendency of the Iranian toward Islam as a willing action and Islam as the savor for the Iranian community