Posted on 10/26/2020 7:25:35 AM PDT by Cronos
Aram Mehdi, an Iraqi Kurd who recently converted from Islam to Zoroastriansim, poses for camera as he holds a pendant representing Zoroaster, in Dohuk, Iraq
Carefully tucking his Farvahar pendant under his shirt, Aram Mehdi reminds himself of the core Zoroastrian principles it represents: good words, good thoughts and good deeds.
Born and raised in a conservative Muslim family, the 31-year-old Iraqi Kurd from the city of Dohuk, in the north of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, is afraid to wear the Zoroastrian symbol openly.
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His friends used to call him "Mullah," Mehdi recalls, as he scrolls through old pictures showing him praying at a local mosque.
But his social network started falling apart when he decided to distance himself from Islam and follow the teachings of Zoroaster, who founded Zoroastrianism some 3,500 years ago in ancient Iran.
Spreading as far as India, it was the official religion of three Persian dynasties until the 7th Century CE. It rapidly declined with the rise of Islam and all but disappeared in Iraq.
But in the country's Kurdish region, Zoroastrianism witnessed an unexpected revival after the extremist Islamic State group occupied vast swathes of northern Iraq, imposing a brutal doctrine of Islam and persecuting religious minorities.
"I began to ask myself, is theirs the true Islam, or the Islam that my parents taught me?" Mehdi said.
According to Awat Taieb, co-founder of the Yasna association that since 2014 has promoted Zoroastrianism in Kurdistan and also representative of the faith at the Kurdistan government, about 15,000 people registered with the organization so far.
Most of them were Kurds converting from Islam, but Arabs and Christians joined the movement as well, she said.
Although the regional Kurdish government officially recognized Zoroastrianism in 2015, converts from Islam remain registered as Muslims at the central Iraqi government, something Taieb does not expect to change any time soon.
Driving towards the newly established Yasna branch in Dohuk, Mehdi said he hoped to find a new community of like-minded converts.
The head of the branch, Helan Chia, asked him whether he would abide by the core principles of respecting nature, its four elements of air, water, fire and earth and mankind before registering him officially as a member.
The focus on the environment and on peaceful coexistence are key elements attracting young people from conservative backgrounds to the ancient faith.
But Dohuk's Zoroastrians still have some way to go to gain universal acceptance -- some local sheikhs have labeled Zoroastrians as infidels on social media.
Touring the local four-pillared Charsteen cave, Mehdi said he dreamt of one day undergoing his conversion ritual there.
The director of the Dohuk antiquities department, Hassan Qasim, said it had been a place of Zoroastrian worship in the past, but added that the cave, a classified archeological site, can no longer be used as such.
With nowhere to practice their rites, Dohuk's Zoroastrians hope to grow in numbers and open a temple elsewhere.
ARG! He was an ethnic Parsee; he did not practice the religion (since it considers homosexuality an unforgivable sin).
He was given a Zoroastrian funeral..................
And this guy’s a great Chef too !
I would imagine conversion from Islam to Zoroastrianism carries the same penalty of death as conversion from Islam to Christianity.
Oooh, yeah. And then some. The occasional benevolent passages in the Quran (the ones the ignorati use to call Islam a ROP) refer to Jews and Christians as "Peoples of the Book" (Ahl al-Kitaab). There's no mercy for apostasy of any kind, but to a non-Abrahamic religion? Double dog death.
Correct - conversion from Islam (apostasy from Islam) is punishable by death as per the Hadiths. Doesn’t matter if to Christianity, to Zoroastrianism, to Hinduism, to atheism
In Iran, to get converts in the 8th century, they extended the term “People of the book” to Zorastrians, as the Zoroastrians have “a book” - the Avestan
it depends — in India the Parsis (descendents of the Zoroastrians who migrated in the 8th century to Gujarat) do not accept converts as that was some kind of deal they made with the Maharajah of the Gujarati kingdom.
Then it became a race thing - you needed to have your dad a Parsi to become a Parsi.
But the Iranis accept converts.
By all indications, yes, the Magi were Zoroastrian.
I think I recall that the vulture population was decimated by some sort of cattle medication, this is what they came up as a solution I guess.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26431-ban-of-vulture-killing-drug-in-india-is-working/
FReegards
I won't hold that against them.
the four Zoro' keywords, chrono, duplicates out:
Thanks. Majored in Middle East History in college (roughly forty five years ago) but missed or forgot that. Shall I guess that dispensation wasn’t applied to the Hindu’s Bhagavad Gita by the Mughals?
it depends — in India the Parsis (descendents of the Zoroastrians who migrated in the 8th century to Gujarat) do not accept converts as that was some kind of deal they made with the Maharajah of the Gujarati kingdom.was incomplete
Then it became a race thing - you needed to have your dad a Parsi to become a Parsi.
But the Iranis accept converts.
The Parsis are descendants of the Zoroastrians who FLED to Gujarat in the 8th century. They were mostly priestly caste and there is a tale that the Rajah said "I have no room for you, look, we are like this big glass of milk, full". The Magi put some sugar into the milk and said "look, we will be like the sugar - you won't see us, but we will make life better"
And in many ways the Parsis HAVE been a blessing to India. They were never persecuted, and they have been great businessmen and philanthropists for India and strong patriots -- think the Tatas, the Godrejs, the Wadias, etc.
These traditionally speak gujarati at home and Avestani Farsi in the Agiaries (fire temples)
The "Iranis" are Iranian Zoroastrians who stayed in Iran and came to India during the Safavid persecution and later during British Raj times (from 1800 onwards).
They spoke Farsi and had different traditions from the Parsis - as they were mostly the non-priestly castes. Their food is different -- AND TASTY -- if you are ever in Bombay, head to "Brittania restaurant" in Colaba and ask for their berry pulau --> delicious!
Iranis as they call themselves are more open to converts. You'll find some converts in the USA and Canada.
And Kurds are of course an Iranian people, so zoroastrianism is their pre-Islamic religion or Yazidism(I'm of the opinion that Yazidism is pre-Zoroastrian)
The Hindus have the Bhagavad Gita, but that's not the core of their philosophy.
The early Mughals - especially Akbar - DID give the dispensation to the Hindus. Akbar actually tried to create his own religion, a syncretism between Hinduism and Islam. Most of these Mughals were hardly Muslim, they frowned on conversions and jihadis and they promoted Hindus to high positions.
That ended with Aurangzeb (died in 1707) -- this guy was a Muslim fundamentalist fanatic. He killed his brother and imprisoned his father and usurped the throne.
Aurangzeb was the APEX of the Mughal but also the cause of its downfall. He antagonized the Rajput, and triggered off the Maratha confederation by persecuting the Marathas (the Maharashtran people -- they are in the present state (country) of Maharashtra, where Bombay (Mumbai) is located - they have 2000+ years of history and a written language equally ancient)
Aurangzeb DID practice what he preached and lived a very simple life and was buried in a simple tomb (unlike his predecessors), but after his the empire crumbled and with a decade or two, you had the Maratha confederation taking over what was the Mughal empire and keeping the emperor as a figurehead.
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