Letters

Write for The Iranian Editorial policy

Wednesday
May 23, 2001

Iranians always rise from ashes

Dear Mr. Morton,

I think this is commendable that you are going through such great length in order to understand your girl friend ["Arabs or Aryans?"]. The Arab vs. Iranian (not as much Aryan) has been a haunting dilemma for us Iranian people. The reason I swapped Aryan with Iranian is the fact that not all Iranians are Aryans. But the non-Aryan Iranians are not Arabs either.

History has shaped Iranian character and culture so much that it can be exemplified as a Pheonix, it always rises from the ashes. The adherence to Iranian character and identity has allowed our culture and spirit to survive, reshape, and refine for more then 2,500 years. Throughout this time we have suffered invasion and assimilation by Greeks, Arabs, Mongols, Turks, Russians, British, and so on.

The first three cases were the most severe attempts in anihiliation of Iranian culture and empire with Arabs topping them all. There are two major factors that separate Arabs and Iranians; culture, and religion. Of course not all Iranians are Sheia Moslem! When Arabs invaded Iran in the 7th century AD, Iran was already enjoying more than a millennium of history, culture, civilization, and science.

The desert dwelling Arabs did not have any concept of urbanization and they went about destroying cities and structures and since Koran was the only book they believed in, they destroyed all literary works and libraries. For two hundred years Iranian language and culture remained dormant and practiced in secret.

Eventually the Baghdad Califs lost their sphere of influence specially in eastern Iran where Farsi flourished. Of course during Arab occupation there were several uprisings which for the most part kept Baghdad on its toes. Many of our customs and traditions date back to pre Islamic era such as, Norouz, Chahar Shanbe Souri, Mehregan, and so on.

These festivities are not practiced by any other Arabic country. Second, Sheia Moslems for centuries, and even now, are considered to be Heredicts. Why Iran chose Sheism is out of the scope of this Article. But one reason for its wide spread acceptance was to defy the Sunni Arabs and reduce their influence.

So if you want to look at the big picture, Iranians are as much Arab as they are Greek, Turk, Mongol, and so on. Or even a better example, British are as much German, as they are French. There are three different nations in the middle east, Arabs, Iranian, and Turks. Iranian people are proud of their history and their scientific and literary contribution to Islam and it is their right try to preserve their identity.

I personally would be insulted if some one calls me an Arab. I don't even like to be reference to as being Persian, since as far as I am concerned it is a totally fictitious term. I really did not go through the details here but I hope it has shed enough light to make things a little bit more clear.

To know and understand Iranian people better you need to study the history and culture to be able to see its richness and contribution to the world civilization.

Habib Farahani

Comment for The Iranian letters section