IRAN: Longing for pre-Islamic past

The advertising on the dry cleaner's window said much about the conflicted identity of this nation where winged gods and glorious battles of ancient Persian kings are balanced against ayatollahs and an Islamic revolution that nearly 30 years ago brought morality police and martyrs.

Before the mullahs took charge in 1979, the dry cleaner was named Persepolis, the capital of the Persian Empire. That had the whiff of nationalism and the dry cleaner suddenly became the namesake of a revered cleric. The window today is an unreconciled collage where the names of Persepolis and the cleric coexist above a painting of spear tips and Achaemenian warriors.

There are few avenues for defiance in this Shiite Muslim nation, but one of them is in the past, where the emblems, folklore and images of old Persia mingle in quiet protest against the mullahs. The pre-Islamic era is alive in jewelry, architecture, decals, books, videos and websites that feature Cyrus the Great and gold-horned bulls.

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—Jeffrey Fleishman in Tehran

Photo: A Worker walks by statues inspired by Persepolis that are part of the gate to the Dariush Hotel on the tourist island of Kish. The modern hotel resembles Persepolis, Iran's best-known relic of ancient Persia. Credit: Vahid Salemi / Associated Press

Comments

[Jaff Sassani]

On the “Longing For pre-Islamic past”
We used to be one nation (Aryan), one country, one flag (Flag of Kaveh or Kawa)
with regions of Pars, Kurdistan, Azeri but now thanks to the Arab Imperialist divided us to
nation of Farsi, Kurdi and Azari. Divide and concur. Started long time ago before western country reached Middle East.

The Arab imperialist under the pretext of Islamic doctrine, they took our country and they
are ruling us through the Sayed(Arab origin) families very carefully.

We know lot of Iranian people worshiping the Ahl-Al-Beat without understanding but it
Is true we become sub-human comparing ourselves to superiority of the Sayed families in Iran

Challenge us if you dispute this by writing.

For the Kurdish Nation (realy Aryan nation)

History is the best guide for any nation on Earth, especially for people like the
Kurds in the Middle East, to review before making any decisions on which
direction to go. In the old days we used to be a very powerful branch within
Aryan nation during the Medes, Achaemenids, Seleucids, Parthians, and the
Sassanian Empires. This was especially true during the Sassanian Empire
during which we run the Sassanian Government and military. The Kurds
became part of the royal family by marriage and the capital of the Empire
was in the Kurdistan region of Iran.

The Arab invasion of the Sassanian Empire under the pretext of teaching the
Islamic religion destroyed the hopes and aspirations of all the Aryan nations in
The Middle East, especially the Kurdish nation. The Arab nationalists destroyed
our culture, religion, and personality while simultaneously dividing the unity of
the Aryan nations which remain divided to this day and continue on today.

The Kurds experimented with every ideology in the region including Sunni Islam (Ottoman Empire in Turkey), Shitte Islam (Safavid Empire in Iran), communism, democracy and socialism. You name it, they have tried to use it for liberation
and to gain back the dignity of the nation. So far they have all failed and yet
they keep repeating the failed experiments over and over. Every time they
have end up being second or third class citizens of the countries they live.

The Kurds have had a few successes whenever they worked with other Aryan (Iranian) nations in the past. History informs us that when we are united with
other Aryan (Iranian) nations, we Kurds are very successful. We can look at
the Nader Shah, founder of Afshar Dynasty shah of Iran (1736–1747);
the Karim Khan Zand (1705-1779), founder of the Zand dynasty in Iran;
and Dr. Karim Sanjabi (1904-1995), an Iranian liberal political leader of the
20th century. We need to come to realize that our survival is connected to other Aryan (Iranian) nations in the region.

Get united with your brother and sister of Persian and Azeri nations now to build
Aryan Economic Union (AU) for our survival in the region.

[Jaff Sassani]

Of course every Aryan (Iranian) who know the history of
Iranian civilization will go on for the rest of the life Longing
For pre-Islamic past.

The Arab imperialist never bring us civilizations I hope they will take back all Ahl-Al-Beat including Sayed Mohammad Khatami and his kind. Our people tired of lie and deception.

We want freedom of religion. We want to study Islam free of
Force and we want to reform this religion so we can worship only God not Sayed families. We no longer want this none since ideas that Ahl-Al-Beat are holy people. They are just like any other Aryan no more no less.

[Sophie]

This is probably one of the most bigoted and racist articles I've seen yet against Islam and Muslims. And that's saying something, Jeffrey Fleishman. Next, will you be doing a grounbreaking piece on how the Greeks are longing for their pre-Christian past because they spend so much money on the remnants of their pagan ancient forefathers?

[Aryan the Aryan]

Over 90% of the Islamic civilization is based on Persia and Iran not Arabs. Avicina, Zakaria Razi, Kharazmi, and many more Islamic scientists are actually Persian. The names Algebra and Chemistry (Al Kimmia) are shallow Arabic words since the Arabs did not invent none of those. Algebra dates back to the Babylonian mathematics and Chemistry to Razi and other Persian scientists of the time.

For further reference see: Mohammad Khatami's writings on Islamic civilization

[ping pong]

you have mentioned in your article that young men are keeping hairstyles of ancient persian soldiers and they speak an almost pure persian language...but i wonder what those men might be looking in those ancient persian hairstyles,and i wonder does a pure pre islamic persian language still exist...not to mention even the language in which you are writing your article has dozens of "islamic" arab derived words...i wonder if iranians are more proud of persepolis or the safavid era esfahan square..both are registered as world heritage site..and one more thing..as you go into a pub or a night club for a bit of entertainment after your "truthful endeavours" for a sip of alcohol..pay a tribute to the "islamist" who invented this elixir...both elixir and alcohol are "islamic" derived words from "al iksir" and "al ghoul"..