Document Type : Scientific-Research
Authors
1 PhD student at the University of Religions and Religions
2 Associate Professor, Former Faculty Member / Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
Abstract
In terms of Zurvanist teachings, the creation of humanity divides into mediated and immediate. There are analogies between this mythical teaching and Isma’ilist teaching. The mythical emergence of Ahura Mazda (ensued by Zurvanist doubts), and the latter’s features are in part reflected in early Isma’ilist literature in the form of kawni and qadar and after that in the form of reason and soul. The other feature of Ahura Mazda is that he has aides in creating and managing the world and it could be said that the role and functions of Amesha Spenta in aiding the creator are analogous with what is called in Isma’ilist literature seven archangels and, sometimes, six limits (hudud sītta)
This article seeks to conduct a comparative study of the influence of Persian beliefs on the Isma’ilist theosophical teachings. In fact, it is aimed at answering two questions: what are the similarities between Persian thoughts on creation and management of the world, and Isma’ilist beliefs? And what factors laid the ground for the influence of Persian beliefs on them? Accordingly, in the first section, the backgrounds of the affection of Isma’ilist teachings by Persian religions were examined and in the second, some manifestations of the ideological similarities were reported which could be indicative of the possibility of the affection of Isma’ilist teachings by the beliefs in ancient Persia.
Keywords
- Zurvan
- Isma’iliyyi. Isma’ili teachings
- Persian religions
- Mythical creation
- Amesha Spenta
- Seven archangels
Main Subjects
List of sources with English handwriting
- A
- Amūzgār, Žāleh (1374 Š.), Tārīḵ-e Asāṭīrī-e Īrān, Tehran: Samt. [In Persian]
- Avestā (1374 Š.), translated and edited by Ḥāšim Rażī, Tehran: Fravahar. [In Persian]
- Bondaheš (1385 Š.), Farnbaḡdādagī, edited by Mehrdād Bahār, Tehran: Tūs. [In Persian]
- Aš‘arī ‘Ali b. Īsmā‘īl (1980), Maqālāt al-Īslāmīn va Īḵtelāf al-Moṣlīn, edited by Helmut Ritter.
- Aš‘arī Qumī S ‘ad b. ‘Abdallah Abī ḵalaf (1360 Š.) Al-Maqālāt va al-Feraq, edited by Moḥammad Javād Maškūr, Tehran: ‘Elmī va Farhangī. [In Persian]
- Āštīānī, Jalāl al-Dīn (1381 Š.), Zartošt, Mazdyasnā va Ḥokūmat, Tehran: Entešār. [In Persian]
- Baḡdādī, ‘Abd al-Qādir b. Ṭāhīr b. Moḥammad (1419), Al-Farq bain al-Feraq, edited by Moḥammad Mohī al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd, Beirut: Maktaba al-‘Aṣīrīya.
- Dā ‘ī Edrīs, Edrīs ‘Emād al-Dīn al-Qršī (1416), ‘Oyūn al-Aḵbār va Fonūn al-Āṯār, edited by Moṣtafā Ḡālib, Beirut: Dār al-Andolus.
- Daftary, Farhād (1393 Š.), Tārīḵ va Sonat-hā-ye Esmā ‘īlī-ye, translated by Fereydūn Badreī, Tehran: Farzān-e Rūz. [In Persian]
- Dēnkard, Third Book (1381 Š.), translated by Fereydūn Fażīlat, Tehran: Farhang-e Dehḵodā. [In Persian]
- Dēnkard, Forth Book (1383 Š.), edited by Maryam Reżāī, Tehran: ‘Elmī. [In Persian]
- Fatḥī, Ḏabīḥallah (1391 Š.), “Pejūhešī dar Keyhānšenāsī-e Zorvānī va Keyhānšenāsī-e Esmā‘īlī bā takiye bar Āṯār-e Nāṣir ḵosro,” Tārīḵ-e Falsafeh, 3, No. 1. [In Persian]
- Ḡanīma, Yusof (1936), Al-Ḥīra, Baghdad: Dankor al-Ḥadīṯa.
- Gozīde-hā-ye Zādsparam (1366 Š.), translated by Moḥammad Taqī Rāšed Moḥaṣel, Tehran: Moasese Moṭāle ‘āt va Taḥqīqāt-e Farhangī. [In Persian]
- Haft Hāt, Gozāreš-e ‘Alī Akbar Jafarī, Tehran: Anjoman-e Farhang-e Īrān-e Bāstān. v
- Ḥāmī, Aḥmad (1355 Š.), Baḡ-e Nehr, Tehran. v
- Al-Ḥimyarī, Abu Sa‘id Našvān b. Sa‘id b. Našvān, Al-Ḥūr al-‘Ain, edited by Kamāl Moṣṭafā, Egypt: Maktaba al-ḵānjī.
- Ḥodūd al-‘Ālam min al-Mašrīq ila al-Maḡrīb (1383 Š.), edited by V. Minorsky, V. Bartold, translated by Mīr Ḥossein Šāh, edited by Mayam Mīraḥmadī and Ḡolāmreżā Varahrām, Tehran: Alzahra University. [In Persian]
- Ibn Aṯīr, ‘Alī b. Moḥammad (1965), Al-Kāmil fi al-Tārīḵ, Vol. 1, 8, Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
- Ibn ḵalikān (1970), Vafayāt al-‘Ayān, edited by Eḥsān ‘Abbas, Vo. 3, Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
- Ibn Nadīm, Moḥammad b. Esḥāq (1381 Š.), Al-Fihrist, translated by Moḥammadreẓa Tajadod, Tehran: Asāṭīr – Markaz-e Bayn al-Mellalī Goftegū-ye Tamadon-hā. [In Persian]
- Ibn Qutaiba, A‘bdulallah b. Muslim (1992), al-Ma ‘ārif, Egypt: Al-Haiat al- Miṣriya al-A ‘ma lilKitāb.
- Ibn Rosta, Aḥmad (1891), Al-A‘alāq al- Nafīsa, edited by De Goeje, Vol. 1, Leiden.
- Ibn Ṣā’ed Adolusī, Ṣā ‘ed b, Aḥmad (1376 Š.) Al-Ta‘arīf b.Ṭabaqāt al-Omam, translated by Ḡolāmreżā Jamšīdmežād, Tehran: Markaz-e Pejūhešī-e Mīrāṯ-e Maktūb. [In Persian]
- Īṣṭaḵrī, Abu Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Moḥammad (1340 Š.), Masālik va Mamālik, edited by Īraj Afšār, Tehran: Bongāh-e Tarjoma va Našr-e Ketāb. [In Persian]
- Karbāsīān, Maīheh (1386 Š.), Dar ḵarābāt-e Moḡān (Jostārī dar Farhang-e Īrānī), Tehran: Eṭelā ‘āt. [In Persian]
- Jalālī Moqadam, Mas ‘ūd (1384 Š.), Āeen-e Zorvānī, Tehran: Amīr Kabīr. [In Persian]
- Karbāsīān, Maīheh (1384 Š.), “Mīrāṯ-e Īrān-e Bāstān dar Rošanāīnameh Nāṣir ḵosro,” Majaleh Nāmeh Anjoman, No. 17. [In Persian]
- Kermānī, Ḥamīd al-Dīn (1967), Rāḥila al-‘Aql, edited by Moṣṭafā Ḡālib, Beirut: Dār al-Anolus.
- Malṭī, Moḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ‘Abdulraḥmān (1428 / 2007), Al- Tanbīh va al-Rad ala Ahla al-Ahvā va al-bad ‘a, edited by Moḥammad Zāhid b. Al-Ḥasan al-Koṯarī, Cairo: Al-Maktava al-Azharia lltorāṯ.
- Manṣūr al-Yomn, Jafar (2010), Sarāir va Asrār al-Noṭqā, edited by Šatrutmān, Iraq: Beyt al-Varrāq.
- Maqdasī, Moṭahar, Al-Bada va al-Tārīḵ, Vol. 3, Port Said: Maktaba al-Ṯaqḡāfa al-Dīnīa.
- Maqrīzī, Abi al-Abbas Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ‘Alī (2000), At ‘āẓ al-Ḥonafā, edited by Moḥammad ‘Abd al-Qādir Aḥmad ‘Aṭā, Vol. 1, Beirut: Dār al-Kotub al-‘Elmīya.
- Moayed fi al-Dīn Šīrāzī, Hebat allah b. Mūsā (1996), Dīvān al-Moayid fi al-Dīn Dāī al-Do‘ā, edited by Moḥammad Kāmil Ḥossein, Beirut: Dār al-Montaẓir.
- Mo‘ezī, Maryam (1395 Š.), Esmāīlīyeh Badaḵšān, Tehran: Pejūheškadeh Tārīḵ-e Eslām. [In Persian]
- Mīnovī ḵerad (1379 Š.) edited by Žāleh Āmūzegār, Tehran: Tūs. [In Persian]
- Nāderzād, Bozorg (1376 Š.), “Mehr Peyāmbar-e Rošan bā Dayhīm-e Tābān,” Kelk, No. 85-86, Farvardīn- Tīr, pp. 133-142. [In Persian]
- Nāṣer ḵosro Qobādīānī, Abu Mo‘īn (1388 Š.), Dīvān-e Ašār-e Ḥakīm Nāṣer ḵosro Qobādīānī, edited by Sayed Naṣralllah Taqīzadeh, Mojtabā Mīnovī and Mehdī Moḥaqeq, Tehran: Danešqāh-e Tehran. [In Persian]
- Nāṣer ḵosro Qobādīānī, Abu Mo‘īn (1363 Š.), Jāmeh al-Ḥekmatīn, edited by Corbin and Mo‘īn, Tehran: Ṭahūrī. [In Persian]
- Nāṣer ḵosro Qobādīānī, Abu Mo‘īn (1384 Š.), ḵān Aḵavān, edited by Akbar Qavīm, Tehran: Asāṭīr. [In Persian]
- Nāṣer ḵosro Qobādīānī, Abu Mo ‘īn (1366 Š.), Rošanāīnameh, edited by Vladimir Ivanov, Tehran: Maḥmūdī. [In Persian]
- Nāṣer ḵosro Qobādīānī, Abu Mo‘īn (1356 Š.), Vajheh Dīn, edited by Ḡolāmreẓā Ā ‘vānī, English Introduction by Sayed Ḥossein Nṣr, Tehran: Anjoman-e Falsafeh Īrān. [In Persian]
- Najlā, ‘Ez al-Dīn (1990), Al-Dorūz fi al-Tārīḵ, Beirut: Dār al-‘Ilm llMalāīn.
- Naršaḵī, Abībakr Moḥammad b. Jafar (1363 Š.), Tārīḵ-e Boḵārā, edited by Modarres Raẓavī, Terhan: Tūs. [In Persian]
- Nobaḵtī, Abu Moḥammad Ḥasan b. Mūsā (1386 Š.), Feraq al-Šī ‘a, edited by Moḥammad Javād Maškūr, Tehran: ‘Elmī va Farhangī.
- Rāzī, Abū Ḥātam Aḥmad b. Ḣamdān (1377 Š.), Kitāb al-Īṣlāḥ, edited by Ḥasan Mīnūčhr and Mehdī Moḥaqiq, Tehran: Moasesa Moṭāle ‘āt-e Eslāmī-e Dānešgāh-e McGill.
- Rāzī, Abū Ḥātam Aḥmad b. Ḣamdān (1956), Al-Zīna fi Kalemāt al-Īslāmīa al-‘Arabīa, edited by ‘Abdallan Salūm al-Sāmirāī, Vol. 3, Egypt: Kolia Dār al-‘Olūm Jāmi ‘a al-Qāhira.
- Rašīd al-Dīn Fażlallah (1387 Š.), Jāme‘a al-Tavārīḵ (Tārīḵ-e Esmā ‘īlīān), edited by Moḥammad Rošan, Tehran: Mīrāṯ-e Maktūb. [In Persian]
- Sajestānī, Abū Ya ‘qūb (2000), Kitāb al-Īftiḵār, edited by Pūnā Vālā and Īsmā ‘īl Qorbān, Tunis: Dār al-Maḡrib al-Īslāmī.
- Sam‘ānī, Abī Sa‘īd Abdul Karīm b. Moḥammad b. Manṣūr al-Tamīmī (1966), Al-Ansāb, Vol. 6, Ḥeydarabad: Dāerat al-Ma ‘ārif al- ‘Oṯmānīa.
- Šarḥ-e Qaṣīdeh Esmā‘īlī-ye Abu al-Heīṯam Jorjānī Mansūb be Moḥammad b. Sorḵ Neyšābūrī (1324 Š. / 1955), Persian and French edited by Henry Corbin and Moḥammad Mo ‘īn, Tehran: Anstitu Iran va Faranseh. [In Persian]
- Šahristānī, ‘Abdul Karīm (1992), Al-Milal va al-Niḥal, edited by Aḥmad Fahīm Moḥammad, Beirut: Dār al-Kotob al-‘Elmīya. [In Persian]
- Ṭabarī, Moḥammad b. Jarīr (1387 /1967), Tārīḵ al- Omam va al-Molūk, edited by Moḥammad Abulfażl Ībrāhīm, Beirut: Dār al-Torāṯ. [In Persian]
- Al-Tamīmī, Ḥamza b. ‘Alī Īsmā‘īl and Others (1986), Rasāil al-Ḥikma, Lebanon: Dār al-Ajal al-M ‘arafa.
- Taqīzādeh, Sayed Ḥasan (1379 Š.), Mānī va Dīn-e Ou, edited by ‘Azīzallah ‘Alīzadeh, Tehran: Ferdos. [In Persian]
- Yāqūt Ḥamavī, Šahāb al-Dīn Abu ‘Abdallah Yāqūt b. ‘Abdallah (1995), Mo‘jam al-Boldān, Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
- Yaqūbī, Aḥmad b. Abī Yaqūb, Tārīḵ al-Yaqūbī, Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
- Yašthā (1377 Š.), Vol 1, edited by Ebrāhīm Pūrdāvūd, Tehran: Asāṭīr. [In Persian]
References in English, French, German, Swedish
- Benveniste, Emile (1929), The Persian Religion according to the chief Greek texts, University of Paris.
- Christensen, Arthur (1928), Etudes sur le Zoroastrisme de la Perse Antique, Kobenhavn: Andr. Fred. Host & Son.
- Corbin, Henry (1964), Histoire de la philosophie Islamique, Paris.
- Corbin, Henry, 1971, Sohravardi et les Platoniciens de Perse, Paris: Gallimard.
- de Goeje, Michael Jan (1886), Mémoire sur les Carmathes du Bahraïn et les Fatimides, Leiden: Brill.
- de Sacy, Antoine-Isaac Silvestre (1809), Mémoire sur la dynastie des assassins et sur l'origine de leur nom.
- Dozy, Reinhart (2015), Spanish Islam a History of the Moslems in Spain, New york: Published by Iron Press.
- Eliade, Mircea (1981), A History of Religious Ideas, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Halm, Heinz (1978), Kosmologie and Heilslehre der frihen Ismailiya, Wiesbaden.
- Hinnells, John R. (1997). Persian Mythology, Chancellor Press.
- Lewis, Bernard (1967). The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
- Lukonin, Vladimir Grigor’evich (1969), Culture of Sasanian Iran: Iran in the 3rd-5th centuries CE, Moscow.
- Madelung,Wilferd (1993), Cosmogony and Cosmology vi. In Ismailism paper in Encyclopedia IRANICA, Volume VI., by Ehsan Yarshater, California: Mazda publishers.
- Madelung, Wilferd (1988), Religious Trends in Early Islamic Iran, Suny Press.
- Massignion, Louis (1955), Salmān Pāk and the spiritual beginnings of Iranian Islām, translated from French by Jamashedji Maneckji Unvala, Bombay.
- Nyberg, Henrik S. (1937), Irans forntida religioner, Stockholm.
- Pagels, Elaine (1989), The Gnostic Gospels, Vintage Reissue edition.
- Petrushevsky, I. P. (1985), Islam in Iran, translated by Hubert Evans, Suny.
- Stern, S. m. (1961), “Ismāʿīlīs and Qarmatians,” in L’Ēlaboration de l’Islam, Paris, pp. 99-108.
- Vermaseren, M. J. (1960), Mithra, ce dieu mystérieux, trans. M. Léman and L. Gilbert, Paris.
- Walker, Paul (1993), Early Philosophical Shiism The Ismaili Neoplatonism of Abu Yaqub Sijistani, Cambridge.
- Warner, Rex (1975), Encyclopedia of World Mythology, Phoebus Publishing Company.
- Widengren, Geo (1961), Mani und der Manichäismus, Stuttgart.
- Widengren, Geo (1965), Die Religionen Irans, Stuttgart.
- Zaehner, Robert Charles (1961), The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London.
- Zaehner, Robert Charles (1955), Zurvan, A Zoroastrian Dilemma, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
)