An intermezzo is defined as a brief interlude (a period of time between events or activities). This period of history is sometimes called the Iranian Intermezzo because it was a brief break between the rule of the Abbasid Arabs and the Selijuq Turks. The term Iranian Intermezzo represents a period in Persian history which saw the rise of various native Persian Muslim dynasties in the Iranian plateau. Iranian Intermezzo has always been recognized as a period in time of major importance for the formation of Islamic civilization, both in political and intellectual terms. In the linguistic and literary area, the Persian period was characterized by the rise of the Persian speaking court, therefore bringing about the literary beginnings of the classical Persian language and its acceptance as the second primary Islamic language of high culture. This development of the Persian language in turn led to the writing of many of the Islamic civilization’s greatest works of poetry, philosophy, biography, history, and religion in Persian. However at the same time Arabic continued to be a major literary language, and the oldest Persian works were based on translations from the Arabic language.
The Islamization Iran was a long process by which Islam was gradually accepted by the majority of the population in Iran. During the Arab influenced Umayyad period, only a little of Iran’s population converted to Islam. With its mix of Persian and Arab rulers alike the beginning of the Abbasid period gave rise to the percent of Muslims in the dynasty’s populations. As Persian Muslims started their rule of the country, the Muslim population rose from little in the mid ninth century to close to 100% by the end of the eleventh century. It is believed that the...
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... propagated Sunni Islam. Islamic architecture and Islamic/Persian culture was spread deep into the heart of Central Asia by the Samanids. Following the first complete translation of the Quran into Persian, population under the Samanid Empire began accepting Islam in significant numbers.
The Buyid Dynasty purposely strived to revive symbols and practices of Persia’s Sassanid dynasty. For example, starting with their king Adud al-Dawla they used the ancient Sassanid title Shahanshah which literally means “king of kings”. After the three Buyid brothers invaded Baghdad and captured it they caliphs weren’t important anymore. They were also Shiʿites and some of them encouraged and built Shiʿite shrines in the city; but the great visits of Persian pilgrims to the Shiʿite shrines of Iraq, which led to so much Persian influence in the area, did not begin until much later.
Not only did the religious history play a large role in Iran’s beliefs but also foreign invaders have been imposing their power on the Iranian region for thousands of years. Iran...
Three Muslim empires rose during the spread of Islam. These empires are different, yet also similar. They are the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. They united other Muslims but also conquered other territories to form their own empires.
Prior to the Islamic Revolution, Iran was ruled by the Shah, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and furthermore, not governed by religion. The Shah’s White Revolution launched a series of reforms in 1963 that are indicative of where women’s rights for Iran were heading prior to the Islamic revolution. The reforms included, giving women the right to vote, run for office and to become lawyers and judges. This large of a reform in regards to women’s rights, was far more drastic than anything Iran had experienced in the past, and the shock of these “extreme” measures, received a large backlash from over 90% of the population1, the Shia Muslims.
"Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 B.C.). N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
The introduction to Persepolis gives a great deal of background information to the unrest in Iran leading up to the Islamic revolution. Iran had been in a state of unrest for “2500 years” (page11). Iran was ruled by foreign nations and exploited by the western world for its rich expanses of oil. In 1951 the prime minister of Iran tried to take back his country’s wealth by nationalizing
Hilāl, ʻAlī Al-Dīn. Islamic Resurgence in the Arab World. New York, NY: Praeger, 1982. Print.
Over the course of the last century, the Islamic Republic of Iran (formerly known as Persia) has seen colonialism, the end of a dynasty, the installation of a government by a foreign power, and just over three decades ago, the popular uprising and a cleric-led revolution. These events preceded what could be considered the world’s first Islamic state, as politics and fundamentalist religion are inextricably linked in contemporary Iran. Looking at Iran from the mid 1940’s until the present day, one can trace the path that led to the rise of fundamental Islam in Iran in three distinct periods. The first is that which began with the rise of secular nationalism and the decline of Islam. In the second, the secular, western-friendly government eventually gave way to the Islamic revival in the form of a government takeover by hard-line clerics and disillusioned, fundamentalist youth; both motivated and led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Rule of Iran by these fundamentalist clerics then led to the formation of the fundamentalist Islamic theocracy that governs present-day Iran. The current government has some democratic appearances, but all real power is in the hands of the supreme leader, an Ayatollah who is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics chosen by the Guardian Council. With the Iranian Revolution, political Islam was born, with the fundamentalists holding the reins of power in Iran to the present day.
The Muslim Empire began to expand vastly under the Umayyads, with the empire becoming so large many people were converting to Islam religion. The Umayyads were the second of the four major caliphates after the death of Muhammad. The Empire used many different ways to spread the Islamic civilization consisting of war, classes, and appeal. The Islamic civilization spread so strongly because of the way it allured the common man.
Ludwig, P. (1999). Iranian Nation and Islamic Revolutionary Ideology. Die Welt des islams. 39(2). 183-217.
Arjomand, Said Amir. “Iran's Islamic Revolution in Comparative Perspective.” World Politics, Volume 38, Issue 3 (1986. 4), 383-414.
Nagle, D. Brendan. “The Second Persian Invasion” The Ancient World; A social and Cultural History. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002.
Islamic civilization began in Arabia, but it spread to many areas in the proximity of the peninsula. It spread as far as Spain, as well as many areas between the two locations. The civilization reached the Eastern Roman Empire, Persia, Egypt, and Africa. The Muslim warriors were extremely courageous, and their religious zeal aided in the conquests of many empires surrounding Arabia. However, the weakn...
Today the Iranian languages are spoken from Central Turkey, Syria and Iraq in the west to Pakistan and the western edge of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China in the east. In the North, its outposts are Ossetic in the central Caucasus and Yaghnobi and Tajik Persian in Tajikistan in Central Asia, while in the South they are bounded by the Persian Gulf, except for the Kumzari enclave on the Masandam peninsula in Oman.
Though the White Revolution’s efforts were made to remove Islamic values, create a secular rule and “westernize” Iran by Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, the people desired a fairer governmental rule immensely influenced by Islam. The Shah’s tight dictatorial rule and military expansion attempts were viewed as threats as well and resulted in the overthrowing of the government to create religious and political change. Although the Iranian Revolution was a religious and political movement that ended an oppressive rule to established a republic and which was fought to maintain Islamic beliefs, it was more a religious movement in that the movement was a result of desires to create a society influenced religiously and politically and that the result was a republic based on Islamic values and law.
The study of international relations takes a wide range of theoretical approaches. Some emerge from within the discipline itself others have been imported, in whole or in part, from disciplines such as economics or sociology. Indeed, few social scientific theories have not been applied to the study of relations amongst nations. Many theories of international relations are internally and externally contested, and few scholars believe only in one or another. In spite of this diversity, several major schools of thought are discernable, differentiated principally by the variables they emphasize on military power, material interests, or ideological beliefs. International Relations thinking have evolved in stages that are marked by specific debates between groups of scholars. The first major debate is between utopian liberalism and realism, the second debate is on method, between traditional approaches and behavioralism. The third debate is between neorealism/neoliberalism and neo-Marxism, and an emerging fourth debate is between established traditions and post-positivist alternatives (Jackson, 2007).