The Islamization of Iran occurred as a result of the Muslim conquest of Persia in 633–654 AD. It was a long process by which Islam, though initially rejected, eventually spread among the population on the Iranian Plateau.
ancient Iran, also known as Persia, historic region of southwestern Asia that is only roughly coterminous with modern Iran.
Iranian Revolution, also called Islamic Revolution, Persian Enqelāb-e Eslāmī, popular uprising in Iran in 1978–79 that resulted in the toppling of the monarchy on February 11, 1979, and led to the establishment of an Islamic republic.
Until the 16th century, Persia was mostly Sunni. At the turn of that century, the Safavid dynasty conquered much of what is now Iran and made Shiism the official religion. The conversion was accompanied by a massive crackdown on Sunnis, so that over time much of the population became Shia.
The divide originated with a dispute over who should succeed the Prophet Muhammad as leader of the Islamic faith he introduced. Today, about 85 percent of the approximately 1.6 billion Muslims around the world are Sunni, while 15 percent are Shia, according to an estimate by the Council on Foreign Relations.
A disagreement over succession after Mohammed's death in 632 split Muslims into Islam's two main sects, Sunni and Shia.
Muslims conquered Iran in the time of Umar (637) and conquered it after several great battles.
Wearing hijab became obligatory for all Iranian women from April 1983. Since then, all women have been legally obliged to wear hijab in public, even non-Muslims and foreigners visiting Iran.
Islam spread through military conquest, trade, pilgrimage, and missionaries. Arab Muslim forces conquered vast territories and built imperial structures over time.
The Medes are credited with founding Iran as a nation and empire, and established the first Iranian empire, the largest of its day until Cyrus the Great established a unified empire of the Medes and Persians, leading to the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC).
According to the Ali Reza Eshraghi, religious pressure and inadequate governing from the Iranian government have made Iranian people less religious. Some Iranian feminists have also been noted as being irreligious and atheistic.
According to scholar Ladan Boroumand "Iran today is witnessing the highest rate of Christianization in the world", and according to scholar Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University “Islam is the fastest shrinking religion in there [Iran], while Christianity is growing the fastest”, and in 2018 "up to half a million ...
In 1935 the Iranian government requested those countries which it had diplomatic relations with, to call Persia "Iran," which is the name of the country in Persian. The suggestion for the change is said to have come from the Iranian ambassador to Germany, who came under the influence of the Nazis.
Ancient Iranian religion or Iranian paganism, refers to the ancient beliefs and practices of the Iranian peoples before the rise of Zoroastrianism. The religion closest to it was the Historical Vedic religion (ancient Hinduism) that was practiced in the ancient Indian subcontinent.
By 650 BCE, the Zoroastrian faith, a monotheistic religion founded on the ideas of the philosopher Zoroaster, had become the official religion of ancient Persia. Later Judaism and then Christianity came to Persia via Mesopotamia, with both developing vibrant faith communities in Persian lands.
Iranian law states that "anyone who explicitly violates any religious taboo in public" should be imprisoned for up to two months, or flogged with 74 lashes. In practice, this means women must cover their hair with a headscarf and their arms and legs with loose clothing.
ASSAL RAD: Thank you for having me. SIMON: The hijab has been enforced for women in Iran since after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
It was made compulsory for women to wear the hijab in Iran, following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The government draws on parts of the Quran (Islam's holy book) and the Hadiths (sayings of the Prophet Mohammad) to justify the policy, though Muslim religious writing is not entirely clear on whether women should veil.
Through their actions, the Safavids reunified Iran as an independent state in 1501 and established Twelver Shi'ism as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam.
Data from the World Values Survey indicates religious observance (i.e. at mosques) is very low and only an estimated 2% of the population attend Friday congregational prayers. Those who are devout Muslims often belong to the older generation. In brief, most Iranians believe in Allah (God) and the tenets of Islam.
The first converts to Islam at the time of Muhammad were: Khadija bint Khuwaylid - First person to convert and first free female convert.
Divisive practice. But in a region where politics and religion are seldom separate entities, the practice is undeniably divisive. Sunni Muslims, along with many other Shia, consider it haram or forbidden in Islam because it constitutes a form of self-harm. In Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei has issued a fatwa against it.
Today's Afghanistan can be considered 99% Muslim. There is a rough 3/4 to 1/4 split in favor of Sunni Muslims to Shia. Though recent history has been defined by growing religious intolerance and sectarian conflict, Afghanistan does have marginal adherents of other religions.
The Taliban is a Sunni Islamist nationalist and pro-Pashtun movement founded in the early 1990s that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until October 2001.