Islam was introduced to the region in the seventh century C.E., during the first wave of the Arabic Islamic conquests. It took more than a century, however, for the majority of the population to embrace Islam. Throughout the formative years of Islamic civilization, Iranian culture played a significant role in its development, first by sharing its rich experience in administration and institution building and later by producing a number of outstanding Muslim scholars, philosophers, scientists, mystics, and poets, among them such figures as al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), al-Ghazali, al-Razi (Rhazes), and Rumi. Shiism, the branch of Islam holding to hereditary succession from Ali (the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad and the fourth caliph), became the official religion of Iran in the sixteenth century, during the reign of the Safavid dynasty. The particular sect practiced in Iran is known as Twelver Shiism, based on belief in the succession of 12 imams (leaders) beginning with Ali. Today Iran is the only country in the world with Shiah Islam as its official religion. Other religions practiced in Iran include Christianity (mostly Armenian), Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, as well as the Bahai faith, which originated in Iran.
This page contains 177 words.
Iran article
Read the rest of this article.
This article contains 4,582 words
(approx. 15 pages at 300 words per page).
Order our Iran Article
