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Religion in Iran has been shaped by multiple religions and sects over the course of the country's history. Zoroastrianism was the main followed religion during the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC), Parthian Empire (247 BC-224 AD), and Sasanian Empire (224-651 AD). Another Iranian religion known as Manichaeanism was present in Iran during this period.
It projected a global Zoroastrian population of 111,691–121,962 people, with roughly half of this figure residing in just two countries: India and Iran. These numbers indicated a notable population decline in comparison with the earlier projection of 124,953 people. [1]
European academics first came into contact with Zoroastrianism in Iran during the seventeenth century, at a time when Islam was the dominant religion. European interest in Iranian culture grew as part of the academic study of the Orient. [8]
The Faravahar is one of the symbols of Zoroastrianism, an Iranian religion. The Iranian religions, also known as the Persian religions, are, in the context of comparative religion, a grouping of religious movements that originated in the Iranian plateau, which accounts for the bulk of what is called "Greater Iran".
Iran suffered invasions by nomadic tribes during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period, negatively impacting the region. [17] Iran was reunified as an independent state in 1501 by the Safavid dynasty, which established Shia Islam as the empire's official religion, [18] marking a significant turning point in the history of Islam. [19]
Although Shi'as have lived in Iran since the earliest days of Islam, the writers of the Four Books of Shi'a ahadith were Iranians of the pre-Safavid era and there was one Shi'a dynasty in part of Iran during the tenth and eleventh centuries, according to Mortaza Motahhari the majority of Iranian scholars and masses remained Sunni till the time ...
As part of the early Muslim conquests, which were initiated by Muhammad in 622, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Sasanian Empire between 632 and 654. This event led to the decline of Zoroastrianism, which had been the official religion of Persia (or Iran) since the time of the Achaemenid Empire.
The Middle East-North Africa region hosts 23% of the world's Muslims, and Islam is the dominant religion in every country in the region [26] other than Israel. [12] The country with the single largest population of Muslims is Indonesia in Southeast Asia, which on its own hosts 13% of the world's Muslims. [27]