نمونه سوالات آزمون های کارشناسی ارشد ایران شناسی زبان عمومی و تخصصی (انگلیسی) امتحانات 94-86 - بخش (2)

The ancient Persian civilization spawned three major religions: Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism which heavily influenced Saint Augustine before he turned to Christianity. Another religion that arose from ancient Iran is Mazdakism, which has been dubbed the first communistic ideology. Both Mazdakism and Manichaeism were sub-branches of Zoroastrianism that is said to be the first monotheistic religion. Sunni was the dominant form of Islam in most of Iran until rise of Safavid Empire. There were however some exceptions to this general domination of the Sunni creed which emerged in the form of the Zaydīs of Tabaristan, the Buwayhid, the rule of Sultan Muhammad Khudabandah , the Hashashin and the Sarbedaran. Nevertheless, apart from this domination there existed, firstly, throughout these nine centuries, Shia inclinations among many Sunnis of this land and, secondly, all three surviving branches of Shi`a Islam, Twelver, Ismaili, as well as Zaidiyyah had prevalence in some parts of Iran. During this period, Shia in Iran were nourished from Kufa, Baghdad and later from Najaf and Hillah.Shiism were dominant sect in Tabaristan, Qom, Kashan, Avaj and Sabzevar. In many other areas the population of Shia and Sunni was mixed. In recent centuries Ismailis have also largely been an Indo-Iranian community. Many scholars and scientists in Persia who lived before the Safavid era such as Ferdowsi, Jābir ibn Hayyān, Al-Farabi and Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī, were Shi`a Muslims, as was most of Iran`s elite, while other renowned Sunni Muslim scientists, scholars and personaliries were Persian or had Persian descent, including Abu Dawood, Hakim al-Nishaburi, Al-Tabarani, Ghazali, Imam Bukhari, Tirmidhi, Al-Nasa`i and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, amongst many others.