On Shu'ubiyya Movement and Its Influence on Persian Poetry

Death of Yazdgird III, the last king of glorious Sassanian Empire, in 651 A.D. became a tragic ending for the magnificence and in-dependency of the country which did not know about its own future.

At the end of last couple decades of the Sassanian, Iran that had been involved with rapacity of Arabian clans in Kuffeh and Hayrra borderlines, now, by the raising of Islam and the conversion of those Arabs of Hedjaz and Iraq to the new religion, faced to a newer problems. Massages from the battlefields new-Muslims were all about the remarkable triumphs of the new Arab neighbors. Djalula’ and Nahavand Battles came to an end with a remarkable triumph for the Arab Empire one after another. Yazdgird’s scattered army could not make any resistance against the Arabian army. He kept rolling back to the eastern part of his territory. Some of Sasanian brigades showed obstinately resistance in Kermân and Khurâsân; unfortunately, they could not make any victory against the dared Arabian army. Finally, Yazdgird dragged to Marv; he was murdered by an unknown miller unknowingly. Therefore, the only hope for reorganizing the Sasanian Empire faded away.

The major reasons for the fall of Sasanians could be classified as follow:

1.      To employ the Zoroastrianism in Sasanians State for justification the power of the King as “The Shadow of God”.

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2.      Huge social inequalities in Sasanian territory, and unreasonable distance between major social classes;[1]

3.      Unaffordable increase in tax rates which usually was on the shoulder of the public masses and farmers.

4.      Persecution of the Christians, Manicheans, Jews, Mazdakists and other faiths and public frustration of any adjutant from the restrict clergies, local and central states.

5.      An exhausted army that was a legacy from decades of continuing wars with Eastern Roman Empire. Besides, the local warlords competitions who they wanted to be closer to the King-of the Kings^[2].

6.      Twenty-Six kings on the throne, who had different perspectives on domestic foreign policy and religious affairs, was another result of instability in the lack of steadiness interaction with the foreign neighbors of this glorious Empire.

By reaching the massage of Islam within the country of Aristocrats and clergies, hence masses of the state convert to “new religion”; the religion that believes a Sasanian aristocrat and an Abyssinian slave are “equal and brother”. At the first those who wanted to keep their grandparents religions had free will to keep their faiths; but with one condition:  “to pay “Jezya” which is a ‘Non-Muslim tax’[3] decreed based on the explicit wording of ‘Quran’.[4] Except Zoroastrians, the religions followers must pay jezya; and was not an overwhelming pressure on the jezya payees who used to pay it before decline of Islam as ‘Gazit’; but know they are known as ‘second class citizens’. “They must appear in public with specific appearance so the be defer than the Muslim majority; for example: Jews must be in red or yellow, Christians must wear ‘zonnaar’[5] and a hanging cross and women had required wearing different color shoes (one black, one white). Besides, they were required to have an iron, copper or silver pendant while they go to the public baths. Non-Muslims had no right to neither ride on a horseback nor carry arms; otherwise, in the case of riding mules, they would put the saddlebags at the one side.

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[1] Basically, includes warlords, landed aristocrats, peasants, clergies, militants and the public.

[2] As a tradition, Since Cyruss II, also called Cyrus the Great, (559–330 BC), Persian kings used to have a cognomen as “Shâh-i-Shâhân” or “Shâh-han-shâh” which means “The King of The Kings”.

[3] JEZYA, or the poll or capitation tax levied on members of non-Muslim monotheistic faith communities (Jews, Christians, and, eventually, Zoroastrians), who fell under the protection (ḏemma) of Muslim Arab conquerors. It was retained and implemented in most of the Muslim world in a wide variety of ways, was strongly influenced by local economic conditions prevailing before and during the conquest, and varied considerably both over time and geographically. Although early texts tend to use the terms jezya and ḵarāj interchangeably, or as denoting a general tribute, these terms came to denote two different forms of taxation with the latter levied exclusively on land owners, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. (see: www.Iranica.com; Jezya)

[4] قاتلو الذينَ لايؤمنونَ بِاللهِ و اليومِ الآخِرِ و لايُحرَّمونِ ماحَرَمَ اللهُ و رَسولُهُ و لايَدينونَ دينَ الْحَقِّ مِنَ الذينَ اوتُوا الكتابَ حتّي يُعْطوا الْجَزيَةَ عَنْ يَدٍ وَ هُمْ صاغِرونَ

 “Fight those who believe neither in Allah nor the last day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and his messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, (even if they are) of the people of the book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” [Quran: 9:29]

[5] A cloth belt made of woven cotton that had been used in medieval Islamic era; it defers Non-Muslims from Muslims.