Zoroastrians, Islam and the Holy Qur’ān. Purity and Danger in Pahlavi Literature in the Early Islamic Period (Seventh–Tenth Centuries)

Abstract

Abstract This paper will reflect on how Pahlavi texts after the Islamic conquest conceptualize conflicts between Islamic norms and Zoroastrian rules, in particular those concerning purity. The paper will therefore be concerned with the representation of Islam and Islamic practices within the Mazdean community. For this reason, the issue of the reception of the Holy Qur’ān within Pahlavi literature will also need to be addressed. The paper will formulate some hypotheses on what goals the Mazdean intellectual elites (in this case, essentially their clergy) tried to achieve through their representation of Islam. It will also discuss how this representation connected with the economic and social transformation that this community underwent with the end of the Sasanian Empire, in particular with the changes in landholding that had been among the main sources of wealth and power for the Sasanian aristocracy.