Editing History of Iran (section)

====Islamic golden age, Shu'ubiyya movement and Persianization process====
{{See also|Islamization of Iran|Islamic Golden Age|Shu'ubiyya}}
[[File:Ghotb2.jpg|thumb|upright|Extract from a medieval manuscript by [[Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi|Qotbeddin Shirazi]] (1236–1311), a Persian astronomer, depicting an epicyclic planetary model|alt=]]

[[Islamization]] was a long process by which [[Islam]] was gradually adopted by the majority population of Iran. [[Richard Bulliet]]'s "conversion curve" indicates that only about 10% of Iran converted to Islam during the relatively Arab-centric [[Umayyad]] period. Beginning in the [[Abbasid]] period, with its mix of Persian as well as Arab rulers, the Muslim percentage of the population rose. As Persian Muslims consolidated their rule of the country, the Muslim population rose from approximately 40% in the mid-9th century to close to 90% by the end of the 11th century.<ref name="Tobin"/> [[Seyyed Hossein Nasr]] suggests that the rapid increase in conversion was aided by the Persian nationality of the rulers.<ref>Nasr, Hoseyn; Islam and the pliqht of modern man</ref>

Although Persians adopted the religion of their conquerors, over the centuries they worked to protect and revive their distinctive language and culture, a process known as [[Persianization]]. Arabs and Turks participated in this attempt.<ref name="britannica2">''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "Seljuq", Online Edition, ([https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9066688 LINK] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219231803/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9066688 |date=2007-12-19 }})</ref><ref>Richard Frye, The Heritage of Persia, p. 243.</ref><ref>Rayhanat al- adab, (3rd ed.), vol. 1, p. 181.</ref>

In the 9th and 10th centuries, non-Arab subjects of the [[Ummah]] created a movement called [[Shu'ubiyyah]] in response to the privileged status of Arabs. Most of those behind the movement were Persian, but references to [[Egyptians]], [[Berber people|Berbers]] and [[Aramaeans]] are attested.<ref>Enderwitz, S. "Shu'ubiyya". ''Encyclopedia of Islam''. Vol. IX (1997), pp. 513–14.</ref> Citing as its basis Islamic notions of equality of races and nations, the movement was primarily concerned with preserving Persian culture and protecting Persian identity, though within a Muslim context.

The [[Samanid dynasty]] led the revival of Persian culture and the first important Persian poet after the arrival of Islam, [[Rudaki]], was born during this era and was praised by Samanid kings. The Samanids also revived many ancient Persian festivals. Their successor, the [[Ghaznavids|Ghaznawids]], who were of non-Iranian Turkic origin, also became instrumental in the revival of Persian culture.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranchamber.com/history/samanids/samanids.php|title=History of Iran: Samanid Dynasty|access-date=2007-06-21|archive-date=2019-04-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401010449/http://www.iranchamber.com/history/samanids/samanids.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:A treatise on chess 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Persian manuscript describing how an ambassador from India, probably sent by the [[Maukhari]] King [[Śarvavarman]] of [[Kannauj]], brought [[Shatranj|chess]] to the Persian court of [[Khosrow I]].<ref name="ME">{{cite book |last1=Eder |first1=Manfred A. J. |title=South Asian Archaeology 2007 Proceedings of the 19th Meeting of the European Association of South Asian Archaeology in Ravenna, Italy, July 2007, Volume II |date=2010 |publisher=Archaeopress Archaeology |isbn=978-1-4073-0674-2 |page=69 |url=http://history.chess.free.fr/papers/Eder%202007-2.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bakker |first1=Hans T. |author-link=Hans T. Bakker|title=The Huns in Central and South Asia. How Two Centuries of War against Nomadic Invaders from the Steps are Concluded by a Game of Chess between the Kings of India and Iran |date=2017 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34156496}}</ref>]]

The culmination of the [[Persianization]] movement was the ''[[Shahnameh]]'', the national epic of Iran, written almost entirely in Persian. This voluminous work, reflects Iran's ancient history, its unique cultural values, its pre-Islamic [[Zoroastrian]] religion, and its sense of nationhood. According to [[Bernard Lewis]]:<ref name="lewis"/>

<blockquote>"Iran was indeed Islamized, but it was not Arabized. Persians remained Persians. And after an interval of silence, Iran re-emerged as a separate, different and distinctive element within Islam, eventually adding a new element even to Islam itself. Culturally, politically, and most remarkable of all even religiously, the Iranian contribution to this new Islamic civilization is of immense importance. The work of Iranians can be seen in every field of cultural endeavour, including Arabic poetry, to which poets of Iranian origin composing their poems in Arabic made a very significant contribution. In a sense, Iranian Islam is a second advent of Islam itself, a new Islam sometimes referred to as Islam-i Ajam. It was this Persian Islam, rather than the original Arab Islam, that was brought to new areas and new peoples: to the Turks, first in Central Asia and then in the Middle East in the country which came to be called Turkey, and of course to India. The Ottoman Turks brought a form of Iranian civilization to the walls of Vienna..."</blockquote>

The [[Islamization of Iran]] was to yield deep transformations within the cultural, scientific, and political structure of Iran's society: The blossoming of [[Persian literature]], [[Iranian philosophy|philosophy]], [[Science and technology in Iran|medicine]] and [[Persian art|art]] became major elements of the newly forming Muslim civilization. Inheriting a heritage of thousands of years of civilization, and being at the "crossroads of the major cultural highways",<ref>Caheb C., Cambridge History of Iran, ''Tribes, Cities and Social Organization'', vol. 4, p305–328</ref> contributed to Persia emerging as what culminated into the "[[Islamic Golden Age]]". During this period, [[List of Iranian scientists and scholars|hundreds of scholars and scientists]] vastly contributed to technology, science and medicine, later influencing the rise of European science during [[the Renaissance]].<ref>Kühnel E., in ''Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesell'', Vol. CVI (1956)</ref>

The most important scholars of almost all of the Islamic sects and schools of thought were Persian or lived in Iran, including the most notable and reliable [[Hadith]] collectors of [[Shia]] and [[Sunni]] like [[Shaikh Saduq]], [[Mohammad Ya'qub Kulainy|Shaikh Kulainy]], [[Hakim al-Nishaburi]], [[Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj|Imam Muslim]] and Imam Bukhari, the greatest [[Kalam|theologians]] of Shia and Sunni like [[Shaykh Tusi]], [[Al-Ghazali|Imam Ghazali]], [[Fakhr al-Din al-Razi|Imam Fakhr al-Razi]] and [[Al-Zamakhshari]], the greatest [[physicians]], [[Islamic astronomy|astronomers]], [[Logic in Islamic philosophy|logicians]], [[Islamic mathematics|mathematicians]], [[Metaphysics|metaphysicians]], [[Early Islamic philosophy|philosophers]] and [[Islamic science|scientists]] like [[Avicenna]] and [[Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī]], and the greatest [[Sheikh (Sufism)|shaykhs of Sufism]] like [[Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi|Rumi]] and [[Abdul Qadir Gilani|Abdul-Qadir Gilani]].