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Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- A Note on Persian and Arabic Transliteration and Translation -- Preface -- Introduction -- Chapter I: Women in the Sasanian Zoroastrianism -- Chapter II: Zoroastrian Dadestan: From Sasanian Era to Islam -- Chapter III: Purification -- Chapter IV: Islam and Menstruation -- Chapter V: Sexual Relations in Zoroastrianism and Islam -- Epilogue -- Bibliography -- Glossary

"Patricia Crone's latest book is about the Iranian response to the Muslim penetration of the Iranian countryside, the revolts subsequently triggered there, and the religious communities that these revolts revealed. The book also describes a complex of religious ideas that, however varied in space and unstable over time, has demonstrated a remarkable persistence in Iran across a period of two millennia. The central thesis is that this complex of ideas has been endemic to the mountain population of Iran and occasionally become epidemic with major consequences for the country, most strikingly in the revolts examined here, and in the rise of the Safavids who imposed Shi'ism on Iran. This learned and engaging book by one of the most influential scholars of early Islamic history casts entirely new light on the nature of religion in pre-Islamic Iran, and on the persistence of Iranian religious beliefs both outside and inside Islam after the Arab conquest"--

My India -- The Jews of India -- The Modern Wandering Jew -- In Israel -- Political and Economic Ties -- Ancient Connections, Ancient Empires -- Islam Arrives -- So Many Persian Religions -- Zoroastrianism, Parsis and More -- Hinduism and Buddhism -- Judaism -- Judaism and Zoroastrianism -- Zoroastrianism and Hinduism -- So Many Travels and Commonalities -- Mystic Connections.

Minority religions, not only New Religious Movements, are explored in this innovative book including the predicament of ancient religions such as Zoroastrianism, 'old new' religions such as Baha'i, and traditional religions that are minorities elsewhere. The book is divided into two parts: the gathering of data on religious minorities ("mapping"), and the ways in which governments and interest groups respond to them ("monitoring") The international group examine which new religions exist in particular countries, what their uptake is, and how allegiance can be ascertained. They explore a range of issues faced by minority religions, encompassing official state recognition and registration, unequal treatment in comparison with a dominant religion, how changes in government can affect how they fare, the extent to which members are free to practise their faith, how they sometimes seek to influence politics, and how they can be affected by harassment and persecution. Bringing together debates concerning the social and political issues facing new religions in Europe and the Middle East, this collection extends its focus to Middle Eastern minority faiths, enabling exposition of spiritual movements such as the Gülen Movement, Paganism in Israel, and the Zoroastrians in Tehran.

Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Contents; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; 1 Religious minorities: Setting the scenes; PART 1 Mapping the minority religions; 2 What do the censuses tell us about minority religions? Some reflections on Estonia; 3 Religious minorities in Geneva: Reconsidering the category; 4 Minority religions in contemporary Lithuania: On the margins of the field of religion?; 5 Spiritual movements in times of crisis: an anthropological account of alternative spirituality in Portugal and Greece

"After the Muslim conquest of Iran in the 7th century, devoted Zoroastrians emigrated to India, where the growing community came to be known as Parsis. This Parsi settlement had increasingly little contact with Iran over the succeeding centuries until the 19th century, when a romanticized notion of their ancestral homeland led them to reestablish contact with Iran and the remaining Zoroastrians there. The Parsis had thrived under British rule of India and so they were able to strengthen their ties to Iran with philanthropic work. Meanwhile, Iranians were coming to romanticize their own ancient history and saw the Parsis as a living embodiment of this history. The Iranian neo-classicism of the 20th century that helped to establish a sense of Iranian national identity is usually ascribed to European contact, but Marashi argues that this growing relationship with the Parsi community was an important element that influenced the development of modern-day Iran"--

Cover; Half-title; Title; Copyright; Contents; Figures; Maps; Preface; Abbreviations; Introduction: West and East, friend and foe, counterpart and mirror image ... ; PART I Narrative; Chapter 1 Rome and Iran to the beginning of the third century AD; Chapter 2 Rome and the Sasanian Empire: A chronological survey; PART II Sources and contexts; Chapter 1 Political goals; Chapter 2 Warfare; Chapter 3 Military confrontations; Chapter 4 Diplomatic solutions; Chapter 5 Arabia between the great powers; Chapter 7 Religion: Christianity and Zoroastrianism; Chapter 8 Emperor and 'King of kings'