How did probably one of the most based MENA nations manage to crumble in the 1970s? Reading into its history...

There were and still are a lot of Persian nationalists, and iirc they may have been one of the constituent groups in the revolution

>how come iranians didn't choose a bad thing and instead chose a good thing
gee i wonder

well really why would anyone choose bad thing over obvious good thing

looking at Iranian history/culture, so much of it is so awesome & impressive why abandon it

>I'm sure Erdogan understand this, he just doesn't care. the guy is super smart but also a psychopath, he's only in it for what he can get for himself.
Hmm... I guess maybe you're right.

They didn't abandon it. Shiism had been a part of it since the 1500's

is Shiism an Iranian creation/thing..? And does it promote Iranian culture?

genuine question btw

because all dissenting opponents of the shah where purged,silenced and oppressed, except for the churchs

...

no iran was sunni majority during most of the islamic portion of its history

shiism was mainly an arab thing in the beginning

so even Iranian patriots/nationalists were purged/silenced by the Shah?

desu i always thought it was the Ayatollah who did that shit... the Shah did it even before then?

so how did Iran end up becoming 90%+ Shia? (according to Wikipedia..)

Shiism broke off immediately following Muhammad's death and was solidified with hussein's death in the 680's. It had hopped around various places under various dynasties including Egypt, Northern Syria and Yemen, but all those places were eventually conquered by Sunni powers. Theologically it's more eschatological and is very appealing to oppressed people, which is why it appealed to a lot of non-Arabs who found all the Arabs chauvinistic

Iran is a third world shithole that puts on a very effective propaganda front.

Go outside the Tehran financial district and Iran looks like Pakistan and Afghanistan.

safavid dynasty took over and most of the populace converted

The shah suppressed anyone who didn't tow his extremely pro American line, which included the communists, the religious leaders, and the nationalists. The revolution had one of the weirdest coalitions in history
Safavid dynasty reunited the plateau in the 1500's and Shiism became the state religion

there is nothing wrong with a simple rural lifestyle you cunt

look at this beauty and seriously tell me that Iran is 3rd world-tier

I recommend searching about Safavid Isfahan if the OP wants to see "Iranian civilization"

Note that the largest building or 2nd largest was a mosque

Shiism is not an an Iranian creation. The first Shias emerged shortly after Muhammad's death. (A fundamental belief is that Ali, (Muhammad's son-in-law) should have succeed him.) However, Shiism did not become dominant in Iran and Northern Azerbaijan until the Safavid Era, so named due to the Shia Safaviya order.
Nevertheless, the relationship with Shiism and Iran is an interesting one. From the beginning, Ali demonstrated generosity towards the Iranians. Furthermore, the Shii belief in Imams does appeal to Iranian sensibilities. The Imams are to serve as spiritual guides for the Muslim community after Muhammad. Ali's son, Husayn is considered an Imam. His wife was a Sassanian princess, daughter of the last Sassanian Shahanshah...in a sense, legitimizing Islam and unifying the both Islamic and Iranian legacies into one.
Some might say it is an attempt to salvage the wounded dignity of a proud civilization who fallen on hard times.

thank you for the detailed response - so really it's more of a coincidence that Iran ended up being a Shia majority?

Was it quick to convert Zoroastrians? If I'm remembering correctly, Zoroastrianism still holds good footing in Iran to this day & is making a comeback with younger Iranians. Please correct me if I'm wrong in this, however.

Why is there so much regret and focus on Iran being Muslim then there is for other, similar cool Muslim nations nowadays?

Yeah, really any country (or none at all) could have ended up Shia.
And I'm pretty sure Zoroastrianism is pretty much dead, the current government hates it because a lot of sunnis say Shiism is just Islam plus Zoroasterianism, so they want to dispel that

don't get me wrong, I'm still pissed about Mesopotamia falling to the Islam bullshit. RIP

The majority of Zoroastrians live outside Iran and have for a while. More recently, the majority of Christians of Iran have left. I believe I read there are 100k Zoroastrians traditionally from India.

Because the Shah heavily pushed Iranian nationalism. Just look at his 2500th anniversary of Cyrus. The plebs hated that shit.

The Revolution was a reaction to the Shah's policies - this includes Iranian nationalism

Also, Mesopotamia may have been only 80% Muslim bbefore WWI. I think it was a higher proportion in Iran at the same time.

You have never been to Iran have you?

Because the Shah who they're against, is a huge ethno nationalist

Jealous Americans brought it down with a CIA funded coup, they feared Persia's resurgence.

because Americans/American Empire

Yeah no, most of these big time religious groups like the Nur's and Gülen followers believe education is key to doing well. Good try though, because that usually is the case.

Yeah, their "education".

lots of objectively awful places have beautiful scenery and monuments
having nice art doesn't mean your not 3rd world

Iran is still a huge player in Middle Eastern/Central Asian/South Asian politics

The Syrian government has Iranian backing, Hezbollah is basically an Iranian vassal within Lebanon, Shi'ite militias are being trained by the Iranians in Iraq to fight ISIS, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen are also backed by Iran.

Forgot to mention that the Northern Alliance of Ahmad Shah Massoud in Afghanistan had Iranian backing.

Fuck this liberal nonsense. Iran was a lap dog of the West ran by apostates. The Iranian people rose up rightly against an aberration against the natural order.

>Furthermore, the Shii belief in Imams does appeal to Iranian sensibilities.
What do you mean?

Either he means that the alleged descent of the Imams from a Sassanid princess made Shi'ism more palatable to Iranians, or that the Shi'ite method of succession to Muhammad was similar to the Sassanid succession

Yeah, I wasn't sure which he meant.

Five rials have been deposited in your bank account.

Erdogan doesn't want to turn Turkey into an Islamic theocracy, let alone restore Ottoman Empire. He is simply cynically exploiting semi-Islamist and neo-Ottomanist sentiments of the Turkish electorate in order to maintain his power and uses the Muslim Brotherhood as a useful tool to protect and advance Turkish national interests in the Middle East.

Iranians turned Shiism into an Iranian thing. Iran uses its position as the center of Shia Islam to promote Iranian culture, which is why many Arab Shias celebrate Iranian national holidays like Nowruz.

The remembrance of Ashura also corresponds 1:1 to some traditions for the remembrance of Siavash in Zoroastrian and broader Mazdaic, particularly central Asian folklore. Siavash is really pretty interchangable with Hussein really as a mythological figure.

Not to mention Piruz Nahavandi.

>I can't understand how it could move so far backwards in such a short amount of time like it did since the Islamic Revolution.

There isn't a way "forward" or "backward" in historiography. And even if you engaged it philosophically, the Revolution is a step forward in Heideggerian terms.

Piruz is pretty much loved regardless by Iranians because he is one of the earliest attested moments in Iranian history following the fall of the Sassanids as a resurgence in nationalism and ethnic identity/resistance to Arabization.

...

Iran is doing quite well and is advancing rapidly in biotechnology and nuclear power. Why do you think the Israelis and Saudis are so afaraid of them? Iran, if it doesn't get cucked, will be a world power in 50 years.

It's been a lot of time since I've read "Persepolis", by Marjane Satrapi, but my understanding at the time was that the first revolutionaries were very stupid and naive true believers in the wonders of liberal democracy and people's power, so when the first democratic elections resulted in a massive victory for the religious nutjobs, they were left without reaction.

Something similar happened in Egypt a few years ago, when the President who was elected belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood, but then the military took care of it within a year. Maybe in Iranian situation, Iraqi invasion linked the military to the regime, increasing its chance of survival?

Most of the populace refused to become shia and were genocided or they fled to the gulf, and were replaced with Arab shia. Much like what is happening in Syria today.