Answering Iran-related questions. Please try to keep questions serious

Answering Iran-related questions. Please try to keep questions serious.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=ShhoJv6vt1A
youtube.com/watch?v=sqtmTibk5TE
youtube.com/watch?v=Ysy2DF97DFI
youtube.com/watch?v=DF2sGMjEVHo
youtube.com/watch?v=ZapSijxie_o
youtu.be/DzrvcjL236k?list=PLP-KVc1Rk3BhDo5x0hfflxHZcdi3Q7Fh0
youtube.com/watch?v=TsK4QaeJxpw
youtube.com/watch?v=RWeXowGDgjQ
youtube.com/watch?v=eLa3akUwWOs
youtube.com/watch?v=KcXV4brcEaE
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh#Plot_to_depose_Mosaddegh
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

Why has Iran had so many different capitals? It seems like every dynasty/regime changes it. Other countries change capitals too of course but they only ever seem to bounce between two or three places, not regularly jump across the country.

What was going on during the 1600's and 1700's

Why did they turn to Islamic gommunism?

Can you shed some light on the relations of shia of yemen iraq and Iran, I understand there are theological differences, but who are the crucial players?

Capitals changed based on dynastic origins and distance between neighbouring countries, and given the relatively frequent changes in borders and dynasties in Iranian history, capitals frequently changed. Tehran was made the capital during the Qajar era. The king chose Tehran due to its geographic location, allowing him to maintain control over northern and southern Iran more easily.

why did they cucked themselves with arabic alphabet for their language? doesnt persian have its own script?

pahlavi script came from Phoenicians and it didnt matter after more letters were added to arabic to support the persian language.

During this era, Iran was ruled by the Safavids. In the early 16th century, Iran was ruled by Shah Abbas I, one of Iran's greatest modern king. His rule saw a cultural renaissance as well as a military resurgence, defeating the Uzbeks and Portugese, and pushing the Ottomans out of western Iran. The empire began to crumble in the early 17th century, where an Afghan revolt saw the capital, Isfahan, fall into the hands of the Hotaki briefly, until Nader Shah and his army of Safavid loyalists ousted them.

They say the Zaidis (Shias of Yemen) are more theologically similar to Sunnis than they are to Twelver Shias (those in Iran and Iraq). I'm not so sure as theology is not my area of expertise. The crucial players in Shia Islam today include Grand Ayatollahs Sistani, Khamenei, al-Modarresi, Javadi-Amoli, among others. The two main centres of learning in Shia Islam are Qom (in Iran) and Najaf (in Iraq). Funnily, many of the marjas in Iraq were/are Iranian, including Sistani.

Problem is that the Persians never developed an original alphabet. In ancient times they used Cuneiform writing, which seems to have been derived from the writing system of Sumerian, a non-Persian, non-Indo-European language. Persians hit the limelight when they captured Babylon, an act which kicked off their ancient empire. Later, Persians came to write their language in a scipt they called Pahlavi, which was derived from the alphabet of Aramaic with some borrowings from Greek. Aramaic was the dominant Semitic language in the region before Arabic rose to prominence and superceded it (Arabic and Aramaic are closely related).

Arabic itself was not generally a written language until after Islam came. The alphabet Muslims developed follows the form of preceding scripts in the region. It's hard to say that there is anything distinctly "Arabic" about the script, or anything distinctly "Persian" about the scripts that Persians used prior.

Persian has had a long and complex historical relationship with neighboring Semitic and non-Persian languages, going way beyond the brief period of Iran's history in which part of Iran was ruled by Arabs. Persian contained words with non-Persian roots, and Semitic languages (including Arabic) had words in their vocabulary with Persian roots.

Will secularism ever reemerge?

I believe religious rule will gradually wane and weaken, and ultimately something of a secular state will emerge, but not one that is western, if that makes sense. The timeframe of this process depends on so many factors. Will the US attack Iran? Will the government follow a series of policies so unpopular that it will be overthrown? Etc.

Bump before I go to sleep. Will check tomorrow if this is still up.

Hopefully not.

Highly unlikely. There are not enough of them and they are almost all centered in northern tehran, so they're not geographically widespread enough to be able to successfully revolt anywhere outside their containment zone in northern tehran.

Have you read the Shahnameh? I'm just over halfway through it and it's been a fascinating read.

Is it true that Farsi was on the verge of extinction after the Muslim conquests and that Ferdowsi saved it with the Shahnameh?

When did the Arabs lose their grip over the region? what did the transition look like? What state rose to prominence?

Haha BTFO by the superior Afghan again

Ferdowsi alone did not saved Persian language. Ferdowsi was part of the much wider Shu'ubiyya movement, which in Iran sought the preservation of Persian identity and language. It was not only Ferdowsi who has contributed in Persian language protection, but he was one of the most predominant and important persons who devoted his life for this goal.

I think the threat of Arabization of Iran, especially during Ferdowsi's life, is exaggerated. During the entirety of the Arab era, much of Iran (perhaps not coincidentally, more or less the same regions that would later be Turkified) was not under Arab rule, but under the independent rule of pagan (Mithraic) Parthian kings. In this sense, Persian always remained a “dialect with an army”; and these millenia-old courts were never realistically in danger of shifting to Arabic.

I think Ferdowsi is an excellent example of the displacement of historical memory: he, or more correctly the tradition of which he was the greatest exponent, saved Iran not from Arabization but from Turkification, which was incomparably more real a threat than Arabization. Even looking at history confirms this; not one province of Iran which originally spoke Persian has been Arabized - but half of the greater Iranian world (Soghdia, Tokharia, Bactria, Adhurbayjan and even Aryana/Hazarajat to a degree) have been Turkified.

The Arabs lost a fair deal of power when the Ummayads were overthrown and replaced by the Abbasids, largely thanks to the Persian general Abu Muslim (Pour Vandad Hormoz in Persian). The Abbasids were basically Persianized Arabs. After their fall, many different Iranian dynasties rose to power, including the Saffarids, Samanids, and Buyids. Under the Buyids, the Caliph in Baghdad was basically their puppet.

Nader thoroughly subdued the Afghans and eradicated the Ghizlai Pashtuns.

I'm all for monarchy, but Mossaedgh was literally the best thing to have happened to your country in a couple of centuries, and yet everyone seems to have the pleb-tier hots for the idiot Shah, especially after he became a tool of the globalist cabal.
What gives?

Thanks for the detailed reply on Ferdowsi!

Another question - a lot of the art portraying scenes from the Shahnameh, and art from some point in Iran in general, has a very Chinese look to it. Was Iran's art heavily influenced by Chinese art? Was there a lot of influence aside from art from China?

I could easily see how this could happen considering how close Iran is to China and the Silk Road being right there along Iran, and how often China is mentioned in the Shahnameh. However, I didn't wanna just assume that's the case.

Here's my question: whats it like being such an attention whore that you create AMA threads on Veeky Forums?

Those previously Iranic regions were Turkified in part due to Mongol genocide of ethnic Iranians in Central Asia. Entire cities were wiped out and killed to the last child. Millions of people were killed and the population never recovered.

socialism is bad hurr durr

Mossadegh nationalised the oil industry, what's your point?

I fucking love classical Iranian art. I'm going to bed now but Il be back tomorrow and post some really great Iranian music. People ITT might like it.

Mossadegh was an anti-imperialist communist, thats why he had to go according to the (((CIA))).

What is the general populances view on the west as a whole?

Shut up, go make frank threads if you have nothing of value to add.

I'm well aware of that, thank you, but that;'s not what this thread is about, it's about what the proverbial man in the street thinks, according to Persian OP.

Shut the fuck up jesus christ

I'll get u started my dude

music from the qajar era: youtube.com/watch?v=ShhoJv6vt1A

classic pop stuffs:

youtube.com/watch?v=sqtmTibk5TE

youtube.com/watch?v=Ysy2DF97DFI

youtube.com/watch?v=DF2sGMjEVHo

youtube.com/watch?v=ZapSijxie_o

a whole dang playlist of Iranian foik music: youtu.be/DzrvcjL236k?list=PLP-KVc1Rk3BhDo5x0hfflxHZcdi3Q7Fh0

>no shahram nazeri
you tried

Never heard the guy before, will look em up

Stop stealing land belonging to the Kurds.

Do you hate Greeks, what do you think of them?

>implying OP is actually Iranian
Veeky Forums is banned in Iran so not likely

Kurds are Iranians.

Kurds are iranian, like the welsh are british

greeks are subhumans desu

How come a country that entirely based on mountains, with its borders being where the mountains end, has historically been associated with horses and cavalry units in warfare?

Is the southern region, where the local economy is entirely drugs driven, autonomous from the rest of the country? Are they trying to succeed from the country?

Are people feeling nostalgia towards the monarchy? Is there a secular movement to reform the state away from Sharia?

Does your army really think that a very large number of very small gunboats can defeat a carrier strike group and adequately defend your coast?

I don't think they'd agree. In fact I think they'd shoot you for saying that.

>iranians don't exist outside of iran

At what point did the Medes and Persians become part of the same ethnicity (Persian/Iranian)? Is this inaccurate to suggest? If so, are people referred to on a regional basis, or are they all considered Iranians? Aren't Baluchis a separate, yet closely related ethnicity to the Persians?

>How come a country that entirely based on mountains, with its borders being where the mountains end, has historically been associated with horses and cavalry units in warfare?
Not OP

Horses of the persian region were not only plentiful but some of the largest and hardiest horses in the world, and apart from a few places the valleys and mountains are actually easier to traverse by horseback, if course not the highest part.

Also due to the entire arab, persian and steppe region the horses had a natural affinity for humans as they were often kept in tents due to the heat.

That's cause being called "Iranian" automatically makes people assume you are a cucked (F)ersian.

Kurds are still proud of their Iranian heirtage but don't wanna associate with the word cause of those disgusting Arab mongrels.

Why do we use the term Iran rather than Persia? I understand that iranians might have their own endonym, but it's not like we call Finland "Suomi" or Japan "Nihon", so why would it be different in this case?

Persia has territorial claims tied to it, Iran doesn't.
Don't want to make their theoretical wars of conquest seem justified.

Kurd here (Kermanshahi). We're Iranian. Depends on politics really nowadays, kind of like said.

But nothing is more cringy than the Zoroastrianism crap in his photo. That goes for all neopaganism

Plus aren't these Syrian kurds? Naturally they don't think they're Iranian, considering

Not him but Nazeri is one of the current Masters of Iranian classical music.

youtube.com/watch?v=TsK4QaeJxpw

Kurds are Iranian

Medes are the ancestors of Kurds

you ask me
who are you and
with such a shaky
existence how can you
fall in love

how do I know
who am I or where I am
how could a simple wave
locate itself
in an ocean

you ask me
what am I seeking
above and beyond
the pure light
that I once was

and why am I
imprisoned in this cage
named body and
yet I claim to be
a free bird.

how do I know
how I lost my way
I know for sure
I was all straight
before I was
seduced by love.

...

Holy fuck thats good. Got any more?

I'm glad you like Nazeri. He is matched only by Shajarian, but I'm inclined towards Nazeri for the mystical nature of his work.

youtube.com/watch?v=RWeXowGDgjQ

More

youtube.com/watch?v=eLa3akUwWOs

youtube.com/watch?v=KcXV4brcEaE

If you knew anything about how Iran works you would know that literally everyone browses the internet with a proxy.

Before the islamic republic Persia, rather than Iran, had bad connotations of orientalistic origin. Pahlavis asked other nations to change the name trying to appear more modern.

Persia is derived from the Greek word for Iran. Iran has always been called Iran by her people, the word Persia is completely foreign.

Why do Persians wewuz the pre-Indo-European civilizations of Iran?

Pay attention to user's question and his examples, it goes beyond that. He asks why foreigners don't use the foreign term anymore.

What can you tell me about taarof? I'm not alien to the practice and I have experienced it first hand, but I can't grasp how it works. Iranians themselves don't seem very useful to explain it since it's natural to them, even for the youngs who claim to not follow it. Are there books or articles on the subject of taarof?

All iranians follow it, its innate learned behavior. And its not exactly unique. Every culture has their code of honor governing interpersonal interactions they claim is unique and zomg so strange!!1! but thats bullshit, theyre all very similar.

Basically taarof boils down to putting others before yourself, a sign of ultimate humility towards others. You want to show that you are kind and giving and not happy to simply take from others.

>falling for the Anglo lies

>British prime minister Winston Churchill suggested to the incoming Eisenhower administration that Mossadegh, despite his open disgust with socialism, was, or would become, dependent on the pro-Soviet Tudeh Party,[46] resulting in Iran "increasingly turning towards communism" and towards the Soviet sphere at a time of high Cold War fears.[47][48][49][50]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh#Plot_to_depose_Mosaddegh

I'm not falling for any lies. I have heard firsthand from people who were there at the time (one of them a disciple of Mossadegh). I have read primary sources. Fuck off.

>He asks why foreigners don't use the foreign term anymore.

Basically this Not calling it Persia denies territorial claims.

how do i get sum succ from an aryan girl

big semite wallet

It was pretty unique to me, to be honest. It was the first country where they gave me for free taxi drives, meals and even expensive clocks. I mean, you're supposed to reject the presents (and so I did) but it's still weird.

Bullshit.

And if you knew anything about Iran you would know everyone born post 1979 doesn't know anything but Islamic history
>literally everyone
Kek no

It's not actually free, not in the slightest

Not bullshit you faggot. I know an old man who was imprisoned for this shit and he told me all about it.

>hate arabs
>believe fanatically in ther religion
why are you such cucks?

how do i learn farsi

Go to farsi class. Basic farsi is pretty easy as long as you practice to gain fluidity. The alphabet will be the hardest part.

Just like anti-semitic Christians tho.

Take a class. Practice speaking with native speakers. Watch Iranian movies and television.

but i dont want spend money

What do you think about Azeris?
t. Born in Turkey but born to Azeri parents (we have Azeris here)

Aren't Azeris just Shia Turks?

Yes.
We always called ourselves Turk (pic related, USSR also referred us as Turks)
Then Stalin came and said "lol you're Azeri" and Persians, Stalinists memeforced it.

You always hear about the Kurds everywhere else and how they hate living in those countries, but I haven't heard anything about them in Iran.

Are they actively separatist or terroristic, or is it that Iran has been decently stable they don't really do anything

depends cause their history is a clusterfuck

What people don't know is that there is a difference between Iranian Azeri's and Azerbaijani Azeri's
For starters the region which the name "Azerbaijan" evolved from only enclosed Northwestern Iran, which used to be a Median Kingdom called Atropatene that mostly served as a vassal to other empires but had relative independence. Atropatene has the same meaning as Azerbaijan in old Medes/Persian meaning "Protector of Fire" but was corrupted to its current name with Arabs/Turks not having the same letters/syllables.
The region of the Republic of Azerbaijan used to be called Shirvan/Arran and got its name of "Azerbaijan" from the Müsavat party in 1918.

Sure, they both speak the same language today and share similar culture but that has to do with the turkification of the region especially under the Safavid era.
But they both have seperate origins whereas Republic Azeri's are pure Caucasus while Iranian Azeri's are a mix of Cacasus/Iranian people. They even used to have their own Iranian language called Azari/Adari (or old Azeri) but it changed gradually with the influx of Turkic migrants to the region and Talysh/Tati is whats left of it.

But of course with the pan-turanism meme the Soviets pushed in the region, no Azeri could give two shits about what I just wrote.

you're joking right?

2 IRGC soldiers were killed like last week in the Kurdish district of Urmia
and after the bombing in the capital the Kurdistan province was hit the hardest for "arrests" of suspected extremists involved in the attack

so are they the most separatist group in Iran or is that someone else?

who are the most loyal ethnicities?

>But they both have seperate origins whereas Republic Azeri's are pure Caucasus while Iranian Azeri's are a mix of Cacasus/Iranian people
*sigh*
that's wrong.

Baluchs are probably worse if not equal.
>who are the most loyal ethnicities?
Gilakis and Mazandaranis, which is ironic with their history.
Azeri's get a honorable mention but they are suffering from pan-turkic pressure while having disputes about not being allowed to teach their language in school or the draught of Lake Urmia not being given attention by the government.

i dont think modern day azeri people are pure caucasic people because the caucasian people mostly lived in shaki and they were assimilated into armenians who continued to occupy the region until 1990s. most azeris today are turkic with some tatic admixture after assimilating them. tats made up 11% of the eastern azeri population in he early 20th century.

Please elaborate then.

Azeris are a Turkified Iranian people. That is to say, they are ethnically Iranian but speak a Turkic (not Turkish) language.

I didn't say modern but the original people of that region.
There is no denying that the constant migration of Oghuz turkic tribes for centuries left its mark on the people of the entire region.

Why'd you decide to learn the history of Iran? Seems like a cool pick but it's an area I imagine most wouldn't think of first when they think of areas they want to learn the history of

Both Azeris and Turks descend from Turkmens. Azeris mixed with Iranians/Caucasians whereas Turks mixed with Anatolian Greeks and Armenians.
pic related is the gedmatch genetic calculator result of an Azerbaijani for example.
Again
W-R-O-N-G

What do you guys think of the Alevi? Do you even know we exist?

Iranian history is severely underrated. They were doing the whole feudal system complete with chivalry and knightly orders a millennia before Europe

I read All the Shah's Men and Empire of the Mind, so now I have an okay overview of Persia. Where should I go from here?

Shahnameh

I see your point but saying that "Both Azeris and Turks descend from Turkmens" is factually wrong on the Azeri part.
Because Azerbaijan predates the Oghuz migration because of Arabs giving the region that name after the Islamic conquest and describing them in the Kitab al-boldan by Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani speaking a language called Adari/Azari.

So you could say it was Oghuz Turks that mixed with Azeri's (in the Iranian region). But as for the Caucasus, I don't even want the headache.