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Iran
Iran is a republic country situated in Central Eurasia and Western Asia with an estimated population of 76.9 million as of 2010. It is the 18th largest country in the world with a total land area of 1,648,195 sq km.
3,383 Questions
No. Even with all of the problems that the current regime may cause, Iran is a country of 80 million people, most of whom are just as much victims of that regime as foreigners are.
Why were the Persians so easily conquered by the new Islamic empire?
There were four primary reasons that the Sassanian Persian Empire crumbled in the face of Arab Muslim conquerors.
1) General Strength of Nomadic Soldiers: Historically, prior to 19th century weaponry, an enemy who was mounted and able to move quickly could encircle and achieve tremendous successes over settled empires. This situation replayed itself quite often and was a worldwide phenomenon. Many Chinese Imperial Sources stress how important it was to maintain a string of "Cooked Barbarian allies", who were small tribal nations along the Chinese border, but who had the same horseman skills as the more ruthless and adversarial :"Uncooked" Mongol Tribes. The advantage of being on horseback meant that without these Cooked Barbarians to intercede with the Mongols, the Chinese Empire, with the largest armies in the world at that time, would be ill-equipped to defend its territory.
In the case of the Sassanian Persians and the Arab Muslims, there was much the same issue. While the Persians had a large military, it could not compete with the speed and dexterity of the Arab Muslims who had a quick cavalry and had experience as raiding parties and in wars with both sedentary and nomadic enemies. To further push the balance towards the Arabs, King Yazdagerd III made the fatal flaw of trying to fight the Arabs on open plains where horses are most advantageous rather than wait for the Arabs to try to besiege major Persian cities, where the Arab lack of siege equipment would weaken their position.
2) Byzantine-Sassanian Wars: The Byzantines and Sassanians considered each other the only real civilizations in Middle East less than a few decades before the Rise of Islam and fought each other numerous times over control of what is today East Turkey and Iraq. These were intense religious wars (Christian vs. Zoroastrian) and greatly weakened both empires at just the wrong time. When the Arabs faced the Persians, the size of the Sassanian Persian Army was less than half of what it had been prior to fighting with the Byzantines. Additionally, since Arabia had been seen as a cultural and political backwater barely worth notice prior to the Rise of Islam, the Sassanians maintained a porous southern defense and miscalculation of the strength, experience, and numbers of the invading Islamic Armies.
3) Cultural Traits of the Arabs: Arab Tribes and warriors owed their loyalty to their Sheikhs and leaders without fault because the Sheikh provided each person with all of the amenities and protection necessary to live a full life. Whenever the Arabs went to war, the Sheikhs could count on the ability to muster their tribesmen as soldiers without issue. This meant that relatively large numbers of men could be called upon to join Sa3d ibn Abi Waqqas (one of the Islamic Empire's chief generals) in his invasion of Persia.
4) Persian Muslims and Allegiance of Persian Nobles: Among the Muslims coming out of Arabia were a number of Persian slaves that had been sold in Arabia and freed by Muhammad, such as his Apostle Salman the Persian. These Persian Muslims understood the lay of the land well and after the Fall of Ctesiphon, the Sassanian capital city, were able to serve as effective administrators until Persia could effectively be added to the Caliphate. Additionally, Persian Muslims like Salman recognized that the Persian nobility, if given a position to retain their power, could be counted on to support the new Islamic administration, since these nobles would rather serve a different master than plunge Persia into a decades-long civil war. As a result, by simply converting to Islam, Persian nobles could retain their holdings and even acquire the holdings of nobles who failed to convert to Islam or declare loyalty to the Caliph.
Where does the Iranian jerboa live?
The Iranian jerboa is a critically endangered species. It is found only in a tiny range in Iran, about a quarter of the way across Iran (going west to east) and parallel to about a third of the way up Iran's border with Iraq. The species is known only from a single population.
What was the relationship between the Safavids and their neighbors?
On their Western borders, the Safavids had very problematic relations with the Ottoman Turks, who they considered their political and religious rivals. They also had rocky relations with the Bukharans of Uzbekistan and the Mughals of India.
What would happen if the US went to war with Iran?
If we Americans went to war with Iran. There would be nothing left of Iran in the end.
What is the annual income of Iran?
My dear friend According to international statistics, average income of an Iranian citizen (GDP per capita) has been $2,440 in 2004, comparing to developed courtiers like Norway with GDP per capita of $54,460 (2004), Iran seems to be a poor country right?! Wrong me dear friend! Iran has massive amount of natural resources especially petroleum (just like Norway & that's why I have choose this country to compare). The point is that nowadays richness or poorness of a country is not really related to the amount of gold they reserve! Efficient use of resources (especially human resources) and up-to-dated know-how in industry sector with a solid management system is the key to success and reason of happiness for a nation! It is good to compare GDP per capita of Sierra Leone in Africa "dream land for diamond miners" with Belgium "small European country that cuts and trades diamonds from the world". Good luck
Was president carter less popular after the Iran hostage crisis?
52 US citizens were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the Embassy of the United States in support of the Iranian Revolution. This was the Iran hostage crisis. Carter sent a delat team but the mission was aborted because an airplane struck another aircraft. Bad press allways did the thing but there were other things that did worse in Carter's image.
What countries were against the Iran-Iraq war?
To the best of my knowledge, no country on earth tried to stop the Iran-Iraq War. However, toward the end of it there was a major concern among the oil-consuming nations that the war might interfere with the export of oil from the Persian Gulf.
What is the population of Egypt Turkey Iran Sudan and Saudi Arabia?
Turkey around 80 million, Sudan around 35 million, Egypt around 80 million, Iran around 79 million and Saudi Arabia around 28 million.
Before Islam the major religion in Iran Persia?
The Main religion of the Persian (Iranian) Nation/Empire from it's inception as a civilization by its founding father; Cyrus the Great, has been the Zoroastrian Religion.
It's focus is the teachings of Zoroaster. This was predominately the main religion of the Persians and most other Aryan nations, tribes and peoples who have spoken and still speak an Indo-European dialect known as Farsi, which has been a great influence on many European languages including English, French and German.
The most significant conversion of Persians to Islam came during a series of Arab crusades and culminated in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which created an Islamic state, where the religion was enforced upon all citizens. Many Persian that protested these forced adaptations of foreign cultures and religions were silence by death.
Today, Iran is in a struggle by the new generation in Iran between the forced Islamic Dictatorship and their beloved Ethnic and Cultural Identity. The new generation accounts for over 70% of the current population and is under the age of 30, and many are increasingly finding it difficult to find the true Iranian Identity admits the foreign religious influence which has not come by way of voluntary means.
What was the Muslim sect in Iraq before the Iran war?
Iraq has been majority Shi'a for over 500 years and many Iraqi Shi'a fought in the Iraqi Army against Iran. However, Saddam Hussein and the higher echelons of the Iraq government were Sunna.
Why are bahai people hurt in Iran?
They have been the object of a sustained hate-campaign sponsored by the government, and also by anti-Baha'i organisations, and they are themselves censored so that people find it difficult to learn the truth about the Baha'is.
Anti-Baha'ism is to Iranian politics what anti-semitism was to French, Italian and German politics in the 1930s. Recently, anti-Baha'ism and anti-semitism have been fused, as it is increasingly claimed that Baha'is are "really" Jews (which is not true of course, Baha'is are not Jews, but Baha'is do condemn anti-semitism).
see a recent news report from the Jerusalem Post:
http://www.iranpresswatch.org/2009/03/suffocating/
an answer to media attacks from the Bahai community"
http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran/mediaattacks
and an interview with the author of a recent book on anti-bahaism in Iran:
http://www.iranpresswatch.org/2009/03/dtm-interview/
Was the Safavid Empire Christian?
No. The official religion of the Safavid Empire was Shiite Islam. They were also quite zealous rulers, forcibly converting many to Shiite Islam.
Why is Iran mostly Shi'ite while other countries are mostly Sunni?
Answer 1
When the Battle of Karbala happened cause most of Iranians to convert to Shia Islam. The shia people (even without shia state) and the shia state are two different matter. currently most of people in Bahrain and Azerbaijan are shia Muslims but they are oppressed by dictators supported by US and Saudi Arabia and can not have a democratic election. shia Muslims have their own model of state and government so the political laws of Shia Islam has been always a great danger for dictators and Kings and they had different strategies to prevent shia Muslims to get power in government. some times by war and terror and some times by apparently supporting shia Islam and in fact destroying shia Islam by supporting deviated scholars who distorted and corrupted shia Islam in the name of Islam. those corrupted scholars were like spies who teach deviated and fake hadith and beleifs in stead of real shia Islam. Shia Muslims were being arrested, jailed, executed and oppressed by by sunni dictator Kings during 1000 years and it was the first that a state (Safavids) officially accepted shia Islam as an allowed religion. so shia scholars considered it an opportunity for growing of shia Islam. so instead of fighting with the safavid Kings, shia scholars decided to use it for growth of shia. many great books was written by shia schoolars at safavids. but because shia Islam has laws for selecting the leader any King basically is not accepted by shia Islam. so the Kingdom of Safavid was not an state legitimate by shia Islam but shia scholars did not have enough power to fight it and establish a pure shia state. so Safavids was a mixture of shia Islam state and Kingdom (that basically has conflict with shia Islam). if a Kings want to practice shia Islam first should unsit himself to a qualified leader by shia Islam can lead the country.
Answer 2
While the Battle of Karbala had an important influence in developing the first strands of Shiite Islam, Iran did not become majority Shiite until the late 1500s. The first Shiite Islamic State was the Zaydi Shiite Idrissid Dynasty of Morocco and the most prominent Shiite Islamic State before 1200 CE was Ismaili Fatimid Egypt. However, the Shiites in these countries were forcibly evicted or converted to Sunni Muslims in successive Islamic Empires (Almohads and Ayyubids/Mamluks respectively). Shiite Islam was generally a repressed religion and Sunni Islam was ascendant.
In the 1500s, the Safavid Empire made Twelver Shiite Islam the official religion of the Iranian empire and compelled Sunnis to convert to Shiite Islam within the empire. This led to Shiite Islam being the dominant religion of Iran.
Eid means the end of a period. The best-known would be Eid-al-Fitr, the end of the month of fasting, which, as you might suppose, is commemorated with a feast.
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Eid is an arabic word that means festival or feast. There are two main annual festivals (or eids) and one week festival (or eid) in Islam. Namely, Eid ul Fitr (the first day after end of Ramadan; the ninth month in the Islamic Lunar Calendar) and Eid ul Adha (on the 12th month in the Islamic Lunar Calendar) in addition to Friday every week.
Refer to question below.
Iraq
Where did Iran get weapons of mass destruction?
It depends on the particular weapon. Some were developed in Iran. Some came to Iran from the United States when Iran was under the Shah. Some came to Iran from the Soviet Union during the Iran-Iraq War.
Did the Shi'ites fight on the side of Iran in the Iran-Iraq war?
It depends. The Iran-Iraq War was a war of countries not a war of religions. Numerous Shiite Iraqis were part of the Iraqi Army and did their duty for the Iraqi Government. However, the vast majority of Shiites involved in the war fought on the Iranian side since Iran committed more soldiers to the war and Iran has a higher percentage of Shiites in general and in the armed forces.
Typical Iranian/Persian Cuisine
They eat a typical Persian diet, which includes lots of fruits, nuts, legumes, and whole grains, vegetables, and lastly, fish, meats and dairy products. Rice and wheat are the most-used grains.
Wikipedia has a detailed description:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_cuisine
We also eat dishes such as gormeh sabsi (a stew with beef, beans, and herbs over a bed of rice), choresht (any stew typically made with eggplant, chicken, and a variety of other foods), and we eat different kinds of rice with practically all of our meals. Saffron is a spice that is typically used in Middle Eastern cooking but it is quite rare and expensive.
Foods that Iranians Eat
Kebabs, Korma, Curries/Indian cuisine, Western food, Chinese, stews, rice dishes, chocolate, meat dishes, vegetables, cake, pistachio nuts, caviar, dates, sultanas, other dried fruit, fruit, tea, coffee, wine (alcoholic and non alcoholic), beer (alcoholic and non alcoholic), vodka, Armenian brandy, French brandy, whiskey, stout, cider, cola, soft drinks, dairy produce, fish.
