Interesting History of Zoroastrianism

Hi Dinshaw,

Thank you for the info you sent on Zoroastrianism and Christianity. Now my question is how did the Muslim religion become so predominate in the area of Persia? Did they evolve simultaneously? I am so curious about how so much began in that region.

Blessings,
Cathy
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Hi Cathy, The Near East, together with Egypt, is called "the Cradle of Civilization."

Zoroaster was born 2000 years BEFORE Jesus.

Mohamed was born, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, 700 years AFTER Jesus,
and therefore Mohamed was born 2700 years AFTER Zoroaster.

Muslims started their conquests from Mecca in 600 A.D.
They moved north to Iran and found the (Iranian) Persian Zoroastrian Empire
in chaos. At that time,it was the largest Empire, that had lasted over 2000 years. ( Adolf Hitler, eat your heart out for wanting the 3rd Reich to last a 1000 years.) To the surprise of both the Zoroastrian Iranians and the Arab Muslims, the Muslims won.
Muslims converted as many Iranian Zoroastrians to Islam as they could, and killed many others.
My Zoroastrian ancestors fled from the Muslims, and moved from mountain top-to-top in Iran. for about a 100 years. Finally, exhausted, they left Iran in 700 A.D. and fled to India. I call them the FIRST Pilgrim Fathers as they left 700 years before the Pilgrim Fathers and also for religious reasons. They went EAST however, not WEST.
Zoroastrians in India are known as PARSIS, a name derived both from the port of Fars, Iran from where they set sail for India, and from the language they spoke, FARSI.
Mahatma Ghandi once said, "In population the Parsis are pathetic,BUT in accomplishment they are BEYOND COMPARE."
There are only 70,000 Parsis in an Indian population of nearly a Billion.
Much less than the population of one small city in the USA, namely Jacksonville, Florida.
A laughable miniscule number. And 90% of them live in the city of Mumbai, which was in the news recently for terrorist attack. The Imposing hotel that was set on fire was the landmark Taj Mahal Hotel, built and managed by the Parsis. ( you can't just get away from " those damned, elusive Parsis." I stole and changed the quotation from Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities.)

Some Parsi accomplishments....
Before Mahatma Gandhi was born, the Parsi leaders were already talking about the Independence of India from England.
The Parsi Tata's built the first Indian iron and steel manufacturing plant,
which by 1939 (1st World War) had become the largest steel manufacturing plant in the whole of the British Empire,including Great Britain itself......named The Tata Iron & Steel Co.
(I was employed as an Education Officer at their head office in Bombay, and was in charge of selecting technical heads of various departments for further studies in the USA , UK, and Germany.)
Yes, It is same Tata Parsi family that is now manufacturing "the talk of the town" car that is economical to run, 'green', and cheap to buy. Here in the USA people ask why our Auto Cos can't produce that car. Leave it to a Parsi to venture forth.
Ist ones to publish a newspaper in an Indian language.
Ist to build an Indian Hydro-Electric power plant.
The 1st Chemical plant in India was built by a Parsi.
Started the first Indian Airline, Tata Air Lines. An envy of other world Airlines, till it was nationalized.
1st Indian pilot to fly an airplane. Again a Tata.
The 1st Indian scientist to work on the Indian atomic project was, I am sorry to say, also a Parsi, Mr. Bhabha.
The Commerce Minister in the first Indian Parliament after Independence was a Parsi.
Zubin Mehta, the erstwhile Symphony Conductor of Los Angeles,and of New York, is a Parsi. He is the one who conducted the N.Y. Symphony with the 3 Tenors, Pavarotti being one of them. His father still heads the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra.
The 1st. 2 Indians to be elected in England, by the English voters, to sit in the House of Commons in London, were both Parsis.
The 1st and only Indian-descent Englishman to sit as a LORD in the House of Lords in London, England is a Parsi.

And the list goes on and on. You don't expect me to remember everything, do you?

Love, Dinshaw, an Humble Parsi. If there is such a creature.

The words Humble and Parsi just don't go together. But... I can dream, can't I?

Article sent from Nader on the Bahai

What is it?Who Are They?Why Should We Care?
by lyle e davis

How would you like to live in a world where there was no war? Where all people of all races, creeds and cultures were as one, and there was no prejudice? Where women and men were equal? Where there were no extremes of poverty, nor of extreme wealth? Where the family and its unity was recognized as being critically important? Where everyone received an education?
Would that sound like a world you would like to live in and be part of?

Like you, I knew little or nothing about Baha’i. I have now learned that the above elements are but a part of what members of Baha’i seek and work for.

Having lived in Chicago for five years I was struck by the beautiful architecture of the Baha’i Temple in Wilmette, Illinois, and would often take visitors sightseeing and show them the impressive building. I have never entered the temple and I only knew a couple of people who were Baha’is. I knew them as a kindly, gentle people. People who didn’t hassle you. They didn’t pester you in your neighborhood, knocking on your door, trying to recruit you to their way of thinking.

I didn’t really know what they believed, what they practiced, what the basic tenets of the Baha’i faith was. I knew it was a religious philosophy that originated in the Mid East . . . which, for some reason, seems to be where most of the world’s major religions originated. But that was about all I knew of Baha’i.

In Esconiddo I had a good friend, Jacque Smith. Jacque was, and is, very well known in North San Diego County. He’s that guy who, whenever they called for volunteers for any civic or service project, always wound up at the head of the line. He has been a major community asset for Escondido. Jacque was a beloved member of our Hidden Valley Kiwanis Club. He retired from our club a number of years ago and said he wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to working for Baha’i.

More recently, I became acquainted with the well known North County chiropractor, Dr. Omid Rahmanian and his lovely wife, Dr. Parisa Rahmanian, a prominent North County dentist. They and their children are Baha’is. In fact, Dr. O’Mead (as most folks call him, and spell his Amercanized name), at great danger to himself, flew home to Iran to help bring his mother and father to America, where they now live. Dr. O’Mead’s father had been imprisoned in Iran for no other reason than being a member of Baha’i. When his father was finally released from prison, Dr. O’Mead took the risk of being arrested himself, flew into Iran and, thankfully, was able to return home to North San Diego County.

So, I knew a few Baha’is fairly well, and I knew about the temple in Wilmette, Illinois. But I really didn’t know much more than that.

Certain events and timing have come together where I felt it would be not only appropriate, but important, to research Baha’i and find out a bit more about what it was and, “just who are these people that belong to Baha’i?”

We propose to share that information with you in this cover story. You may be as surprised as I was. And am. You may be in a position to be of major help to some deserving people who are in grave danger. We will brief you.

To learn more about this fascinating subject and some equally fascinating, and courageous, people, join us for this week's cover story. Just click on this link:
www.thecommunitypaper.com
And enjoy the read!