From Persian Civilization to Shia Decline

The Middle East, far from being a barren land of ignorance, was once the cradle of human civilizations, including the Sumerians, Egyptians, Persians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Hittites, and Phoenicians, dating back to 4000 BC. Among these, Persia stood out for its enduring civilization, from the Elamites in 2700 BC through the Medes to the Sasanians, whose weakening military power coincided with the rise of Arab influence during the Caliphate of Omar.

Throughout various dynastic changes, Persian civilization consistently displayed profound military, economic, urban, and cultural strength. The Persians were deeply influenced by their neighbors and, in turn, influenced them, producing distinguished scholars, engineers, thinkers, and military leaders. Their social life was advanced, serving as a model for others. Persians excelled in attire, cuisine, architecture, social relations, and education systems, at a time when Arabs were largely nomadic tribes transitioning from a tribal system to a civil one, with Mecca perhaps resembling a large village by the 4th or 5th century AD.

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The Middle East was not a barren land steeped in ignorance, backwardness, and intellectual, literary, and artistic decline, but rather the cradle of human civilizations.

Persia's interactions with the Greeks and later the Romans, through prolonged wars, may have hindered the longevity of their civilization. However, the rising Arab power eventually subdued regional forces, including the Persians and Romans, leading to the decline of their respective states and civilizations. This shift is reflected in the poetry of Bashar ibn Burd, a Persian poet educated in Arabic, who, aligning with the Shu'ubiyya movement that emphasized the superiority of non-Arab peoples, satirized the Arab transition from a backward nomadic life to adopting Persian civilized ways.

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Persia was characterized by being the longest-lasting civilization among all those we have mentioned.

Burd's poetry mocks Arabs for their unfamiliarity with refined foods like white flour and wine served in golden cups, their consumption of insects and rodents, and their practice of renting homes, a concept considered shameful by Persians. While his verses may contain exaggerations typical of satire, they reveal a significant cultural shock between a people with millennia of civilization and a people suddenly embracing modernity after emerging from a tribal system. The author questions what led the Persians to transition from a sophisticated life of knowledge and civilization to a state where a "degraded understanding of Islam" blinds them, leading them from monotheism to associating humans with divinity, even to the point of deifying figures like the "awaited Mahdi."

This shift is contrasted with divine warnings in the Quran, such as God's prohibition against deifying the Prophet Muhammad himself, reminding believers that he was merely a mortal messenger. The author implies that this deviation from pure monotheism into venerating human figures represents a profound spiritual and intellectual decline for a civilization once at its peak.

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What happened to the people of Persia that they moved from a refined system of life, knowledge, and civilization to a people blinded by a degraded understanding of Islam, and emerged from the monotheism of God Almighty to associating humans with sanctity?