Religious influences on Zoroastrianism

Emergence of Zurvanism

Some scholars^[which?] believe that the emergence of Zurvanism was due to the contact of Zoroastrianism with the Babylonian and Greek religions, but also some^[which?] believe that Zurvan was a god of the Medes religion and his worship continued in Zoroastrianism.^[13][14]

Saoshyant

Dr. Ardeshir Khorshedian, a Mobad and the head of the Mobidan Association of Tehran, said the idea of the Zoroastrian Saoshyant as a Messiah figure likely came from Judaism, and became more prevalent following the Islamic conquest of Persia.^[15] Mobad Cyrus Niknam, a writer and researcher of ancient Iranian culture, says the idea of Saoshyant as a savior stems from the interpretations of Sasanian priests and is not supported by the teachings of Zoroaster himself. He says the name means benefactor of the holy.^[16] Dina G. McIntyre, an Indian Zoroastrian woman and a specialist in the study of the Gathas, sais the existence of a savior only appeared in later literature.^[17]

Farhang Mehr has said that the miracles attributed in the Pahlavi texts to Ashu Zarathustra or to the saviors after him, as well as his dialogues with Ahura Mazda and Amesha Spenta, do not exist in the Gathas but come from the Denkard, composed in the 10th century, centuries after the demise of the Sassanids. He suggests Zoroastrianism began to attribute miracles to Zoroaster that were on par with the miracles of the Abrahamic prophets in order to compete with the growing political supremacy of the Abrahamic faiths.^[18]

Zoroaster's life stories

The Encyclopedia Iranica states that contact between Zoroastrians and their Jewish and Christian neighbors in the Achaemenian, Arsacid, and Sasanian states influenced the hagiography or sacred biography of Zoroaster. Drawing on events in the Gathas, the stories of Zoroaster's life developed themes similar to those of Moses and Jesus. Between the 7th and 13th centuries, this hagiography also developed several parallels with the life of Muhammed. This hagiography was thus included in the Zardošt-nāma and Dēnkard. As Zoroastrians were a minority among Muslims, Christians and Hindus, the parallels in these stories provided a source of common ground, especially as dimmi under Islam.^[19]

In the 19th century, visual representations of Zoroaster incorporated Mithraic, Platonic and Ptolemaic motifs, in part drawing from Raphael Santi's earlier, Italian renaissance-era portrait of the prophet. These representations remain popular today.^[19]

Parsis

In 1860s and 1870s, the linguist Martin Haug interpreted Zoroastrian scripture in Christian terms, and compared the yazatas to the angels of Christianity. In this scheme, the Amesha Spentas are the archangel retinue of Ahura Mazda, with the hamkars as the supporting host of lesser angels.

At the time Haug wrote his translations, the Parsi (i.e., Indian Zoroastrian) community was under intense pressure from English and American missionaries, who severely criticized the Zoroastrians for—as John Wilson portrayed it in 1843—"polytheism", which the missionaries argued was inferior to their own "monotheism". At the time, Zoroastrianism lacked theologians of its own, and so the Zoroastrians were poorly equipped to make their own case. In this situation, Haug's counter-interpretation came as a welcome relief, and was (by and large) gratefully accepted as legitimate.^[20]

Haug's interpretations were subsequently disseminated as Zoroastrian ones, which then eventually reached the west where they were seen to corroborate Haug. Like most of Haug's interpretations, this comparison is today so well entrenched that a gloss of 'yazata' as 'angel' is almost universally accepted; both in publications intended for a general audience as well as in (non-philological) academic literature.^{[21][22][23][24]}

Mary Boyce noted that the theories of the Western Academy had a profound impact on the Parsis in mumbay and mentioned M. Haug proposal regarding the Amesha Spentas, which states that they are merely attributes of Ahura Mazda. This was welcomed by the Parsi reformers, who were under attack from Christian missionaries who accused them of polytheism. These reformers strongly promoted Haug's ideas, and Western scholars considered their writings as evidence that Hogg's interpretation had a real echo in the Zoroastrian tradition itself.^[25] also noted that some reformers have adopted the belief that Ahura Mazda is the father of Ahriman and Amesha Spenta, and this is a belief invented by M. Haug^[26]

Jenny Rose notes that the Parsis were in harmony with Christianity, likening Zoroaster to Jesus and attributing miracles to him.^[27]

Pakistani Zoroastrian priest and religious scholar Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla says that when the Parsis tried to defend their religion from the criticisms of Christian missionaries, they resorted to metaphorical interpretation instead of defending beliefs, such as saying that Ahriman was a symbol of blasphemy and not a living entity, and that purification rituals were a metaphorical expression of the internal purification of man.^[28]

Jean Kellens criticized the Zoroastrian tradition regarding the history of the Avesta, describing it as insufficiently documented. He pointed to historians' statements about the Magi, stating that they did not have a holy book, in addition to the fact that writing was not widespread among the Achaemenids, and the scarcity of written documents. He added that recent research has proven that the Avesta was not written during the Parthian Empire, and that the available manuscripts indicate that it was written during the Sassanian era. He pointed out that the Zoroastrian tradition regarding the composition of the Avesta dates back to its emergence as a competition with Buddhism, Manichaeism, and Christianity, which rely on their own holy books^[29]

Prayer

Religious historian Khaled Kabir Allal suggests that Zoroastrianism originally had only three prayers: at sunrise, at midday, and at sunset. He cites Muslim historians and researchers of the Avesta, the holy book of the Zoroastrians, who mention three prayers. He states that the current five daily prayers among Zoroastrians are a result of the influence of Islam, like Behafaridians.^{[37][undue weight? – discuss]}

The monajat, an Arabic word for the supplication tradition of prayers, evolved relatively late in the 13th century and shows Islamic influence. In contrast to more traditional forms of prayer, which are usually in Avestan, monajat prayers are performed in the native language of the faithful, typically in Persian or Gujarati for Iranian and Indian Zoroastrians, respectively. They take diverse forms and can be composed in verse or in prose.^[38]

Syncretic religious movements

  Abbasid Caliphate   Sinbadh's revolt

  Autonomous region of Tabaristan

Several religious movements have developed from Zoroastrian and Islamic influences, including:

• Behafaridians: Behafarid was an 8th-century Persian Zoroastrian heresiarch who started the Behafaridians, a religious peasant revolt with elements from Zoroastrianism and Islam. He believed in Zoroaster and upheld all Zoroastrian institutions. His followers prayed seven times a day facing the sun, prohibited intoxicants, and kept their hair long and disallowed sacrifices of cattle except when they were decrepit.^[39][40]
• Ustadh Sis: The Ustadh Sis movement is considered a continuation of the Bhavrid movement, where he^[who?] claimed prophethood and launched a revolution, but was also suppressed.^[41]
• Khurramites: The Khurramites were founded by the Persian Sunpadh al-Majusi, who was a follower of Abu Muslim al-Khurasani. The Khurramites are a mixture of Muslim Shia and Zoroastrian Mazdakism; one of the most important reasons for the Khurramite revolt was revenge for the execution of Abu Muslim al-Khurasani, who was killed by Abu Jaafar al-Mansur.^[42]
• Al-Muqanna: Al-Muqanna was a Persian prophet, who led a revolt in that province against the Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi. Al-Muqnad preached a doctrine that combined elements of Islam and Zoroastrianism, and he continued the war for nearly three years in the field and an additional two years in his fortress at Sanam before he was finally defeated and committed suicide.^[43]
• Azarkeivanian: Azarkeivanian is a Zoroastrianism sect that emerged in the Safavid state, founded by Azar Kayvan, who was a student of Shihab ad-Din Suhrawardi.^[44] The beliefs of Kayvan and his disciples were somewhat Sufist with a mixture of Illuminationism and some Indian practices of yoga.^[45]