A Social History of the Zoroastrians of Yazd

A Social History of the Zoroastrians of Yazd was written by Dr. Ali Tashakori, a historian and history professor at the History Department of Yazd University (Yazd, Iran), and published by Samuel Jordan Center for Persian Studies in February 2020 in the USA.

The three-volume book published in Persian discusses the treatment and lives of Zoroastrians from “the arrival of Islam” to “the Islamic revolution.” The first volume covers “the arrival of Islam in Iran to the establishment of the Nasseri Anjoman.” The second volume discusses “from the Nasseri Anjoman to the Fall of the Qajar.”

The last volume focuses on the Zoroastrians’ situation from the rise of Reza Shah to the Islamic Revolution, covering the rise of Reza Shah in 1924, the formation of a secular government, the rule of Muhamad Reza Shah, and the modernization of Iran, which had a very significant influence on the lives of Zoroastrians through the 1979 revolution. Because of the importance of this period in the lives of Zoroastrians and other religious minorities, Mvoices will publish an article on this last volume in its next issue.

During the Sasanian empire, Zoroastrianism was the state’s official religion until the Arab Muslim invasion in the 7th century. Today, Yazd is the last center of Zoroastrianism in Iran. Some of the city’s inhabitants are Zoroastrians whose ancestors fled to Yazd and Kerman when the Muslim Arabs conquered Iran.