Shaykh Junayd, 130
Shaykh Safi, 130
Shaykhism, 188, 198
Shi‘ism and Shi‘a tradition
and Akhbari/Usuli debate, 172–173, 175
and Ali as Mohammad’s successor, 125, 126
criticism by Kasravi and others, 233
and death of eleventh Emam, 129
and Emams as legitimate leaders/Perfect Man, 127, 260–261
establishment in Iran with Esma‘il and Safavids, 132
globally, and Iranian-style Islamic rule, 287
and illegitimacy of secular authority, 172–173
and independence of Iraqi/worldwide Shi‘a traditions, 287
and indignation at arrogance of power, 285
Iranians as protectors for elsewhere, 287
and Ismaili sect, 128
larger than current Iranian religious leadership, 273–274
and Mu‘tazili thinking, 83
and “object of emulation” (marja-e taqlid), 173
origins of, 77, 123–129
and political loyalty required in 1990s, 271
and quietism, 128
and religious revolution, 173
and repression of women and female sexuality, 277
restoration of by Karim Khan Zand, 168
and sarbedari, 117
and schism with Sunni Islam, 125, 127–128
self-image as betrayed and humiliated, 127
and Shariati, 255
and Sufism, 95
and sympathy for oppressed, 127, 173
and taqiyeh or dissimulation, 128
Twelver Shi‘ism, 129, 132
See also Ashura; Hosein; Karbala
Shu‘ubiyya movement, 79–80, 117
Silk trade, 33, 119, 135
Al-Sistani, Grand Ayatollah Ali, 287
Siyasat-Nameh, 90
Social media, demonstrations and, 298–299, 301
Sogdians, 4, 32
Sohravardi, 94, 138, 270
Solomon, Temple of, 9
Soltaniyeh, 104
Soroush, Abdolkarim, 271–272
South Persia Rifles, 213
Sparta, 25, 27
Strangling of Persia, The (Schuster), 210
Succession, difficulties regarding, 136–137
Sufism, 83, 93–95
and alcohol, 141
complexity of and Safavids, 131
and conflict with ulema, 94, 95
eleventh/twelfth centuries and spreading Islam, 94–95
and Majnoun, 97
and Mohammad Shah, 187
and mystical experience, 93–94
and obedience to Master (pir), 131
poetry of, 95–100
Safavid eclipsing/persecuting, 134, 140, 147
and sarbedari, 117
and Sunnism and Shi‘ism, 95
Suicide bombing, 273
Sulla, 33
Sultan Mohammad, 100
Sumerians, 2
Sunnism
and Nader Shah, 155, 157, 168
persecution of in late Safavid time, 147
and schism with Shi‘a, 125, 127–128
and Sufism, 95
and Timur, 118
Supreme National Security Council, 289, 306
Suren, 37, 39
Susa, 20
Swedish gendarmerie, 208, 213
Syncretism, of Persian regime, 21
Al-Tabari, 59, 81
Tabataba‘i, Seyyed Mohammad, 201, 202, 203, 206, 207, 231
Tabataba‘i, Seyyed Zia, 218
Tabriz, 103, 132, 205, 207–208
Taherids of Khorasan, 84, 85
Tahmasp, 134, 142, 151–152, 153, 154, 159
Taj-e Mah jewel, 158, 171
Takht-e Soleiman, 65
Taleqani, Ayatollah, 254
Taliban, 284, 289
Tanker War, 268–269
Taqiyeh or dissimulation, 128
Taqizadeh, Seyyed Hasan, 205, 207, 208, 225
Taylor Prism, 12–13
Ta‘zieh, 173, 174
Tbilisi, 171
Tehran, 169, 230, 246, 248, 276
Tehran University, 243, 254
Tepe Sialk, 2
Teymurtash, Minister, 227
Thaïs, 29
Timur (Tamerlane), 112–113, 161
Timurid Empire, 116–121
Tobacco concession to British in 1890, 196–197
Tolerance
and Abbasids, 80
by Arabs after conquest, 74
and civil rights and 1906 constitution, 204
and Constantine as protector of Christians everywhere, 55
and Cyrus, 14–15
and Darius, 21
in later Sassanid period, 56
and Parthians, 33–34
shown by Shapur, 47, 50
under Nader Shah, 157
and Yazdegerd I, 57
Tomyris, Queen, 15
Towers of Silence, 16
Trajan, 42
Transoxiana, 80, 100, 102, 118
Transport infrastructure, 223–224, 274
Treaty of 1801, 178, 179
Treaty of Finckenstein of 1807, 179
Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, 180
Treaty of Turkmanchai, 181–182, 186, 226
Treaty of Zohab, 141
Tribes
and conscription, 223
Reza Khan overcoming, 218
and role of women before 1900, 189–190
situation of in eighteen century, 167–168
still active in Qajar state, 183, 214
and tribute, 168
Troubadour tradition, 88
Tsitsianov (Russian general), 178–179
arrested by SAVAK, 246, 254
banning of in 1983, 267
and oil nationalization movement, 236
Turkey and Turkish, 90, 159, 222. See also Ottoman Empire
Tuyul lands, 135
Twelver Shi‘as, 129, 132
Ulema
Abbas support of, 137
Al-e Ahmad’s criticism of, 239
as authoritative arbitrators in crisis, 120
and Babi movement, 188
and conflict with Sufis, 94, 95
and constitutional revolution, 204, 205–207, 208
and four schools of Sunnism, 82–83
as judges under Khomeini, 264
and Khomeini and velayat-e faqih, 253–254, 263–264, 273
and land reform, 242
and Mohammad Reza Shah, 254
and Mohammad Shah and Sufism, 187
and mojtaheds, 172
parallel culture to Abbasid court culture, 82–83
and recent dissent from regime party line, 274
and reforms of Reza Shah, 227
relationship to government in Safavid period, 140–1, 144
and status of women in Islamic Republic, 277
Umayyad dynasty, 76–77, 124, 127
Unemployment, 285, 286
United Nations General Assembly, 307
United Nations Security Council, 291, 307, 309
United States
and Bush’s “Axis of Evil” speech, 284
buying F–14 fighters from, 247
coup of 1953 and ally of Pahlavi regime after, 236, 237–238, 240
and economic sanctions against Iran, 275, 304, 311
election of 2008 and Iranian policy, 295
and Gulf War in 1991, 274
and help to Iran of early 1900s, 209
hostage of Embassy diplomats and 1979 Revolution, 258, 261, 265–266
immunity to U.S. military and loan in 1964, 243
and Iran/Contra affair, 269, 273
and Iranian diplomatic offer of 2003, 284
Iranian election of 2009 and policy of, 300
and Iranian reaction after 9/11, 284–285
Iranian resistance to values of, 249, 283
Iranian liking and respect for, 285
Jewish emigration to, 279
and military aid from 1953–63, 240
and more advisors in 1946, 234
and occupation of Iran in WWII, 230, 233
and oil boycott of early 1950s, 236
as possible hope to Iran after WWI, 215
and possible talks with Iran about Iraq, 288–289
resumption of diplomatic relations and Khatami, 278
self-aggrandizing presence of in 1970s Iran, 248–249
and sharing stake in oil after Mossadeq coup, 239
and shooting down of Iranian airliner in 1988, 268–269
Uranium enrichment, 291–292
Urdu language, 105, 139
USS Vincennes, 268–269
Usulis, 172–173, 253
Uzun Hasan, 131
Valerian, Emperor, 46–47, 53
Vatatzes, Basile, 152–153
Veil, 71, 190–191, 226, 265, 276
Ventidius, Publius, 38
Vologases I (Valkash), 40
Wahhabis, 95
Wahhabism, 175–176
Warfare. See Military matters
Wassmuss, Wilhelm, 213–214
Western influence
and constitutional revolution, 205, 206, 210
and Europeans’ visits during reign of Fath Ali Shah, 176, 177
Iranian resistance to values of since 1979, 283
Westernizing of Iran, 226, 241
Westoxication (gharbzadegi), 238
What Is the Religion of the Hajiis with Warehouses? (Kasravi), 233
White Revolution, 242, 254, 271
Wild Duck (Ibsen), 112
Wilson, Woodrow, 215
Wine, 96, 107, 113–114, 142
Wolfowitz, Paul, 287
Women
arrests of in 2007, 289
expanded importance in workplace in Islamic Republic, 277
and Khorramites, 83
and Mohammad and Qor’an, 71
and Nader Shah, 157
political societies for, 204
and Qorrat al-Ain, 188, 189
restricted role of is a twentieth-century innovation, 189, 190, 191
schools for and banning of veil by Reza Shah, 226
and suffrage as part of White Revolution, 242
under Achaemenids, 15–16
within Islamic Republic, 189, 276–277
See also Veil
World War I, 213–214, 215
World War II, 227–234
Writer’s Association, 253
Wu Ti, 33
Xerxes (Khashayarsha), 25
Yazdegerd I, 56–57
Yazdegerd II, 58
Yazdegerd III, 66, 72
Yazdi, Ebrahim, 253, 267
Yazdi, Masbah, 298
Yazdi, Mohammad Kazem, 207
Yazid (caliph), 124, 126, 133
Yermolov (Russian general), 181
Young Ottomans, 203
Zahedi, General, 236, 237, 240
Zands, 169–171, 184
See also Karim Khan Zand; Lotf Ali Khan
Zarathustra. See Zoroaster
Zenobia, 53–54
Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism, 5–10, 16, 59–60, 61
and heavenly beings or entities (angels), 8–9
and Islamic conquest, 67, 74
and negative accounts of Alexander, 30
and similarities to Qor’an, 74–75
transition to from Mazdaism with codification of Avesta, 55
See also Avesta; Mazdaism
Zurvan and Zurvanism, 8, 49
Michael Axworthy teaches at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. The author of The Sword of Persia, Axworthy publishes widely in the field of Iranian history.