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Zoroastrians, Islam and the Holy Qur’ān. Purity and Danger in Pahlavi Literature in the Early Islamic Period (Seventh–Tenth Centuries)

  • Michele Campopiano EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 28, 2018

Abstract

This paper will reflect on how Pahlavi texts after the Islamic conquest conceptualize conflicts between Islamic norms and Zoroastrian rules, in particular those concerning purity. The paper will therefore be concerned with the representation of Islam and Islamic practices within the Mazdean community. For this reason, the issue of the reception of the Holy Qur’ān within Pahlavi literature will also need to be addressed. The paper will formulate some hypotheses on what goals the Mazdean intellectual elites (in this case, essentially their clergy) tried to achieve through their representation of Islam. It will also discuss how this representation connected with the economic and social transformation that this community underwent with the end of the Sasanian Empire, in particular with the changes in landholding that had been among the main sources of wealth and power for the Sasanian aristocracy.

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Published Online: 2018-07-28
Published in Print: 2018-07-26

© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. The Multilingual Qur’ān
  4. Papers
  5. Supposed and True Knowledge of the Qur’ān in Early Medieval Latin Literature, Eighth and Ninth Centuries
  6. The Qur’ān as History for Muslims and Christians in al-Andalus
  7. Zoroastrians, Islam and the Holy Qur’ān. Purity and Danger in Pahlavi Literature in the Early Islamic Period (Seventh–Tenth Centuries)
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