By Christoph Marcinkowski for IDSS - ISN - Zurich,Switzerland
Monday, October 2, 2006
(...)
Another determining factor for Iranian nationalism is the Persian language, fārsī, a word ultimately derived from Fārs province, the “Persis” of the ancient Greeks, or “Persia proper.” Many Iranian exiles, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, still refer to their country in English as “Persia.” It is remarkable that there does not exist an equivalent for such a term in Persian, as the country was always known as “Īrān.” To avoid confusion and to emphasize the link to the glories of the past, the country adopted in 1935 the name “Iran.”
Persian is only one member of the large family of Iranian languages - Kurdish featuring most prominently among them. Being an Indo-European language and closely related in its grammatical structure and even vocabulary to most European languages, Persian is also spoken outside Iran: in Afghanistan it is known as darī, one of the two official national languages; in Tajikistan it is the single national language, known as Tajik. Afghanistan’s national language, Pashto, is also an Iranian language.
More importantly, in the Middle Ages, the Persian language and culture were highly influential in converting the people “east of Baghdad” to Islam, mainly through Sufism or Islamic mysticism. Urdu and Ottoman-Turkish literature, for instance, would be unthinkable without it. Civilizations such as those of Mughal India or Ottoman Turkey are thus considered highly “Persianate societies,” that is, they may not necessarily be ethnically Persian or Iranian, but their linguistic, material and artistic cultural activities derive from the Persian language and culture.
The output of Persian literature in Muslim India (where Persian had been the official language until the end of the Mughals in the wake of British colonialism), for instance, exceeded that of Iran by far in number. Persian can thus well be considered the second language of Islam – after Arabic.
(...)
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
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Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Converting through Persian Sufism
By Christoph Marcinkowski for IDSS - ISN - Zurich,Switzerland
Monday, October 2, 2006
(...)
Another determining factor for Iranian nationalism is the Persian language, fārsī, a word ultimately derived from Fārs province, the “Persis” of the ancient Greeks, or “Persia proper.” Many Iranian exiles, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, still refer to their country in English as “Persia.” It is remarkable that there does not exist an equivalent for such a term in Persian, as the country was always known as “Īrān.” To avoid confusion and to emphasize the link to the glories of the past, the country adopted in 1935 the name “Iran.”
Persian is only one member of the large family of Iranian languages - Kurdish featuring most prominently among them. Being an Indo-European language and closely related in its grammatical structure and even vocabulary to most European languages, Persian is also spoken outside Iran: in Afghanistan it is known as darī, one of the two official national languages; in Tajikistan it is the single national language, known as Tajik. Afghanistan’s national language, Pashto, is also an Iranian language.
More importantly, in the Middle Ages, the Persian language and culture were highly influential in converting the people “east of Baghdad” to Islam, mainly through Sufism or Islamic mysticism. Urdu and Ottoman-Turkish literature, for instance, would be unthinkable without it. Civilizations such as those of Mughal India or Ottoman Turkey are thus considered highly “Persianate societies,” that is, they may not necessarily be ethnically Persian or Iranian, but their linguistic, material and artistic cultural activities derive from the Persian language and culture.
The output of Persian literature in Muslim India (where Persian had been the official language until the end of the Mughals in the wake of British colonialism), for instance, exceeded that of Iran by far in number. Persian can thus well be considered the second language of Islam – after Arabic.
(...)
Monday, October 2, 2006
(...)
Another determining factor for Iranian nationalism is the Persian language, fārsī, a word ultimately derived from Fārs province, the “Persis” of the ancient Greeks, or “Persia proper.” Many Iranian exiles, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, still refer to their country in English as “Persia.” It is remarkable that there does not exist an equivalent for such a term in Persian, as the country was always known as “Īrān.” To avoid confusion and to emphasize the link to the glories of the past, the country adopted in 1935 the name “Iran.”
Persian is only one member of the large family of Iranian languages - Kurdish featuring most prominently among them. Being an Indo-European language and closely related in its grammatical structure and even vocabulary to most European languages, Persian is also spoken outside Iran: in Afghanistan it is known as darī, one of the two official national languages; in Tajikistan it is the single national language, known as Tajik. Afghanistan’s national language, Pashto, is also an Iranian language.
More importantly, in the Middle Ages, the Persian language and culture were highly influential in converting the people “east of Baghdad” to Islam, mainly through Sufism or Islamic mysticism. Urdu and Ottoman-Turkish literature, for instance, would be unthinkable without it. Civilizations such as those of Mughal India or Ottoman Turkey are thus considered highly “Persianate societies,” that is, they may not necessarily be ethnically Persian or Iranian, but their linguistic, material and artistic cultural activities derive from the Persian language and culture.
The output of Persian literature in Muslim India (where Persian had been the official language until the end of the Mughals in the wake of British colonialism), for instance, exceeded that of Iran by far in number. Persian can thus well be considered the second language of Islam – after Arabic.
(...)
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