‘Arab invasion’ and decline, or the import of European racial thought by Iranian nationalists

Zia-Ebrahimi, Reza

doi:10.1080/01419870.2012.734389

Cited by 18 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Despite this, the negative attitude to Arabs was still an important component of the Pahlavi official discourse and for the Pahlavi dynasty, the Iranian monarchical legacy dating back to the time before Islam was the source of pride and national unity. “In order to recreate the racially pure Iran that was supposed to have existed prior to Islam, an ancient Iranian calendar was revived, an academy (the farhangesta`n) was set up to purify the Persian language, government buildings were erected in the style of Achaemenid palaces, and state propaganda portrayed the Pahlavi monarch as an heir to the kings of the past.” (Zia‐Ebrahimi, , p. 1046).…”

Section: Emotions Identity Construction and Persistence Of Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…"In order to recreate the racially pure Iran that was supposed to have existed prior to Islam, an ancient Iranian calendar was revived, an academy (the farhangesta`n) was set up to purify the Persian language, government buildings were erected in the style of Achaemenid palaces, and state propaganda portrayed the Pahlavi monarch as an heir to the kings of the past." (Zia-Ebrahimi, 2014, p. 1046.…”

Section: Emotions Identity Construction and Persistence Of Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The golden era of Iran was terminated by the invasion of Arabs. Demonization of Arabs is clearer in the works of Mirza Agha Khan Kermani who described them as “naked, savage and hungry” (Zia‐Ebrahimi, , p. 1045). After the constitutional revolution, this romantic view of the pre‐Islamic era and anti‐Arabism weakened, and Iranian nationalism directed its attention to more objective matters like the need for national cohesion and a strong state (Entekhabi, , p. 176).…”

Section: Emotions Identity Construction and Persistence Of Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Iran and Saudi Arabia: Emotionally Constructed Identities and the Question of Persistent Tensions

Soltaninejad¹

2019

Asian Politics and Policy

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The persistence of tensions in Iran—Saudi Arabia relations is the result of negative emotional predispositions that have formed the identities of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia vis‐à‐vis each other. The national component of the Iranian identity enforces disinclination towards Saudi Arabia, whereas its religious component is mired in a feeling of pain inherited from mistreatment that the Shi’a have tolerated throughout history. This pain translates into resentment against Saudi Arabia, a state seen as oppressing Shi’a populations. This is aggravated by the feeling of being humiliated by the western powers, with Iran’s emotional perception of Saudi Arabia becoming more negative due to close cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the Western great powers. Saudi identity also inherits Arabism’s reluctance to accept Iran. As a result, both countries live in an atmosphere of mutual mistrust and fear that explains the persistence of tensions in their relations.

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Section: Emotions Identity Construction and Persistence Of Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Emotions Identity Construction and Persistence Of Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Emotions Identity Construction and Persistence Of Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Iran and Saudi Arabia: Emotionally Constructed Identities and the Question of Persistent Tensions

Soltaninejad¹

2019

Asian Politics and Policy

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“…As a result of such intellectual networks and under the first influences of the Aryanist orientalist ideas these three figures evolved into pioneers of race-based nationalism, historiography, and archaism in the second half of the nineteenth century Qajar era. Their works bear striking similarities, combining traditional methods of history writing with the racial narratives of orientalists, expressing racial antipathy toward Arabs, and glorifying the 'pre-Islamic history of Iran' above the Islamic era (Zia-Ebrahimi, 2014;Marashi, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imagined Iran After the Arrival of Islam in Aryanist Orientalist, Nationalist and Islamist Historiography

Alizadeh¹

2021

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This study investigates the orientalist, nationalist, and Islamist historiography of Iran during the late Qajar and Pahlavi eras. More specifically, using the Critical Discourse Analysis method the study examines texts produced by some of the main figures of these three groups to explore the ways they reconstructed the image of 'Iran' and 'Iranians' during the first four centuries of the Islamic era. The results show that the race-based approaches to history developed by the forefathers of the Aryan race theory -like Ernest Renan and Arthur de Gobineau -alongside orientalist Iranistssuch as Edward G. Browne -shaped the worldview of many of the Iranian activist historians who later became ideologues of the Pahlavi monarchy. Accordingly, nationalist historians like Abdul-Hossein Zarrinkoob, who were under influence of the race-based approaches, pursued to present both the historical continuity and racial-civilizational superiority of Iran, Iranians, and the Iranian nation during the four centuries that have followed the collapse of the Sassanid empire. To this end, nationalist historians, as well as orientalist Aryanists, have argued that it was Iranians who inspired and/or achieved the main

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“…8. Zia-Ebrahimi (2014) presented a detailed discussion on the racialized vision of Iran and its relationship with nineteenth-century European texts. He categorized Akhundzade as an Arab-hating intellectual.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Origins of the Early Iranian Enlightenment: The Case of Akhundzade’s “Qirītīkā”

Rezaei

2020

Contemporary Review of the Middle East

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Akhundzade is one of the greatest Iranian modern intellectuals. Addressing nationalism, literary criticism, and alphabet reform in the Muslim world, and, most importantly, provoking trenchant criticism of the Islamic religion, he initiated a persistent controversy among the Iranian intellectuals. It is often argued that he approached the European thought through the lens of self-orientalism and grounded a so-called will to imitation. Drawing on his method of Qirītīkā (criticism), particularly in Maktūbāt (1865), I argue that he confronted the Western ideas instrumentally and was aware of the historical and social context of Iran. Furthermore, despite his apparent secular approach, which is labelled usually as garbzade (West-struck), he articulated an ensemble of elements that can be traced back to pre-Islamic Iran, India, and the West. His intellectual works not only stand as the figureheads of regional studies but also represent a pathbreaking approach to the problem of backwardness in Muslim societies.

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‘Arab invasion’ and decline, or the import of European racial thought by Iranian nationalists

Cited by 18 publications

References 8 publications

Iran and Saudi Arabia: Emotionally Constructed Identities and the Question of Persistent Tensions

Iran and Saudi Arabia: Emotionally Constructed Identities and the Question of Persistent Tensions

Imagined Iran After the Arrival of Islam in Aryanist Orientalist, Nationalist and Islamist Historiography

The Origins of the Early Iranian Enlightenment: The Case of Akhundzade’s “Qirītīkā”

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