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Zarathushtrianism (also known as Zoroastrianism) is one of the oldest
monotheistic religions. First taught among nomads on the Asian steppes,
Zarathushtrianism was the state religion of the three great Persian
empires, Achaemenian, Arsacid and Sassanian. The Persian Empire extended
from India to the
Mediterranean.
Because of its lofty character, it had a remarkable influence on other
world faiths: to the east on Northern Buddhism, to the west on Later
Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The date of Prophet Asho Zarathushtra
(Zoroaster) varies from 1700 BC to as far back as 4000 B.C. according to
some Greek authors. The date of Asho Zarathushtra is not as important
as the date with the teachings of Asho Zarathushtra. What Asho
Zarathushtra taught is perhaps the very oldest and surely the most
accurate code of ethics for man. It might indeed be said that Zarathushtra
was the discoverer, or at least the uncoverer, of individual morals.
Belief in an all Wise, all Powerful and Eternal God - Ahura Mazda, (Ahura
meaning the Creator and Mazda meaning Infinite Wisdom) laid the foundation
for all religious faiths. Asho Zarathushtra was the first to teach the
doctrines of an Eternal soul, Equality of men and women, Freedom of Choice
(to be able to choose between good and evil), Individual Judgment, Heaven
and Hell, Resurrection, the Last Judgment (Renovation) and the coming of a
Savior. These doctrines were to become familiar articles of faith to much
of mankind, through borrowings by the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam.
The
Jews were in captivity in Babylonia. The great Persian Emperor Cyrus
liberated the Jews from their captivity in about 550B.C. History records
that he made no attempt to impose his Zarthushtrian religion on his
subjects. He allowed the Jews to follow their own religion and assisted
them in rebuilding the Temple of
Solomon
in
Jerusalem. His inscriptions bear witness to the fact that he encouraged
each of his subjects to live a good life according to their own tenets.
“This
was only one of the many liberal acts recorded of Cyrus, but it was of
particular moment for the religious history of mankind; for the Jews
entertained warm feelings thereafter for the Persians, and this made them
more receptive to Zarathushtrian influence”. From Zarathushtrians-Their
Religious Beliefs and practices by Dr. Mary Boyce.
The
Hebrew scriptures pay tribute to the sterling merit of Asho
Zarathushtra’s rule of conduct, when they speak of the law of the Medes
and the Persians as one “which altereth not.” The Jews regarded Cyrus as
a messiah, and therefore one who acted in Yahweh’s name and authority.
Yahweh is quoted as “Cyrus will bring forth justice to the nations,….He
will not fail….. till he has established justice in the earth.” Isaiah
42-1,4.
The
Jews were intimately connected with their Persian Zarathushtrian
conquerors, both socially and culturally. From the times of the Pharaohs
of Egypt down to our times, no people had treated them so well as the
Persian Zarathushtrians. What the Persian Zarathushtrians did for the Jews
is unique in the annals of mankind. The treatment of this kind was
therefore all the more bound to lead the Jews to study the institutions,
laws and faith of their conquerors. The claim is therefore for a very
great and completely surrounding, enveloping and supervening influence of
the Zarathushtrian Monotheism, Angelology, Immortality, Soteriology,
Judgment, Resurrection, Millen Heaven and Recompense upon the same of the
Jews developing during the post captivity period in Babylon.
The
Jews found many congenial elements and similar ideas in their faith. Both
had many common beliefs such as belief in one God, coming of a Messiah and
a strict code of behavior and ethics. The Jews had progressed much in
their ethical and spiritual conceptions after their release from the
Babylonian captivity. This progress happened to be for the most part in
just those doctrines which were commonly held by millions of Zarathushtis
among who they lived. Perhaps the foremost among these is the belief in
Future Life. Those portions of the Old Testament which were written before
the Exile scarcely mention it. They knew no reward for their deeds other
than what they found on this earth. Their hopes were centered on this
world and prosperity in this life.
The
Exile, however, made a great difference in the Jewish thinking in this
regard, for it is during this period and thereafter that we find for the
first time in their recorded history the expression of hope in the other
world. There is an entirely new note struck in the words such as these in
the later Isaiah:
“Let
thy dead live, let thy dead body arise; Awake and sing, ye that dwell in
the dust; for thy dew is the dew of the heroes, and the earth shall cast
forth the shades.” Canon Cheyne, a great Old Testament scholar in his book
The Origin of the Psalter mentions: “The threefold division of sins into
those of thought, word and deed in Ps. XVII 3-5 is thoroughly
Zarathushtrian. …A knowledge of this great religion is necessary to the
full equipment of an Old Testament scholar,….. …had it (Judaism) not come
into contact with Zarathushtrianism,
Israel
would historically speaking have struggled in vain to satisfy its greatest
religious aspirations.”
Also,
in Daniel:
“And
many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to
everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Even after
the Exile this lesson about the Immortality of the Soul was not
assimilated by all Jews, notably by the Sadducees. But, the people who
professed this new doctrine were called the Pharisees, meaning Persians.
Zarathushtrian influence on the Dead Sea Scrolls has been unanimously
accepted by historians.
In
the book of Tobit, we have an allusion to “Seven Spirits” – Amesha Spentas.
The Seven Spirits are also mentioned in Zechariah IV,10 and this is
further expanded in Rev. V, 6. The book of Genesis seems to have been
influenced by the first chapter of Vendidaad. The Asmodeus (Asmodai) of
the Book of Tobit is probably Aeshma-daeva of the Avesta. He was the demon
of wrath and an opponent of the Amesha Spentas of the Gathas and in Tobit,
he fights with the same Seven Spirits.
Various other scholars, W.R. Alger, Von Bohlen (German), Dr. Martin Haug,
Rev. Dr. Lawrence Mills, W.D.Whitney, J.E.C. Schmidt, Michaelis, Doderlin,
Horst & Hufnagel, Miles Dawson and many many others have testified to the
fact that the change that took place in Judaism after the Exile under the
influence of Zarathushtrian contact was so great as to make it a new
religion almost. We see a full evidence of it in the Book of Job. The
Jewish Prophets such as the second Isaiah, Daniel and the writers of many
of the later Psalms, and above all Jesus Christ were in many respects
nearer to Zarathushtrianism than to pre-exilic Judaism. It is through
Judaism that Christianity afterwards received an important influence from
Zarathushtrianism.
“So
it was out of a Judaism enriched by five centuries of contact with
Zarathushtrianism that Christianity arose – a new religion with roots thus
in two ancient faiths, one Semitic, the other Iranian. Doctrines taught
perhaps a millennium and a half earlier by Zarathushtra began in this way
to reach fresh hearers; but again, as in Judaism, they lost some of the
logic and coherence by their adoption into another creed; for the
teachings of the Iranian prophet about Creation, Heaven and Hell and the
Days of Judgment, were less intellectually coherent when part of a
religion which proclaimed the existence of one Omnipotent God, whose
unrestricted rule was based not on justice but on love. They continued
nevertheless, even in this new setting, to exert their powerful influence
on men’s strivings to be good.” Zarathushtrians by Dr. Mary Boyce.
The
three Magis that came to see Christ were Zarathushtrian Priests.
Zarathushtis had a belief in the coming of the savior, born of a virgin
mother, at least a millennium and a half before Jesus was born. Most
scholars agree that Jesus was not born on December 25, which was reckoned
as the winter solstice in the Julian calendar. The Romans celebrated it
very fervently as the nativity of Mithra, the Sun God that they had
adopted from
Iran.
Mithraism was very popular among the Romans and many relics of Mithra
temples found all over
Europe bear testimony to it. It was a corrupted and
distorted form of Zarathushtrianism. But, even in its corrupt form it
stood for certain basic values such as truth, Justice, Brotherhood,
Kindness and loyalty, which inspired allegiance among millions of Romans
and Europeans.
Franz
Cumont, a noted authority on Mithraism, writes in his book, The Mysteries
of Mithra: “Never, perhaps, not even in the epoch of the Mussolman
invasion, was Europe
in greater danger of being Asiaticized than in the third century of our
era. ….. A sudden inundation of Iranian….. conceptions swept over the
Occident, …… and when the flood subsided it left behind in the
consciousness of the people a deep sediment of Oriental beliefs, which
have never been obliterated.”
It
seems the early Christians absorbed many Mithraic traditions and
festivals, but gave them a Christian interpretation and significance, such
as to Christmas on December 25.
Even
the main tenets of Islam which replaced Zarathushtrianism of Iran were
derived ultimately from this ancient and pre historic religion, such as
the belief in one supreme God, Heaven and Hell, the end of the world,
Resurrection, the Day of Judgment, the five times of daily prayer,
emphasis on helping the poor and the rejection of worship of images. It
was through its influence on Judaism and Christianity that indirectly, if
not directly, Zarathushtrianism contributed a great deal in the very
making and shaping of Islam in the mind of the Prophet himself through
what he borrowed from Judaism and Christianity.
A
government truly worthy of the name must be in accord with religion, in
perfect union with it, is a Moslem maxim. This idea did not come from a
Moslem legislator but is outlined in a Pahlavi book The Dinkard. The idea
of Theocracy and undoubtedly the Khilaafat thus are Zarathushtrian
influences. Also, Sufism, the salt of the Islamic world is also a product
of the Persian Zarathushtrian spirit. Apart from the mention of Darius and
Cyrus as Zulqarnian, amongst the brotherhood of Prophets, the Koran has
very little mention of the Zarathushtrian faith. It may be justified in
saying that the Prophet received but little direct influence from
Zarathushtrianism.
Yet
the influence was more prevalent in its cultural sphere. One of the
associates of Prophet Mohammed was a Zarathushtrian High priest, Dastur
Dinyar. His name was later changed to Salman-al-Farsee. He was regarded by
the Prophet as Ahal-al-Bait, meaning “of the family of the prophet”, that
is, a member of his spiritual circle. He had widely traveled in Syria,
Mesopotamia and had a profound knowledge of Judaism, Christianity besides
Zarathushtrianism. It is highly probable that Prophet Mohammed was
influenced by Zarathushtrianism through him. |
