A literary history of Persia

SURVIVAL OF "FIRE WORSHIP'' 207the end of the eighteenth century, when Aghi MuhammadKhdn, founder of the present QajaY dynasty, laid siege toKirman, it alone contained 12,000 Zoroastrian families; so thatthe rapid diminution of their numbers must be regarded as aphenomenon of modern times, ifthough lately,reliance can beplaced on the figures of earlier observers quoted by Houtum-Schindler, they appear to have been again gaining ground."In the face of such facts," says Arnold (op. laud., pp. 180-181)," it is surely impossible to attribute the decay of Zoroastrianism toviolent conversions made by the Muslim conquerors. The numberof Persians who embraced Islam in the early days of the Arab rulewas probably very large from the various reasons given above, butthe late survival of their ancient faith and the occasional record ofconversions in the course of successive centuries, render itprobablethat the acceptance of Islam was both peaceful and voluntary.About the close of the eighth century Saman, a noble of Balkh,having received assistance from Asad ibn 'Abdu'llah, the governorof Khurasan, renounced Zoroastrianism, embraced Islam, and namedhis son Asad after his :protectorit is from this convert that thedynastyof the Samanids (A.D. 874-999) took its name. About thebeginning of the ninth century Karim ibn Shahriyar was the firstKing of the Qabusiyya dynasty who became a Musalman, and inA.D. 873 a large number of fire-worshippers were converted to Islamin Daylam through the influence of Nasiru'1-Haqq Abu Muhammad.In the following century, about A.D. 912, Hasan b. 'All of the 'Aliddynasty on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, who is said tohave been a man of learning and intelligence, and well acquaintedwith the religious opinions of different sects, invited the inhabitantsof Tabaristan and Daylam, who were partly idolaters and partlyMagians, to accept Islam ; many of them responded to his call,while others persisted in their former state of unbelief. In the yearA.H. 394 (A.D. 1003-4), a famous poet, Abu'l-Hasan Mihyar, a nativeof Daylam, who had been a fire- worshipper, was converted to Islamby a still more famous poet, the Sharif ar-Rida, who was his masterin the poetic art. 1Scanty as these notices of conversions are, yet the1Like another yet more notable convert from Zoroastrianism, thecelebrated Ibnu'l-Muqaffa', Mihyar appears to have been a bad Muslim.Of the former the Caliph al-Mahdi used"to say, I never found a book onZindiqa (i.e., heresy, especially of Manichoean character) which did not