■ I CONTRIBUTION OF PERSIANS TO ISLAM DURING THE ABBASID PERIOD (750 - 1258 A.D.) : A CRITICAL STUDY , • X ! THESIS SUBMITTED TO GAUHATI UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SUPERVISOR DR.MAZHAR ASIF BY ABDUL KHALIQUE LASKAR 2009 CONTRIBUTION OF PERSIANS TO ISI A vi DURING THE ABBASID PERIOD (750 - 1258 \ I : A CRITICAL STUDY THESIS SUBMITTED TO GAUHATI UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FACULTY OF ARTS SUPERVISOR DR.MAZHAR ASIF BY ABDUL KHALIQUE LASKAR 2009 ProQuest Number: 10105759 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ProQuest 10105759 Published by ProQuest LLC (2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 DEPARTMENT OF PERSIAN GAUHATI UNIVERSITY i v-° -' Gopinath Bardoloi Nagar, Guwahati - 781 014 Assam Residence : Qr. No. 72-B )r. Mazhar Asif. M.A.<jNU),Ph.D.(jNui Gauhati University Campus leader. G uw ahati -781 014 )eptt. of Persian « : 0 3 6 1 - 2 6 7 2 6 8 3 94351-18077 e f . N o . Date 3 1 . 0 8 . 0 9 CERTIFICATE C ertified that this thesis entitled C ontribution o f P ersians to Islam during the A bbasid P eriod (750-1258 A .D ): A C ritical Study subm itted by A bdul K halique Laskar, Lecturer in Persian , M adhab Chandra D as College, Sonaim ukh, Sonai, C achar, A ssam , em bodies the results o f his original w ork and personal investigation, carried out under m y direct supervision and guidance. H e has fulfilled all form alities and requirem ents under the Ph. D . regulations o f this U niversity relating to the nature, period o f research and presentation o f sem inar talks for subm itting a thesis. T he thesis as a w hole or any part o f it has not been subm itted for any research degree o f this or any other U niversity /Institution. Reader in Persian Gauhati University Guwahati-14, Assam DECLARATION I hereby declare that the work on this thesis titled ‘ CONTRIBUTION OF PERSIANS TO ISLAM DURING THE ABBASID PERIOD ( 750-1258 A.D. ) : A CRITICAL STUDY’ has been done by me under the supervision of Dr. Mazhar Asif, Reader & Head , Department of Persian, Gauhati University . No part of this thesis has been produced elsewhere for award of any degree . £> •v Abdul Khalique Laskar ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I commenced my research work in 2006 at the instance of my dear parents who were responsible for my upbringing and for my education. “One who is not grateful to man is not grateful to Allah ” - Muhammad (Peace be upon him) In the preparation of this thesis, I received sufficient help from various sources. At the very outset I would like to offer my sincere thankfulness and deep gratitude to my esteemed Research Supervisor Dr. Mazhar A sif, Reader & Head , Department of Persian, Gauhati University for his constant inspiration, sympathetic guidance , valuable suggestion and lending necessary books for which I am able to complete my thesis in due tim e. I am very grateful to the authorities & staff of K.K. Handique Library , Cotton college Central library , Guwahati . Iran Cultural House Library , New Delhi, Assam University Central Library Silchar , M C. Das College Central Library, Sonai, S.S. College Central Library, Hailakandi, (iii) Badarpur Darnl Hadis Library and other libraries of India , for their services and kind co-operation. I warmly express my deep sense of gratitude to Dr. Rekibuddin Ahmed , Sr. Reader . Deptt. of Persian , G.U. for his kind help and in valuable suggestions. I want to extend my acknowledgement with deep gratitude to my colleagues Mr. Sabir Ahmed Choudhury , Head , Deptt. of English , Mr. Islam Uddin Barbhuiya, Lecturer Deptt. of Englih, Dr. Abdul Matin laskar, Lecturer , Deptt. of Bengali , Mr . Khaled A ’zam Mazumder , Lecturer, Deptt. of History, Mr. Parimal Ch. Das , Head, Deptt. of Philosophy, Mr . Barat Uddin Laskar , Head, Deptt. of Persian , Mr. Munim Ahmed Barbhuiya, Lecuturer, Deptt. of Economics ,Mr. Jaidul Islam Mozumder , head , Deptt. of Commerce , Mr. Mihir Kanti Nath , Librarian , M. C. Das College , Sonaimukh , Cachar (Assam) & Mr . Bahar A li, Lecturer , Deptt. of Persian . G .U. for their inspiration, liberal help and encouragement and also giving valuable books and study materials related to my thesis that I received from them to carry out on the research w ork. I would like to pay humble respect and deep sense of gratitude to my respected Moulana Allama Tayebur Rahman Barbhuiya, Ameer-E- Shariat & Ameer -E- Nadwatut Tammer , North East India , Dr. Amalendu Chakrabarty, Reader &Head, Deptt. of Bengali, G.U. Dr.Musleh Uddin, (iv) Guest Lecturer , Deptt. of Persian , G.U. Mr. Ashique Uddin Mozumder, Selection Grade Lecturer, Deptt. of Persian S.S. College Hailakandi, Mna. N.U. Choudhury, Sr. Lecturer Deptt. of Persian . S.S, College , Hailakandi, Mr. Abul Hussain Mozumder ( Sabiree ), Retd. Head, Deptt. of English , Lala Rural College , Hailakandi, & Mr. Baha Uddin Laskar, Executive Engineer,PHE,Ghy. for giving valuable suggestion and books related to my research topic. I express my sincere thankfulness to all those people from whose works I collected a great deal of materials. I am also indebted to those authors whose works I consulted. I want to mention my indebtedness to Ahmed Hussain Barbhuiya , a student of M.A. 4th semester ,G.U. for offering source materials in preparing Introduction of. this thesis .1 also offer my gratefulness to my friends.likeHamid,Anuma,Ayesha,Firdoshi,FaizulChy.,Gulbarg,HelaDas, Hif3ul,Imdad,Jashim,Jitul,Kenwar,Mausuf,Moynul,MirHussain,MofIda, Matiur Rh.,RumaliDas,Salma,Sayma,Suhaeyl,Sultanara,SuptaDas,&others for inspiring me to complete my thesis My thanks goes to Mr. Shagal Das, Mihir Kanti Nath and Subhash Haloi for DTP typing, printing and binding up this research work Dated... ©g | Abdul Khalique Laskar. (V) PREFACE Iran , one of the oldest civilizations , has played a significant role to spread human civilization in the world . Its language Persian, not only influenced the human race of its territory, but also the surrounding nations of the regions to a grate extent The Aryans who lived in Iran were called Parsi and Avesta was their language. A large number of Aryans came to India via Iran where they were later known as Hindu and Sanskrit was their language . In fact they were two branches of the same race . They perhaps lived together some where in Central Asia , followed the same religion and spoke the same language . Pandit Jawaharal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India , has rightly observed in his famous work entitled ‘ Discovery of India’, “ Few people have been more closely related in origin throughout the history than the people of India and the people of Iran . I doubt if there was any country in the wide world which have such a close and historical contact as Iran and IndiaThe close relation between these two countries is also evidenced in the Vedas , Mahabarata , Ramayana and Avesta ,which are the earliest documents of India and Iran respectively . As we know Persia i.e. Iran has always been centre of learning and cultural activities since the time immemorial, Almost all rulers of different dynasties that ruled over pre- Islamic Iran like Achamenian , Parthian and Sassanian , were patrons of art and learning . In the two battles namely Qadessia ( 636 ) and Nehavand (642),which was fought :beftWeen Persian Empire and the Arabs , the last ruler of the Sassanian period Yazdgird -III though tried his best to check the advance of the Arabs but was completely routed . Gradually the Persian adopted the Muslim faith and Iran was islaminized and came under the Islamic state . There at Medina after the death of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad ( peace be upon him) in the year 632 , four successive caliphs : i) Hazrat Abu Bakr ii) Hazrat Omar Farooque iii) Hazrat Uthman and iv) Hazrat Ali ( R :A) were chosen by the people . But after the Martyrdom of Hazrat Ali in 661 A.D. Hazrat Moaweya founded a new Umayyad dynasty at Damascus . (vii) The last Umayyad Caliph was defeated in 750 A.D. in the battle of Zab and the famous Abbasid caliphate commenced its way . Out of gratitude to the Iranians , by whose support they were raised to power , the Abbasid began to favour with high post. The Abbasid regime has been considered a golden age of the Iranians . The Caliph now gradually began to entrust power to the Iranian . The Iranian festival like Nu-roz, Mehargan etc. began to be celebrated at court. When two races are brought into contact for sometimes, they mutually borrow thoughts and ideals willingly or unwillingly . The Iranians were compelled to express themselves in Arabic for more than two centuries . The keen witted Iranians rapidly picked up Arabic and soon obtained such a mastery over the Arabic language and freed themselves from the shade of the Arabs . The richest fruit of the harmony of Iranian and Islamic culture may best be seen in sufism originated from the Zoroasterism. It is worthy to note that Persian has been playing very important role since the very beginning of Islam. In the early year of the 7th Century, a (viii) wellknown Persian named Salman Farsi left his motherland for Arab .