Farvardin 6,
Khordaad = Good Health & Self Awareness
About 1700bc: The Only Iranian Prophet, Zoroaster (Zartosht) Birthday,
His date is Unknown, between 600bc to 6000bc, but most believes around 1700bc.
Zoroasterism is based on 3 expression: Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta (Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds).
Anoshe Ravan bad ravane pake Zartoshte paiambar.
Zoroaster (Persian: زرتشت, Gujarati :ઝરથુશ્ત્ 736;, Kurdish: Zerdeşt) was an ancient Iranian prophet who preached in Bactria and the founder of Zoroastrianism, which was the national religion of the Sassanian dynasty of the Persian Empire, and played an important role in the earlier Achaemenean and Parthian regimes. The original form of his name was Zarathushtra (Zaraθutra), but he is usually known in English as Zoroaster (after the Greek version, Ζωροάστρης , Zoroastres). In Persian the name takes the form of Zartosht.
Zoroaster is generally accepted as a historical figure, but efforts
to date Zoroaster vary widely. Scholarly estimates are usually roughly
near 1700 BC. Others, however, give earlier estimates, making him a
candidate as the founder of the earliest religion based on revealed scripture, while still others place him in the 6th century BC, which would make him contemporary to the rise of the Achaemenids.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZartoshtIntroduction
Zoroastrian areas once stretched from Anatolia as the religion of the Mede in the western part of the Iranian plateau to the Persian Gulf, and its followers once numbered in the millions. Its followers today, located principally in South Asia and Iran, as well as throughout the diaspora, number much less, but the religion is alive and dynamic.
Many traits of this ancient Iranian religion of Aryan origin, which has strong similarities before its reformation to the Hinduism of Northern India and the Viking or Norse religion in Northern Europe, are present in modern Persians, Azerbaijanis, Kurds, and Eurasian peoples. Many traits of the Zoroastrian faith are still present in all Iranian peoples' cultures and traditions from Kurdistan and the Caucausus to Iran and Central Asia.
The origin of the religion is ascribed to the prophet Zarathushtra, who is commonly known in the Western world as Zoroaster, the Greek version of his name. The etymology of his name is disputed and several different explanations exist. The modern Persian form of the prophet's name is Zartosht (زرتشت).
Zoroaster came to reform ancient Indo-Iranian religious practices (some of which were parallel to the Vedic religion of ancient India).
According to different scholarly histories, Zoroaster lived in the eastern part of Iran or in Bactria. His dates are contested, but were clearly between the 18th and the 11th centuries BCE (although Plato put Zoroaster in the 64th century BCE). Zoroaster is thought to have composed the Gathas, poems which were assiduously preserved by his followers through centuries of oral transmission, before the whole of the Avesta (in which the Gathas are a central portion) were committed to writing in the Parthian or Sassanian periods. The Gathic dialect is similar to the Vedic Rig Veda and thus Zoroaster has sometimes been dated as roughly contemporary to the Rig Veda, normally ascribed to c.1500-1250 BCE.
The faith is often claimed to be the earliest monotheistic
religion, since Zoroaster requires devotion to the single God Ahura
Mazda. However, Zoroastrianism also has a dualistic nature (Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu), with an additional series of six important angel-like entities called the Amesha Spentas.
In modern Zoroastrianism they are interpreted as aspects or emanations
of Ahura Mazda (the Supreme Being), who form a heptad that is good and
constructive. They are opposed to another group of seven who are evil
and destructive. It is this persistent conflict between good and evil
that distinguishes Zoroastrianism from monotheistic frameworks that
have only one power as supreme. By requiring its adherents to have
faith and belief in equally opposing powers Zoroastrianism characterizes itself as dualistic.
Zoroastrianism may also be known as Mazdayasna ("Worship of Wisdom") by some of its followers after the Zoroastrian name of God, Ahura Mazda ("Divine Wisdom"). A modern Persian form is Behdin ("Good Religion/Law," see below for the role of daena Law). Zoroastrians may refer to themselves as Zartoshti ("Zoroastrians"), Mazdayasni ("Wisdom-Worshippers") and Behdini ("Followers of the Good Religion"), and Zarathustrian.
Principal beliefs
Faravahar (or Ferohar), one of the primary symbols of Zoroastrianism, believed to be the depiction of a
Fravashi (guardian spirit)
Ahura Mazda
is the beginning and the end, the creator of everything which can and
cannot be seen, the Eternal, the Pure and the only Truth. Zoroastrian
morality is summed up in the simple phrase, "Good Thoughts, Good Words,
Good Deeds" (Pendar-e Nik, Goftar-e Nik, Kerdar-e Nik in the present day Persian, Homaato, Hokhto, Hovarasht, in Avestan). Daena (din in modern Persian) is the eternal Law, whose order was revealed to humanity through the Mathra-Spenta "Holy Words". Daena has been used to mean religion, faith, law, even as a translation for the Hindu and Buddhist term Dharma: it is the correct order of the universe, which humanity naturally must follow through the Kusti "Holy Path" in order to be a Behdini "Follower of the Proper/Good Religion".
Central to Zoroastrianism is the emphasis on moral choice; of life
as a battle-ground between moral and immoral forces, represented by Spenta Mainyu and its satanic antithesis Angra Mainyu,
the 'good spirit' and 'evil spirit' emanations of Ahura Mazda. This
opposition may have emerged from the Indo-Iranian distinction between
two forms of spiritual beings, ahuras and daevas. In Zoroastrianism, daevas are portrayed as demonic and destructive while ahuras help to uphold the moral law.
Additionally, there are some 20 abstract terms that are regarded as
emanations or aspects of Ahura Mazda. In later Avestan literature they
are personified as an archangel retinue of The Wise Lord. Some
historians believe that these archangels were reabsorptions of
pre-Zoroastrian deities, daevas. There are six that are mentioned more
often than the rest. These are: Vohu Mano (Good Mind), Asha (Truth), Khshatra (Good Dominion), Armaiti (Piety), Haurvatat (Perfection), and Ameretat (Immortality).
Specific Zoroastrian concepts
Zoroastrianism teaches many of the concepts found in the major Abrahamic faiths such as Heaven, Hell, the Last Judgment, Satan, prophecy, the coming of the Messiah, angels, and evil spirits.
According to the Gathas humans are free and responsible beings. Predestination
is rejected in Zoroastrian teaching. Humans bear responsibility for all
situations they are in, and in the way they act to one another. Nothing
in the Heavens and Earth
has the power to force a being to do evil. Reward, punishment,
happiness and grief all depend on how individuals live their life. Good
befalls the people who do righteous deeds. Those who do evil have
themselves to blame for their evil-doing.
Humans possess a great power. They can improve their way of living and the living conditions of others. This power is called Charitas. After death the person must walk through the Path to Judgement or Chinvat Peretum
to bear responsibility for his or her actions when alive. There is a
belief in heaven and hell in Zoroastrian cosmology but it is a little
different than that of the Christian hell. The evil are sent to hell
until the time when evil is finally defeated, at which time they will
go through a purgation process, the "ordeal of molten metal", and then
join Ahura Mazda and the saints. Thus, Zoroastrianism can be said to be a Universalist religion with respect to salvation.
The Prophet Zoroaster acknowledged devotion to no other god besides Ahura Mazda. The concept of Dualism plays a role when speaking of the Spenta Mainyu ("Holy Spirit") and the Angra Mainyu ("Evil Spirit"). These two have a constant battle, at the end of which the Holy Spirit will prevail by the power of Ahura Mazda.
When it comes to worship metaphysical dualism is rejected in modern
orthodox traditions and beliefs. The belief that Good prevails over
Evil and God's supremacy over all is similar to that of the Abrahamic
faiths, of Judaism, Christianity and Islam,
in which Satan is in no way the equal of the Abrahamic God and is a
creation of God. Yet these faiths differ from Zoroastrianism precisely
because they represent the evil force as being another of the supreme
being's creations. In contrast, Mardanfarrokh, a Zoroastrian theologian in the 9th century CE, posited "If
God is perfect in goodness and wisdom, then ignorance and evil cannot
come from Him. If they could come from Him, He would not be perfect;
and if He were not perfect, He should not be praised as God and
perfectly good..." (117-123 from For students and novices;
Complete Pazand and Sanskrit texts published by H.J. Jamasp-Asana and
E.W. West; pioneer English translation by E.W. West, SBE. XXIV;
transcribed Pazand text with French translation by P.J. de Menasce.
From Textual sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism by Mary Boyce.
University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1984).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianismhttp://www.avesta.org/yasna/yasna.htm922: Hossein ebn Mansoure Halaj Death,
He was killed becuz he said " Ana Alhagh "= I'm Truth.
Mansur e Hallaj or
Mansur Al-Hallaj(
Persian:
حلاج) (c.
858 -
March 26,
922) was a
Persian mystic, writer and teacher of Persian
Sufism. His full name was
Abu al-Mughith al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj.
He was born around 858 in Tur, Persia to a cotton-carder (Hallaj means "cotton-carder" in Arabic). Al-Hallaj's grandfather may have been a Zoroastrian.
His father lived a simple life, and this form of lifestyle greatly
interested the young al-Hallaj. As a youngster he memorized the Qur'an and would often retreat from worldly pursuits to join other mystics in study.
Hallaj would later marry and make a pilgrimage to Mecca,
where he stayed for one year, facing the mosque, in fasting and total
silence. After his stay at the holy city, he traveled extensively and
wrote and taught along the way. He travelled as far as India and Central Asia
gaining many followers, many of which accompanied him on his second and
third trips to Mecca. After this period of travel, he settled down in
the Abbasid capital of Baghdad.
During his early lifetime he was a disciple of Junayd and Amr al-Makki, but was later rejected by them both.
Among other Sufis, Hallaj was an anomaly. Many Sufi masters felt
that it was inappropriate to share mysticism with the masses, yet
Hallaj openly did so in his writings and through his teachings. He
would begin to make enemies, and the rulers saw him as a threat.This
was exacerbated by times when he would fall into trances which he
attributed to being in the presence of God. During one of these
trances, he would utter Ana al-Haqq أنا الحق, meaning "I am the
Truth," or "I am God" and also, "In my turban is wrapped nothing but
God?" which was taken to mean that he was claiming to be God, as
Al-Haqq is one of the Ninety Nine Names of Allah.
In another statement, Hallaj would point to his cloak and say, "Maa Fil
Jubbati Illa-Allah" meaning "There is nothing inside/underneath the
cloak except God."
This utterance would lead him to a long trial, and subsequent
imprisonment for eleven years in a Baghdad's prison . In the end, he
would be tortured and publicly crucified (in some accounts he was
beheaded and his hands and feet were cut off) by the Abbasid rulers for
what they deemed "theological error threatening the security of the
state." Many accounts tell of Al-Hallaj's calm demeanor even while he
was being tortured, and indicate that he forgave those who had executed
him. According to some sources, he went to his execution dancing in his
chains. He died on March 26, 922.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Hallaj
His story is really interesting, If you compare it with IR, You found IR is governed with same extremist mind, 1100 years ago!!
Best refrence about his life is Mantegh Alteir by Attare Neishabori
http://www.iranianshistoryonthisday.com/FARSI.ASP?u=&I1. x=35&I1.y=15&GD=26&GM=3