List of converts to Islam from Zoroastrianism

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This is a list of notable converts from Zoroastrianism to the Islamic faith.

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Al-Mansur 2nd Abbasid caliph (r. 754–775)

Abu Ja'far Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Mansur (; Arabic: أبو جعفر عبدالله بن محمد المنصور‎; 95 AH – 158 AH usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Mansur was the second Abbasid caliph, reigning from 136 AH to 158 AH succeeding his brother Saffah. He is known for founding the 'Round City' of Madinat al-Salam, which was to become the core of imperial Baghdad.

Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī, also known as al-Tabari or in Persian as Tabari, 839–923 CE, was an influential scholar, historian and commentator on the Qur'an from Amol, Tabaristan. Today, he is best known for his expertise in Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir) and Historiography, but he has been described as "an impressively prolific polymath. He wrote on such subjects as world history, poetry, lexicography, grammar, ethics, mathematics, and medicine."

Saffarid dynasty 861–1003 Sunni Persian dynasty

The Saffarid dynasty was a Sunni Persian dynasty from Sistan that ruled over parts of Greater Iran, with its capital at Zaranj, from 861 to 1003. One of the first indigenous Persian dynasties to emerge after the Islamic conquest, the Saffarid dynasty was part of the Iranian Intermezzo. The dynasty's founder was Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar, who was born in 840 in a small town called Karnin (Qarnin), which was located east of Zaranj and west of Bost, in what is now Afghanistan. A native of Sistan and a local ayyār, Ya'qub worked as a coppersmith (ṣaffār) before becoming a warlord. He seized control of the Sistan region and began conquering most of Iran and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Buyid dynasty 934–1062 Shia Iranian dynasty in Iran and Iraq

The Buyid dynasty, was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Coupled with the rise of other Iranian dynasties in the region, the approximate century of Buyid rule represents the period in Iranian history sometimes called the 'Iranian Intermezzo' since, after the Muslim conquest of Persia, it was an interlude between the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate and the Seljuk Empire.

Abu Nuwas 8th century Arabic poet

Abū Nuwās al-Ḥasan ibn Hānī al-Ḥakamī was a classical Arabic poet, and the foremost representative of the modern (muhdath) poetry that developed during the first years of Abbasid Caliphate. He also entered the folkloric tradition, appearing several times in One Thousand and One Nights.

Sibawayh Persian grammarian of Abbasid era (b.760–d.796)

Sibawayh, whose full name is Abu Bishr Amr ibn Uthman ibn Qanbar al-Basri, was a Persian leading grammarian of Basra and author of the earliest book on Arabic grammar and linguistics. His famous unnamed work, referred to as Al-Kitāb, or "The Book", is a five-volume seminal discussion of the Arabic language.

Al-Asmaʿi, or Asmai; an early philologist and one of three leading Arabic grammarians of the Basra school. Celebrated at the court of the Abbasid caliph, Hārūn al-Rashīd, as polymath and prolific author on philology, poetry, genealogy, and natural science, he pioneered zoology studies in animal-human anatomical science. He compiled an important poetry anthology, the Asma'iyyat, and was credited with composing an epic on the life of Antarah ibn Shaddad. A protégé of Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi and Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', he was a contemporary and rival of Abū ʿUbaidah and Sibawayhi also of the Basran school.

Abū al-ʻAtāhiyya, full name Abu Ishaq Isma'il ibn al-Qasim ibn Suwayd ibn Kaysan, was among the principal Arab poets of the early Islamic era, a prolific muwallad poet of ascetics who ranked with Bashshār and Abū Nuwās, whom he met. He renounced poetry for a time on religious grounds.

Nobakht Ahvazi, also spelled Naubakht Ahvaz and Naubakht, along with his sons were astrologers from Ahvaz who lived in the 8th and 9th centuries AD.

Yaqub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar Emir of the Safarid Dynasty from 861-879

Ya'qūb ibn al-Layth al-Saffārī, was a Persian coppersmith and the founder of the Saffarid dynasty of Sistan, with its capital at Zaranj. Under his military leadership he conquered much of the eastern portions of the Greater Iran consisting of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan as well as portions of western Pakistan and a small part of Iraq. He was succeeded by his brother, Amr ibn al-Layth.

Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi Iraqi lexicographer, philologist and poet

Abu ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad ibn ‘Amr ibn Tammām al-Farāhīdī al-Azdī al-Yaḥmadī, known as Al-Farāhīdī, or Al-Khalīl, was an Arab philologist, lexicographer and leading grammarian of Basra based on Iraq. He made the first dictionary of the Arabic language – and the oldest extant dictionary – Kitab al-'Ayn – introduced the now standard harakat system, and was instrumental in the early development of ʿArūḍ, musicology and poetic metre. His linguistic theories influenced the development of Persian, Turkish, Kurdish and Urdu prosody. The "Shining Star" of the Basran school of Arabic grammar, a polymath and scholar, he was a man of genuinely original thought.

Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Duraid al-Azdī al-Baṣrī ad-Dawsī Al-Zahrani, or Ibn Duraid, a leading grammarian of Baṣrah, was described as "the most accomplished scholar, ablest philologer and first poet of the age", was from Baṣra in the Abbasid era. Ibn Duraid is best known today as the lexicographer of the influential dictionary, the Jamharat al-Lugha. The fame of this comprehensive dictionary of the Arabic language is second only to its predecessor, the Kitab al-'Ayn of al-Farahidi.

Ismail Samani Amir of the Samanid Empire from 892 to 907

Abū Ibrāhīm Ismā'īl ibn Aḥmad, better known simply as Ismail Samani, and also known as Isma'il ibn Ahmad, was the Samanid amir of Transoxiana (892–907) and Khorasan (900–907). His reign saw the emergence of the Samanids as a powerful force. He was the son of Ahmad ibn Asad and a descendant of Saman Khuda, the eponymous ancestor of the Samanid dynasty who renounced Zoroastrianism and embraced Islam.

The Battle of Dayr al-Aqul was fought on April 8, 876, between forces of the Saffarid ruler Ya'qub ibn Laith and the Abbasid Caliphate. Taking place some 80 km southeast (downstream) of Baghdad, the battle ended in a decisive victory for the Abbasids, forcing Ya'qub to halt his advance into Iraq.

Abū al-Ḥasan Alī ibn al-Abbās ibn Jūrayj, also known as Ibn al-Rūmī, was the grandson of George the Greek and a popular arab poet of Baghdād in the Abbāsid-era.

Abu'l-Hasan Mihyar al-Daylami was an Arabic-language poet of Daylamite origin during the Buyid period. Mihyar's poetry was dominated by metaphor, and he wrote in various poetic genres including ghazal, riddles, as well as writing elegies on Ali and Husayn ibn Ali.

Yunus ibn Habib was a reputable 8th-century Arab linguist. An early literary critic and expert on poetry, Ibn Habib's criticisms of poetry were known, along with those of contemporaries such as Al-Asma'i, as a litmus test for measuring later writers' eloquence.

Al-Kisā’ī (الكسائي) Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Ḥamzah ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Uthman, called Bahman ibn Fīrūz, surnamed Abū ‘Abd Allāh, and Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Hamzah of al-Kūfah was preceptor to the sons of caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd and one of the ‘Seven Readers’ or ‘authorized’ Qur’ānic reader. He founded the Kufi school of Arabic grammar, the rival philology school to the Basri school founded by Sibawayh.

Abu Muhammad Yahya ibn Aktham was a ninth century Arab Islamic jurist. He twice served as the chief judge of the Abbasid Caliphate, from ca. 825 to 833 and 851 to 854.

References

  1. Ibn Khallikan's Biographical dictionary, 3 By Ibn Khallikan, pg. 517-520
  2. Encyclopedia of Arabic literature, Volume 2 By Julie Scott Meisami, Paul Starkey, pg.525
  3. The Fall of the Idigo Jackal, By McComas Taylor, pg. 3
  4. E. J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Volume 2 By Martijn Theodoor Houtsma, pg. 100
  5. Encyclopedic Survey of Islamic Culture. By Mohamed Taher, pg. 84
  6. Islam's Contribution to Science, By Husain Muzzafar, S. Muzaffar Husain, pg. 31
  7. Iran. - By Yahya Armajani, pg. 67