Towards the end of the Umayyad period, the Arabs were wellestablished in Iran. They had dominated the country for nearly a century and had had time to acquire the skills needed to rule effectively. The Arabization of the country’s administration and culture had made the Iranians less indispensable to the government. Such a situation created discontent among Iranians. The Abbasid revolution was the result of mounting hostility towards the ruling classes in Iran. While the situation of non-Muslims had deteriorated, the position of Iranian mawalis (converts) had not improved. Many of the Arabs who lived in Iran were also disaffected by Umayyad rule and supported the Abbasid movement. The aspirations of the Abbasids, however, was not compatible with the expectations of the non-Muslim Iranians. Once in power, the Abbasids also alienated the Iranians who had converted to Islam. Indeed, the majority of the Iranians enrolled in the government were Zoroastrians newly converted to Islam, but their background still made them suspicious in the eyes of the Arabs. The fact that Ibn Muqaffa was killed in 757, accused of practising Zoroastrianism in private, reflects the deterioration of the relations between Arabs and Iranians in the 8th century (Source: the Fire, the Star and the Cross).
Zoroastrian Minority as an Integrated Part of Muslim Community
