Iran, the fabulous land

Iran is one of the oldest nations in the world, home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations; with a history dating back tens of thousands of years. The country's first great city Susa (Shush), was built on the central plateau around 3200 B.C. The Iranian believe in human beings are mirrored in the famous Saadi poem:

    "All human beings are members of one frame,

    Since all, at first, from the same essence came.

    When time afflicts a limb with pain

    The other limbs at rest cannot remain.

    If thou feel not for other's misery

    A human being is no name for thee."

A long history

The history of Iran (for a detail see http://www.persepolis.nu/timeline.htm) commonly also known as Persia in the Western world, is intertwined with the history of a larger region, also to an extent known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia, the Bosphorus, and Egypt in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian Steppe in the north to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman in the south.

Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 7000 BCE. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel calls the Persians the "first Historical People". The southwestern and western part of the Iranian Plateau participated in the traditional Ancient Near East with Elam, from the Early Bronze Age, and later with various other peoples, such as the Kassites, Mannaeans, and Gutians. The Medes unified Iran as a nation and empire in 625 BCE. The Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE), founded by Cyrus the Great, was the first Persian empireand it ruled from the Balkans to North Africa and also Central Asia, spanning three continents, from their seat of power in Persis (Persepolis). It was the largest empire yet seen and the first world empire. The First Persian Empire was the only civilization in all of history to connect over 40% of the global population, accounting for approximately 49.4 million of the world's 112.4 million people in around 480 BCE. They were succeeded by the Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Empires, who successively governed Iran for almost 1,000 years and made Iran once again as a leading power in the world. Persia's arch-rival was the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire.

Once a major empire, Iran has endured invasions too, by the Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and the Mongols. Iran has continually reasserted its national identity throughout the centuries and has developed as a distinct political and cultural entity.

The Muslim conquest of Persia (633–656) ended the Sasanian Empire and is a turning point in Iranian history. Islamization of Iran took place during the eighth to tenth centuries, leading to the eventual decline of Zoroastrianism in Iran as well as many of its dependencies. However, the achievements of the previous Persian civilizations were not lost, but were to a great extent absorbed by the new Islamic polity and civilization.

Iran was reunified as an independent state in 1501 by the Safavid dynasty, which set Shia Islam as the empire's official religion, marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam. Functioning again as a leading power, this time amongst the neighboring Ottoman Empire, its arch-rival for centuries, Iran had been a monarchy ruled by an emperor almost without interruption from 1501 until the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when Iran officially became an Islamic republic on April 1, 1979.

PEOPLE & CULTURE

Iran has a long history of scholarship that has created a rich culture of art, literature, poetry, music, cuisine, and architecture. Ancient Iranian thinkers wrote influential texts on philosophy and medicine, and it was an Iranian mathematician who invented algebra. Iran's universities are among the most respected in the Middle East.

 

 

Culture of Iran

The culture of Iran also known as culture of Persia, is one of the oldest in the world. Owing to its dominant geo-political position and culture in the world, Iran has directly influenced cultures and peoples as far away as Italy, Macedonia, and Greece to the West, Russia to the North, the Arabian Peninsula to the South, and South and East Asia to the East. Thus an eclectic cultural elasticity has been said to be one of the key defining characteristics of the Persian spirit and a clue to its historical longevity. Furthermore, Iran's culture has manifested itself in several facets throughout the history of Iran as well as the Caucasus, Central Asia, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.

 

 

Hospitality

Iran is the country of warm hospitality, not just because "welcome" is possibly the most popular English word, but because it's an essential feature of Iranian culture. In every tourist experience, Iranians are, without a doubt, the friendliest and most hospitable people in the world.

Architecture

Iranian buildings are finely decorated and glow with ornamental elegance, be it a mosque, a palace or a bazaar. Pastel colors gracefully interact with bright hues, tapering minarets and seemingly ubiquitous domes outline the landscape, symbols and traditional calligraphy coexist in a charming interplay. The sophisticated Persian architecture is always something tourists marvel at every time they visit Iran, getting enchanted by mesmerizing decorations, fine carvings, and elaborate paintings

Handicraft

Each province, each city, each village has their own handicraft. In Yazd, you will certainly buy the beautiful termeh, handwoven silk and wool fabric (and baklava sweets), in Isfahan tiles and blue chalices and plates to decorate your home or use to offer sweets to your guests with a Persian touch. Tabriz, Kerman, Kashan and Naein for their particular carpets of all sizes, colors, and patterns, Hamedan for their colorful pottery, Nishapur for their turquoise stone jewelry.

 

 

 

Food

From pistachio to saffron to kebab, from Mirza Ghasemi to Ghormeh Sabzi and Dizi, the heavy presence of aromatic herbs makes Iranian cuisine appetizing and addictive, especially when it comes to pistachio and baklava. Iran is famous for its saffron and delicious pistachio.

GEOGRAPHY

Iran is situated at the crossroads of Central Asia, South Asia, and the Arab states of the Middle East. This strategic position and its access to the Persian Gulf in the south have made Iran an important country throughout its history.

Much of Iran is cut off from the outside world by a beautiful but often lonely landscape. High, rugged mountains create a barrier with Iran's neighbors in the west, and the eastern region is covered by a barren, salty desert.

In Iran's north, a narrow, fertile strip borders the Caspian Sea, and in the south, lowlands rim the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Most people in Iran live along the edges of a high plateau that runs through the middle of the country.

 

 

10 most important inventions by Iranian

Human Rights

The Cyrus Cylinder has been historically recognised as the the world's first universal charter of human rights. Created in 534 BCE, the Cyrus Cylinder is constructed out of clay and inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform script, and predates the Magna Carta by one millennium. It was discovered in Babylon in 1879, and is now kept in the British Museum in London.

The Postal Service

‘Chapar Khane' is a Persian term for the first postal service system used during in the Achaemenid Empire. It was created by Cyrus the Great and later developed further by Darius the Great as a method of communication throughout the Persian lands. The system comprised of a series of stations along a 2,500 m highway throughout the empire, where the ‘Chapars' would ride horseback, delivering post from one part of the kingdom to another.

The refrigerator

In 400 BCE, the ancient Persians created the world's first ever refrigerator. The Persian word for fridge – Yakhchal – translates as ice pit, which is very much how the modern day fridge started out. The original structure had a domed shape somewhat like a small mountain, and it was used to store mainly ice but also sometimes food items.

Algebra

Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarazmi was a Persian scholar (750-850 AD) in Baghdad. His work spanned the fields of mathematics, astronomy and geography during the Abbasid caliphate. Today, he is best known for the method through which he taught algebra as an independent science. For this reason, he is hailed as the founding father of algebra.

Sulphuric acid

Zakariya Razi (865-925 AD) was a pioneering Iranian scholar who discovered alcohol and sulphuric acid. Nowadays, sulphuric acid has a wide range of uses and applications, including as drain cleaner, as an electrolyte in lead-acid batteries and in various other clothing products.

Chess

Although there is some dispute as to whether the game of chess originated from India or Persia, the earliest mentions of chess in writing can be found within Iranian literature. The oldest surviving chess pieces came from the Persian lands, thus reinforcing the belief that chess originated in Persia.

The guitar

The earliest version of the modern day guitar exists in the form of the tar or lut – a wooden instrument on which strings were plucked to produce music.

 

 

Important discoveries in modern medicine

Ibn Sina or Abu Ali Sina is known more commonly in the Western world as Aveccina. He is considered to be one of the most significant physicians, astronomers and thinkers of the Islamic Golden Age (8th-13th centuries). After qualifying as a physician at the young age of 18, he went on to produce his most famous works – ‘The Book of Healing', and ‘The Canon of Medicine', an encyclopaedia of medicine.

 

The first monotheistic religion

Zoroastrianism is considered to be the world's oldest monotheistic religion, founded by the prophet Zarathustra over 3,500 years ago in the city of Yazd, which is now in Iran. Estimates suggest there are around 190,000 Zoroastrians worldwide today.

 

Qanat (water irrigation)

The qanat was a water management system used in irrigation, which dates back to the pre-Achameinid era. The oldest known qanat is in the city of Gonabad in Iran, which after 2,700 years still succeeds in providing drinking and agricultural water to people today.

 

 

 

Iran Contributions to humanity from the ancient history

From the humble brick, to the windmill, Persians have mixed creativity with art and offered the world numerous contributions. What follows is a list of just a few examples of the cultural contributions of Greater Iran.

(10,000 BC) - Earliest known domestication of the goat.

(6000 BC) - The modern brick. Some of the oldest bricks found to date are Persian, from c. 6000 BC.

(5000 BC) - Invention of wine. Discovery made by University of Pennsylvania excavations at Hajji Firuz Tepe in northwestern Iran.

(5000 BC) - Invention of the Tar (lute), which led to the development of the guitar.

(3000 BC) - The ziggurat. The Sialk ziggurat, according to the Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran, predates that of Ur or any other of Mesopotamia's 34 ziggurats.

(3000 BC) - A game resembling backgammon appears in the east of Iran.

(1400 BC - 600 BC) - Zoroastrianism: where the first prophet of a monotheistic faith arose according to some scholars, claiming Zoroastrianism as being "the oldest of the revealed credal religions, which has probably had more influence on mankind directly or indirectly, more than any other faith".

(576 BC - 529 BC) - The Cyrus Cylinder: The world's first charter of human rights.

(521 BC) - The game of Polo.

(500 BC) - First Banking System of the World, at the time of the Achaemenid, establishment of Governmental Banks to help farmers at the time of drought, floods, and other natural disasters in form of loans and forgiveness loans to restart their farms and husbandries. These Governmental Banks were effective in different forms until the end of Sassanian Empire before invasion of Arabs to Persia.

(500 BC) - The word Check has a Persian root in old Persian language. The use of this document as a check was in use from Achaemenid time to the end of Sassanian Empire. The word of [Bonchaq, or Bonchagh] in modern Persian language is new version of old Avestan and Pahlavi language "Check". In Persian it means a document which resembles money value for gold, silver and property. By law people were able to buy and sell these documents or exchange them.

(500 BC) - World's oldest staple.

(500 BC) - The first taxation system (under the Achaemenid Empire).

(500 BC) - "Royal Road" - the first courier post.

(500 BC) - Source for introduction of the domesticated chicken into Europe.

(500 BC) - First cultivation of spinach.

(400 BC) - Yakhchals, ancient refrigerators. (See picture above)

(400 BC) - Ice cream.

(250 BC) - Original excavation of a Suez Canal, begun under Darius, completed under the Ptolemies.

(50 AD) - Peaches, a fruit of Chinese origin, were introduced to the west through Persia, as indicated by their Latin scientific name, Prunus persica, from which (by way of the French) we have the English word "peach."

(271 AD) - Academy of Gundishapur - The first hospital.

(700 AD) - The cookie.

(700 AD) - The windmill.

(864 AD - 930 AD) - First systematic use of alcohol in Medicine: Rhazes.

(1000 AD) - Tulips were first cultivated in medieval Persia.

(1000 AD) - Introduction of paper to the west.

(935 AD - 1020 AD) - Ferdowsi writes the Shahnama (Book of Kings) that resulted in the revival of Iranian culture and the expansion of the Iranian cultural sphere.

(980 AD - 1037 AD) - Avicenna, a physician, writes The Canon of Medicine one of the foundational manuals in the history of modern medicine.

(1048 AD - 1131 AD) - Khayyam, one of the greatest polymaths of all time, presents a theory of heliocentricity to his peers. His contributions to laying the foundations of algebra are also noteworthy.

(1207 AD - 1273 AD) - Rumi writes poetry and in 1997, the translations were best-sellers in the United States.

Algebra and Trigonometry: Numerous Iranians were directly responsible for the establishment of Algebra, the advancement of Medicine and Chemistry, and the discovery of Trigonometry.

Qanat, subterranean aqueducts.

Wind catchers, ancient air residential conditioning.

 

 

Iranian Sites Registered in UNESCO's List

There are several Iranian historic sites registered in UNESCO's list of World Heritage. Some of them belong to pre-Islam Iran and some to post-Islam Iran.This list gets updated as UNESCO approves the documentations offered by the Iranian delegation to the UN.

Tchogha Zanbil

This Elamite temple is a ziggurat-shaped structure built under the kingdom of Elam, c. 1250 B.C. It is surrounded by three huge walls and can be seen from a long distance. Millions of bricks have been used in the construction of this temple. Some of them are engraved in cuneiform writing

Persepolis

This historic site is a ceremonial palace compound and the most famous and popular site in Iran. It is the palace complex built under Darius the Great in 518 B.C.

There used to be 29 nations sending delegation there to the Persian emperors paying respect and meeting on certain occasions, either in Mehregan or Nowruz.

Meidan-e-Emam Khomeini

Built by Shah Abbas I the Great at the beginning of the 17th century, and bordered on all sides by monumental buildings linked by a series of two-storeyed arcades, the site is known for the Royal Mosque, the Mosque of Sheykh Lotfollah, the magnificent Portico of Qaysariyyeh and the 15th-century Timurid palace. They are an impressive testimony to the level of social and cultural life in Persia during the Safavid era.

Takht-e-Soleyman

This exclusive historic site is an archaeological site in the mountains that has witnessed life in a large span of time.You can find various structures from pre-Islam to post-Islam eras here like fire temple, Anahita temple, and many more.

Pasargadae

This is the first capital city of the first dynastic Persian Empire, Achaemenians in ancient Persia. Pasargadae is also the first example of Achaemenians' palace compounds and the first examples of Persian garden planning in Iranian history. The remnants of such planning is still noticeable and spectacular.The tomb of Cyrus the great is located here.

 

 

Bam

This is an ancient walled city originally built under Achaemenians. Life has been going on here until early 20th century. In addition, one can find the traces of the ancient Iranian underground water supplement system, Kariz (qanat) which has made life possible in this oasis.

Soltaniyeh

This tourist attraction and historic site is the capital of the Ilkhanid dynasty where the mausoleum of Oljaytu is located.This masterpiece of architecture is a unique example of Iranians' precision in mathematics and calculation in engineering, dated back to Ilkhanid period.

Bisotun

This is the largest inscription of the world consisting of 1119 lines of cuneiform in three languages and situated in a very well-known spot. The rock relieves depict Darius the Great after an initial endeavor to arrest the rebels who had introduced themselves falsely as sons of Cyrus the Great.

Shushtar Waterfalls

These waterfalls are the masterpieces of engineering at the time of ancient Iranians.The entire collection includes waterfalls, dams, bridges, basins, mills, etc. The waterfalls are planned and dug into the rocks on the new course of water chosen by the ancient engineers.

Armenian Monastic Ensembles

There are three monastic ensembles of the Armenian Christians living in the North West of present day Iran: St Thaddeus, St Stepanos, and the Chapel of Dzordzor. The oldest structure among these three dates back to the 7th century. The architecture of these temples indicating Iranian architecture styles as well as their own unique elements are very interesting.

 

Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex

Tabriz bazaar is an ancient compound of roofed brick-made passageways, structures, buildings and enclosed spaces used for a series of various functions.Various sections of this vast roofed bazaar are witnesses to several historical events. It has always played major roles in developing social, economic and political developments in Iran.

 

Sheikh Safi al-din Khānegāh and Shrine Ensemble

Built between 16th and 18th century, during Safavid rulers in Iran, it consists of various buildings for different functions like khaneqah (gathering structure of Sufis), a school, library, mausolea, a mosque, a cistern, a hospital, kitchens, a bakery, and some offices.

 

The Persian Garden

The tradition of developing and creating Persian gardens goes back to the time of Cyrus the Great, 6th century BC.The feature elements of Persian gardens include beautiful buildings, pavilions and walls, and also some sophisticated irrigation systems inherited from ancient Persians.

 

Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan

This Friday mosque represents the evolution of mosque building since early post-Islam era in Iran beginning in 9th century. Over time, different corners of the mosque have been constructed in different styles of their own times.

Gonbad-e Qabus

This fantastic example of tomb tower building in Iran date back to 1006, when Ziyarid were ruling in Iran. It was built out of unglazed fired bricks at a corner of the ancient city of Jorjan nothing of which has remained except for this structure.

 

Golestan Palace

Golestan palace, in central Tehran compound is a fantastic palace compound remaining from Qajar era, late 18th century, when they declared Tehran as capital.

 

Shahr-I Sokhta

The remains of this mud brick city called Shahr-e-Sukhteh (Burned City) is the first example of a series of complex societies in eastern Iran. The archaeological findings of this 5000-year-old site indicates separate sections for houses, workshops and graveyards.

 

Cultural Landscape of Maymand

Maymand is an area  in Kerman Province south east of Iran and just south of some local mountain areas. What makes Maymand interesting is their lifestyles and accommodation as they live partly nomadic and partly settled lives.

 

Susa (Shush)

Susa or today's Shush is located at the SW of Iran and south of Zagros Mountains. The remnants of ancient civilizations at Susa indicates urban settlements in a continuous way from the late 9th millennium BC until the 13th century.

The Persian Qanat

Iranians have been quite innovative in bringing life to the middle of barren lands. As water has always been a challenge of the inhabitants of Iranian plateau, Persians have invented underground water supplement system called Qanat (Kariz).

Lut Desert

Iran has got two large deserts at its Eastern half. Lut Desert is an amazing part of Iran with fantastic features that invites every curious nature lover. Lut Desert is the first Iranian natural property registered in UNESCO.

 

The most famous Iranian scholars

5 Persian Scholars Who Shaped the Islamic World

Ibn Sina (Avicenna) b. 980 near Bukhara, d. 1037 Hamadan, Iran

One of most influential scientists and philosophers of the Islamic World, Ibn Sina is best known for his important contributions to the field of medicine. His seminal work Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) is considered one of the most famous books in the history of medicine and set the standard for medical practice in Europe and the Islamic World through the 17th century.

 

Sībawayh b. ca. 760 Beyza, Iran, d. ca. 793 Shiraz, Iran

The greatest Arabic linguist and grammarian in history was in fact Persian. Sibawayh, a non-native speaker of Arabic, wrote the first book on Arabic grammar, Al-Kitāb fī an-Naḥw. This monumental work was central in setting the standard for explaining Arabic grammar, especially to non-Arab converts to Islam.

 

Al-Khwārazmī b. ca.780, d. ca. 850

This famous Persian mathematician is credited with introducing the decimal system to the Western world. A scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, Al-Khwarazmi's work on linear and quadratic equations led to the later development of algebra, a term which stems from the title of one of his books. The word algorithm derives from the latinized form of his name Algoritmi.

 

 

Al-Rāzī (Rhazes) b. 854 Rey, Iran, d. 925 Rey, Iran

A celebrated polymath, Al-Razi, is considered to be the greatest physician of the Islamic World. He was the first to scientifically identify alcohol in its pure form and produce sulfuric acid. A prolific author, Al-Razi's encyclopedic reviews of medicine, Al-Mansuri and Al-Hawi, were standard medical texts in European and Islamic universities.

 

Al-Ghazālī b. 1058 Tus, Iran, d. 1111 Tus, Iran

The 12th century philosopher, jurist and mystic Al-Ghazali, is regarded as one of the greatest theologians of Islam. His approach to reconciling reason and revelation had an important impact on medieval Christian and Jewish thinking. Known as a mujaddid, renewer of the faith, within Islam, Al-Ghazali's influential writings made Sufism an acceptable part of orthodox Islam.

 

The 5 most famous of Persian Poets

Ferdowsi

Ferdowsi was a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shāhnāmeh (Epic of Kings) which is the world's longest epic poem created by a single poet, and the national epic of the Persian-speaking world. Shāhnāmeh marches through centuries of history and myth. Ferdowsi traced the history of Persia from its earliest days to the Arab conquest. He devoted his life to preserving the identity, language and heritage of Persia at a time when the political ascendancy of the Arabs threatened the survival of Persian (Farsi) as a literary medium. Aiming to reveal the attractiveness and beauty of Persian, he succeeded in transcending the particularity of language because his poetry has a universal, human appeal. He captures the essence of the character of men and women, exploring their motives, inner and external struggles, their best and worse qualities. Ferdowsi extolled justice and loyalty, freedom, love, honor, courage and duty to family and society. His work, which endured and gained the recognition it merits, forms part of the cultural patrimony of humanity. It has been described as a world-jewel.

 

Hafez

Hafez, the very famous poet in Iran, is best known for his poems that can be described as "antinomian" and with the medieval use of the term "theosophical"; this term theosophy in the 13th and 14th centuries was used to indicate mystical work by "authors only inspired by the holy books. Hafez primarily wrote in the literary genre of lyric poetry that is the ideal style for expressing the ecstasy of divine inspiration in the mystical form of love poems. His collected works are regarded as a pinnacle of Persian literature, who learn his poems by heart and still use them as proverbs and sayings. He has been a mystic (ʿāref); as such, his statements about wine, sin, music and pleasure are interpreted in an invariably metaphorical, even relentlessly gnostic way, reading the iconology of sin and physical pleasure as an elaborate code of transcendent symbols. His name means "Qur'an memorizer." Among the earliest Western writers influenced by Hafez's works were Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Ralph Waldo Emerson; the latter wrote that "Hafez is a poet for poets," the former that "Hafez has no peer."

 

Saadi,

Saadi a major Persian poet and literary is recognized for the quality of his writings and for the depth of his social and moral thoughts. Saadi is widely recognized as one of the greatest poets of the classical literary tradition, earning him the nickname "Master of Speech" among Persian scholars. He has been quoted in the Western traditions as well. Saadi is well known for his aphorisms, the most famous of which, Bani Adam, is part of the Gulistan. In a delicate way it calls for breaking down all barriers between human beings. At the entrance of the United Nations are the wonderful words of that great Persian poet, Sa'adi":

    "All human beings are members of one frame,

    Since all, at first, from the same essence came.

    When time afflicts a limb with pain

    The other limbs at rest cannot remain.

    If thou feel not for other's misery

    A human being is no name for thee."

 

Khayyam

Khayyam was an astronomer, astrologer, physician, philosopher, and mathematician: he made outstanding contributions in algebra. His poetry is better known in the West than any other non-Western poet. In 1892, a club with the name of Khayyām was founded in London; in 1970 one of the craters of the Moon was named after him, and in 1980 a newly invented cone in mathematics was given his name. Khayyām's poetic genius was always celebrated in the East, but his fame in European countries is of rather recent origin. In the West he is one of the most well-known and admired eastern poets and scholars. In 1859, a few years after Woepcke's edition had made Khayyām's algebra — previously almost unknown — available to Western scholars, the English poet Edward Fitzgerald published translations of seventy-five of the quatrains, an edition that still remains popular. Many more of the poems have been published in a number of European languages. The poems generally known as Khayyām's rubā'īyāt are one of the summits of philosophical poetry, displaying an atheistic free thought, humanism and aspirations for justice, irony and scepticism.

 

Molavi (Rumi)

Molavi or Mowlana and more popularly in the English-speaking world as Rumi (1207 –1273), was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic. Rumi's importance is considered to transcend national and ethnic borders. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi's works are written in Persian and his Mathnawi remains one of the purest literary glories of Persia and one of the crowning glories of the Persian language. These cultural, historical and linguistic ties between Rumi and Iran have made Rumi an iconic Iranian poet. His original works are widely read across the Persian-speaking world. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi has been described as the "most popular poet" and the "best selling poet" in the United States. Rumi, was a philosopher and mystic of Islam. The general theme of Rumi's thought, like that of other mystic and Sufi poets of Persian literature, is that of tawhid. Rumi's major work is the Maṭnawīye Ma'nawī (Spiritual Couplets), a six-volume poem, is considered by many to be one of the greatest works of mystical poetry.

The U.S. Best Selling Poet belong to Molana Rumi a Persian poet!

"The minute I heard my first love story,

I started looking for you, not knowing

how blind that was.

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.

They're in each other all along."

 

The most famous of Persian Philosophers

Avicenna

Avicenna (ca. 970–1037) was the preeminent philosopher and physician of the Islamic world. In his work he combined the disparate strands of philosophical/scientific thinking in Greek late antiquity and early Islam into a rationally rigorous and self-consistent scientific system that encompassed and explained all reality, including the tenets of revealed religion and its theological and mystical elaborations.

 

Suhrawardi

Suhrawardī, Shaykh al-Ishrāq, (born c. 1155, Suhraward, near Zanjān, Iran—died 1191, Ḥalab, Syria), mystic theologian and philosopher who was a leading figure of the illuminationist school of Islamic philosophy. He attempted to reconcile traditional philosophy and mysticism. In his best-known work, Ḥikmat al-ishrāq ("The Wisdom of Illumination"), he said that essences are creations of the intellect, having no objective reality or existence. Concentrating on the concepts of being and non-being, he held that existence is a single continuum that culminates in a pure light that he called God. Other stages of being along this continuum are a mixture of light and dark.

 

Molla Sadra

Molla Sadra (c. 1571/2 – 1640), was an Iranian Shia Islamic philosopher, theologian who led the Iranian cultural renaissance in the 17th century. Molla Sadra is arguably the single most important and influential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last four hundred years. Molla Sadra approach to philosophy that combined an interest in theology and drew upon insights from mystical intuition. He championed a radical philosophical method that attempted to transcend the simple dichotomy between a discursive, ratiocinative mode of reasoning and knowing, and a more intuitive, poetic and non-propositional mode of knowledge. Molla Sadra was keen thinker who wrote works in philosophy, theology, mysticism, and scriptural exegesis, he attempted a wide-ranging synthesis of approaches to Islamic thought and argued for the necessity of the method of understanding reality through a mixture of logical reasoning, spiritual inspiration, and a deep meditation upon the key scriptural sources of the Twelver Shi‘i tradition in Islam. Though not its founder, he is considered the master of the Illuminationist (Ishraghi or Ishraqi) school of Philosophy, a seminal figure who synthesized the many tracts of the Islamic Golden Age philosophies into what he called the Transcendent Theosophy. His main work is The Transcendent Theosophy in the Four Journeys of the Intellect, or simply Four Journeys.

 

Iran the country of four seasons

Iran is one of the only countries in the world which has the complete four seasons. Its north is covered with evergreen forests and a beautiful lake with moderate climate, its south is led to the Persian Gulf, with hot and humid climate, beautiful and attractive palm trees, its east with a hot desert and running sand, with its nights full of stars and the west of this vast land with mountains high in the sky.

Iran is located on the Iranian plateau in southwest Asia, where it is known the Middle East. Due to its geographical location, Iran has a great deal of climate variation so one can experience any favorite season almost each time a year.

For example; it is possible to do ski near Tehran in the winter, and take a one-hour flight to Kish Island and swim in the Persian Gulf warm water.

Mountain

There are two mountain ranges in Iran, Alborz in north and Zagros in west. Damavand (5610 m) is the highest peak in the Alborz mountain ranges and Dena (4409 m) in Zagros, which due to its unique nature and the rare species of animals, there are numerous national parks for trekking, camping or climbing.

In these areas, the temperature of the highlands, is between – 5 °C up to 25 ° C in the summer and -40 ° C up to 10 ° C in the winter. You can also find a beautiful nature in the valleys that is suitable for climbing and rafting.

 

 

 

 

 

Plains

There are more than 20 different plains in different parts of Iran; and interestingly, you can always find a plain, full of flowers in any season. The most beautiful of them are the overturned tulips plain in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari, Fars Narges Plain, Moghan plain in Ardebil and the Great Plain of Khuzestan.

 

 

 

 

Desert

There are two main desert in Iran," Dashte Kavir" in center and "Lut Desert" in South East. It is seen rocky areas, sandy hills and shores with its own vegetation and wildlife. Lut Desert has been registered in Unesco World Heritage site list since 2016. It is interesting to know that the Gandom Beryan in Lut is the hottest place in the world.

 

 

 

Forest

The most Iran's forests are located in the between the Caspian Sea and the Alborz mountain range. Hara forests in Qeshm and southern coasts (Mangrove trees), Zagros Oak forests, Hyrcanian forests (its tigers was mentioned by Shakespeare in Macbeth), and Arasbaran forests are the most significant of them.

 

 

 

 

Seas and Lakes

Caspian Sea is in north of Iran with its beautiful shores and rare and eye-catching nature, Persian Gulf and Oman sea are located in south with sandy, rocky or coral beaches. Boating, diving and fishing are very common in these areas. There are a beautiful Qeshm island with its unique ecosystem and Kish Island with its beautiful and charming coral reefs.