Criticism of Zoroastrianism

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Primary topics Ahura Mazda Zarathustra Asha Vohu Manah Persia/Iran Faravahar Avestan
Divine entities Amesha Spentas Yazatas Ahuras Daevas Fravashi Angra Mainyu
Scripture and worship Zoroastrian literature Avesta Ashem Vohu Ahuna Vairya Yenghe hatam Airyaman ishya Fire Temples 101 Names of Ahura Mazda Adur Burzen-Mihr Adur Farnbag Adur Gushnasp Cypress of Kashmar Gathas Yasna Vendidad Visperad Yashts Khordeh Avesta The Rivayats Ab-Zohr
Accounts and legends Dēnkard Bundahišn Book of Arda Viraf Book of Jamasp Story of Sanjan Chinvat Bridge Frashokereti
History and culture Zurvanism Mazdakism Khurramites Calendar Festivals Initiation Kushti Sedreh Marriage Burial
Adherents Zoroastrians in India Zoroastrians in Iran Parsis Zoroastrianism in the United States Iranis Persecution of Zoroastrians
Related topics Criticism of Zoroastrianism Zoroastrian cosmology
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Criticism of Zoroastrianism has taken place over many centuries not only from the adherents of other religions but also among Zoroastrians themselves seeking to reform the faith.

In the early 19th century, a Christian missionary based in British India, John Wilson, claimed that Zoroaster never had a genuine divine commission (or ever claimed such a role),^[1] never performed miracles, or uttered prophecies and that the story of his life is "a mere tissue of comparatively modern fables and fiction."^[2][3] Others assert that all the available Zoroastrian sources regarding Zoroaster only provide conflicting images about him,^[4] especially between earlier and later sources.^[5]

The Yashts are a collection of twenty-one hymns in the Younger Avestan language. Each of these hymns invokes a specific Zoroastrian divinity or concept. Yasht chapter and verse pointers are traditionally abbreviated as Yt.

Y. 1–8 are written in the form of an enumeration: the deities are invited to the sacrifice (1), the libation and the barəsman are presented to them (2), then the other offerings (3–8: Srōš darūn). Y. 56 appeals to the deities for attention. Sīrōza “thirty days” enumerates the deities who patronize the thirty days of the month. It exists in two forms, the “little” . V. The Yašts (Yt.) are hymns addressed to the principal deities. Yt. 5 (132 verses) is an important hymn addressed to Arəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā, goddess of the waters.^[6]

Critics commonly claim that Zoroastrians are worshipers of other deities and elements of nature, such as of fire—with one prayer, the Litany to the fire (Atesh Niyaesh),^[7] stating: "I invite, I perform (the worship) of you, the Fire, O son of Ahura Mazdā together with all fires"—and Mithra.^[8] Some critics have charged Zoroastrians with being followers of dualism, who only claimed to be followers of monotheism in modern times to confront the powerful influence of Christian and Western thought which "hailed monotheism as the highest category of theology."^[9] Critics insist that the monotheistic reformist view is seen to contradict the conservative (or traditional) view of a dualistic worldview most evident in the relationship between Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu.^[10] and arguing that Zoroastrians follow a belief system influenced by henotheism. Other Western scholars such as Martin Haug, however, have dismissed the concept of theological dualism as a corruption of Zoroaster's original teachings, gradually added by later adherents of the faith.^[11] Critics add that the fact that such differing views have proliferated is a sign of the enigmatic nature of the Zoroastrian beliefs regarding the divinity.^[12]

Darius clearly states in the Biston Inscription that “I am the king by the will of Ahuramazda, and Ahuramazda has entrusted me with power.” (Paragraph 5) This stone inscription does not give us much information about the religious issues of the time. This raises the question: Is the religion mentioned in this stone inscription a type of Zoroastrian religion.^[13]

What is common between the Zoroastrian inscriptions and the Achaemenid inscriptions is the name of Ahuramazda, the presence of the Divan, and the principles of falsehood and falsehood. But in these inscriptions other gods are mentioned^[14]

Mazdak was an Iranian Zoroastrian mobad (priest) and religious reformer who gained influence during the reign of the Sasanian emperor Kavadh I. He claimed to be a prophet of Ahura Mazda and instituted social welfare programs.

According to classical sources, not long after Sukhra's execution, a mobad (priest) named Mazdak caught Kavad's attention. Mazdak was the chief representative of a religious and philosophical movement called Mazdakism. Not only did it consist of theological teachings, but it also advocated for political and social reforms that would impact the nobility and clergy.^[15][16]

The Mazdak movement was nonviolent and called for the sharing of wealth, women and property,^[17] an archaic form of communism.^[18] According to modern historians Touraj Daryaee and Matthew Canepa, 'sharing women' was most likely an overstatement and defamation deriving from Mazdak's decree that loosened marriage laws to help the lower classes.^[16] Powerful families saw this as a tactic to weaken their lineage and advantages, which was most likely the case.^[16] Kavad used the movement as a political tool to curb the power of the nobility and clergy.^[18][17] Royal granaries were distributed, and land was shared among the lower classes.^[15]

The historicity of the persona of Mazdak has been questioned.^[19] He may have been a fabrication to take the blame away from Kavad.^[20] Contemporary historians, including Procopius and Joshua the Stylite make no mention of Mazdak naming Kavad as the figure behind the movement.^[20] Mention of Mazdak only emerges in later Middle Persian Zoroastrian documents, namely the Bundahishn, the Denkard, and the Zand-i Wahman yasn.^[20] Later Islamic-era sources, particularly al-Tabari, also mention Mazdak.^[20] These later writings were perhaps corrupted by Iranian oral folklore, given that blame put on Mazdak for the redistribution of aristocratic properties to the people, is a topic repeated in Iranian oral history.^[20]

The orientalist Arthur Christensen in his book ''Iran During The Sassanid Era'', mentioned that the sources dating back to the era of the Sasanian state in ancient Persian that refer to the Zoroastrian doctrine do not match the sources that appeared after the collapse of the state, such as the Pahlavi source and others. The reason is that because of the fall of the Sasanian state, the Zoroastrian clerics tried to save their religion from extinction through modifying it to resemble the religion of Muslims to retain followers in the Zoroastrian religion.^[21]

Gherardo Gnoli comments that the Islamic conquest of Persia caused a huge impact on the Zoroastrian doctrine.

After the Islamic conquest of Persia and the migration of many Zoroastrians to India and after being exposed to Islamic and Christian propaganda, the Zoroastrians, especially the Parsis in India, went so far as to deny dualism and consider themselves completely monotheists. After several transformations and developments, one of the distinctive features of the Zoroastrian religion gradually faded away and almost disappeared from modern Zoroastrianism

— IRANIAN COSMOLOGY, IRANIAN COSMOGONY & DUALISM

This provides an explanation of why there is numbers of parallels have been drawn between Zoroastrian teachings and Islam. Such parallels include the evident similarities between Amesha Spenta and the archangel Gabriel, praying five times a day, covering one's head during prayer, and the mention of Thamud and Iram of the Pillars in the Quran.

The migration of Parsis to India caused a lack of religious knowledge, which led to doubts in several matters, which made them send men to Iran during the Muslim rule in order to learn the religion from the Zoroastrians in Iran. However, according to the orientalist Arthur Christensen and several Arab historians, the Zoroastrian doctrine changed after the fall of the Sassanid state because the Zoroastrian clerics tried to save their religion from extinction by modifying it to resemble the religion of the Muslims. So that the Zoroastrians would not have a reason to convert to Islam, but this did not succeed in preventing the Zoroastrians from converting to Islam, and it also caused the emergence of a new version of Zoroastrianism that resembled Islam and differed from Zoroastrianism in the Sassanid era.^[22][23][24]

In the 1860s and 1870s, the linguist Martin Haug interpreted Zoroastrian scripture in Christian terms, and compared the yazatas to the angels of Christianity. In this scheme, the Amesha Spentas are the arch-angel retinue of Ahura Mazda, with the hamkars as the supporting host of lesser angels.

At the time Haug wrote his translations, the Parsi (i.e. Indian Zoroastrian) community was under intense pressure from English and American missionaries, who severely criticized the Zoroastrians for—as John Wilson portrayed it in 1843—"polytheism", which the missionaries argued was much less worth than their own "monotheism". At the time, Zoroastrianism lacked theologians of its own, and so the Zoroastrians were poorly equipped to make their own case. In this situation, Haug's counter-interpretation came as a welcome relief, and was (by-and-large) gratefully accepted as legitimate.^[25]

Haug's interpretations were subsequently disseminated as Zoroastrian ones, which then eventually reached the west where they were seen to corroborate Haug. Like most of Haug's interpretations, this comparison is today so well entrenched that a gloss of 'yazata' as 'angel' is almost universally accepted; both in publications intended for a general audience^[26][27] as well as in (non-philological) academic literature.^[28][29]

The migration of Parsis to India caused a lack of religious knowledge, which led to doubts in several matters, which made them send men to Iran during the Muslim rule in order to learn the religion from the Zoroastrians in Iran. However, according to the orientalist Arthur Christensen and several Arab historians, the Zoroastrian doctrine changed after the fall of the Sassanid state because the Zoroastrian clerics tried to save their religion from extinction by modifying it to resemble the religion of the Muslims. So that the Zoroastrians would not have a reason to convert to Islam, but this did not succeed in preventing the Zoroastrians from converting to Islam, and it also caused the emergence of a new version of Zoroastrianism that resembled Islam and differed from Zoroastrianism in the Sassanid era..^[30][31][32]

Behafarid was an 8th-century Persian Zoroastrian heresiarch^[33] who started a religious peasant revolt with elements from Zoroastrianism and Islam. He believed in Zoroaster and upheld all Zoroastrian institutions. His followers prayed seven times a day facing the Sun, prohibited intoxicants, and kept their hair long and disallowed sacrifices of cattle except when they were decrepit.^[34] His revolt was quelled by the Abbasid general Abu Muslim, and he was executed by hanging. His followers, however, believed that he would descend again. Some of his followers joined the Ustadh Sis movement.

The Khurramites were founded by the Persian Sunpadh al-Majusi - who was a follower of Abu Muslim al-Khurasani - and the Khurramites are a mixture of Shiism, Mazdakism and Zoroastrianism; one of the most important reasons for the Khurramite revolt was revenge for the execution of Abu Muslim al-Khurasani, who was killed by Abu Jaafar al-Mansur.^[35]

Henrik Samuel Nyberg writes that there is no clear evidence as to when Zoroastrianism began to spread in Ray, the central base of Mughan. He believes that the latest time for this event was when the Achaemenid state was founded.^[36]Diakonov believes that until the middle of the 6th century BC, it was accepted in the eastern part of the Medes, that is, in the ancient Avesta, and from there its teachings spread with changes to western Iran.^[37]

According to Arthur Christian Senn, in the time of Darius the Great and Xerxes, the Medes were Zoroastrians, and the Magans were religious and spiritual men of the Achaemenids, but the Achaemenid emperors did not follow the Zoroastrian religion and followed a non-Zoroastrian religion.^[38]

Henrik Samuel Nyberg said too : considered discussions and opinions on Achaemenid Zoroastrianism to be full of partisan prejudice and superstition among scholars of his time and referred to these debates as some of the most painful and misleading. Which did not occur in the human sciences ^[39]and believes that none of the essential characteristics of Zoroastrianism can be seen in the basic constructions of the Achaemenid religion.^[40]

Also there is no other material that could give these inscriptions a Zoroastrian color.^[41]

The Encyclopædia Iranica indicates that the stories of Zoroaster's life were distorted by quoting stories from Christianity and Judaism and attributing them to Zoroaster, but the most quotations were from Islam after the entry of Muslims into Persia, as it was a means for the Zoroastrian clergy to strengthen their religion.^[42]

The Dasatir-i-Asmani, while being accepted by Zoroastrian communities in Iran and India as genuine, especially by the Kadmi, it is generally believed to be a forgery.^[43]

Wilson argued that the Avesta could not be divinely inspired because much of its text was irrevocably lost or unintelligible^[44][45] and Martin Haug, who greatly helped the Parsis of India to defend their religion against the attacks of such Christian missionaries as Wilson, considered the Gathas to be the only texts and only authoritative scriptures that could be attributed to Zoroaster.^[46]

Zoroastrian reformers, such as Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla, have argued that literary precedence should be given to the Gathas, as a source of authority and textual authenticity. They have also deplored and criticized many Zoroastrian rituals (e.g. excessive ceremonialism and focus on purity,^[47][48] using "bull's urine for ritual cleansing, the attendance of a dog to gaze at the corpse during funerary rites, the exposure of corpses on towers [for consumption by vultures and ravens]")^[49][50] and theological and cosmological doctrines as not befitting of the faith.^[51] This orthodox versus reformist controversy rages even on the internet.^[52]

Divisions and tensions also exist between Iranian and Indian Zoroastrians and over such issues as the authority of a hereditary priesthood in the transmission and interpretation of the faith, ethnicity and the nature of Ahura Mazda.^[53] Historically, differences also existed between the Zoroastrian branches of Zurvanism, Mazdakism and Mazdaism.^[54]

Much like the question of who is a Jew?, Zoroastrian identity, especially whether it is adopted through birth or belief (or both), "remains a cause for tension" within the community.^[55][56] Reformers have criticised the orthodox refusal to accept religious converts as one reason for the communities' declining population.^[57]

Zoroastrianism has been criticized for the perception that it promotes a patriarchal system, expressed through such avenues as an all-male priesthood and its historical allowance of polygamy—practiced by Zoroaster himself.^[58][59][60]

• Daryaee, Touraj (2014). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–240. ISBN 978-0857716668.
• Daryaee, Touraj; Canepa, Matthew (2018). "Mazdak". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.
• Dhalla, Maneckji Nusserwanji (1914), Zoroastrian Theology, New York: OUP
• Edwards, E. (1927), "Sacrifice (Iranian)", in Hastings, James (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. XI, Edinburgh: T & T Clark
• Frye, R. N. (1983). "The political history of Iran under the Sasanians". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3(1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20092-X.
• Gray, Louis H. (1927), "Jews in Zoroastrianism", in Hastings, James (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. VII, Edinburgh: T & T Clark
• Luhrmann, T. M. (2002), "Evil in the Sands of Time: Theology and Identity Politics among the Zoroastrian Parsis", The Journal of Asian Studies, 61 (3): 861–889, doi:10.2307/3096349
• Shahbazi, A. Shapur (2005). "Sasanian dynasty". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
• Shayegan, M. Rahim (2017). "Sasanian political ideology". In Potts, Daniel T. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–1021. ISBN 9780190668662.