Ethnic Persian (yes, Persians, not Baloch or Kurds or other Iranic people) Sunnis of Iran:

1. Khorassani Persians – The Iranian province of Khorassan in east Iran is home to Khorassani-Persian Sunnis. Even Mashad (which is just next to Neishabur, where Imam Muslim is buried) has a Sunni minority. Some cities in Khorassan of Iran are even majority Sunni (like Birjand and Torbat-e Jam). Khorassani Persians are Hanafi Sunnis and culturally (and of course by language) no different to their fellow Persians in Isfahani, Tehrani, Shirazi etc.

2. Larestani Persians of south Iran who are Shafi’i-Sunnis. Larestan county is locatd in the Fars province (historically ALL of south Iran i.e. what is known today as the southern part of the Fars province and the whole coast line i.e. Hormozgan was known as Larestan). The people in this area refer to themselves as “Khodmooni” (خودموني) or Achomi (اچمی) the former stands for “of our own”/Khodmooni, which is to make themselves distinguished from both Shia Persians and the Arab Sunnis who also live in that area.

Khodmoonis are known of being very proud of their Iranian heritage, to such an extent that many Bastaki (another town in the Larestan area) people for instance emigrated to Dubai, Bahrain, Saudi (especially Khobar) and Kuwait (like many southern Persians did after refusing to pay taxes to Nasir al-Din, the last member of the Qajar dynasty and refusing to give up their Sunni faith when in the 16th history the Turkish Rafidi Safavids started an onslaught and massacre of everything that was Sunni, and even when the killing stopped, still high taxes pushed non-Shia Iranians to migrate) yet despite that, the majority never forgot their origin, in fact there are many Bastakis (and other Larestanis/Khodmunis of course) in Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman, who have carried their unique Persian culture, language, and architecture with them. They have named their neighbourhood in Dubai, Bastakiyyah, after their town of Bastak in southern Persia, which is to this very day (despite the enmity of the Shia regime) majority Sunni. In fact many high officials in the Gulf, particularly in the UAE are of Persian origin and basically were a main factor for the development of the Gulf states (the biggest businessmen in the UAE are of Larestani-Persian origin).

3. Persian Sunnis of major Shia cities such as Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, Shiraz, Hamedan, Arak etc.

There are small Sunni communties in every Shia city of Iran, the Persians among them are either Sunnis by birth (or as it is the case with many, especially in cities such as Tehran and Isfahan) converts from Shi’ism to Islam/Sunnah.

- He Studied Shari’ah in the Madinah University
– He acquired his PhD degree in Sudan
– Compiled many books in the field of Fiqh and Usool Al-Fiqh
– Known as the ‘Shaykh Al-Shafi’iyyah’ (Shaykh of the Shafi’is) in Iran
– He is of course fluent in Arabic (not like the absolute majority of Shia ‘Ayatullats’ who can’t even recite a Fatiha correctly)
– He is known for his orthodox Sunni-Shafi’i Aqidah and was more than once prevented by the Iranian regime to participate at major Sunni gatherings in Iran (what the regime also often does is to confisnicate the passports of Sunni scholars in order to prevent them to do Hajj or ‘Umra and to connect with the wider Sunni world in public)
– He runs many Shafi’i schools inside Iran (all under heavy pressure)

NOTE: As we have explained in previous posts, the Sunnis of Iran (the largest religious minority in Iran, 10% acc. to regime sources, at least 20-30% acc. to Sunni Iranian sources) are not just made up by non-Persian ethnic groups (like Baloch, Kurds etc.), this is a misconception, for there are still many ethnic Persian Sunnis in Iran, particularly in the Iranian Khorassan province (Persian Hanafis) and in the southern provinces of Iran (Fars and Hormozgan province, majority of the Sunnis there are Persian Larestani Shafi’is). South Iran is actually still a Shafi’i-Sunni fortress with many Shafi’i schools (in Pre-Safavid Iran most Persians were Shafi’is followed by Hanafis).

When the Safavids under Ismail I decided to convert everyone residing in current day Iran from Sunni to Shiite Islam in 1501, they started arranged attacks and massacres against the Sunni Persians who refused to convert (Persian Sunnis from Ray-Tehrani, Shirazi, Isfahani and other major Persian Sunnis were either slaughtered or forced to become Shiites), as a result, many Sunni Persians left their hometowns for the Zagros Mountains. After the Battle of Chaldiran where the Safavids lost to the Ottoman the Sunni Persians descended from the mountains to begin a new life in the land they named “Bastak”, meaning barrier or backstop signifying barrier from Shiite Safavids’ attacks and influences. So the southern Persian (Shafi’is) are basically the remainders of the Persian (majority Shafi’i) Sunni population of Iran. They are a minority (Persian Sunnis) but still existing in Iran and in the southern parts they even make up the indigenous majority of the population.

A map about Arabs and Arabic speakers (including Iran):

Out dated Iranian gov. sources (and CIA sources) give a roughly estimate of 1-2 million (2-3% of the entire population). Some extremist Arab groups (particularly Ahwazis) represent the other side of the extreme, claiming there are 10 million Arabs in Iran. The truth seems to be somewhere in the middle (or close to it), for according to some independant sources there is an estimate of 3-5 million Arabs living inside Iran.

1. The Arabs of the coastal areas of Iran (Arab as-Sahel/ عرب الساحل)

The Arabs of the coastal regions of Iran (Bushehr and Hormozgan): are relatively small in number (a few hundred thousand) for the majority of the Sunnis (Shafi’is) of the south are the native (Lari/Achomi) Persian Sunnis. However, traditionally some coastal areas (since the arrival of Islam) of the south were inhabited by Arab tribes who without exception are (Shafi’i) Sunnis (unlike the Ahwazi Arabs who are majority Shia).

Many major tribes of the Arabian peninsula migreated (mostly after the arrival of Islam) to the southern Iranian shores, including Bani Tamim, Bani Hammad, al-Maraziq (Marzuqis), al-Qawasim (the rulers of UAE) etc. during some periods of history some of those tribes even had their own emirates in the coastal areas of Iran. Culturally there is almost zero difference between Iranian coastal Arabs and the Arabs in the Gulf countries. Men and women traditional dresses, accent and dialects, custom etc. are all similar to identical, in some southern Iranian towns one could think of himself to be in Bahrain or the Emirates instead of Iran. Gulf Arabic is spoken by southern Iranians Arabs (resembles Emirati Arabic the most) and many Persian Sunnis.

2. Ahwazi Arabs

Khuzestan was formerly known as ‘Arabistan’ (the land of Arabs), for obvious reasons ( most of it southern parts are populated by Arabs). Even the Safavids right up to the Qajar dynasty called this area ‘Arabistan’ (whereas in Arabic it’s known as ‘al-Ahwaz’). It was the Pahlavi dynasty, starting with Reza Pahlavi who changed the name of this region including many Arab cities into Persian ones. Interestingly the Iranian regime that claims Islam also followed the footsteps of the chauvinist Pahlavis, in fact the Iranian regime is even more aggressive in its ‘Persianisation’ politics than the previous regime. Arabistan was a semi-autonomous sheikhdom until 1925, when it was brought under central Iranian government control and later renamed, marking the start of a systematic campaign to Persianise if not obliterate the Arabs of Arabistan (them being Shias didnt help them a lot, for the deep grudge the Iranian Shia regime holds for Arabs is based on the Shia religion itself, hence the support to Palestinians and other Arabs groups are for the sake of propaganda and a certain agenda Iran follows, any Ahwazi Arab can tell a story how Iran would treat Arabs once they are fully under their control, see the killings in Syria were Iran aided an Alawite regime to kill thousands of Arabs).

The Arab (particularly Ahwazi) presence in Iran did not begin with the Islamic conquest of Persia in 633 AD. For centuries, Iranian rulers had maintained contacts with Arabs outside their borders, dealt with Arab subjects and client states in Iraq, and settled Arab tribesmen in various parts of the Iranian plateau. Extremist Persian nationalist groups claim that Ahwazi Arabs are recent immigrants, or at best Arab tribes who settled in Persia after the arrival of Islam. This is not true and contradicts historical accounts which state that Arab tribes have been settled in this very area (including Iraq) thousand of years BC. Arab Ahwazis are not ‘Persianised Arabs’ (except a very small minority), most Ahwazi Arabs trace their origin back to well known Arabic tribes, from the Bani Kaab, Ban Turuf to Bani Tamim. All Arab customs and traditions can be found among Ahwazi Arabs, from the dressing to traditional music.

Ahwazi Arabs (like the absolute majority of Iranian Arabs) are bilingual, speaking Arabic as their mother tongue, and Persian as a second language. The variety of Arabic spoken in the province is Khuzestani Arabic, which is a Mesopotamian dialect shared by Arabs across the border in Iraq and Kuwait. It can be easily understood by other Arabic-speakers. Apparently it resembles the Basrah (Basrawi) accent the most, both accent (Ahwazi and Basrawi are heavily influenced by Farsi (Persian).

Most Ahwazi Arabs are Shias (like southern Iraqis), however, just like southern Iraq has a Sunni minority (in almost ever Shia city, like Basrah etc.), the Ahwazi Arabs too traditionally have a small Sunni minority. In addition to that, the recent mass-conversions from Shiism to Sunnism (even with fear acknowledged by the Iranian regime) have massily increased the number of Sunnis in this region, no other Shia regime of Iran has witnessed mass-conversions like in Khuzestan/Arabistan (although the new phenomenon of conversions from Shiism to Sunnism is known in all of Iran, particularly amongst Persian Shias).

3. Khorassani Arabs

A quite unknown groups. The Arabs in Khorasan are a group of Arabs who immigrated to Khorasan Province, Iran, during the Abbasid Caliphate (750−1513).

Most Khorasani Arabs belong to the tribes of Sheybani, Zangooyi, Mishmast, Khozaima, and Azdi, Khaz’al etc. Khorasan Arabs are Persian speakers, and only a few speak Arabic as their mother tongue. The cities of Birjand, Mashhad, and Nishapur are home to large groups of Khorasan Arabs. Amongst them are Sunnis and Shias.

4. Khamseh Arabs

Khamseh nomads live in eastern Fars Province. The Khamseh is a tribal confederation in the province of Fars in southwestern Iran. It consists of five tribes, hence its name Khamseh, “the five”. The tribes are still partly nomadic, and some are Arabic speaking. They are sheep breeders, which they herd mounted on camels.

The history of the Khamseh confederation of tribes starts in 1861–1862 when Shah Naser ed-Din created the Khamseh Tribal Confederation. He combined five existing nomadic tribes, the Arab, Nafar, Baharlu, Inalu, and the Basseri and placed them under the control of the Qavam ol-Molk family. The pattern of forcibly uniting tribes was not a new idea, as the Safavid Shahs previously created homogenous Kizilbash confederations to temper the increasing strength of the Qashqai, who were gaining so much power. The Khamseh tribes were a mixture of Turks, Luri, and Arabs, but they all came to be called Arabs in contrast to the Turkic Qashqai.

5. Persian (in some cases other Iranian ethnic group) families with Arab ancestry:

These group are not Arabs are neither by themselves nor others inside Iran considered as Arabs, neither linguistically, nor culturally nor traditionally, however as a matter of fact , many Arab tribes, particularly in pre-Safavid Persia have been settled in all major Persian cities, including Shiraz, Isfahan and Ray (Tehran). Therefore it is much likely that many Persian families are descendants of Arab tribes or at least mixed. In fact many Iranian (Persian, Azeri and other ethnic groups) families carry names of Arab tribes such as Banu ‘Amer (Ameris) etc.

Then there are the Shia (and Sunni) Sayyids ( Sadah – سادة) , both claiming ancestry to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The authenticity of all those claims can certainly be disputed, for many claimants do not even carry a family tree, however, historically many of the Alawites have settled in Iran, from Mazandaran (Tabaristan in the north) to the Abbasids who ruled Persia and settled in Khorassan and later in the Fars province. It is hence not unlikely that some Persians are descendants of the Quraysh (or even the Prophet Muhammad directly), Sunnis and Shias alike (there are Sunni and Shia Sayyids inside Iran) for intermarriages between the Alawites, Abbasids and other Arab tribes and the Persians did occur.

مقديشو، الصومال
مقديشو أصلها «مقعد شاه» فقد كانت مقر الحاكم الفارسي في أوائل القرن السادس الهجري عندما حكم الفارسيون الصومال.

For obvious reasons( such as geographical ones) the close ties between Somalia and Yemen are a well covered historical fact. Adding to that that most Yemenis just like their Somali brothers on the horn belong to the same religion and even school of thought (Shafi’is) and sometimes even to the same tribes and clans, hence it is no wonder that the relationship between these two lands are not a secret to anyone who knows a bit about these two countries. However, next to the (mainly Yemeni) Arabs the Somalis encouratered another people, non-Arabs, the Persians. From the times of pre-Islamic Persia till pthe re-Safavid (Most Persians and other Iranian tribes were forced into Twelver Shi’ism by the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century AD) Sunni-Shafi’i one, Persians always had close ties to Somalia, they traded there, spread the religion there (Shafi’i school and sometimes even settled there (at the coastal cities).

In the 6th century (Hijri) the Persians (back then a absolute majority Sunni-Shafi’i people i.e. pre-Safavid era) started to trade (and according to some account even rule) in the coastal towns of Somalia. The name of the capital of Somalia is مقديشو Mugadishu; literally “The Seat of the Shah” (in Persian) which is derived from the Arabic «مقعد شاه». (i.e. Mogadishu is made of an Arabic word which is “Maq’ad i.e. seat and a Persian word which is “Shah” i.e. king/ruler). Historical accounts speak of the beauty of Mogadishu (Maq’ad Shah), a very advanced city inhabited by a beautiful people (the Somalis), apparently it’s beauty and magnificence was so astonishing that it became known as THE throne of the Shah (Maq’ad Shah/Mogadishu) of Persia who had authority over Mogadishu (when Persians traded in east Africa). Persian Sunni-Shafi’is (before the 16th century most Persians were Shafi’i Sunnis) even aided the Somalis by actively fighting the Habasha (Abyssinians/Ethiopians) who are another very strong and proud people in east Africa who even during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) were a highly advanced people, proud of their old civilisation conquering foreign lands. To this day Ethiopia is the only country in Africa that has never been occupied, in fact they occupied others and took other Africans as slaves). In the 15th century AD Abyssinia (Ethiopia) tried to conquer Somalia, but with the help of Sunni Persian soldiers there Abyssinians were pushed back (since then Somalia has quite cold relations to Ethiopia, which actually has a positive relationship with Muslims in general, after all it was the Christian land that embraced the Prophet’s companiosn who fled from the pagan Quraysh tribe, in the early days of Islam). Somalis (just like the Ethiopians) were never enslaved, in fact along with the Arabs and Persians they were known to enslave weaker African tribes, Mogadishu itself was the pearl of the horn of Africa, very advanced and sophisticated. The Muslim historian Ibn Battuta (14th century AD) mentions how much of a sophisticated city Somalia was, it’s mostly indigenous rulers were known to speak at least three languages fluently). It is also believed that some Somalis, especially the coastal town residents are the descendants of Portuguese, Arab and Persian merchants who settled in Somalia.

There are also other coastal towns in Somalia with even more accurate Persian names. Benadir for istance is a coastal region of Somalia. It covers most of the Indian Ocean coast of the country, from the Gulf of Aden to the Juba River, containing the capital of Mogadishu. The name comes from Persian bandar, which means port (referring to the northern ports of Barawa and Mogadishu), a fact that reflects the region’s importance to Persian and Arab trade during the European Middle Ages. There is even Bandar Cabaas {Abbas} in Somiland, the very same city exists in south Iran (Bandar Abbas).

Source: Basically every historical account about the origins of the capital of Somalia mention the above, in English you can refer to: David D. Laitin, Said S. Samatar, Somalia: Nation in Search of a State, (Westview Press: 1987), p. 12.). Here a Somali website confirming the Persian influence on Mogadishu:http://www.somaliaonline.com/community/topic/the-founders-of-moqdishu-the-persian-bazrangids/

The influence of Islam on Mogadishu and its hinterland led to persian made Islamic-influenced architecture. The building of the Fakr ad Din Mosque in approximately 1268 is an example of the Islamic influenced architecture in Mogadishu. It can be seen in the picture below.

Persian-Somali history is actually very old and pre-dates Islam. The Persian Emperor Cambyses (Kambiz) II upon conquering Ancient Egypt sent ambassadors to Macrobia (now Somalia) bringing luxury gifts for the Macrobian king to entice his submission, but instead the Macrobian ruler replied with a challenge for the Persian ruler in the form of an unstrung bow, that if the Persians could manage to string, they would have the right to invade his country, but until then they should thank the gods that the Macrobians never decided to invade their empire.” After receiving the bow from Somali rulers, the Persians never invaded Somalia instead offered treaty and joined the Somalis in the construction of Mogadishu and other coastal towns. The Sassanid (pre-Islamic) Persians had close ties with Somalia too and of course the Muslim Persians in the 6th century (after Hirji) i.e. pre-Safavid era where the absolute majority of Persians where Shafi’i Sunnis just literally all Somalis today (ironically most native Persians in south Iran are still Sunni-Shafi’i to this very day, despite the onslaught of the Safavids who forced most Shafi’is to Twelver Shi’ism there is still a seizable ethnic Persian (also known in the south as Laris/Khodmoonis) Sunni-Shafi’i minority many parts of south Iran (including the Fars and Hormozgan province). As for post-Safavid Persia i.e. after the 16th century AD then obviously the relationship of Iran (Persia) and Somalia have cooled down, especially since the neo-Safavid Khomeinian Rafidi revolution (Iran is activerly trying to spread Shi’ism in all of Africa, including the horn. However, Somalis are known as staunch Sunnis, well respected Somali scholars have taught the biggest scholars in Saudi Arabia, many Somalis are fluent in Arabic and much better educated about the evil reality of the Iranian regime and the Rafidi sect, hence it is no wonder that Iran has almost zero success in spreading Shi’ism in the horn. The only places Iran is successful in spreading Shi’ism is in some parts of west Africa and north Africa (particularly amongst semi-Shia, extremist Sufi groups i.e. regions were ignorance is wide spread).

Persian Sunni-Shafi’is (before the 16th century most Persians were Shafi’i Sunnis) even aided the Somalis by actively fighting the Habasha (Abyssinians/Ethiopians) who are another very strong and proud people in east Africa who even during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) were a highly advanced people, proud of their old civilisation conquering foreign lands. To this day Ethiopia is the only country in Africa that has never been occupied, in fact they occupied others and took other Africans as slaves). In the 15th century AD Abyssinia (Ethiopia) tried to conquer Somalia, but with the help of Sunni Persian soldiers there Abyssinians were pushed back (since then Somalia has quite cold relations to Ethiopia, which actually has a positive relationship with Muslims in general, after all it was the Christian land that embraced the Prophet’s companiosn who fled from the pagan Quraysh tribe, in the early days of Islam).

Somalis (just like the Ethiopians) were never enslaved, in fact along with the Arabs and Persians they were known to enslave weaker African tribes, Mogadishu itself was the pearl of the horn of Africa, very advanced and sophisticated. The Muslim historian Ibn Battuta (14th century AD) mentions how much of a sophisticated city Somalia was, it’s mostly indigenous rulers were known to speak at least three languages fluently). It is also believed that some Somalis, especially the coastal town residents are the descendants of Portuguese, Arab and Persian merchants who settled in Somalia.”

#somalia

The great Kurds (sons of Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi Al-Kurdi) are the nomads (Badus/Bedouins) of Persia +++

Kurds (Shafi’is) make up the majority Sunni population of Iran (followed by Balochi Hanafis, Turkmen Hanafis and Persian Lari Shafi’is of southern Iran and Khorasani Persian Hanafis), there are over 10 million Kurds in Iran, the absolute majority are Sunnis (some are Shia, especially in Kermanshah and in Khorasan were some Kurds were deported by the Safavids and forced into Shiism)

Kurds are an Iranian rooted ethnic group, to be precise, Kurds are Median. Anthropologically, Kurds are a branch of the Iranian tree (Iranic people not to be confused with Iranian as in the sense of a modern state). Meds are one of the 3 major Aryan Tribes of Iran (Persia, Media, Parthia). Kurdish roots go back to 6th century BC, Median Kingdom of Iran. Since then, for off and on throughout the history, Kurdistan has been “a state” of Iran (or Persia if we were to use the latin term).

Kurds like other Iranian tribes such as Baloch are very closely retated to Persians. The three (Iranic) ethnic groups (Persians, Kurds and Baloch) belong to the four major ethnic people living in Iran.The other ethnic groups are Arabs and Turks. Even Kurdish language and traditions are very closely related to other Iranian traditions (like that of Persians or Lurs etc.).

Regardless of its possible roots in ancient toponymy, the ethnonym Kurd might be derived from a term kwrt- used in Middle Persian as a common noun to refer to “nomads” or “tent-dwellers”, which could be applied as an attribute to any Iranian group with such a lifestyle. The term gained the characteristic of an ethnonym following the Muslim conquest of Persia, as it was adopted into Arabic and gradually became associated with an amalgamation of Iranian and Iranicised tribes and groups in the region. Here some Islamic sources confirming that Kurds are the beduins of the Persians:

1. Imam Al-Tabari (from Tabaristan/northern Iran/Persia) said:

نعم الكرد هم بدو الفرس واحد منهم اوصى بحرق ابراهيم في النار- الطبري جلد 2 ص 58

“Yes, the Kurds are the Beduins of the the Persians, from among them is an individual who ordered Ibrahim to be burned.” (Al-Tabari, vol. 2. page 58)

2. Imam Ibn Athir had the same opinion as Imam Al-Tabari (see Ibn Athir’s tafsir

3. Ibn Qudamah famously stated that “the Kurds are the “Beduins of the Persians”. (see his Al-Muqaddimah)

4. Imam Ibn Kathir mentions the Kurds as the Beduins of the Persians and how one of them actually ordered the burning of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him):

“There had never been a fire like it. They put Ibrahim, peace be upon him, into a catapult, at the suggestion of a nomadic Kurdish man from Persia.” Shu`ayb Al-Jaba’i said, “His name was Hayzan, and Allah caused the earth to swallow him up, and he will remain sinking into it until the Day of Resurrection. When they threw him he said, `Sufficient for me is Allah, and He is the best disposer of affairs.’

(Tafsir Ibn Kathir, English translation)

Similar narrations are attributed to Ibn Omar and his student Mujahid, although with weak chains (in Tafsir Al-Tabari):

يقول تعالى ذكره : قال بعض قوم إبراهيم لبعض : حرقوا إبراهيم بالنار ( وانصروا آلهتكم إن كنتم فاعلين ) يقول : إن كنتم ناصريها ، ولم تريدوا ترك عبادتها .

وقيل : إن الذي قال ذلك رجل من أكراد فارس .

و عن مـجاهد رحمه الله قال: تلوت هذه الاَية ( حَرِّقُوهُ وَانْصُرُوا آلِهَتَكُمْ ) علـى عبد الله بن عمر, فقال: أتدري يا مـجاهد من الذي أشار بتـحريق إبراهيـم بـالنار؟ قال: قلت لا. قال: رجل من “أعراب فـارس”. قلت: يا أبـا عبد الرحمن, أوَ هل للفرس أعراب؟ قال: نعم الكرد هم أعراب فـارس, فرجل منهم هو الذي أشار بتـحريق إبراهيـم بـالنار

There is also a minority view, completely shunned (rightfully) which states that Kurds are actually of Arab (!) descent. Imam Ibn Abdil-Barr Al-Maliki stated that they are actually of Arab origin who migrated to Persia and mixed with Persians and eventually became ‘Ajam (non-Arab/Persian) themselves. Ibn Abdil-Barr stated that the Kurds are descendants of Amru Muzayqa Ibn Amer Ibn Ma’ Al-Sama’. This is a rather bizarre opinion, considering that nothing in Kurdish history has EVER resembled anything Arabic. Neither linguistically, nor culturally nor ethnically (modern day DNA tests have proven that the vast majority of Kurds are of Iranic stock without a shred of doubt), except the fact that Kurds traditionally live in a nomadic way. But this is the case with all ancient people, even Persians were once nomads. This lifestyle of their might have supported the view that they are of Arab origin.

Khorasan means the land of sunrise.

The older Persian province of Khorasan included parts which are today in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Some of the main historical cities of Persia are located in the older Khorasan: Nishapur and Tus (now in Iran), Merv and Sanjan (now in Turkmenistan), Samarkand and Bukhara (both now in Uzbekistan), Herat and Balkh (now in Afghanistan), Khujand and Panjakent (now in Tajikistan). In its long history, Khorasan knew many conquerors and empires: Greeks, Mauryans, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, Safavids, Baloch, Pashtuns and others.

Khorasani people are Persians, linguistically, culturally and ethnically (although throughout history other ethnic group such as Pashtun, Hazara and other Turkic people inhabited parts of Khorasan). All Khorasanis in all parts of greater Khorasan all the Persian language (in different dialects, just like Arabs have different dialects).

It’s just like an Qahtani Arab and an Adnani Arab, or an Arab from the Bani Tamim tribe or an Arab from the Bani Marzuq tribe, they are both Arab although they might have different dialects and accents and also differ (often heavily) in many cultural aspects (although unite in some basic aspects that are shared by all traditional Arab tribes), some even differ ethnically, like Nubian Arabs of Sudan who are obviously mixed with native Nubians, or Arabs of the Maghrib, many of them either of Berber origin or heavily mixed with Berbers, nonetheless, they are today all considered as Arabs since they share one language and one culture (even if accents and cultural aspects may differ in some aspects).

Herat for example which is located in modern day Afghanistan (Afghanistan is originally the land of the Pashtuns i.e. Afghans. Herat and large part of Afghanistan are not Pashtun/Afghan land but Khorasani land where Persian speakers make up the majority up to this very day) is a historical Sunni Khorasani city (many scholars of the Salaf emerged from there). Herati people are hence Khorasanis who speak Persian (Dari dialect), they share the same culture, tradition and even dialect and accent (to a certain extent) with the Persian Khorasani people of Iran (most Persian Khorasanis are Shias, yet even Mashad as an Iranian Persian Khorasani minority, and there are some Persian Sunni majority cities in Iran, like Birjand etc.), after all they are neighbour and have naturally more in common then let’s say with a southern Iranian from Bandar Abbas who has more in common with Gulf Arabs than with Khorasanis. This is why a Tajik (what many Persian Sunnis in Afghanistan are called) have much more in common with an Iranian Persian Khorasani then let’s say with a Pashtun. The fake politcal borders though will of course seperate a people (just like the fake borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan have separated the proud Pashtun people from each other) and suggest otherwise.

Today some Afghans may refuse to call themselves Persian or even Khorasani, however this doesn’t change the fact that the Tajiks of Afghanistan and the Heratis etc. are all Persian speakers and Khorasanis. Modern day politcal borders don’t define us, what defines us is our history and historically Herta for instance was even part of modern day Iran not too long ago (lost to Britains by the Treaty of Paris, 1857) and Merv (located in modern day Turkmenistan many great Sunni scholars emerged from this Khorasani city) by the Russians in 1893.

hence it doesn’t matter if Imam Bukhari was born in a place which is today called “Uzbekistan” and is mainly inhabited by a Turkic people. What is important is that parts of Uzbekistan (Samarqand and BUKHARA) where always Persian land, to this the people of Bukhara and Samarqand (Tajik Persians, a minority in Uzbekistan. Many heavily mixed with Turkic-mongolid people) speak Persian (Dari form), and this part of the world was always part of greater Khorasan, hence Imam Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mughīrah ibn BARDIZBAH was never called an “Uzbek” , rather Imam Ibn Hajar (in his Muqaddimah of “Fath al-Bari”) called him a Persian. Same goes for the Persian (or Tajik, or Khorasani, all words refering to a people who share one language to say the least) people of Khorasan in Afghanistan (and Tajikistan which is over 95% Persian-Tajik and Sunni).

By the way: Although the vast majority of Persians (and even Khorasani Persians) in Iran are Shia, yet Persian Sunnis are not extinct in Iran, they represent a notable minority in the Khorasan province of Iran (all Hanafis) and a majority in the historical Larestan province (southern Iran i.e. Fars province and Hormozgan province) of Iran (all Shafi’is):http://sonsofsunnah.com/2014/09/11/the-ethnic-persian-sunnis-of-iran/

Khāqāni (1121 – 1190, Tabriz), was a Persian poet during the pre-Safavid era (where the majority of Persians in what is known today as Iran were staunch Sunnis).

He was born in the historical region known as Shirvan (located now in present country of Azerbaijan), under the Shirvanshah (a vassal of the Seljuq empire) and died in Tabriz (Tabriz used to be a majority Persian city of staunch Sunnis, today it’s majority Azeri and Rafidi), Iran.Ironically many Iranians (including nationalist) love to attribute him to themselves, not realising that
1. He was a proud and believing Muslim
2. He was a Sunni, a orthodox Muslim who despised the Rafidah with a passion

Translating poems is not easy and in any case it takes the sweetness of its original, but here a try:

خاقاني

این رافضیان که امت شیطانند
بی‌دینانند و سخت بی‌ایمانند
از بس که خطا فهم و غلط پیمانند
خاقانی را خارجی می‌دانند

These Rafidis are the Ummah (nation) of Shaytan (Satan) ***
They have no religion and are stubborn without Iman (belief) ***
They are so weak in comprehension and treacherous ****
That they consider Khāqāni from amongst the Kharijites ***

(Kharaqi had probably a lot of debates and discussion with the Rafidah. And how striking the similarity of his situation is to ours, for whoever has ever debated the Rafidah knows how weak their are in comprehending the most simplest issues, how biased they are and how they accuse everyone who opposes them with nicknames (today they use ‘Takfiri-Wahhabi’ etc in the past it was Khariji or Nasibi).
Khāqāni like the absolute majority of Persian poets (like Saadi Shirazi, Attar, Hafez etc.) is Sunni and they draw him according to Persian traditions. Ironically the Rafidah, even the Arab ones draw their Imams in a typical Persian fashion, with the addition of female facial features like plucked eyebrow and a typical feminine face, something that is barely even done for the Persian poets like Khāqāni)

The Jame’ of Bastak. Note the striking similarity to Gulf Mosques, opposed to the common Iranian Shia mosques that are mostly based on Safavid architecture. Here some pictures:

Bastak is a majority Sunni town, inhabited by ethnic Persian Sunnis (also known as Achomis/Larestanis/Khodmonis, a very influencial minority in almost all Khalij countries, many politicans and even Sunni Shaykhs in the Khalij are of southern Persian origin). Ethnic Persians are a minority amongst Iranian Sunnis (most Iranian Sunnis are Kurds, Baloch and Turkmen), however contrary to the misconception that many hold about the Sunnis of Iran – i.e. that all Sunni Iranians are of non-Persian ethnicity (like Kurds and Baloch) and that virtually all ethnic Persians in Iran are Shiites – in fact many southern Persians (many who fled major Persian cities such as Isfahan and Shiraz after the onslaught of the Safavids) are Sunnis to this very day, in fact the Larestan province and the Hormozgan (that also has a Arab Sunni minority) province is a traditionally Sunni-Shafi’i stronghold and in Khorassan the Khorassanis are a notable minority too, most of them of Persian ethnic backround. More about ethnic Persian Sunnis:

http://sonsofsunnah.com/2014/09/11/the-ethnic-persian-sunnis-of-iran/

In previous posts and articles we have shown that not all Sunni Iranians are of non-Persian (like Baloch, Kurdish etc.) ethnic backround. In fact vast landscapes of Iran are still inhabited by ethnic Persians, including unsuspected areas such as the outskirts of Mashad and and in general many towns in the Khorassan province of Iran (where Khorrassani Persian Sunnis represent a significant minority) and of course the southern provinces of Iran such as the Fars province (most towns south of Shiraz in the Fars province are majority Persian and Sunni) and the Bushehr (Abu Shahr) and Hormozgan province. The people in the southern part of the Fars province speak an ancient Persian dialect called Achomi.

The southern part of the Fars province (and traditionally even large parts of the Hormozgan province) are known as Larestan (not to be confused with Loristan which is a Shia area in south-west Iran). Most Larestanis refer to themselves as either Achomi or Khodmooni ( term literallymeaning “part of ourselves”/ “of our own” but figuratively used to refer to people from Gerash, Evaz, Khonj, Arad, Fedagh, Pishwar and other neighboring cities that share a common language known as “Achomi”).

The great Jame’ Sunni Mosque of Bandar Abbas.

A Qur’an competetion by the best Qur’an reciters of south Iran, Hormozgan.

One of the largest, in fact the largest Sunni city of south Iran is Bandar Abbas. Bandar Abbas has always been a port, and as such its various names have all addressed this function. The most common name over time (Gameroon) has traditionally been said to derive from Persian gümrük, customhouse (from Late Greek kommerkion, from Latin commercium, “commerce”), but is now speculated to be from Persian kamrūn, shrimp (which in Portuguese is camarão, similar to the former Portuguese name. During Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire, Bandar Abbas was known under the name of Hormirzad.

Bandari Sunni sisters and brothers, segregated in on of the lecture halls.

The great Jame’ Sunni Mosque of Bandar Abbas, at the Friday prayer.

The great Jame’ Sunni Mosque of Bandar Abbas, with a large conregation during Friday prayer.

Bandar Abbas was conquered by the Portuguese in 1514, and was an important location to protect their commerce in the Persian Gulf and India. They named the city Comorão, due to the presence of lobsters and crabs on its shores. In 1614, Comorão was taken by ‘Abbās the Safavid from the Portuguese and renamed Bandar-e ‘Abbās (“Port of ‘Abbās”). Backed by the English navy, ‘Abbās developed the city (known to the English-speaking world as Gombraun) into a major port. From 1740 onward, local Arab tribes who immigrated to Persia controlled the town under Persian rule until mid 1800s when their influence declined. Many Arabs still remained and live in Bandar ‘Abbas and many Bandari Persians (coastal Persians) have mixed with them, hence many Arab customs (including Arab traditional clothes – Dishdasha and Yemeni Izars -, headgears etc. Women are often seen wearing the exact same cloth as women in the Emirates and Bahrain etc.) are very common among Bandaris (many who are of a Persian, Arabic and even African backround).

Typical Bandari girl

Typicals Bandari clothes shared by all Bandaris.

The Izaar. A wrap clothing item commonly worn in Arabia, Horn of Africa, South and Southeast Asia elsewhere known as Futah, Sarong, Izār, Lungi, Macawwis (Somali) and Mundu. The Izaar is even common in south Iran as can be seen in this picture.

Traditional Sunni women cloth of Hormozgan is exactly the same traditional dress and facecover of Bahraini, Emirati and other Khaliji women.

A Qur’an competetion by the best Qur’an reciters of south Iran, Hormozgan.

An old picture of notable scholars (including Shaykh Ziyaie, rahimahullah) of Hormozgan.

Banner read: “The Sunnis of Hormozgan”

A few decades ago it was almost completely Sunni, however Reza Shah and his son (Mohammad Reza) both propagated a generally Anti-Islamic narrative of Persian nationalism, they both practiced the policy of migration and displacement of populations against the Arab people in the Khuzestan (Ahwaz) province and in Hormozgan where many Arabs still live to this day. 

تقبل الله منا و منكم صالح الأعمال
عيد مبارك

Happy ‘Id to all Muslims in particular our loyal supporters of our blog and Facebook page.

Picture is from the Sunni city of Taybad – stronghold of ethnic Persian Sunnis – in the khorassan province of Iran. The Persian lands of khorassan in particular the part which lies in current day Iran, cities such as Nishabur used to be the fortresses of Islam. Beacons of knowledge emerged from these lands. Persian khorassan in its Sunni era used to surpass Baghdad and all other major Muslim cities when it came to scholarship and Islamic and scientific learning institutes. Numerous scholars of the Salaf and Khalaf, Al-Hakim Al-Nishaburi, Imam Al-Ghazali and many more. Post-Safavid Iran produced the likes of Ayatullat Vahid Khorassani who can’t even recite the first verse of the Fatiha with correct Tajweed. Nevertheless, Sunnis are still presence in the khorassan province of Iran, even Mashhad city has a sunnibpopulation of 10-15%, and some towns south of Mashhad are even completely Sunni. The Majority of Sunnis of khorassan are ethnic Persian khorassanis and hanafis with a minority of Iranian Baloch and mainly Tajik (Persian) Sunnis from Afghanistan. To this day greater khorassan (which includes Afghanistan, Uzbekistans etc.) is inhabited by mostly Persian Speaking Sunnis.

Maryam Amirebrahimi knows the Quran by heart. Basically she’s a real Ayatullah (sign/miracle of Allah), not one of those Living corpses in Qom and Najaf who can’teven recite a single verse of the Fatihah with correct Tajwid and Makharij. She received her master’s in Education from UCLA, where her research focused on the effects of mentorship rooted in CriticalRace Theory for urban high school students of color. She holds a bachelor’s in Child and Adolescent Development from San Jose State University, where she served as the President of the Muslim Student Association for two consecutive years. Currently, she is pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in Islamic Studies through Al Azhar University. Maryam spent a year studying the Arabic language and Qur’an in Cairo, Egypt, and has memorized the Qur’an. She has been presented the Student of the Year award and holds a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Maryam frequently travels to work with different communities on topics related to spiritual connections, social issues and women’s studies

The Samanid dynasty (Persian: سامانیان, Sāmāniyān), also known as the Samanid Empire (819–999). It was the first native Persian empire after Arabs ruled Persia for around 300 years. This first ever Persian empire after the Muslim conquest by Caliph ‘Omar Ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) was not just Muslim but Sunni to the core. The Samanids ruled in Khorassan and Transoxiana. During the era of the Abbasids they ruled as Amirs of Khorasan, appointed by the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad. The Samanids were of Persian dehqan origin with roots stemming from Balkh (to this day a majority Persian-Tajik area in Afghanistan) in present-day northern Afghanistan.They claimed descent from the House of Mihran, high nobility of the Sassanian and Parthian (ancient Khorassan) empires conquered by the Muslims.

The very historical existence of the Samanids and they devoution to Islam and Sunnism is an ever sticking thorn in the throats of the extremist Twelver Shia (Rafidah) ruling establishment of modern day Iran and Persian supremacists alike who both hold deep grudge for orthodox Islam (Sunnism) and the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who defeated the tyrannical Sassanian (not to be confused with the Sunni Samanids) empire during the era of caliph ‘Omar Ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). These two groups have brainwashed several generations of Iranians ever since the heretical minonirty of twelver Shiism was forced upon most Iranians (in particular ethnic Persians). Iranians were told that from day one, ever since the “Arabs” (i.e. Muslims, they always refer to Muslims as Arabs!) invaded (read: blessed Persia with Islam and Tawheed) Iran, the Iranians never accepted Islam, they tried everything to refuse it and were more inclined towards Shiism as it was more pro-Persian. Finally they created a new Persian identity, a mixture of Pre-Islami Persian-Majoosism (Zoroastrianism) and Islam, which resulted in the formation of Shiism.

The above is a very common narrative among Persian supremacists and religious Iranian Shias alike (with the later emphasing slightly more on the Islamic character of Shiism, nonetheless supporting its Zoroastrian elements such as the celebration of Nowrooz and other pagan rituals that have become essential parts of Twelver Shiism). The aforementioned narrative has produced generations of Iranian (Shia and nationalist) youth who in one way or other hold grudge against Islam, the great great companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Arabs, ignorant of the fact the the most noble of their forefathers such as the Samanids championed Islam, Sunnis and the language of the Qur’an (Arabic) while at the same time staying true to their Persian origin i.e. Islam was seen by them as the truth, the religion of Arabs and non-Arabs alike which corrected the corruption that had befallen previous religions (such as Christianity, Jewism and Zoroastrianism that could have possibly in its original form be a religion from Allah).

The Samanids patronised Arabic to a significant degree but never denied their oirign. In a famous edict Samanid authorities declared that “here, in this region, the language is Persian, and the kings of this realm are Persian kings.” yet modern day Persian supremacists and extremists Shias of Iran have the audacity to claim that Islam in its Sunni form is incompatible with Persian culture , what a ludicrous notion considering that many Persians remained Zoroastrian during Arab rule and only became a majority Muslim nation during the Persian Sunni rule of the Persian Samanids. What an ironiy for those who claim that Arabs enforced Islam over all Persian when it fact Persian Muslims themselves were the cause for Islam winning the hearts of all Persians, without the need of a single sword. The Samanids were proud of their Persian heritage, Islam, Sunnism and the Arabic language. Islamic architecture and Islamo-Persian culture was spread deep into the heart of Central Asia by the Samanids. Following the first complete translation of the Qur’an into Persian, during the 9th century, populations under the Samanid empire began accepting Islam in significant numbers, besides, 900 years of Persian Muslim history was Sunni (Iran is majority for less than 500 years, during the era of the Safavids) and the very first Persian empire after the fall of the last Arab caliph was an empire formed and lead by the most noble Persians who devoutly raised the flag of Islam and spread Sunnism and cultured the Arabic and Persian language alike. The Samanids were so zealous that through missionary work converted the central Asian Turks to Islam and later under the Ghaznavids (Turko-Persian Sunni Empire!) more than 55,000 under the Hanafi school of thought. The mass conversion of the Turks to Islam eventually led to a growing influence of the Ghaznavids, who would later rule the region. These are all historical facts, however, the Iranian media is almost fully in the hands of either extremist Iranian Shias or Iranian (mostly ethnic Persian) supremacists who will either distort this historical fact or chose to not mention it at all as it remains a thorn in their throats, debunking their lie that all, or at least most Persians throughout history refused Islam to the best of their ability, to the extent of mixing it with their own customs to create a Persian Shiism.

Nothing could be further from the truth, whereas it is certainly true that from day one a minority of Persians filled the ranks of the biggest enemies of Islam (like Abu Lu’lu’ah), yet this minority group – throughout Persian Sunni history – had never the upper hand, they did not represent the majority of Persians who did not just accepted Islam and Sunnism, but championed it (along with the Arabic language) wherever they could (Persian Sunnis propagated Islam in the horn of Africa-Somalia all the way to Indonesia!). It was only when the Turkic Safavids conquered Persia and enforced Twelver Rafidi Shiism upon the majority of the people in Persian lands when this minority became the majority and ever since then spouts its historical distortion and tries to waterdown the Persian Sunni history of Iran, such as Persian Sunni Samanid empire that was more Persian than all those wretched enemies of Islam who claim Persian ancestry, Shias and supremacists alike.

and all praise is due to Allah.

Do you see these little innocent gorgeous children?

They are the TRUE Sons (and Daughters) of the Sunnis of Iran. They are Balochis, an ancient Iranic people, Sunnis to the bones, notorious all over Iran for their good character, bravery and religiosity. They are also from among – if not the most – deprived children and people of Iran, being guilty of two crimes, first benign Sunni and second being of non ethnic Persians ethnicity, but by Allah who raised the seven heavens, the rotten Rafidi Safavi clergy of Qom with their wasteful shrines and golden domes envy nothing more but these kids. These proud people who despite all the injustice that they’ve faced have never lost their faith and have never been broken by the authorities (despite decades of Shia missionary work in Irwnian Sunni areas) so much that Iranian Shias themselves admit that the average Iranian Sunni is a thousand time more religious and attached to Islam than the Iranian Shiites who despite all the efforts of the Safavi regime is known around the world as the most irreligious and often even straight apostate Islam