the main religion in Iran

Throughout the history of the nation, various religions and sects have influenced Iranian religion.

During the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian Empires, Zoroastrianism was the most popular religion.

The Rashidun Caliphate invaded Persia in 651 AD and established Islam as the dominant religion.

Prior to the disastrous Mongol conquest, Sunnism was the most common type of Islam, but with the rise of the Safavids, Shi'ism eventually took complete control of Iran.

According to the 2011 Iranian census, 99.98% of Iranians practice Islam, with the remainder of the population following Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism—other legally recognized minor religions.

Government statistics may be skewed, though, because irreligion and some other religions, notably the Bahá' Faith, are not recognized by the Iranian government and leaving Islam may result in the death penalty.

According to a survey conducted in 2020 by the World Values Survey, 96.6% of Iranians identify as Muslims.

A different 2020 survey carried out online by a group based outside of Iran, however, discovered a much lower proportion of Iranians identifying as Muslims (32.2% as Shia, 5.0% as Sunni, and 3.2% as Sufi), and a sizeable portion not identifying with any organized religion (22.2% identifying as "None," along with some others identifying as atheists, spiritual, agnostics, and secular humanists).

The Shia branch of Islam, which is the country's official religion, is practiced by roughly 90–95% of Iranian Muslims, whereas just 5–10% identify as Sunni or Sufi Muslims.

Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Judaism all enjoy official protection and recognition in Iran, as well as special seats in the parliament.

The second-largest Jewish population in the Muslim and Middle Eastern worlds is found in Iran.

The Bahá' Faith and Christianity are the two non-Muslim religious minority that make up the majority in Iran.

The Bahá' community, traditionally Iran's largest religious minority, has faced persecution throughout its existence and is not acknowledged as a legitimate religion in the country.

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Many people mistakenly believe that Iran's population is entirely Muslim based on stereotypes.

They are ignorant of the fact that Iran has a long history of both well-known and obscure religions.

We can only list a small number of Iran's religious sites due to the country's great religious variety.

Iranian religions

Although there are just a few tens of thousands of Zoroastrians left today, they previously made up the majority of Iranians.

The greatest Jewish population in the Muslim world is in Iran, where there are also Christians.

Iran is an Islamic republic, and its constitution stipulates that Islam and the Twelver Ja'fari school are the country's recognized religions.

The constitution also establishes Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian Iranians as religious minorities and demands that other Islamic schools be treated with the utmost respect and that their adherents be permitted to practice their religion in accordance with their own law.

The 1906 Constitution, which was maintained after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, called for reserved Parliamentary seats to be allocated to the recognized religious minorities after the Persian Constitutional Revolution.

Assyrians, Jews, and Zoroastrians each have one seat, while there are two seats reserved for Armenians.

The majority of Sunni lawmakers come from Baluchistan and other regions with sizable Sunni ethnic minorities.

Religion in Iran is Islam

Since the Islamic conquest of Iran around 640 AD, Islam has been the country's official religion and a component of its governance.

It took a further few hundred years for Shi'a Islam to consolidate and rise to power in Iran on both a religious and political level.

Although there have been Shi'a dynasties in some regions of Iran since the 10th and 11th centuries, and Shi'as have lived in Iran from the beginning of Islam, according to Mortaza Motahhari, the majority of Iranian intellectuals and the general populace have always been Sunni.

Islam shi’a

Modern Shi'a Islam 98% of Iranians identify as Muslims, and 89% of them identify as Shi'a, practically all of them are Twelvers.

The Nizari Ismailism is the second-largest Shi'a group.

Shi'a, sometimes known as "Seveners," some of whom escaped Iran in the 1840s to South Asia, particularly Mumbai, following a failed uprising against the Shah of the Qajar dynasty.

The Shi'a factions distinguish between Fiver, Sevener, and Twelver according on how many divinely appointed leaders they believe were descended from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah and his son-in-law 'Al.

Many still exist scattered throughout Iran.

These Imams are regarded as the most knowledgeable authorities on the Qur'an and Islam, the most dependable keepers and guardians of the Sunnah (customary practice) of Muhammad, and the most deserving of imitation.

Along with the Imam lineage, Twelvers have their own preferred hadith collections, known as The Four Books.

Hadiths are narrations that Muslims consider to be crucial resources for comprehending the Quran and in questions of jurisprudence.

The Twelve Imams are the name given to the lineage of Imams by Twelvers.

Only one of these Imams, Ali ar-Ridha, who lived from 765 to 818 AD before any Shi'a dynasties emerged in Iran, is interred there at the Imam Reza shrine.

Muhammad al-Mahdi, the last Imam acknowledged by Twelvers, was born in 868 AD when the Alavids expanded their control in Iran and battled Al-Mu'tamid, the Abbasid Caliph at the time.

The final resting places of the Imams are in Saudi Arabia, with a few being pilgrimage sites in Iraq.

Furthermore, Qazi Nurullah Shustari (1549–1610) was born in Iran, and Shahid Thani (1506–1558), one of the Five Martyrs of Shia Islam, spent much of his later life there.

Established by Ja'far as-Sadiq, the Jafari school of theology, practice, and law (Madhhab) is the dominant one in Shi'a Islam.

Islam, Sunni

The second-largest religious group in Iran is Sunni Muslims.

After Sunni and Shi'a were separated by the Ghaznavids starting in 975 AD, the Great Seljuq Empire, and the Khwrazm-Shh dynasty before the Mongol invasion of Iran, they came to power in Iran.

About 9% of Iranians identify as Sunni Muslims, with the majority living in the northwest, followed by Kurds in the southwest and southeast, Arabs in the southwest, Baloch in the southeast, and Pashtuns and Turkmen in the northeast.

The Hanafi school, founded by Abu Hanifa an-Numan, is the most popular school of theology and law (Madhhab) among Sunnis in Iran.

Muslim Sufi

The Safavid era is when the Safavid Sufi order first emerged.

Chishti is a later order in Persia. The largest Shi'i Sufi order operating in Iran is the Nimatullahi, and there is also the Naqshbandi, a Sunni order operating in Iran's Kurdish territories.

The largest Iranian Sufi order now active outside of Iran is the Oveyssi-Shahmaghsoudi order.

Al-Farabi, Al-Ghazali, Jalal-ad-Din Rum, and Hafiz are examples of well-known Sufis.

Some people believe that Rumi's two major works, Dwn-e Ams and Ma'nawye Ma'naw, are the pinnacles of Sufi literature and mysticism.

Iranian Christians

Iran has a rich history of Christianity that dates to the very beginning of the faith. Furthermore, it is believed that the area had an impact on Christianity as well, maybe through the introduction of the idea of the Devil.

Iran has a number of very old churches, but Tatavous Vank (also known as St. Tatavous Cathedral or the Black Monastery) south of Makou City is perhaps the oldest and largest.

Of the estimated over 300,000 Christians in Iran, over 200,000 belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church, making up by far the largest Christian group.

In Iran, there are countless Christian churches.

Since at least the 1980s, Archbishop Manukian has been in charge of organizing the Armenian church.

The number of Assyrian Christians is unofficially estimated to be between 10,000 and 20,000.

Although many may practice in secret, Christian organizations from outside the nation estimate that there are less than 10,000 Protestant Christians in the nation.

Since its inception, Christianity has always been a minority religion, overshadowed by the dominant state religions, historically Zoroastrianism, and currently Shia Islam.

Iranian Christians have made a substantial contribution to the development of Christian missions.

Even though they have always been a minority, Armenian Christians have had freedom in educational settings, including the use of their own tongue in classrooms.

The Mandaeans do not view themselves as Christians, despite the fact that the government recognizes them as one of the three recognized religious minority.

Iran's Zoroastrianism

Iranian Zoroastrians are the oldest religious group still in existence today and have a vast history dating back thousands of years.

Zoroastrianism had been the main religion of the Iranian people before the Muslim Arab invasion of Persia (Iran).

The majority of Zoroastrians are of Persian descent, and they are concentrated in the cities of Yazd, Kerman, and Tehran.

While Zoroastrian groups in Iran claim there are about 60,000 of them, the Islamic Republic government places the number at 20,000.

Since the Arab conquest of Persia caused the Sassanid Zoroastrian empire to fall, Zoroastrians have endured periods of religious persecution that have caused a significant diaspora community to spread throughout the world, especially among the Parsis of India, who are significantly more numerous than the Zoroastrians in Iran.

Iran's Judaism

Jews have a long history in Iran, and it is believed that Cyrus, a Persian ruler, was responsible for their liberation. They were liberated from Babylonian enslavement by the father of the Persian Empire, allowing them to return to Jerusalem and build their Temple.

As a result, he is referred to in the Hebrew Bible as the protector and savior of the Jews.

With almost 25.000 people, Iran now has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel in the Middle East.

Iran's major cities, such Tehran and Isfahan, have synagogues, Jewish schools, and kosher butchers.

The writings of the Torah, the first book of the Hebrew Bible, serve as the foundation for Judaism, one of the first monotheistic religions.

Starting with the belief in a single just and caring God, it has elements in common with the other religions of the Book, including Christianity and Islam.

The Jews, often known as the "Chosen People," believed they had been chosen by God to create a better world and civilization and to convince others of the existence of God.

conclusion

Despite the presence of various religions, Iran should be regarded as one of the safest nations.

Despite practicing several religions, Iranians coexist peacefully.

In reality, the existence of several religions has led to the development of historically significant and aesthetically pleasing locations that are now popular tourist destinations.

When visiting Iran, you can drive to these stunning locations by hiring a car from the https://cafeerent.com/tourism website.