The Bilateral Encounter of Iranian Social Classes with Muslim Arabs in the Early Islamic Centuries

Abstract

The process of the Iranian society’s encounter with Muslim Arabs essentially constituted an interaction between two cultural systems—Iranian and Islamic—which ultimately shaped a new cultural-civilizational destiny for the Iranian people. This study, employing a descriptive-analytical method, addresses the significant question of how different social strata within Iranian society responded to the dominance of Muslim Arabs over Iran, and how each class interacted with the conquerors. The findings indicate that various social classes in Iran exhibited distinct patterns of engagement with Muslim Arabs; the elite strata, in order to preserve their status and interests, more rapidly turned toward interaction and cooperation with the Arabs, while the lower classes gradually gravitated toward Islam through the acquisition of social rights and increased familiarity with authentic Islamic teachings, particularly through the channel of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them). On the other hand, the early Arab rulers initially sought to utilize influential social groups to facilitate governance and maintain control over the Iranian lower classes; however, over time, these interactions expanded, and under the framework of Islamic civilization, both groups evolved into a relatively unified entity at the cultural and civilizational level.