The Persian Empire and the Arabian Peninsula

 “The Persian Empire and the Arabian Peninsula - Much of what needs to be said about the influence of the Persian Empire in the Arabian Peninsula has, in a sense, already been said during our discussion of the Roman Empire above. The Persian Empire was in many ways the mirror image of the Roman Empire255, but also its eternal and sworn enemy. The policies that the Persian Empire (also known as the Sassanian Empire in the immediate pre-Islamic period) followed towards the Arabian Peninsula was remarkably like that of the Romans, except that they were probably even more convinced of the strategic importance of this part of the world. This is because Persian rulers twice used the strategy of passing through Arab lands to strike at parts of the Roman Empire (in 252 and 540 CE). Persian emperors must, therefore, have lived with the terrible awareness that what they did during war could also be done to them in return. They were, therefore, if anything even more deeply committed to keeping their Arabian borderlands safe by using Arab mercenaries. The Sassanian-sponsored desert city of Hira, populated by the Lakhmids (Arab allies of the Persians) 256 was renowned for hosting some of the most ferocious warriors on the planet as well as for providing outlets for the fleshly enjoyments of such warriors. 257 It perhaps need not be repeated here that the Persians clearly had never heard of the Meccans or the Quraysh, this despite their deep involvement in Arab tribal affairs. The recipients of the Qur’an were probably more inclined to support the Roman cause (they were supposed to rejoice in a future Roman victory after all). This does not mean, however, that Persia had no influence on the development of Islam and the Qur’an. For while the Persians had evidently never heard of the Meccans, whoever wrote the Qur’an certainly knew about the Persians. For while they are not directly mentioned in the Qur’an (as are the Romans), Persian ideas and entities do make an appearance. The most obvious place where this can be seen is in the multitude of Persian loan-words that made their way into the Qur’an. 258 Another intriguing possibility can be found in the Qur’anic recognition of the religion of the Sabians as a legitimate revelation from Allah (Qur’an 2: 62, 5: 69 and 22: 17). Several hypotheses as to what ‘Sabianism’ refers to have been advanced and the theory that it was a religion of Persian origin (also known as Mandeanism) is one of the strongest contenders. 259 Having said all of this, it is probably fair to say that the most profound Persian influence on Islam occurred long after the life of Muhammad and after the Persian Empire had, in fact, been destroyed by the Arab conquests. This was due to fact that many of the Persians who were converting to Islam in later centuries brought with them beliefs and ideas that had very little to do with the preaching of a desert prophet, but that drew deeply from the ancient Persian religion known as Zoroastrianism260 (this is a topic we shall return to later).”

— The Mecca Mystery: Probing the Black Hole at the Heart of Muslim History by Peter Townsend