Have you ever heard of Zoroastrianism? If your answer is yes, then I’m impressed since I typically find that question being met with a look of bewilderment, often followed by one reoccurring comment: “What’s that?”

My faith, Zoroastrianism, is the first monotheistic religion, meaning it was the first faith to ever propose there being one God. It was founded approximately 3500 years ago by the Prophet Zarathustra in ancient Persia. Zoroastrianism was the dominant and most powerful world religion during its time in the Persian empires from 559 BC to 651 AC. Religious historians believe the Jewish, Christian and Muslim beliefs concerning God, the devil, a battle between good and evil, the soul, heaven and hell, resurrection, and a final judgment day, were all derived from Zoroastrianism. As Mary Boyce - who was a British scholar of Iranian languages, and an authority on the Zoroastrian faith - put it, “Zoroastrianism is the oldest of the revealed world - religions, and it has probably had more influence on mankind, directly and indirectly, than any other single faith.”

However, it has been estimated that there are less than 200,000 Zoroastrians around the world today. Ever since the fall of King Yazdegird III in 651 AC by Muslim rivals, Zoroastrians were persecuted and forced to either convert to Islam or flee. My ancestors chose to flee to preserve the religion and found refuge in India under the Hindu King, Jadav Rana, who allowed them to live on his lands as well as openly practice our religion. This is where our Parsi culture flourished.

Furthermore, just a few days back, I was reading a scholarly source on key Islamic texts when something caught my eye. Listed alongside sacred Islamic scriptures like the Qur’an and Hadith was a text called the Shahnameh. The Shahnameh, or the Book of Kings, is the world’s longest epic poem ever written by a single poet, which delves into the history of Ancient Persia and stories of the empire’s kings up until the 651 AD. This amazing text is rich with references to, as well as values and concepts of, Zoroastrianism and was written by Ferdowsi, a Zoroastrian-Irani poet.

Now, this text - in the source I read - is presented as part of Islamic culture. However, it was created during the Pre-Islamic period of ancient Persia, written in the Parsi or Persian language, by a Zoroastrian poet, and with frequent references to the Zoroastrian faith and culture. Can you see the issue here? As my father put it, it is like putting a Buddhist scripture into a lesson about Christianity and claiming it is a part of the Christian culture.

I’m proud to be Zoroastrian, and even though there is not much I can do to change what I read in that scholarly source, I want to stand up for my culture and say that the Shahnameh is not an ancient Islamic text. It is a part of the Pre-Islamic, Zoroastrian heritage.

To read more about Zoroastrianism and or the Shahnameh, visit: “Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings,” “The Legacy of Ferdowsi,” and “Zoroastrian Heritage.”