Avesta in Arab and Islamic works until the end of the ninth century AH (Historical study)

Abstract

The Arab and Islamic civilization witnessed a great activity starting from the second century AH / eighth century AD and it continued for many centuries, in interest in cultures and religions prior or neighboring to Islam

Arab and Islamic works have devoted remarkable attention to the Zoroastrian religion and its holy book (the Avesta). This interest included all aspects of this book, and there is no doubt that the difference is in many details and information related to the book as it was transmitted by the compilers, and this is natural due to the multiplicity of resources and the different methods of transmission of information and the intellectual nature of the work as well as its motives and inclinations.

Our research aims at listing the positions in which the owners of Arab and Islamic works dealt with the book (The Avesta) and highlighting the difference and agreement in the information they mentioned about it, and it also aims to clarify the vision of the authors of the works of this book in terms of whether it is a native book or not.

There is also no doubt that the owners of the works have reported a large amount of information which is an important source for every researcher in the Zoroastrian religion and the Avesta in particular, whether he is an Arab or Western researcher, due to the direct petition of the owners of the works to this religion and its companions and the fact that some of them were Zoroastrian or from a Zoroastrian family, Without forgetting the seriousness of debates and religious and philosophical debate, especially in the first Abbasid era, which indicates the enormous size and momentum of scientific, intellectual and religious activity and openness to the different other as a basic pillar of the Arab and Islamic renaissance in that period.

The issue excluded the fact that (the Avesta) was a book that was published or classified with great importance by the owners of Arab and Islamic works, and the discussion on this matter was not limited to the owners of the compilations of books of interpretation and jurisprudence, but went beyond it to the owners of other works. Some of them saw that they had a book. Each team has evidence to support their opinion.