Chapter Eight: The Nature of Religious History and the Necessity of Historical Reason from Deceit and Divine Religion by Sadeq Khademi

Introduction to Historical Understanding

In its absolute application, “history” denotes chronology and temporal cognition, deriving as a nominal infinitive from the root “arkh,” signifying the recording of time and the representation of an era through human events, expressed in forms such as written, oral, or visual narratives pertaining to the past. The study of events in the present era is termed “contemporary history,” distinct from “history” in its unqualified sense.

History encompasses an awareness of the causality and modalities of interconnected events, elucidating the relationships among them and comprehending the conditions of societies in bygone periods based on credible documents and evidence. It involves reconstructing the trajectories of communities or nations that, as historical realities, have been subject to the passage of time and hold significant validity for contemporary society and its identity.

Historical Reason

Every historical event is conceptualized and explicated through an understanding of its meaning, attainment of its historical content, tracing of its origins, identification of its point of inception, exploration of its evolutionary trajectory, examination of all interrelated components, recognition of the necessity of its emergence, and comprehension of its ultimate purpose and destination.

The analysis and comparison of historical events, periods, circumstances, and the proximity or distance of the historian to the event, coupled with historical inquiry informed by established historical facts, the semantic world, and the lived context of each event—as discerned by historical reason—enable a narrative that is closer to the truth. Historians who lack ethical commitment in narrating events, or who engage in describing, fabricating, or editing historical stories, censoring or concealing realities, or serving the interests of patrons of wealth, power, or deceit, or those driven by religious or ethnic prejudices on commission, diminish the likelihood of uncovering historical truths and reduce the probability of achieving an accurate account.

The narration of any historical event necessitates historical rationality, particularly through alignment with historical evidence and discoveries to identify inconsistent, distorted, or fabricated accounts lacking logical coherence, as well as revisions that invert the truth of the event. More critically, it acknowledges the possibility that every event contains historical materials that, for various reasons, remain obscured from the contemporary historian or theorist, resulting in a reductive or biased transmission of the event. Historical reason positions the historian toward moderation, the caution of modern rationality, and the analytical framework of contemporary historical inquiry.

The present book employs historical reason with the specific aim of distinguishing authentic narratives from inauthentic ones, analyzing some of the most significant historical events related to major religions and the religious disposition of Iranians. It organizes its analyses and theories based on these examinations to yield insights as close as possible to beneficial reality. This is particularly crucial given the scarcity of reliable written sources on religious history and historiography, especially concerning the authentic history of the Iranian Magi’s religion, untainted by fanaticism, anger, personal bias, political commissions, or the influence of powerful entities, and which upholds the intellectual and logical vitality of history. Additionally, oral and traditional narratives transmitted through generations have been sparingly utilized.

Religious history and its sources have predominantly reached modern times ensnared within a mental framework detached from esoteric wisdom, bereft of the charisma of sagacious figures and the inner sanctity of divine guardianship. In this context, the present book is composed through rational analysis and philosophical reflection on documented and comprehensive narratives drawn from accessible sources, particularly sacred texts, deliberately selected for their association with sagacity and inner sanctity. It honors rational historiography alongside charismatic and sanctified religious practice in an interdisciplinary manner.

The intentionality referred to here pertains to the narratives’ possession of the richest historical information related to the constructs of illumination and sagacity as defined within the concept of religion. This book, in particular, has been written through the study of sacred texts and documentary examinations. Consequently, the subsequent chapter independently evaluates the credibility of certain historical sources, while others are addressed contextually within the discussions as relevant to the subject matter.

The Authority of the Qur’an and the Utility of Its Historical Narrative

The Qur’an’s account of religions holds documentary credibility and textual authority in understanding religions divinely authenticated. Faith in the Qur’an, corroborated by its validation through the infallible Imams over 250 years of their immaculate existence, establishes it as the most authoritative historical document for use in the era of the occultation of divine cognition. Generally, the credibility of a religion’s sacred text and its historical data on critical subjects must be measured against the Qur’an’s text, evaluated through intertextual and comparative study with the final revealed scripture.

The Qur’an’s methodology involves selecting significant and exemplary historical events for narration, rather than providing a moment-by-moment chronicle of history. The Qur’an states: “We relate to you the best of stories through what We have revealed to you in this Qur’an, though before it you were among the unaware” (Yusuf 12:3).

Amir al-Mu’minin Ali, in Letter 31 of Nahj al-Balagha, addressed to Imam Hasan, emphasizes this Qur’anic approach to historical inquiry, explicitly noting that he has selected the purest historical events and eschewed obscure or ambiguous ones, deeming historical analysis beneficial. He writes: “My dear son, though I have not lived as long as those before me, I have examined their deeds, contemplated their accounts, and traced their legacies, such that I have become as one of them. Indeed, through what has reached me of their affairs, it is as if I have lived with them from their beginning to their end. I have distinguished the clear from the turbid, the beneficial from the harmful, and have extracted for you the choicest of every matter, selecting the finest for you and diverting the unknown from you. As a compassionate father concerned for your welfare, I have resolved to educate you thus, especially as you are at the dawn of life, facing the future with a sound intention and a pure soul.”

Acquaintance with the Past and Historical Analysis

Familiarity with the experiences of predecessors, coexisting with their trials through history, is achieved through scientific analysis and philosophical dissection, yielding universal laws governing the authentic events of the past. These specific yet significant historical considerations, capable of connection, generalization, and application to contemporary events, scrutinize the lawful nature of history, historical traditions, and the processes of historical becoming, particularly in the context of historical civilizations. Such inquiry proves efficacious for contemporary society, provided the historian is untainted by fear, hypocrisy, or prevailing authoritarianism, and is capable of updating history through critical comparison and utilization of tangible experiences and observations of the past, articulating which contemporary events of significance will lead to the outcomes of pivotal historical occurrences.

Historical Determinism and Its Futility

Historical materialism, as a materialist interpretation of history, subscribes to historical determinism and deems history futile. According to this perspective, the present generation inherits the customs, traditions, and temperaments of preceding societies in a chain-like succession. Just as individuals inherit the physical traits, race, and dispositions of their ancestors, they are inevitably bound to inherit the immutable customs and obligations of history. Consequently, the study of history is deemed of little utility, with its minimal benefit confined to recognizing historical necessities, aligning with them, and moving with the current of history’s river. However, the fabric and structure of society are considered impervious to human volition.

In response, it must be noted that necessity is of two kinds: one is imposed and compulsory, leaving humanity no role but submission; the other is a necessity shaped by human volition, arising through human agency and, like other worldly events, contingent, free, and subject to human choice. For instance, releasing a fragile object necessitates its breaking, but humans can prevent this necessity by retaining it. Alignment with history’s course is an expression of collective human volition and falls under the second type of necessity, which materialism inadvertently acknowledges.

Moreover, historical determinism is rooted in one’s worldview and acceptance or rejection of God. In a monotheistic system, historical necessities are divine traditions operative among nations and communities, their governance contingent and subject to human agency in choosing the path of felicity or misery within a collective framework. God Almighty, in encouraging reflection and learning from the lawful historical system and divine tradition embedded in past events, while affirming the agency and will of social groups, states: “Indeed, God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves” (Ra’d 13:11).

The law and tradition of history constitute an unalterable divine tradition that operates contingently in every era. Thus, rational engagement with historical events leads to the beneficial recognition of divine traditions, drawing lessons and deriving insights from them in the present. The Qur’an declares: “Such is the tradition of God that has passed before, and you will not find any change in the tradition of God” (Fath 48:23).

The concept of learning lessons (i’tibar) entails transcending the surface of phenomena to their essence and reality, observing the truths carried by accessible and contextual phenomena, and conveying them to the discerning and attentive observer, granting clarity, truth-seeking insight, and creative problem-solving capacity to uncover truth.

Monitoring History

Discoveries and documents derived from archaeological sites are controlled by a handful of countries. It is said that over thirty thousand clay tablets from excavations at Persepolis (Takht-e Jamshid) have been unearthed, most of which are held in the United States at the University of Chicago. Similarly, during the excavations of 1886 under Naser al-Din Shah, the French transported 327 crates of Iranian antiquities, weighing approximately 500 tons, from Susa to France via Bushehr. This excludes the Code of Hammurabi, the 1800-kilogram bronze statue of Queen Napir-Asu, dating back three thousand years, and other artifacts of unknown quantity extracted by the French over 32 years of excavations at the Susa site.

Historical sources are invariably subject to monitoring, censorship, or self-censorship. Data that becomes public is typically that which aligns with the interests of worldly powers or the demands of dominant religious authorities. For instance, Jewish sources have persistently manipulated history to portray their people as God’s chosen, the origin of all religions, rather than acknowledging the culturally and historically older Iranian civilization, which possesses the most ancient religious texts. Jewish (Hebrew) sources deliberately and strategically date Zoroaster to approximately 350 BCE, portraying him as a disciple of the prophet Daniel to establish a religious connection between Zoroaster and the prophets of Israel for political purposes. They present Moses as the first prophet of God, their scripture as the earliest and most ancient divine book, and the root of all other religions. Yet, Moses’s historical existence is shrouded in ambiguity, known primarily through the Qur’an and Christianity. Historians attest that the Old Testament texts were written long after Cyrus, and several fundamental Jewish beliefs were borrowed from Zoroastrianism, with numerous instances of the Old Testament’s influence from Iranian Magi. Beliefs in life after death, heaven and hell, and the advent of a savior or Messiah are among the similarities between Judaism and the teachings of the Magi. The Zoroastrian concept of resurrection shares significant commonalities with Abrahamic religions, particularly post-Babylonian Judaism and Christianity. The teachings of the Magi are thus regarded as the “mother of religions,” as even early Jewish beliefs were preceded by those of the Iranian Magi. Judaism, in turn, forms the foundation of Christianity.

Some teachings of the Iranian Magi’s religion, even after thousands of years, continue to influence Iranian culture and public traditions, shaping customs even in the remotest villages and impacting the global cultural landscape. The Abrahamic religion of the Magi, as the historically documented “mother of religions” and the root of other faiths, influenced both Buddhism and Judaism. Its impact on Christianity is particularly profound, such that Judaism and Christianity cannot be fully understood without reference to the Magi’s religion. Both Jews, in their effort to portray themselves as the chosen people, children of God, and a superior racial religion, and Christians, in their cultural assault on the Magi’s religion, attributed Iranian history, narratives, and events to various superstitions and accretions. They distorted, manipulated, and inverted the history and wisdom of the Iranian Khosravani tradition through fabricated religious constructs to dismantle the unity and singularity of the Iranian people. Nevertheless, just as Iran’s cultural and religious heritage has endured, the intrinsic identity of the Magi’s religion and the reality of its charismatic figures remain intact, untainted by historical manipulations. Even now, despite historical distortions, they can be studied and investigated as they were, through sacred texts and other sources. The Qur’an provides numerous accounts of historical distortions by Judaism and Christianity.