A Thousand Judgements (original) (raw)

Cruelty against Leniency: The Case of Imperial Zoroastrian Criminal Law

Religions

The article examines the impact of Zoroastrianism on criminal law and legal theory during the reign of the Sasanian dynasty (224–651 C.E) in late Antique Persia. This was the historic period when Zoroastrianism was also the ideology of the Iranian state, which granted the Zoroastrian church extraordinary power and influence, a unique situation which is termed by the author as ‘imperial Zoroastrianism’. The first part of the paper examines how imperial Zoroastrianism evolved from previous understanding of religion and law. The second part of the paper scrutinises the Zoroastrian understanding of wrong in the light of eschatology and cosmology, and the ethical principles that follow from this very particular world view. Next, an individual section is devoted to the criminal theory of Zoroastrianism, which regards criminal punishment not as a punishment but as a means to save the soul of the offender from sufferings in Hell. With such an underlying principle in mind, the text looks for...

(2021) "Zoroastrian Law and the Spread of Islam in Iranian Society" (BSOAS)

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2021

This article explores three important Zoroastrian legal texts from the ʿAbbasid period, consisting of questions and answers to high-ranking priests. The texts contain a wellspring of information about the social history of Zoroastrianism under Islamic rule, especially the formative encounter between Zoroastrians and Muslims. These include matters such as conversion, apostasy, sexual relations with outsiders, inheritance, commerce , and the economic status of priests. The article argues that the elite clergy responsible for writing these texts used law to refashion the Zoroastrian community from the rulers of Iran, as they had been in Late Antiquity, into one of a variety of dhimmī groups living under Islamic rule. It also argues that, far from being brittle or inflexible, the priests responded to the challenges of the day with creativity and pragmatism. On both counts, there are strong parallels between the experiences of Zoroastrians and those of Christians and Jews, who also turned to law as an instrument for rethinking their place in the new Islamic cosmos. Finally, the article makes a methodological point, namely to show the importance of integrating Pahlavi sources into wider histories of Iran and the Middle East during the early Islamic period.

Law and Modern Zoroastrians

This chapter in the Wiley Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism provides an overview of key areas of law affecting Zoroastrians in South Asia (particularly India and Pakistan), Iran, the UK, US, Canada and Australia from the nineteenth century until the present. Its focus is on Parsi personal law (inheritance and marriage) and the law of trusts in India.

Ohrmazd's Better Judgement (Meh-Dādestānīh): A Middle Persian Legal and Theological Discourse

Studia Iranica 43 (2014), 177-202

This article presents a transcription, translation, commentary, and discussion of a ritual and theological passage taken from the long-neglected Middle Persian work, the Zand ī fragard ī Jud-dēw-dād. The selection is notable for the way it mixes theological and ritual forms of discourse while considering situations in which impure or Evil things, like corpses, wolves, and sins, naturally come into contact with pure and Good elements, like water, fire, and good deeds. Along with explaining this rich text and its various textual parallels, the article considers the potential research value of the Zand ī fragard ī Jud-dēw-dād for Iranists and scholars of late antique religious literature.