In religion , a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the supernatural source to other people. The message that the prophet conveys is called a prophecy .
129-605: The Kitáb-i-Íqán ( Persian : كتاب ايقان , Arabic : كتاب الإيقان " Book of Certitude ") is a book written by Baháʼu'lláh , the founder of the Baháʼí Faith . It is the religion's primary theological work and one of many texts that Baháʼís hold sacred . It is considered the second most important book in the Baháʼí writings, with the most important being the Kitáb-i-Aqdas . One Baháʼí scholar states that it can be regarded as
258-635: A προφήτης ( prophḗtēs ) is someone who conveys messages from the divine to humans, including occasionally foretelling future events. In a different interpretation, it means advocate or speaker . It is used to translate the Hebrew word נָבִיא ( nāvî ) in the Septuagint and the Arabic word نبي ( nabī ). W.F. Albright points to the Akkadian Nabu for the origin of these Hebrew (נָבִיא ( nāvî ) and
387-655: A Dari dialect. In the 19th century, under the Qajar dynasty , the dialect that is spoken in Tehran rose to prominence. There was still substantial Arabic vocabulary, but many of these words have been integrated into Persian phonology and grammar. In addition, under the Qajar rule, numerous Russian , French , and English terms entered the Persian language, especially vocabulary related to technology. The first official attentions to
516-565: A crucial role in shaping early religious thought and practices, paving the way for the structured prophetic tradition that emerged with Zoroaster and subsequent religious traditions. Zoroastrianism holds a significant position in shaping the concept of prophets and prophecy. Founded by the revered figure Zoroaster (or Zarathustra) in ancient Persia around the 6th century BCE, Zoroastrianism introduced fundamental ideas that profoundly influenced subsequent religious and philosophical traditions, particularly in its portrayal of prophetic figures. At
645-418: A dictionary called Words of Scientific Association ( لغت انجمن علمی ), which was completed in the future and renamed Katouzian Dictionary ( فرهنگ کاتوزیان ). The first academy for the Persian language was founded on 20 May 1935, under the name Academy of Iran . It was established by the initiative of Reza Shah Pahlavi , and mainly by Hekmat e Shirazi and Mohammad Ali Foroughi , all prominent names in
774-505: A language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Farsi , which is the Persian word for the Persian language, has also been used widely in English in recent decades, more often to refer to Iran's standard Persian. However, the name Persian is still more widely used. The Academy of Persian Language and Literature has maintained that the endonym Farsi is to be avoided in foreign languages, and that Persian
903-529: A linen belt so that it gets ruined to illustrate how God intends to ruin Judah's pride. Likewise, Jeremiah buys a clay jar and smashes it in the Valley of Ben Hinnom in front of elders and priests to illustrate that God will smash the nation of Judah and the city of Judah beyond repair. God instructs Jeremiah to make a yoke from wood and leather straps and to put it on his own neck to demonstrate how God will put
1032-417: A literary language considerably different from the spoken Persian of the time. This became the basis of what is now known as "Contemporary Standard Persian". There are three standard varieties of modern Persian: All these three varieties are based on the classic Persian literature and its literary tradition. There are also several local dialects from Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan which slightly differ from
1161-429: A message. The seer-priests were usually attached to a local shrine or temple, such as Shiloh , and initiated others into that priesthood, acting as a mystical craft-guild with apprentices and recruitment. Canonical prophets were not organised this way. Jewish tradition - unlike Christian and Islamic practice - does not regard Daniel as a prophet. A Jewish tradition suggests that there were twice as many prophets as
1290-650: A number of men as " Prophets of Islam " ( Arabic : نبي nabī ; pl. أنبياء anbiyāʾ ). Muslims believe such individuals were assigned a special mission by God to guide humanity. Besides Muhammad , this includes prophets such as Abraham ( Ibrāhīm ) , Moses ( Mūsā ) and Jesus ( ʿĪsā ) . Although only twenty-five prophets are mentioned by name in the Quran , a hadith (no. 21257 in Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal ) mentions that there were (more or less) 124,000 prophets in total throughout history. Other traditions place
1419-536: A period of several centuries, Ottoman Turkish (which was highly Persianised itself) had developed toward a fully accepted language of literature, and which was even able to lexically satisfy the demands of a scientific presentation. However, the number of Persian and Arabic loanwords contained in those works increased at times up to 88%. In the Ottoman Empire, Persian was used at the royal court, for diplomacy, poetry, historiographical works, literary works, and
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#17327647927581548-439: A precedent for future prophets, shaping how societies perceive and interact with visionary figures throughout history. While other ancient civilizations may have had individuals who served similar functions, Zoroastrianism's systematic approach to prophecy and its enduring influence on subsequent religious thought solidified its place in history as a foundational example of prophetic tradition, enriching humanity's understanding of
1677-415: A prophet established a template for future religious leaders and visionaries. He articulated monotheistic principles, ethical dualism , and the idea of a cosmic battle between good and evil, influencing not only the religious landscape of ancient Persia but also later traditions such as Judaism , Christianity , Islam , and Thelema . The legacy of Zoroastrianism in shaping the understanding of prophets
1806-412: A representative of the city-state's patron deity. The functions of a lugal would include certain ceremonial and cultic activities, arbitration in border disputes, and military defence against external enemies. The ensis of Lagash would sometimes refer to the city's patron deity, Ningirsu , as their lugal ("master"). All of the above is connected to the possibly priestly or sacral character of
1935-599: A speaker of Persian. Persian is a member of the Western Iranian group of the Iranian languages , which make up a branch of the Indo-European languages in their Indo-Iranian subdivision . The Western Iranian languages themselves are divided into two subgroups: Southwestern Iranian languages, of which Persian is the most widely spoken, and Northwestern Iranian languages, of which Kurdish and Balochi are
2064-531: A voice , "voice of God"). In Christianity , a prophet (or seer) is one inspired by God through the Holy Spirit to deliver a message. This includes Jewish prophets active before the church began and the prophets active in the Christian church. Some Christian denominations limit a prophet's message to words intended only for active members of a congregation, excluding social or political messages. However,
2193-588: A warning against those who prophesy events which do not come to pass and says they should be put to death. Elsewhere a false prophet may be someone who is purposely trying to deceive, is delusional, under the influence of Satan or is speaking from his own spirit. Six of the Minor Prophets are commemorated in December. Each encouraged people to return to God, to repent of past sins, and to recognize God's presence even in their difficulties. "Jesus Christ
2322-634: A word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."). Cessationists believe that these gifts were given only in New Testament times and that they ceased after the last apostle died. The last prophet of the Old Covenant before the arrival of Jesus is John
2451-664: Is a continuation of Middle Persian , an official language of the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE), itself a continuation of Old Persian , which was used in the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE). It originated in the region of Fars ( Persia ) in southwestern Iran. Its grammar is similar to that of many European languages. Throughout history, Persian was considered prestigious by various empires centered in West Asia , Central Asia , and South Asia . Old Persian
2580-628: Is a direct descendant of Middle and Old Persian. Gernot Windfuhr considers new Persian as an evolution of the Old Persian language and the Middle Persian language but also states that none of the known Middle Persian dialects is the direct predecessor of Modern Persian. Ludwig Paul states: "The language of the Shahnameh should be seen as one instance of continuous historical development from Middle to New Persian." The known history of
2709-850: Is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan , as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran . It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet , a derivative of the Arabic script , and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet , a derivative of the Cyrillic script . Modern Persian
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#17327647927582838-610: Is another example. According to I Samuel 9:9, the old name for navi is ro'eh , רֹאֶה, which literally means "seer". That could document an ancient shift, from viewing prophets as seers for hire to viewing them as moral teachers. L. C. Allen (1971) comments that in the First Temple Era, there were essentially seer-priests belonging to a guild, who performed divination , rituals, and sacrifices, and were scribes; and beside these were canonical prophets, who did none of these things (and condemned divination), but came to deliver
2967-675: Is attested in Old Persian cuneiform on inscriptions from between the 6th and 4th century BC. Middle Persian is attested in Aramaic -derived scripts ( Pahlavi and Manichaean ) on inscriptions and in Zoroastrian and Manichaean scriptures from between the third to the tenth centuries (see Middle Persian literature ). New Persian literature was first recorded in the ninth century, after the Muslim conquest of Persia , since then adopting
3096-533: Is believed to be the pinnacle and purpose of creation. The enunciators (sing. natiq ) who are the Prophets and the Imams in their respective times, are the highest hierarch ( hadd ). The enunciators ( natiqs ) signal the beginning of a new age ( dawr ) in humankind, whereas the Imams unveil and present the esoteric ( batin ) meaning of the revelation to the people. These individuals are both known as
3225-425: Is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian remains largely intelligible to speakers of Contemporary Persian, as the morphology and, to a lesser extent, the lexicon of the language have remained relatively stable. New Persian texts written in the Arabic script first appear in the 9th-century. The language is a direct descendant of Middle Persian, the official, religious, and literary language of
3354-460: Is not actually attested until 600 years later when it appears in the Sassanid era (224–651 AD) inscriptions, so any form of the language before this date cannot be described with any degree of certainty. Moreover, as a literary language, Middle Persian is not attested until much later, in the 6th or 7th century. From the 8th century onward, Middle Persian gradually began yielding to New Persian, with
3483-475: Is one of Afghanistan's two official languages, together with Pashto . The term Dari , meaning "of the court", originally referred to the variety of Persian used in the court of the Sasanian Empire in capital Ctesiphon , which was spread to the northeast of the empire and gradually replaced the former Iranian dialects of Parthia ( Parthian ). Tajik Persian ( форси́и тоҷикӣ́ , forsi-i tojikī ),
3612-585: Is one of the earliest attested Indo-European languages. According to certain historical assumptions about the early history and origin of ancient Persians in Southwestern Iran (where Achaemenids hailed from), Old Persian was originally spoken by a tribe called Parsuwash , who arrived in the Iranian Plateau early in the 1st millennium BCE and finally migrated down into the area of present-day Fārs province. Their language, Old Persian, became
3741-541: Is profound. Zoroaster's direct communication with the divine, his role as a mediator between humanity and the divine will, and his teachings about moral righteousness laid the groundwork for the concept of prophethood as it evolved in subsequent religious traditions. Influence from Zoroastrian thought can be seen in the characterization of prophets as individuals chosen by a single supreme deity to convey divine messages, guide communities, and uphold moral principles. The structured prophetic tradition established by Zoroaster set
3870-478: Is that a prophet is required to demonstrate God's law through his actions, character, and behavior without necessarily calling people to follow him, while a prophetic messenger is required to pronounce God's law (i.e. revelation) and call his people to submit and follow him. Muhammad is distinguished from the rest of the prophetic messengers and prophets in that God commissioned him to be the prophetic messenger to all of humankind. Many of these prophets are also found in
3999-495: Is the appropriate designation of the language in English, as it has the longer tradition in western languages and better expresses the role of the language as a mark of cultural and national continuity. Iranian historian and linguist Ehsan Yarshater , founder of the Encyclopædia Iranica and Columbia University 's Center for Iranian Studies, mentions the same concern in an academic journal on Iranology , rejecting
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4128-541: Is the current Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Baptist preacher William Miller is credited with beginning the mid-19th century North American religious movement now known as Adventism . He announced a Second Coming , resulting in the Great Disappointment . The Seventh-day Adventist Church , which was established in 1863, believes that Ellen G. White , one of
4257-564: Is the major theological work of Baháʼu'lláh, and hence of the Baháʼí Faith. It is sometimes referred to as the completion of the Persian Bayán . Shoghi Effendi , head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921 to 1957, referred to the work as follows: A model of Persian prose, of a style at once original, chaste and vigorous, and remarkably lucid, both cogent in argument and matchless in its irresistible eloquence, this Book, setting forth in outline
4386-589: Is the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and established as priest, prophet, and king. The whole People of God participates in these three offices of Christ and bears the responsibilities for mission and service that flow from them." The laity act prophetically when they speak the truth, and live the Gospel by example before their families, neighbors, and co-workers. The Old Testament prophets defended
4515-491: The Encyclopædia Iranica notes that the Iranian, Afghan, and Tajiki varieties comprise distinct branches of the Persian language, and within each branch a wide variety of local dialects exist. The following are some languages closely related to Persian, or in some cases are considered dialects: More distantly related branches of the Iranian language family include Kurdish and Balochi . The Glottolog database proposes
4644-506: The Kalila wa Dimna . The language spread geographically from the 11th century on and was the medium through which, among others, Central Asian Turks became familiar with Islam and urban culture. New Persian was widely used as a trans-regional lingua franca , a task aided due to its relatively simple morphology, and this situation persisted until at least the 19th century. In the late Middle Ages, new Islamic literary languages were created on
4773-572: The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam believe that Mirzā Ghulām Aḥmad was a prophet of God , who is said to be a fulfillment of the various Islamic prophecies regarding the second advent of Jesus ( ʿĪsā ) before the end of time . Ahmadi thought emphasizes the belief that Islam is the final dispensation for humanity as revealed to Muhammad and the necessity of restoring it to its true intent and pristine form, which had been lost through
4902-615: The Bible has several occasions in which prophets were called to deliver social or political messages. The reception of a message is termed revelation and the delivery of the message is termed prophecy. The term "prophet" applies to those who receive public or private revelation . Public revelation, in Catholicism, is part of the Deposit of faith , the revelation of which was completed by Jesus; whereas private revelation does not add to
5031-668: The British colonization , Persian was widely used as a second language in the Indian subcontinent . It took prominence as the language of culture and education in several Muslim courts on the subcontinent and became the sole "official language" under the Mughal emperors . The Bengal Sultanate witnessed an influx of Persian scholars, lawyers, teachers, and clerics. Thousands of Persian books and manuscripts were published in Bengal. The period of
5160-534: The Church of Christ in 1830, is considered a prophet by members of the Latter Day Saint movement , of which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is the largest denomination. Additionally, many churches within the movement believe in a succession of modern prophets (accepted by Latter Day Saints as " prophets, seers, and revelators ") since the time of Joseph Smith. Russell M. Nelson
5289-535: The Fatimid Ismaili Imams explained that throughout history there have been six enunciators ( natiqs ) who brought the exoteric ( zahir ) revelation to humans, namely: Adam , Noah , Abraham , Moses , Jesus and Muhammad . They speak of a seventh enunciator ( natiq ), the Resurrector (Qa’im), who will unveil the esoteric ( batin ) meaning of all the previous revelations. He
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5418-521: The Gospel( Injil ) to Jesus, and the Quran to Muhammad; those prophets are considered "Messengers" or rasūl . Other main prophets are considered messengers or nabī , even if they didn't receive a Book from God. Examples include the messenger-prophets Aaron ( Hārūn ) , Ishmael ( Ismāʿīl ) and Joseph ( Yūsuf ) . Although it offers many incidents from the lives of many prophets, the Quran focuses with special narrative and rhetorical emphasis on
5547-570: The Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages . Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran , Afghanistan , and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties , respectively Iranian Persian (officially known as Persian ), Dari Persian (officially known as Dari since 1964), and Tajiki Persian (officially known as Tajik since 1999). It
5676-590: The Ottoman Empire . The uncle of the Báb , Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad, had been perplexed to hear that the promised one of Islam was his own nephew. When he was told that this was the same objection voiced by the uncle of the prophet Muhammad of Islam, he was shaken and decided to investigate the matter. In 1861 he traveled to Karbala , Iraq, to visit his brother, Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥasan-ʻAlí, and then went to Baghdad to meet Baháʼu'lláh. There he posed four questions about
5805-674: The Sultanate of Rum , Turkmen beyliks of Anatolia , Delhi Sultanate , the Shirvanshahs , Safavids , Afsharids , Zands , Qajars , Khanate of Bukhara , Khanate of Kokand , Emirate of Bukhara , Khanate of Khiva , Ottomans , and also many Mughal successors such as the Nizam of Hyderabad . Persian was the only non-European language known and used by Marco Polo at the Court of Kublai Khan and in his journeys through China. A branch of
5934-628: The Tanakh , Nevi'im , is devoted to the Hebrew prophets. The meaning of navi is perhaps described in Deuteronomy 18:18, where God said, "...and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." Thus, a navi was thought to be the "mouth" of God. A Jewish tradition was that the root nun - bet - alef ("navi") is based on the two-letter root nun-bet which denotes hollowness or openness; to receive transcendental wisdom, one must make oneself "open". Before
6063-713: The Turkic , Armenian , Georgian , & Indo-Aryan languages . It also exerted some influence on Arabic, while borrowing a lot of vocabulary from it in the Middle Ages. Some of the world's most famous pieces of literature from the Middle Ages, such as the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi , the works of Rumi , the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám , the Panj Ganj of Nizami Ganjavi , The Divān of Hafez , The Conference of
6192-491: The ezāfe construction, expressed through ī (modern e/ye ), to indicate some of the relations between words that have been lost with the simplification of the earlier grammatical system. Although the "middle period" of the Iranian languages formally begins with the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the transition from Old to Middle Persian had probably already begun before the 4th century BC. However, Middle Persian
6321-594: The struggle between a good , spiritual world of light , and an evil , material world of darkness . Through an ongoing process that takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light, whence it came. Mani's teaching was intended to "combine", succeed, and surpass the teachings of Christianity , Zoroastrianism , Buddhism , Marcionism , Hellenistic and Rabbinic Judaism , Gnostic movements , Ancient Greek religion , Babylonian and other Mesopotamian religions , and mystery cults . It reveres Mani as
6450-597: The " Persianized " Turko-Mongol dynasties during the 12th to 15th centuries, and under restored Persian rule during the 16th to 19th centuries. Persian during this time served as lingua franca of Greater Persia and of much of the Indian subcontinent . It was also the official and cultural language of many Islamic dynasties, including the Samanids, Buyids , Tahirids , Ziyarids , the Mughal Empire , Timurids , Ghaznavids , Karakhanids , Seljuqs , Khwarazmians ,
6579-563: The "most influential Quran commentary in Persian outside the Muslim world," because of its international audience. The Kitáb-i-Íqán is sometimes referred to as the Book of Íqán or simply The Íqán . The Kitáb-i-Íqán was composed partly in Persian and partly in Arabic by Baháʼu'lláh , the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, in 1861, when he was living as an exile in Baghdad , then a province of
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#17327647927586708-641: The 1980s often included prophetic predictions regarding the future of the world as well as of the local areas they occurred in. Prophetic movements in particular can be traced throughout the Christian Church's history, expressing themselves in (for example) Montanism , Novatianism , Donatism , Franciscanism , Anabaptism , Camisard enthusiasm, Puritanism , Quakerism , Quietism , Lutheranism and Radical Pietism . Modern Pentecostals and Charismatics, members of movements which together comprised approximately 584 million people as of 2011 , believe in
6837-544: The Arabic نبي ( nabī ) words. The Akkadian nabû means "announcer" or "authorised person", derived from the Semitic root n-b-y or nbʾ . It is cognate with Classical Syriac : ܢܒܝܐ , romanized: nəḇiyyā , Arabic : نبي , romanized : nabiyy , and Hebrew : נביא , romanized : nāḇi , all meaning 'prophet'. In Hebrew , the word נָבִיא ( nāvî ), "spokesperson", traditionally translates as "prophet". The second subdivision of
6966-444: The Baháʼí Faith as a Manifestation of God therefore appear only in veiled form. Christopher Buck, author of a major study of the Kitáb-i-Íqán , has referred to this theme of the book as its "messianic secret", paralleling the same theme in the Gospel of Mark in the Christian New Testament . Shoghi Effendi gave the following lengthy description of the book's content: Within a compass of two hundred pages it proclaims unequivocally
7095-402: The Baptist . New Testament passages that explicitly discuss prophets existing after the death and resurrection of Christ include Revelation 11:10, Matthew 10:40–41 and 23:34, John 13:20 and 15:20 and Acts 11:25–30, 13:1 and 15:32. The Didache gives extensive instruction in how to distinguish between true and false prophets, as well as commands regarding tithes to prophets in
7224-572: The Birds by Attar of Nishapur , and the miscellanea of Gulistan and Bustan by Saadi Shirazi , are written in Persian. Some of the prominent modern Persian poets were Nima Yooshij , Ahmad Shamlou , Simin Behbahani , Sohrab Sepehri , Rahi Mo'ayyeri , Mehdi Akhavan-Sales , and Forugh Farrokhzad . There are approximately 130 million Persian speakers worldwide, including Persians , Lurs , Tajiks , Hazaras , Iranian Azeris , Iranian Kurds , Balochs , Tats , Afghan Pashtuns , and Aimaqs . The term Persophone might also be used to refer to
7353-401: The Deposit. The term "deposit of faith" refers to the entirety of Jesus Christ's revelation, and is passed to successive generations through scripture and the traditions of the church. The Bible applies the appellation ' false prophet ' to anyone who preaches a Gospel contrary to that delivered to the apostles and recorded in Sacred Scripture. One Old Testament text in Deuteronomy contains
7482-432: The Grand Redemptive Scheme of God, occupies a position unequalled by any work in the entire range of Baháʼí literature, except the Kitáb-i-Aqdas , Baháʼu'lláh's Most Holy Book. Persian language Russia Persian ( / ˈ p ɜːr ʒ ən , - ʃ ən / PUR -zhən, -shən ), also known by its endonym Farsi ( فارسی , Fārsī [fɒːɾˈsiː] ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to
7611-500: The Middle Ages, and is because of the lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The standard Persian of Iran has been called, apart from Persian and Farsi , by names such as Iranian Persian and Western Persian , exclusively. Officially, the official language of Iran is designated simply as Persian ( فارسی , fārsi ). The standard Persian of Afghanistan has been officially named Dari ( دری , dari ) since 1958. Also referred to as Afghan Persian in English, it
7740-429: The Ottoman Empire all spoke Persian, such as Sultan Selim I , despite being Safavid Iran's archrival and a staunch opposer of Shia Islam . It was a major literary language in the empire. Some of the noted earlier Persian works during the Ottoman rule are Idris Bidlisi 's Hasht Bihisht , which began in 1502 and covered the reign of the first eight Ottoman rulers, and the Salim-Namah , a glorification of Selim I. After
7869-459: The Persian language can be divided into the following three distinct periods: As a written language , Old Persian is attested in royal Achaemenid inscriptions. The oldest known text written in Old Persian is from the Behistun Inscription , dating to the time of King Darius I (reigned 522–486 BC). Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran , Romania ( Gherla ), Armenia , Bahrain , Iraq , Turkey, and Egypt . Old Persian
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#17327647927587998-425: The Persian language, a language historically called Dari, emerged in present-day Afghanistan. The first significant Persian poet was Rudaki . He flourished in the 10th century, when the Samanids were at the height of their power. His reputation as a court poet and as an accomplished musician and singer has survived, although little of his poetry has been preserved. Among his lost works are versified fables collected in
8127-401: The Persian model: Ottoman Turkish , Chagatai Turkic , Dobhashi Bengali , and Urdu, which are regarded as "structural daughter languages" of Persian. "Classical Persian" loosely refers to the standardized language of medieval Persia used in literature and poetry . This is the language of the 10th to 12th centuries, which continued to be used as literary language and lingua franca under
8256-487: The Perso-Arabic script. Persian was the first language to break through the monopoly of Arabic on writing in the Muslim world , with Persian poetry becoming a tradition in many eastern courts. It was used officially as a language of bureaucracy even by non-native speakers, such as the Ottomans in Anatolia , the Mughals in South Asia, and the Pashtuns in Afghanistan. It influenced languages spoken in neighboring regions and beyond, including other Iranian languages,
8385-428: The Sasanian Empire (224–651). However, it is not descended from the literary form of Middle Persian (known as pārsīk , commonly called Pahlavi), which was spoken by the people of Fars and used in Zoroastrian religious writings. Instead, it is descended from the dialect spoken by the court of the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon and the northeastern Iranian region of Khorasan , known as Dari. The region, which comprised
8514-427: The Sassanids (who were Persians, i.e. from the southwest) from the preceding Arsacids (who were Parthians, i.e. from the northeast). While Ibn al-Muqaffa' (eighth century) still distinguished between Pahlavi (i.e. Parthian) and Persian (in Arabic text: al-Farisiyah) (i.e. Middle Persian), this distinction is not evident in Arab commentaries written after that date. "New Persian" (also referred to as Modern Persian)
8643-407: The Seljuks, the Sultanate of Rum , took Persian language, art, and letters to Anatolia. They adopted the Persian language as the official language of the empire. The Ottomans , who can roughly be seen as their eventual successors, inherited this tradition. Persian was the official court language of the empire, and for some time, the official language of the empire. The educated and noble class of
8772-422: The Talmud, Obadiah is said to have been a convert to Judaism. The last nevi'im mentioned in the Jewish Bible are Haggai , Zechariah , and Malachi , all of whom lived at the end of the 70-year Babylonian exile of c. 586 to 539 BCE. The Talmud ( Sanhedrin 11a) states that Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi were the last prophets, and later times have known only the " Bath Kol " (בת קול, lit. daughter of
8901-411: The advent of Zoroastrianism and the prophetic tradition established by Zoroaster, various ancient civilizations had individuals who served as intermediaries between humanity and the divine. In ancient Sumer , for instance, figures such as the " ensi " or " lugal " fulfilled roles akin to prophets, offering guidance and interpreting divine will through rituals, omens, and prayers. The ensi was considered
9030-443: The age of the Twelve Apostles. Tertullian , writing of the church meetings of the Montanists (to whom he belonged), described in detail the practice of prophecy in the 2nd-century church. A number of later Christian saints were said to have powers of prophecy, such as Columba of Iona (521–597), Saint Malachy (1094–1148) or Padre Pio (1887–1968). Marian apparitions like those at Fatima in 1917 or at Kibeho in Rwanda in
9159-441: The area of Lake Urmia in the records of Shalmaneser III . The exact identity of the Parsuwash is not known for certain, but from a linguistic viewpoint the word matches Old Persian pārsa itself coming directly from the older word * pārćwa . Also, as Old Persian contains many words from another extinct Iranian language, Median , according to P. O. Skjærvø it is probable that Old Persian had already been spoken before
9288-645: The attainment by every true seeker of the object of his quest; demonstrates the validity, the sublimity and significance of the Báb 's Revelation; acclaims the heroism and detachment of His disciples; foreshadows, and prophesies the world-wide triumph of the Revelation promised to the people of the Bayán ; upholds the purity and innocence of the Virgin Mary ; glorifies the Imams of the Faith of Muhammad; celebrates
9417-534: The blindness and perversity of the divines and doctors of every age; cites and elucidates the allegorical passages of the New Testament , the abstruse verses of the Quran , and the cryptic Muhammadan traditions which have bred those age-long misunderstandings, doubts and animosities that have sundered and kept apart the followers of the world's leading religious systems; enumerates the essential prerequisites for
9546-607: The book is the substantive discourse and deals with specific proofs, both theological and logical, of the mission of the Báb. One of the best-known passages of this part is known as the "Tablet of the True Seeker". While Baháʼu'lláh had claimed to have received a revelation some ten years earlier in the Síyáh-Chál (lit. "black pit"), a dungeon in Tehran , he had not yet openly declared his mission. References to his own station in
9675-409: The careers of the first four of these five major prophets. Of all the figures before Muhammad, the significance of Jesus in Islam is reflected in his being mentioned in the Quran in 93 verses with various titles attached such as "Son of Mary " and other relational terms, mentioned directly and indirectly, over 187 times. He is thus the most mentioned person in the Quran by reference; 25 times by
9804-511: The centuries. Its adherents consider Ahmad to have appeared as the Mahdi—bearing the qualities of Jesus in accordance with their reading of scriptural prophecies—to revitalize Islam and set in motion its moral system that would bring about lasting peace. They believe that upon divine guidance he purged Islam of foreign accretions in belief and practice by championing what is, in their view, Islam's original precepts as practised by Muhammad and
9933-696: The church's founders, was given the spiritual gift of prophecy . The Branch Davidians are a religious cult which was founded in 1959 by Benjamin Roden as an offshoot of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. David Koresh , who died in the Waco Siege in 1993, called himself their final prophet and "the Son of God, the Lamb" in 1983. Mani ( Persian : مانی , c. April AD 216 –2 March AD 274 or 26 February AD 277)
10062-561: The church. Irenaeus , wrote of 2nd-century believers with the gift of prophecy, while Justin Martyr argued in his Dialogue with Trypho that prophets were not found among the Jews in his time, but that the church had prophets. The Shepherd of Hermas describes revelation in a vision regarding the proper operation of prophecy in the church. Eusebius mentions that Quadratus and Ammia of Philadelphia were both prominent prophets following
10191-457: The code fas for the dialects spoken across Iran and Afghanistan. This consists of the individual languages Dari ( prs ) and Iranian Persian ( pes ). It uses tgk for Tajik, separately. In general, the Iranian languages are known from three periods: namely Old, Middle, and New (Modern). These correspond to three historical eras of Iranian history ; Old era being sometime around the Achaemenid Empire (i.e., 400–300 BC), Middle era being
10320-512: The collapse of the Sassanid state, Parsik came to be applied exclusively to (either Middle or New) Persian that was written in the Arabic script . From about the 9th century onward, as Middle Persian was on the threshold of becoming New Persian, the older form of the language came to be erroneously called Pahlavi , which was actually but one of the writing systems used to render both Middle Persian as well as various other Middle Iranian languages. That writing system had previously been adopted by
10449-576: The contemporary function of the gift of prophecy, and some in these movements, especially those within the Apostolic-Prophetic Movement , allow for idea that God may continue to gift the church with some individuals who are prophets. Some Christian sects recognize the existence of "modern-day" prophets. One such denomination is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , which teaches that God still communicates with humankind through prophecy. Joseph Smith , who established
10578-579: The divine and the role of prophets in conveying its will. Some examples of prophets in the Tanakh include Abraham , Moses , Miriam , Isaiah, Samuel , Ezekiel, Malachi , and Job . Moses is considered the most important prophet in Judaism . On one occasion during the Exodus journey, "the spirit which was upon Moses" was passed to seventy elders, who were also able to prophesy for one time only, but mostly they could not prophesy again. Moses expressed
10707-857: The east than it did in the west. Although it was thought to have finally faded away after the 14th century in South China , contemporary to the decline of the Church of the East in Ming China , there is a growing corpus of evidence that shows Manichaeism persists in some areas of China, especially in Fujian , where numerous Manichaean relics have been discovered over time. The currently known sects are notably secretive and protective of their belief system, in an effort to remain undetected. This stems from fears relating to persecution and suppression during various periods of Chinese history. The Quran identifies
10836-543: The examples to be followed and that they act as they preach. This belief includes some ʾAwliyāʾ such as Lady Fatima and Lady Mary . During his lifetime, Mirzā Ghulām Aḥmad said that he was a prophet of God and became the founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam , which embodied the Mahdī of Islam and fulfilled the messianic prophecies regarding the coming of a savior to various other religious traditions, including Christianity and Hinduism . Followers of
10965-495: The existence and oneness of a personal God , unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation , eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty; asserts the relativity of religious truth and the continuity of Divine Revelation; affirms the unity of the Prophets , the universality of their Message, the identity of their fundamental teachings, the sanctity of their scriptures, and the twofold character of their stations; denounces
11094-652: The extent of its influence on certain languages of the Indian subcontinent. Words borrowed from Persian are still quite commonly used in certain Indo-Aryan languages, especially Hindi - Urdu (also historically known as Hindustani ), Punjabi , Kashmiri , and Sindhi . There is also a small population of Zoroastrian Iranis in India, who migrated in the 19th century to escape religious execution in Qajar Iran and speak
11223-581: The final prophet after Zoroaster , the Gautama Buddha and Jesus Christ . Manichaeism was quickly successful and spread far through Aramaic -speaking regions. It thrived between the third and seventh centuries, and at its height was one of the most widespread religions in the world. Manichaean churches and scriptures existed as far east as the Han dynasty and as far west as the Roman Empire . It
11352-424: The following phylogenetic classification: Prophet Prophethood has existed in many cultures and religions throughout history, including Mesopotamian religion , Zoroastrianism , Judaism , Christianity , Manichaeism , Islam , the Baháʼí Faith , and Thelema . The English word prophet is the transliteration of a compound Greek word derived from pro (before/toward) and phesein (to tell); thus,
11481-577: The formation of many modern languages in West Asia, Europe, Central Asia , and South Asia . Following the Turko-Persian Ghaznavid conquest of South Asia , Persian was firstly introduced in the region by Turkic Central Asians. The basis in general for the introduction of Persian language into the subcontinent was set, from its earliest days, by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties. For five centuries prior to
11610-476: The formation of the Achaemenid Empire and was spoken during most of the first half of the first millennium BCE. Xenophon , a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BCE, which is when Old Persian was still spoken and extensively used. He relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like
11739-525: The guidance, the benefit and salvation of all mankind. Well may it be claimed that of all the books revealed by the Author of the Baháʼí Revelation, this Book alone, by sweeping away the age-long barriers that have so insurmountably separated the great religions of the world, has laid down a broad and unassailable foundation for the complete and permanent reconciliation of their followers. The Kitáb-i-Íqán
11868-455: The heart of Zoroastrian belief lies the concept of a singular supreme deity, Ahura Mazda , engaged in an eternal struggle against the forces of darkness and chaos, embodied by Angra Mainyu . Zoroaster, as the primary prophet of this faith, received divine revelations and visions from Ahura Mazda, which formed the basis of the Avesta , the sacred scripture of Zoroastrianism. Zoroaster's role as
11997-666: The hope that "all the L ORD 's people" could be prophets. In addition to writing and speaking messages from God, Israelite or Judean nevi'im ("spokespersons", "prophets") often acted out prophetic parables in their life. For example, in order to contrast the people's disobedience with the obedience of the Rechabites , God has Jeremiah invite the Rechabites to drink wine, in disobedience to their ancestor's command. The Rechabites refuse, for which God commends them. Other prophetic parables acted out by Jeremiah include burying
12126-466: The language of the Persians. Related to Old Persian, but from a different branch of the Iranian language family, was Avestan , the language of the Zoroastrian liturgical texts. The complex grammatical conjugation and declension of Old Persian yielded to the structure of Middle Persian in which the dual number disappeared, leaving only singular and plural, as did gender. Middle Persian developed
12255-489: The martyrdom, and lauds the spiritual sovereignty, of the Imam Husayn ; unfolds the meaning of such symbolic terms as " Return ," " Resurrection ," " Seal of the Prophets " and " Day of Judgment "; adumbrates and distinguishes between the three stages of Divine Revelation; and expatiates, in glowing terms, upon the glories and wonders of the " City of God ," renewed, at fixed intervals, by the dispensation of Providence, for
12384-432: The middle-period form only continuing in the texts of Zoroastrianism . Middle Persian is considered to be a later form of the same dialect as Old Persian. The native name of Middle Persian was Parsig or Parsik , after the name of the ethnic group of the southwest, that is, "of Pars ", Old Persian Parsa , New Persian Fars . This is the origin of the name Farsi as it is today used to signify New Persian. Following
12513-536: The most widely spoken. The term Persian is an English derivation of Latin Persiānus , the adjectival form of Persia , itself deriving from Greek Persís ( Περσίς ), a Hellenized form of Old Persian Pārsa ( 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 ), which means " Persia " (a region in southwestern Iran, corresponding to modern-day Fars ). According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the term Persian as
12642-458: The name Isa, third-person 48 times, first-person 35 times, and the rest as titles and attributes. Moses ( Musa ) and Abraham ( Ibrahim ) are also referred to frequently in the Quran. As for the fifth, the Quran is frequently addressed directly to Muhammad, and it often discusses situations encountered by him. Direct use of his name in the text, however, is rare. Rarer still is the mention of Muhammad's contemporaries. Several prominent exponents of
12771-490: The nation under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar , king of Babylon . In a similar way, the prophet Isaiah had to walk stripped and barefoot for three years to illustrate the coming captivity, and the prophet Ezekiel had to lie on his side for 390 days and to eat measured food to illustrate the coming siege. Prophetic assignment is usually portrayed as rigorous and exacting in the Hebrew Bible, and prophets were often
12900-466: The nationalist movement of the time. The academy was a key institution in the struggle to re-build Iran as a nation-state after the collapse of the Qajar dynasty. During the 1930s and 1940s, the academy led massive campaigns to replace the many Arabic , Russian , French , and Greek loanwords whose widespread use in Persian during the centuries preceding the foundation of the Pahlavi dynasty had created
13029-499: The necessity of protecting the Persian language against foreign words, and to the standardization of Persian orthography , were under the reign of Naser ed Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1871. After Naser ed Din Shah, Mozaffar ed Din Shah ordered the establishment of the first Persian association in 1903. This association officially declared that it used Persian and Arabic as acceptable sources for coining words. The ultimate goal
13158-414: The next period most officially around the Sasanian Empire , and New era being the period afterward down to present day. According to available documents, the Persian language is "the only Iranian language" for which close philological relationships between all of its three stages are established and so that Old, Middle, and New Persian represent one and the same language of Persian; that is, New Persian
13287-732: The northern part of Greece). Vardar Yenicesi differed from other localities in the Balkans insofar as that it was a town where Persian was also widely spoken. However, the Persian of Vardar Yenicesi and throughout the rest of the Ottoman-held Balkans was different from formal Persian both in accent and vocabulary. The difference was apparent to such a degree that the Ottomans referred to it as "Rumelian Persian" ( Rumili Farsisi ). As learned people such as students, scholars and literati often frequented Vardar Yenicesi, it soon became
13416-558: The number of prophets at 224,000. Some scholars hold that there are an even greater number in the history of humankind, and only God knows. The Quran says that God has sent a prophet to every group of people throughout time and that Muhammad is the last of the prophets, sent for the whole of humankind. The message of all the prophets is believed to be the same. In Islam, all prophetic messengers are prophets (such as Adam , Noah , Abraham , Moses , Jesus , and Muhammad ) though not all prophets are prophetic messengers. The primary distinction
13545-461: The number which left Egypt, which would make 1,200,000 prophets. The Talmud recognizes 48 male prophets who bequeathed permanent messages to humankind. According to the Talmud, there were also seven women counted as prophetesses whose message bears relevance for all generations: Sarah , Miriam , Devorah , Hannah (mother of the prophet Samuel), Abigail (a wife of King David ), Huldah (from
13674-542: The official language of the Achaemenid kings. Assyrian records, which in fact appear to provide the earliest evidence for ancient Iranian (Persian and Median) presence on the Iranian Plateau, give a good chronology but only an approximate geographical indication of what seem to be ancient Persians. In these records of the 9th century BCE, Parsuwash (along with Matai , presumably Medians) are first mentioned in
13803-411: The poor and powerless "and inspire Catholic Social Teaching on the preferential option for the poor, workers’ rights, and justice and peace." Christians who believe that the Holy Spirit continues to give spiritual gifts to Christians are known as continuationists . These charismata may include prophecy, tongues , miraculous healing ability, and discernment (Matthew 12:32 KJV "Whosoever speaketh
13932-694: The present territories of northwestern Afghanistan as well as parts of Central Asia, played a leading role in the rise of New Persian. Khorasan, which was the homeland of the Parthians, was Persianized under the Sasanians. Dari Persian thus supplanted Parthian language , which by the end of the Sasanian era had fallen out of use. New Persian has incorporated many foreign words, including from eastern northern and northern Iranian languages such as Sogdian and especially Parthian. The transition to New Persian
14061-488: The previous ones and, often in veiled terms, prophesying the advent of the next one. Since the questioner is a Muslim, Baháʼu'lláh uses verses from the Bible to show how a Christian could interpret his own sacred texts in allegorical terms to come to believe in the next religion. By extension, the same method of interpretation can be used for a Muslim to see the validity of the claims of the Báb. The second and longer part of
14190-647: The region during the following centuries. Persian continued to act as a courtly language for various empires in Punjab through the early 19th century serving finally as the official state language of the Sikh Empire , preceding British conquest and the decline of Persian in South Asia. Beginning in 1843, though, English and Hindustani gradually replaced Persian in importance on the subcontinent. Evidence of Persian's historical influence there can be seen in
14319-602: The reign of Sultan Ghiyathuddin Azam Shah is described as the "golden age of Persian literature in Bengal". Its stature was illustrated by the Sultan's own correspondence and collaboration with the Persian poet Hafez ; a poem which can be found in the Divan of Hafez today. A Bengali dialect emerged among the common Bengali Muslim folk, based on a Persian model and known as Dobhashi ; meaning mixed language . Dobhashi Bengali
14448-592: The signs of the appearance of the promised one in writing to Baháʼu'lláh. The 200 pages (in original languages) of the Kitáb-i-Íqán were written in the course of at most two days and two nights in reply about January 15, 1861. The Kitáb-i-Íqán was probably the first work of Bahá’u’lláh published in print. A lithographed edition was published by relatives of the Báb (the Afnáns ) in Bombay , India , around 1882 by
14577-668: The site of a flourishing Persianate linguistic and literary culture. The 16th-century Ottoman Aşık Çelebi (died 1572), who hailed from Prizren in modern-day Kosovo , was galvanized by the abundant Persian-speaking and Persian-writing communities of Vardar Yenicesi, and he referred to the city as a "hotbed of Persian". Many Ottoman Persianists who established a career in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul ) pursued early Persian training in Saraybosna, amongst them Ahmed Sudi . The Persian language influenced
14706-573: The standard Persian of Tajikistan, has been officially designated as Tajik ( тоҷикӣ , tojikī ) since the time of the Soviet Union . It is the name given to the varieties of Persian spoken in Central Asia in general. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa for the Persian language, as its coding system is mostly based on the native-language designations. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses
14835-777: The standard Persian. The Hazaragi dialect (in Central Afghanistan and Pakistan), Herati (in Western Afghanistan), Darwazi (in Afghanistan and Tajikistan), Basseri (in Southern Iran), and the Tehrani accent (in Iran, the basis of standard Iranian Persian) are examples of these dialects. Persian-speaking peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan can understand one another with a relatively high degree of mutual intelligibility . Nevertheless,
14964-416: The target of persecution and opposition. God's personal prediction for Jeremiah, "And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee," was performed many times in the biblical narrative as Jeremiah warned of destruction of those who continued to refuse repentance and accept more moderate consequences. In return for his adherence to God's discipline and speaking God's words, Jeremiah
15093-679: The texts of Judaism (The Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings) and Christianity. Muslims often refer to Muhammad as "the Prophet", in the form of a noun. Jesus is the result of a virgin birth in Islam as in Christianity, and is regarded as a prophet. Traditionally, four prophets are believed to have been sent holy books : the Torah ( Tawrat ) to Moses, the Psalms ( Zābūr ) to David,
15222-523: The time of Jeremiah), and Esther . The Talmudic and Biblical commentator Rashi points out that Rebecca , Rachel , and Leah were also prophets. Isaiah 8:3-4 refers to Isaiah's wife, who bore his son Maher-shalal-hash-baz as "the prophetess"; she is not referred to elsewhere. Prophets in the Tanakh are not always Jews; note for example the non-Jewish prophet Balaam in Numbers 22. According to
15351-490: The titles ensi and especially en (the latter term continuing to designate priests in subsequent times). These prophets, while lacking the systematic theological framework found in later traditions, laid the groundwork for the concept of prophethood by demonstrating a connection with the divine and providing spiritual leadership within their communities. Despite the absence of codified scripture or organized religious institutions, these pre-Zoroastrian prophetic figures played
15480-485: The use of Farsi in foreign languages. Etymologically, the Persian term Farsi derives from its earlier form Pārsi ( Pārsik in Middle Persian ), which in turn comes from the same root as the English term Persian . In the same process, the Middle Persian toponym Pārs ("Persia") evolved into the modern name Fars. The phonemic shift from /p/ to /f/ is due to the influence of Arabic in
15609-430: The Ḥasaní Zívar Press. It was first translated into English in 1904, one of the first works of Baháʼu'lláh to appear in English. Shoghi Effendi re-translated the work into English in 1931. The Kitáb-i-Íqán consists of two parts. The first part of the book deals with the foundational discourse that divine revelation is progressive and religions are related to one another, with each major monotheistic religion accepting
15738-530: The ‘Lord of the Age’ ( sahib al-’asr ) or the ‘Lord of the Time’ ( sahib al-zaman ). Through them, one can know God, and their invitation to humans to recognize God is called the invitation ( da’wa ). According to Shia Islam , all Prophets and Imams are infallible and the belief in their abstinence from intentional and unintentional sins is a part of the creed. Thus, it is accordingly believed that they are
15867-597: Was already complete by the era of the three princely dynasties of Iranian origin, the Tahirid dynasty (820–872), Saffarid dynasty (860–903), and Samanid Empire (874–999). Abbas of Merv is mentioned as being the earliest minstrel to chant verse in the New Persian tongue and after him the poems of Hanzala Badghisi were among the most famous between the Persian-speakers of the time. The first poems of
15996-778: Was an Iranian prophet and the founder of Manichaeism , a religion most prevalent in late antiquity . Mani was born in or near Seleucia-Ctesiphon (south of modern Baghdad ) in Mesopotamia , at the time part of the Parthian Empire . Seven of his major works were written in Syriac , and the eighth, dedicated to the Sasanian emperor Shapur I , was written in Middle Persian . He died in Gundeshapur . Manichaeism teaches an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing
16125-485: Was attacked by his own brothers, beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet , imprisoned by the king, threatened with death, thrown into a cistern by Judah's officials, and opposed by a false prophet. Likewise, Isaiah was told by his hearers who rejected his message, "Leave the way! Get off the path! Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel !" The life of Moses being threatened by Pharaoh
16254-596: Was briefly the main rival to early Christianity in the competition to replace classical polytheism before the spread of Islam . Under the Roman Dominate , Manichaeism was persecuted by the Roman state and was eventually stamped out in the Roman Empire. While most of Manichaeism's original writings have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived. Manichaeism has survived longer in
16383-597: Was patronised and given official status under the Sultans of Bengal , and was a popular literary form used by Bengalis during the pre-colonial period, irrespective of their religion. Following the defeat of the Hindu Shahi dynasty, classical Persian was established as a courtly language in the region during the late 10th century under Ghaznavid rule over the northwestern frontier of the subcontinent . Employed by Punjabis in literature, Persian achieved prominence in
16512-613: Was taught in state schools, and was also offered as an elective course or recommended for study in some madrasas . Persian learning was also widespread in the Ottoman-held Balkans ( Rumelia ), with a range of cities being famed for their long-standing traditions in the study of Persian and its classics, amongst them Saraybosna (modern Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mostar (also in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Vardar Yenicesi (or Yenice-i Vardar, now Giannitsa , in
16641-425: Was to prevent books from being printed with wrong use of words. According to the executive guarantee of this association, the government was responsible for wrongfully printed books. Words coined by this association, such as rāh-āhan ( راهآهن ) for "railway", were printed in Soltani Newspaper ; but the association was eventually closed due to inattention. A scientific association was founded in 1911, resulting in
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