زردتشت از پیامبران الهی بود

حضرت محمد :زردتشت از پیامبران بر حق الهی بود

Zoroaster, religious poet regarded as a prophet and considered the founder of Zoroastrianism. Scholars believe he lived sometime between 1750 and 1500 bc or between 1400 and 1200 bc, although Iranian tradition places him about 570 bc. In ancient Iran, where his teachings gained followers, he was known as Zarathushtra, which later was rendered into Greek as Zoroaster.

Devotional poems known as the Gathas are attributed to Zoroaster and form the core of the Avesta or Zoroastrian scriptures. In these poems Zoroaster praised the concept of Asha (“order”), which he linked to a creator deity named Ahura Mazda (“Wise Lord”). At the same time, he rejected the concept of Drug (“confusion”), which he linked to a harmful spiritual entity named Angra Mainyu. Contents of the Gathas coupled with archaeological evidence on the migrations of Proto-Iranians (ancestors of the Iranian people) suggest that Zoroaster lived in Central Asia and that his preachings were carried southward, becoming the religion of the ancient Iranian empires. The magi, an Iranian priestly tribe, adopted Zoroastrianism and served as its priests. The magi claimed Zoroaster had been one of them.

Much of what modern scholars know about Zoroaster’s life is based on traditional religious accounts produced by the magi in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. The magi drew upon images of Zoroaster’s struggles, conflicts, and successes in the Gathas, which they combined with their own recasting of Zoroaster’s life to correspond with the general outlines of the biographies of Middle Eastern holy men such as Moses and Jesus.

Zoroaster’s words exerted a profound influence on Western thought because of the interest Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras showed in his ideas. They and other Greek and Roman writers also viewed Zoroaster as a prophetic founder of Eastern wisdom and magic. Later, through Zoroastrian contact first with Jews and then with Christians, Zoroaster’s notions affected the development of Judeo-Christian beliefs about demons and angels, the afterlife, and heaven and hell, as well as the concept of resurrection of the dead at the end of time.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006