Exploring the interactions of the Buddhist world with the dominant cultures of Iran in pre- and post-Islamic times, Vaziri demonstrates that the traces and cross-influences of Buddhism have brought the material and spiritual culture of Iran to its present state even after the term was eradicated from the literary and popular language of the region.

The central thesis of this book challenges the anachronistic construction of Iranian identity, claiming that the nationalist historiography first undertaken by the European Orientalists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries eventually influenced the modern Iranian nationalist intelligentsia and literati, leading to the adoption of a broad nationalist construction of identity to suit Iranian political and ideological circumstances. This book also argues that such a broad-brushed approach and the term "Iranian" could not have applied to the large multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural...

This book offers a paradigm shift and fresh interpretation of Rumi's message. After being disentangled from the anachronistic connection with the Mevlevi order of Islamic Sufism, Rumi is placed in the world of philosophy. A pyramidal model is proposed for the structure of Rumi's philosophy, covering the range of topics from the basics of human existence to the principle of an immutable truth beyond time and space. The book also aims to demonstrate the silent yet defiant rebellion of Rumi and Shams. Mostafa Vaziri discusses how the two figures challenged the unbending Islamic dogma and a...

Exploring the interactions of the Buddhist world with the dominant cultures of Iran in pre- and post-Islamic times, Vaziri demonstrates that the traces and cross-influences of Buddhism have brought the material and spiritual culture of Iran to its present state even after the term was eradicated from the literary and popular language of the region.