| Babak Khorramdin |
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| history of iran | |
| 838 deaths | |
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Bâbak Khorramdin (. EARLY LIFE Bâbak Khorrami was born in Balal Abad (Qaradag), Iran close to the city of Ardabil . After his father’s death in his early teen, he was given the responsibility of his 2 brothers and mother during a traditional Zoroastrian ceremony in a fire-temple, which used to involve a glass of wine and wearing a purple ribbon. By the age of 18 Bâbak had established himself in the city of Tabriz and was engaged in the arms trade and industry. Later on, this engagement gave him the opportunity to travel to different regions like Caucasia , Middle East and Eastern Europe and familiarised him with History , Geography and language of the countries and nations in these regions. During all these time, Azarbaijan was constantly invaded by the Abbasid s (Caliphate). MOVEMENT In 755 , Abu Muslim Of Khorassan , a famous and popular Persian nationalist, was murdered. Although he had helped the Abbasid s to defeat the former Caliphs, the Umayyad dynasty, the ruling Caliph had ordered to kill him, probably because of his increasing popularity among Iranians and Non-Muslims. Many Iranians who had expected more freedom and more rights from the new rulers could not believe that their hero was killed by the ruling Caliph whom they had considered a friend of Iran and Iranians. This incidence lead to many revolts, most of all by angry Zoroastrians. This, in turn, forced the Caliphs to use more violence against the Iranian population in order to keep the eastern provinces under control. The constant revolts did not come to an end in the following decades, and the Zoroastrian population of the Caliphate was constantly being oppressed by the Caliphs. Witnessing all these pressure being exerted to his people, Bâbak joined the " Khurramiyyah (Khorram-Dinân) " movement in what later became known as Ghaleh-ye Bâbak (Bâbak Castle), in the mountains of Qaradag. His skills in the latest battle tactics accompanied by the knowledge of history and geography strengthened his position as a most favorite commander during the early wars against Arab s. Bâbak was a highly spiritual and educated person who respected the Zoroastrian identity of his nation. He made every possible effort to establish reasonable political and cultural relationships with other Iranians and also with leaders such as Afshin and Maziyar to form a united front against the Arab Caliph. One of the most dramatic periods in the history of Iran was set under the Bâbak’s leadership between 816-837 AD. During these most crucial years, they fought not only fought against the Caliphate, but also against Arab language and culture. Eventually, Bâbak, his wife and his warriors were forced to leave their command post (Ghaleh ye Bâbak) under a very difficult situation after 23 years of constant campaigns. He was eventually betrayed by Afshin and was handed over to the Abbasid Caliph. During Bâbak’s execution, the Caliph's henchmen first cut his legs and hands in order to convey the most devastating message to his followers. The legend says that Bâbak bravely rinsed his face with the drained blood pouring out of his cuts, thus depriving the Caliph and the rest of the Arab army the sight of his paled face which was the result of heavy bleeding. ANCIENT HISTORICAL FIGURE AND MODERN NATIONALISTIC DEBATES In recent years, there has been debate on ethnic origin of Babak, even so trying to fit an ancient figure to this or that nationality goes against any objectiveness. Some Turkish nationalists claim that Bâbak was an Azeri- Turk . On the other hand, Iranian nationalists retain the established opinion that he was Persian and that at the time of Bâbak, the Turks had not yet migrated to Azerbaijan . From the Turkish point of view, it is said that Babak's name can not be shown as a proof of his alleged Persian roots, because it was not his real name. Names of some of his lieutenants such as Tarkhan who was a Turk and Azrak who was an Arab, show that the movement was a mixed ethnicity, broad regional freedom movement against the Caliphate rule. Existence of Muslims among Bâbak's supporters also reinforces this assertion. According to the Persian point of view, however Babak's (more correctly Pâpag) name, is purely from Persian (Iranian) origins. Turkic peoples migrated to Azarbayjan several centuries later. Bâbak was a follower of Zoroastrian Persians and Abu Muslim of Khurassan. There are no proofs for a Turkish background. As mentioned in the main entry, the claim that he was Turk is recent and propagated mostly by Pan-Turkists. In early history books, there is no mention that he was Turk. He has always been known as a patriot Iranian and Zoroastrian. Even the name of the province, ''Azarbayjan'' is Arabicized form of Persian word ''Azarpadgan'' meaning the ''Place of Guardians of Holy Fire'' (Azar=fire, pad=guard, gan=suffix indicating a place). Ancient Arab historian Ibn Hazm in the book "Religion and People" and ancient Armenian historian Vardan in his "World History" clearly and explicitly mentioned Babak as being Persian. There is no sources that claim otherwise. The name of Babak's father was Mardas, his mother in sources has been called Mah-roo. Both names are Persian. The mentor of Babak was Javidanpoor Shahrak, which is another Persian name. Also the two most important commanders of Babak, Adhin and Rostam, were ethnic Persians. Finally the name Tarkhan is also mentioned as "Tarhan" (which is an Arabic word) in some sources. Besides this, the name also occurs in the Shahnameh and some sources mention that the Soghdian rulers of Samarghand went by this name. So this was a general military title. Finally it should be mentioned that there is no trace of Turkish in Azarbaijan before the Ilkhanid era on paper, rock, leather, inscription, etc and all sources at that time mention that Azarbaijan spoke Azar-Pahlavi (the local dialect of middle Persian) as it continues today in Talyshi, Kurdish, Tati and other NW Iranian languages. Due to the invasion of Oghuz tribes, Seljuqs, Mongols, Ilkhanid, Teymurid, Black Sheep Turkomens and finally the Turcophone Safavid dynasty who imported Turkomens from Anatolia, this region became predominately Turkic speaking. But all this was after the time of Babak. EXTERNAL LINKS SEE ALSO |
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