page_title: Culture of Iran
section_title: Religion in Iran
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of Iran / Religion in Iran
caption_attribution_description: English: Royal Mosque (Imam Mosque), general view from Naqsh-i Jahan Square — Isfahan. Français&#160;: Mosquée Royale (Mosquée de l'Imam), vue générale depuis la place
context_page_description: The Culture of Iran, also known as Culture of Persia, is one of the most influential cultures in the world. Iran is considered as one of the cradles of civilization, and due to its dominant geo-political position and culture in the world, Iran has heavily influenced cultures and peoples as far away as Italy, Macedonia, and Greece to the West, Russia and Eastern Europe to the North, the Arabian Peninsula to the South, and the Indian subcontinent and East Asia to the East. Iran's rich history has had a significant impact on the world through art, architecture, poetry, science and technology, medicine, philosophy and engineering.
  An eclectic cultural elasticity has been said to be one of the key defining characteristics of the Iranian identity and a clue to its historical longevity. The first sentence of prominent Iranologist Richard Nelson Frye's book on Iran reads:
  "Iran's glory has always been its culture."
  Furthermore, Iran's culture has manifested itself in several facets throughout the history of Iran as well as the South Caucasus, Central Asia, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.
context_section_description: Zoroastrianism was the national faith of Iran for more than a millennium before the Arab conquest. It has had an immense influence on Iranian philosophy, culture and art after the people of Iran converted to Islam.
  Today of the 98% of Muslims living in Iran, around 89% are Shi'a and only around 9% are Sunni. This is quite the opposite trend of the percentage distribution of Shi'a to Sunni Islam followers in the rest of the Muslim population from state to state (primarily in the Middle East) and throughout the rest of the world.
  Followers of the Baha'i faith form the largest non-Muslim minority in Iran. Followers of the Baha'i faith are scattered throughout small communities in Iran, although there seems to be a large population of people who follow the Baha'i faith in Tehran. The Baha'i are severely persecuted by the Iranian government.
  Followers of the Christian faith consist of around 250,000 Armenians, around 32,000 Assyrians, and a small number of Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant Iranians that have been converted by missionaries in earlier centuries. Thus, Christians that live in Iran are primarily descendants of indigenous Christians that were converted during the 19th and 20th centuries. Judaism is an officially recognized faith in Iran, and in spite of the hostilities between Iran and Israel over the Palestinian issue, the millennia-old Jewish community in Iran enjoys the right to practice their religion freely as well as a dedicated seat in parliament to a representative member of their faith. In addition to Christianity and Judaism, Zoroastrianism is another officially recognized religion in Iran, although followers of this faith do not hold a large population in Iran. In addition, although there have been isolated incidences of prejudice against Zoroastrians, most followers of this faith have not been persecuted for being followers of this faith.
caption: Shah Mosque, Isfahan
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