This text explores the consequences of the meeting in medieval Iran of two religious communities - Zoroastrians and Muslims. It examines patterns of communal behaviour during the seventh to thirteenth centuries AD and suggest how both groups were transformed.

This text explores the consequences of the meeting in medieval Iran of two important religious communities - Zoroastrians and Muslims. It examines patterns of communal behaviour during the seventh to thirteenth centuries AD and suggest how both groups were radically transformed, ultimately reshaping the culture and society of the Middle East and central Asia. The spread of Islam, and the success of Muslim institutions, and the gradual decline of Zoroastrianism are viewed in the light of politics, religion and economics.