Babak Khorramdin

"Babak Khorramdin" by Sadıq Şərifzadə (1944)

Bābak Khorramdin (Persian: بابک خرمدین; / Azeri: Babək Əl-Xürrəmi) b. ca. 795, according to some other sources 798—d. January 838) was one of the leaders of the Khorram-Dinān (Persian, "Those of the joyous religion"), which was a local freedom movement fighting the Abbasid Caliphate.

Early life

Bābak was born into a Persian family in Balal Abad (Qaradag), Iran, close to the city of Artavilla. After his father’s death in his early teens, he was given the responsibility of his 2 brothers and mother during a traditional Zoroastrian ceremony in a fire-temple. By the age of 18, Bābak 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, the Middle East, and Byzantine empire. His travels familiarised him with history, geography and various languages.

Movement

In 755, Abū Muslim of Khorassan, a famous and popular Persian nationalist, was murdered. Although he had helped the Abbasids to defeat the former Caliphs, the Umayyad dynasty, the ruling Caliph had given the order 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 incident lead to many revolts, mostly 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 Iranian population of the Caliphate was constantly being oppressed.

Witnessing all this pressure being exerted on his people, Bābak joined the "Khurramiyyah (Khorram-Dinān)" movement in what later became known as Ghale-ye Bābak, meaning "Bābak Castle", located in the mountains of Qaradag. His knowledge of history, geography, and the latest battle tactics strengthened his position as a favorite candidate for commander during the early wars against the Arab occupiers.

Bābak was a highly spiritual and educated person who respected his Zoroastrian heritage. He made every possible effort to bring Iranians together 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 Bābak’s leadership between 816-837. During these most crucial years, they not only fought against the Caliphate, but also for the preservation of Persian language and culture.

Eventually, Bābak, his wife, and his warriors were forced to leave Ghaleye Bābak after 23 years of constant campaigns. He was eventually betrayed by Afshin and was handed over to the Abbasid Caliph.

During Bābak’s execution, the Caliph's henchmen first cut off his legs and hands in order to convey the most devastating message to his followers. The legend says that Bābak bravely rinsed his face with the drained blood pouring out of his cuts, thus depriving the Caliph and the rest of the Abbasid army from seeing his pale face, a result of the heavy loss of blood.

Ancient historical figure and modern nationalistic debates

In recent years, there has been debate on the ethnic origin of Bābak, even so trying to fit an ancient figure to a certain nationality goes against any objectiveness. Some Turkish nationalists claim that Bābak was an Azeri Turk. On the other hand, Iranian nationalists and modern scholars retain the established opinion that he was Persian and that at the time of Bābak, the Turks had not yet migrated to Azerbaijan.

From the Turkish point of view, it is said that Bābak's name cannot be shown as proof of his alleged Persian roots, because it was not his real name. Names of some of his lieutenants such as Tarkhan, who is claimed as being a Turk, and Azrak who was an Arab, show that the movement was of mixed ethnicity and was a broad regional freedom movement against the Caliphates rule. Existence of Muslims among Bābak's supporters also reinforces this assertion.

According to the Persian point of view, Bābak's (more correctly Pāpag) name is purely from Persian (Iranian) origins. Turkic peoples migrated to Azarbaijan several centuries later. Bābak was a follower of Zoroastrian Persians and Abū Muslim of Khurassan. There is no proof supporting a Turkish background. There was never any mention of Babak being Turkic in any of the literary works of the time. He has always been known as an Iranian and Zoroastrian patriot. Also, the name of the province, Āzarbāyjān, is an Arabicized form of Persian word Āzarpadgān, meaning "Place of Guardians of Holy Fire". The ancient Arab historian Ibn Hazm, in the book "Religion and People", and ancient Armenian historian Vardan, in his "World History", clearly and explicitly mentioned Bābak as being an ethnic Persian. The name of Bābak's father was Mardas and his mother, in some sources, has been called Maru. Both names are Persian and found in the Shahname. The mentor of Bābak was Javidan pur Shahrak, which is another Persian name. Also, Bābak's two most important commandera, Adhin and Rostam, were ethnic Persians.

Finally, the name Tarkhan is also mentioned as "Tarhan" (which is an Arabic word) in some sources. In addition, the name also occurs in the Shahnameh and some sources mention that the Sogdian rulers of Samarghand also went by this name, seemingly using it as a military title. Tarxan means "judge" in Ossetian (related to Alannic and Sogdian) and this meaning can be traced to Indic but the Turkic word does not have the same definition, and the appearance of the same word in both languages could be mere coincidence.

Finally it should be noted that there are no traces of Turkic tribes in Azarbaijan before the Ilkhanid era and all sources at that time mention that Azarbaijani's spoke Azar-Pahlavi (the local dialect of middle Persian), which continues today in the form of Talyshi, Kurdish, Tati and other north western Iranian languages. Due to the invasion of the Oghuz Turks and later Turkic tribes the region became predominantly Turkic speaking. All this was after the time of Bābak. From the Iranian point of view the claim that he was a Turk is recent and propagated mostly by Pan-Turkists.

Oxford Medieval historian Professor Mark Whittow has noted that:

Azerbaijan was the scene of frequent anti-caliphal and anti-Arab revolts during the eighth and ninth centuries, and Byzantine sources talk of Persian warriors seeking refuge in the 830s from the caliph's armies by taking service under the Byzantine emperor Theophilos. [...] Azerbaijan had a Persian population and was a traditional centre of the Zoroastrian religion. [...] The Khurramites were a [...] Persian sect, influenced by Shiite doctrines, but with their roots in a pre-Islamic Persian religious movement.

See also

• Sassanid dynasty
• Manichaeism
• Babak Castle
• Mazdakism

External links

• Babək Əl-Xürrəmi (In Azeri)
• Babek Azerbaijani symbol (In Azeri)
• Babak the Iranian (In Persian)