Бабақ Хоррамдин: Иран революционерінің тарихы

9th century Iranian revolutionary leader
the director and writer

Bābak Khorramdin (بابک خرمدین, Bābak e Khorramdin, from , Pāpak/Pābag; 795 or 798 – January 838) was one of the main Iranian revolutionary leaders of the Iranian Khorram Dinān ("Those of the joyous religion"), which was a local freedom movement fighting the Abbasid Caliphate. Khorramdin appears to be a compound analogous to dorustdin "orthodoxy" and Behdin "Good Religion" (Zoroastrianism), and are considered an offshoot of neo Mazdakism. Babak's Iranianizing rebellion, from its base in Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran, called for a return of the political glories of the Iranian past. The Khorramdin rebellion of Babak spread to the Western and Central parts of Iran and lasted more than twenty years before it was defeated when Babak was betrayed. Babak's uprising showed the continuing strength in Azerbaijan of ancestral Iranian local feelings.

Bābak (بابک) is a New Persian name meaning "father", which is derived from the Middle Persian Pāpak/Pābag (𐬞𐬀𐬞𐬀𐬐 𐭯𐭠𐭯𐭪𐭩), a common name in pre Islamic Iran and also the hereditary name of the Sasanian Empire, whose founder Ardashir I , was the son of a prince named Pabag. The original name of Babak was al Hasan.

Babak was born in 795 (or 798) in Bilalabad in the Mimadh district of the Ardabil area, which was part of Azerbaijan, a region in north western Iran. The Mimadh district had provided the Sasanian marzban ("margrave") of Ardabil with troops during the Muslim conquest of Iran in 633–654, which resulted in the fall of the Sasanians and the conquest of Azerbaijan. The region was briefly occupied by the Khazars in 730–731, and had since the mid 8th century been under occupation by the Arab Rawadid clan. Azerbaijan was populated by an Iranian people known as the Adhari, who although closely related, were distinct from the Persians. They spoke Adhari, which according to the 10th century geographer al Maqdisi, was similar to Persian. Babak was most likely himself not of pure Persian extraction, but of Adhari. His mother Mahru (meaning "Moon Face") was a non Muslim wet nurse from Azerbaijan. She is described as being "one eyed" in Muslim sources and furthermore, by Al Tabari, as having become pregnant with her son after being raped by a mercenary. However, these stories are more than likely fabrications created by hostile authors in order to disgrace Babak. As for the identity of Babak's father, there are also multiple conflicting accounts. Al Waqidi, as quoted by Ibn Al Nadim, states that he was an oil seller from al Mada'in (Ctesiphon), who had settled in Azerbaijan. Crone takes this to mean that he was of Aramean origin. However, Dinawari, a contemporary of Babak, concludes and states that there is ample evidence to support that his father's true name was Mutahar, a descendant of Abu Muslim through his daughter, Fāṭema. C. E. Bosworth argues that more credence should be lent to this latter account, as other sources are hostile and are eager to propose lowly or otherwise less honorable origins for Babak. The original faith of Babak is uncertain; he was born with the Muslim name of al Hasan, and his three brothers, Mu'awiya, Abdallah, and Ishaq, also had Muslim names. Having a Muslim name is not in itself proof of any religious beliefs, as it was not uncommon for people to have a Muslim name in order "to move freely in Muslim society by virtue of their high position in their own community, such as the Armenian princes" (Crone). According to Crone, who follows Al Waqidi, Babak's parents were probably no more than landless villagers, but knew that Babak and his brothers' futures lay with the Arab warlords of Azerbaijan, and thus as a way of "adapting to the standards of new the world," raised them as Muslims.

During Babak's youth, his travelling father was killed near Sabalan. Till the age of twelve, Babak worked as a cowherd, and afterwards entered the service of an Arab warlord named Shibl ibn al Muthanna al Azdi in Sarab, where he worked as a groom and servant. The ghilman ("slaves") of Shibl taught Babak how to play the lute. Babak also learned to recite poetry, probably in the local Adhari dialect. According to the 11th century writer Abu'l Ma'ali, Babak played the lute and sang songs for the locals whilst working as a fruit vendor in the village. Babak later established himself in the city of Tabriz. There he worked under another Arab warlord, Muhammad ibn Rawwad Azdi for two years, until he reached adulthood and left for his village, Bilalabad. There Babak encountered a wealthy and influential landlord named Javidhan, who was reportedly impressed with the latters cleverness, and as result recruited him into his service. Unlike the previous men Babak had served, Javidhan was a local Iranian, and the leader of one of the two Khurramite movements in Azerbaijan. The leader of the other Khurramite movement was a certain Abu Imran, who often clashed with Javidhans forces. During one of the clashes, Abu Imran was defeated and killed, whilst Javidhan was mortally wounded, dying three days later. Javidhan was succeeded by Babak, who had already converted to Khurramism under the latters service. It was most probably during this period that Babak changed his name from al Hasan to Babak.

He was eventually seized by Khaydhar ibn Kawus al 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. It's said that Bābak bravely rinsed his face with the drained blood pouring out of his cuts, thus preventing the Caliph and the rest of the Abbasid army from seeing his pale face, a result of the heavy loss of blood. He was then gibbeted alive whilst sewn into a cow's skin with the horns at ear level to gradually crush his head as it dried out.

Babak Khorramdin was not well known outside academia until the 20th century; however, due to Soviet nation building efforts and Babak's following of the teachings of Mazdak with its proto socialist themes, Babak Khorramdin was proclaimed a national hero in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. For example, the Soviet era scholar Ziya Bunyadov, claimed that "Babak was a national hero of Azerbaijani people" while the Russian ethnologist, historian and anthropologist Victor Schnirelmann dismisses Bunyadov's theory, criticizing Bunyadov for not mentioning that Babak spoke Persian, and ignoring the witness accounts of Babak's contemporaries who call him Persian. To this day, in the modern Republic of Azerbaijan, Babak is a cult figure and celebrated as a national hero. A city and a district in Azerbaijan were named after Babak, and a popular Azerbaijani film was released in 1979 about his life. In modern Iran, due to the rise of nationalism in the 20th century, and renewed interest in pre Islamic Iran, Babak Khorramdin was rediscovered during the reign of Reza Shah, and is celebrated as a national hero. However, Babak remains a controversial figure in the Islamic Republic, whose idolization is criticized by some Shia clerics.