Rev Left Radio From Persia to Iran: Islam, Empire, and the Politics of West Asia
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Mar 17, 2026 Adnan Hussain, a medieval Islamicate historian and podcaster, blends deep knowledge of Persian, Islamic, and Ottoman history. He traces ancient Persian empires into the Islamic era. He explores how Shiʿism took root in Iran, the Ottoman-Safavid rivalry, colonial border-making, and shifting Turkey-Iran-Israel alignments. He also critiques Western Orientalism and modern geopolitical interventions.
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Use Deep History To Understand Modern Iran
- Avoid treating Iran and the region as monolithic; study long histories to understand present dynamics.
- Adnan Husain recommends appreciating Iran's 6,000-year history to explain its resilience and diplomatic behavior in crises.
Early Islamic Rule Preserved Preexisting Bureaucracies
- The Arab Muslim conquests created new rulers but preserved existing bureaucracies and social structures.
- Adnan Husain explains conquering Arabs used Persian and Byzantine administrative systems, leading to continuity rather than wholesale cultural replacement.
Persian Scholars Built Much Of Early Islamic Thought
- Persian scholars shaped early Islamic learning even as Arabic became the scholarly lingua franca.
- Adnan notes Persian scholars standardized grammar, law, and theology while writing in Arabic, making Islam an indigenized synthesis.