What is Islam in Iran?
[[Image:Jamkaran Mosque.jpg|thumb|Jamkaran Mosque, one of [[Shia Islam]]'s holiest places, in Jamkaran, near [[Qom]], [[Iran]].]] '''[[Islam]] in [[Iran]]''' is the majority religion as most of the Iranian population is [[Shia Muslim]]. The [[Muslim conquest of Persia]] (637-651) led to the end of the [[Sassanid Empire]] and the eventual decline of the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] religion in [[Persian Empire|Persia]]. However, the achievements of the previous Persian civilizations were not lost, but were to a great extent absorbed by the new Islamic [[polity]]. Islam has been the official religion of Iran since then, except short duration after [[Mongol]] raid and establishment of [[Ilkhanate]]. Iran became an [[Islamic Republic]] after the [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic Revolution]] of 1979. Before the Islamic conquest, the Persians had been mainly [[Zoroastrian]], however, there were also large and thriving [[Christian]] and [[Jewish]] communities. Eastern Iran (what is now [[Afghanistan]]) was predominantly [[Buddhist]]. There was a slow but steady movement of the population toward [[Islam]]. When Islam was introduced to Iranians, the nobility and city-dwellers were the first to convert, Islam spread more slowly among the peasantry and the ''[[Dihqan]]s'', or landed gentry. By the late 11th century, the majority of Persians had become Muslim, at least nominally. {{bar box |title=Islam in Iran |titlebar=#ddd |left1=Faith |right1=Percent |float=right |bars= {{bar percent|[[Shia Islam]]|LightGreen|90}} {{bar percent|[[Sunni Islam]]|DarkGreen|10}} }} Though Iran is known today as a stronghold of the Shi'a Muslim faith, it did not become so until much later, around the 15th century. The [[Safavid]] dynasty made Shi'a Islam the official [[state religion]] in the early sixteenth century and aggressively proselytized on its behalf. It is also believed that by the mid-seventeenth century most people in Iran had become Shi'as, an affiliation that has continued. Over the following centuries, with the state-fostered r